Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 review – premium business transformer

Business devices are constantly evolving and the. Now, you can find them in many different shapes and forms factors starting from ultra-light laptops to heavy workstations meant for 24/7 work. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 is a pure office machine that many CEOs should like because it's not cheap at all but it comes with many goodies under the hood. It's a light and thin notebook but you can configure it with Intel Raptor Lake U or P chips and you have seven processor options at your disposal. Expectedly, you're not going to find dGPU options here which is something normal for such a compact device. The main event is the 390-degree hinge. You can quickly transform the notebook into a tablet or you can use it in tent mode. You can also have more fun with the device thanks to the included ThinkPad Pen Pro. The security seems on point and Lenovo is trying to attract business users with some useful extras including a Web camera with a privacy shutter, a dTPM chip, a spill-resistant keyboard, and a fingerprint reader. Just like other office laptops from the same brand, you can pick a device with many optional features such as vPro CPUs, IR camera, Privacy Guard, lock on leave function, 4G or 5G connectivity, Computer Vision camera, etc. This will greatly increase the end price, especially if you get the optional 4K OLED touchscreen display. At first glance, the gadget looks like a premium 2-in-1 machine that can be used for work and entertainment. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-8th-gen-2023/ Specs, Drivers, What's in the box Drivers All drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-x1-yoga-8th-gen-type-21hq-21hr/downloads What's in the box? Inside the package, you'll find the laptop itself placed in a smaller fancy-looing box, some manuals, and a 65W Type-C charger. The least powerful siblings are bundles with a 45W charger. Design and construction As you can see, the notebook is pretty compact. It weighs just 1.38 kilos and the profile is only 15.53 mm. That's fantastic, even for a 14-incher. The clean design and the Storm grey color make the device look a bit stealthier. There is a noticeable protrusion for easier opening on the lid. The latter seems rigid (thanks to the glass cover) and can be opened with one hand. The aluminum build feels premium to the touch and the matte finish is smooth. The base is solid except for the zone between the touchpad and the Space key where it can be flexed a bit. The bezels around the display are thin and the "hump" houses a 1080p Web camera with a privacy shutter and quad-microphone array. There is an optional IR unit and another one with MIPI and Computer Vision tech. The ThinkPad Pen Pro has its own place on the right side of the laptop. It charges while sitting there and it's a joy to use because it glides effortlessly on the glass-covered display. The latter will detect the pen from around 2 cm distance. Aside from that, because of the 360-degree hinge, the laptop can lay flat. You can use it as a standard clamshell device, in tent mode, and as a tablet. The transformation into these modes happens fast without any strange noises and the notebook still feels built like a tank no matter the form of usage. You can find some handy extras regarding the keyboard in the Lenovo Vantage app. Like the hidden functions that "summon" different commands. There is also a backlight control. The backlit board is spill-resistant. There is some magic involved here because Lenovo mentions that the fans also suck air through the keyboard deck. At the same time, you can spill some water on the keycaps. By the way, they offer long travel which is great considering the thin profile. The feedback is good but could be clickier. However, the noise during typing is kept as low as possible. We almost forgot to mention the two 2W speakers positioned on the sides of the keyboard. The fingerprint reader is integrated into the Power button. The touchpad isn't among the biggest we've seen (56 x 110 mm) but it has a smooth glass surface that allows great accuracy. Above the pad are placed a trio of buttons that work together with the Trackpoint. On the bottom panel houses two speaker cutouts four rubber feet, and a small ventilation grill. The hot air is pushed through a vent on the back so part of the heat reaches the display. Ports We can see two Thunderbolt 4 connectors (both support data transfer, Power Delivery 3.0 and DisplayPort 1.4a), a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an HDMI 2.1 connector (for up to 4K 60Hz external panels) on the left. On the other side, we spot a Kensington security lock slot, another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port (with an Always On function), an optional Nano-SIM card slot, an Audio combo jack, and a Pen slot. Display quality, Health impact (PWM), Sound Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 is equipped with a Samsung AMOLED ATNA40YN01-0 (INT3480) panel. Its diagonal is 14.0-inch (35.5 cm), and the resolution – 3840 x 2400p. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 323 ppi, and their pitch – 0.08 x 0.08 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 27 cm - perfect for a laptop (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels). Viewing angles are comfortable. We offer images at different angles to evaluate the quality. Also, a video with locked focus and exposure. The maximum measured brightness is 416 nits (cd/m2) (HDR off). The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6360K. In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio here is incomparably better than that of the IPS and TN panels and is mathematically infinite. To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook. Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day. The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8’s color gamut coverage. Its display covers 100% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976 and 100% of DCI-P3 providing a punchy and vibrant image. We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. Below you can compare the default scores of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (left) against the the DCI-P3 (Display) color space (HDR Off). The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light. The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display (HDR off). On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions. Response time (Gaming capabilities) We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa. We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 3.3 ms. After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude. Health Impact: PWM (Screen flickering) Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the display is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM. Sadly, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8’s panel uses low-frequency PWM for brightness adjustment up to 110 nits. After that, we detected small pulsations, which makes the display generally safe in this aspect (after 110 nits). Health Impact: Blue light emissions Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light. Health Impact: Gloss-level measurement Glossy-coated displays are sometimes inconvenient in high ambient light conditions. We show the level of reflection on the screen for the respective laptop when the display is turned off and the measurement angle is 60° (in this case, the result is 114 GU). Sound Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8’s “Dolby Atmos” speakers produce a sound of very good quality. Its low, mid, and high tones are clear of deviations. Buy our profiles Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 configurations with a 14.0″ Samsung ATNA40YN01-0 (INT3480) (3840 x 2400p) OLED panel. *Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at bg.laptopmedia@gmail.com. Read more about the profiles HERE. Performance: CPU, GPU, Gaming Tests All benchmarks and tests were conducted with the “Best Performance” mode activated (the Power presets are integrated into the Windows Power mode menu). CPU options You can find this laptop with 15W or 28W Intel Raptor Lake U or P CPUs. This includes the Core i5-1335U, Core i5-1345U, Core i7-1355U, Core i7-1365U, Core i5-1340P, Core i7-1360P, and Core i7-1370P. GPU options No dGPUs here, just integrated graphics. Gaming tests CS:GO HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings) HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings) Average FPS 135 fps 107 fps 75 fps DOTA 2 HD 1080p, Low (Check settings) HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings) HD 1080p, High (Check settings) Average FPS 112 fps 72 fps 47 fps Max CPU load In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering. Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power Intel Core i7-1355U (15W TDP) 0:02 - 0:10 sec 0:15 - 0:30 sec 10:00 - 15:00 min Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 3.67 GHz @ 2.81 GHz @ 82°C @ 49W 3.32 GHz @ 2.53 GHz @ 94°C @ 39W 2.17 GHz @ 1.64 GHz @ 76°C @ 20W Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 3.49 GHz @ 2.65 GHz @ 69°C @ 42W 3.28 GHz @ 2.46 GHz @ 82°C @ 38W 2.20 GHz @ 1.62 GHz @ 77°C @ 23W HP ZBook Firefly 16 G10 3.85 GHz @ 2.89 GHz @ 67°C @ 50W 3.32 GHz @ 2.48 GHz @ 75°C @ 37W 2.14 GHz @ 1.44 GHz @ 66°C @ 17W Lenovo ThinkPad L15 Gen 4 (Intel) 3.34 GHz @ 2.54 GHz @ 86°C @ 39W 3.16 GHz @ 2.45 GHz @ 93°C @ 35W 2.38 GHz @ 1.77 GHz @ 77°C @ 20W Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 4 3.78 GHz @ 2.93 GHz @ 82°C @ 48W 3.45 GHz @ 2.71 GHz @ 90°C @ 41W 2.52 GHz @ 1.87 GHz @ 78°C @ 22W Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 4 3.83 GHz @ 2.89 GHz @ 78°C @ 51W 3.7 GHz @ 2.82 GHz @ 93°C @ 49W 2.38 GHz @ 1.75 GHz @ 64°C @ 21W Acer Aspire 5 (A514-56M) 3.82 GHz @ 2.82 GHz @ 64°C @ 55W 2.18 GHz @ 2.26 GHz @ 65°C @ 37W 1.43 GHz @ 1.98 GHz @ 60°C @ 28W Dell Vostro 15 3530 2.06 GHz @ 2.70 GHz @ 94°C @ 40W 1.56 GHz @ 2.22 GHz @ 96°C @ 26W 2.06 GHz @ 2.25 GHz @ 95°C @ 26W Lenovo Yoga Book 9 (13IRU8) 2.23 GHz @ 2.58 GHz @ 76°C @ 40W 2.13 GHz @ 2.42 GHz @ 85°C @ 35W 1.64 GHz @ 2.03 GHz @ 77°C @ 24W ASUS Zenbook S 13 OLED (UX5304) 3.46 GHz @ 2.47 GHz @ 80°C @ 41W 3.06 GHz @ 2.24 GHz @ 91°C @ 31W 2.36 GHz @ 1.68 GHz @ 75°C @ 21W The Core i7-1355U inside of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 can show a bit higher clocks (and temperatures, sadly) in short and medium loads compared to the Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 5 which is good. In longer stress, the P and E core frequencies are again very close to the ones of the E14 sibling. This time around, the thermals are normal. Comfort during full load The Power presets are integrated into the Windows default power modes. During 100% CPU stress, the fans are audible, but not too noisy. The left part of the keyboard feels warm but comfortable enough for normal work. Battery Now, we conduct the battery tests with the Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The 57Wh battery pack lasts for 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. Disassembly, Upgrade options, and Maintenance If you want to open this device, you have to undo just 5 captive Phillips-head screws. Then you can pry the bottom plate with a plastic tool starting from one of the top two corners. Here's how the bottom panel looks on the inside. The battery is a 57Wh unit. To take it out, undo the 6 Phillips-head screws that are fixing it to the base. The connector is built into the unit so it's important to wear gloves to prevent short circuits. The capacity is enough for 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. Our laptop is equipped with the optional 4K OLED display so the battery life seems good. The memory is soldered but you get up to 64GB of LPDDR5x-6000MHz RAM. The same memory clock applies to the 32GB configurations while the devices with 16GB come with 6400MHz memory frequency. Actually, the RAM is rated at 7500MHz for all devices but it works at a lower clock due to platform limitations. For storage, you can rely on a single M.2 slot compatible with 2280 Gen 4 SSDs. It's covered by a metal plate that has a thermal pad on the inside. There is another cooling pad on the motherboard right below the NVMe. Next to the left side of the cooling is positioned the WWAN slot for optional 4G or 5G connectivity. As you can see, there is one more thermal pad in front of the slot. The cooling is modest. It has two small fans, one thick heat pipe, a heat sink, and a heat spreader. Storage performance Our machine is equipped with a 512GB KIOXIA KXG8AZNV512G. Below you can see some benchmarks of this Gen 4 NVMe. The maximum reached temperatures during testing is 52°C which is normal. Verdict The Lenovo Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 is a solid business device that has 2-in-1 abilities. The notebook is super portable and at the same time, its performance doesn't seem hindered because of that. The build quality corresponds to the high price - you get an all-metal build that is solid and feels nice to the touch. The lid opens easily with one hand and the 360-degree hinge allows you to use the gadget in a tablet or tent mode. This combined with the stylus transforms the device into a small notebook for creative tasks. By the way the pen charges from 0% to 100% in just 5 minutes. Of course, the laptop is snappy enough for standard office or home usage. The optional touchscreen OLED panel (Samsung AMOLED ATNA40YN01-0 (INT3480)) has a high resolution of 3840x2400 and an infinite contrast ratio. We are also impressed by the 100% sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage as well as the fast pixel response times. This pairs well with the iGPU that can show 107 FPS in CS:GO on Medium details so you can play light and popular games after work or during the lunch break. The panel is suitable for color-sensitive tasks and its only downside is the PWM usage (but the pulsations after 110 nits are small which is okay for longer periods of usage). Since it's an OLED display, there is always a risk of burn-in. To avoid this, you can find some clever solutions in the Lenovo Vantage app such as Taskbar dimmer, Background dimmer, and Display dimmer. The input devices are another key selling point. The backlit keyboard is cozy for typing and it's also quiet. The touchpad is smooth and fast. The I/O looks good with its two Thunderbolt 4 ports and Nano-SIM card slot for optional 4G or 5G connectivity. Despite the good portability, the performance for a laptop with a Raptor Lake U chip seems normal. In our case, the Core i7-1355U can maintain high P and E core clocks in short and Medium loads at the expense of up to 94°C temperature. Still, the keyboard doesn't feel scoring hot during 100% CPU stress and the fans aren't too noisy. Yes, the comfort under load is on point. Just like many other small and thin devices, the memory is soldered. This isn't a big issue since the maximum possible capacity is 64GB of LPDDR5x-6000 MHz. Unfortunately, there is just one M.2 slot for Gen 4 SSDs. The autonomous life on a single charge is good for a notebook with a 4K OLED panel and a 57Wh battery - 8 hours and 20 minutes of Web browsing, or 7 hours and 9 minutes of video playback. The security features can be the cherry on top if you pick a device with all the optional goodies. The base package includes a Web camera with a privacy shutter, fingerprint reader, dTPM chip, and Kensington Nano Security Slot. If money isn't a problem, you can opt for an IR camera, vPro CPU, and the more advanced Web cam with Computer Vision-based user presence sensing. The Lenovo Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8 is a premium business 2-in-1 transformer that offers adequate performance, good comfort under load, a great 4K OLED display, and a solid aluminum build. You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-8th-gen-2023/