Just how light can a laptop be and still provide long battery life, great performance and a strong mix of ports? We may find out soon. Lenovo is updating its popular ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook with a 7th Generation Core Series CPU, while shaving a few ounces off of the weight and adding additional battery capacity. Available in February for a starting price of $1,349, the X1 Carbon comes in both silver and traditional Lenovo black versions.
I had the opportunity to go hands-on with the new X1 Carbon and was impressed with how much lighter it felt in my hand, compared to the 2016 model. Lenovo is also releasing updated versions of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga and ThinkPad X1 Tablet that take advantage of Intel's latest, 7th Gen CPUs. See the key specs and takeaways for each beow.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Other: 14-inch, up to 2K screen | Other: Thunderbolt 3 and regular USB ports | Other: 2.49 pounds | Other: PCIe SSD | available in silver and black What's New: In addition to its speedier, 7th Gen Core series i5 or i7 CPU, the X1 Carbon now has a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports for charging and data transfer. It also dropped from 2.6 pounds down to 2.49 pounds, without losing any functionality. Lenovo also says that the battery capacity has increased slightly over the 52 watt-hour unit on last year's model, allowing for the system to get a claimed-battery life of 15 hours. Hands-On Impressions
Other: 14-inch up to 2K screen with OLED option | Other: 7th Gen Core CPU | Other: Thunderbolt 3 ports | silver color option What's New: The X1 Yoga has a redesigned keyboard mechanism that lowers the keys when you bend into tablet mode or close the lid. Prior models had Lift and Lock keyboards where the tray rose up to meet the keys, but the new model has keys that lower themselves | it's a subtle distinction but cool looking in practice. You can also now get the X1 Yoga in silver. Why You Should Care: The X1 Yogawill have better performance and stronger connectivity options (in Thunderbolt 3). It remains one of only two laptops on the market with an optional OLED display. Outlook
12-inch 2K display, expansion modules for extra battery life and new functionality, removable keyboard What's New: Other than the upgrade to the 7th Gen Core processor, nothing else changes. Why You Should Care
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The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master's degree in English from NYU.
