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I switched from a 2014 13" Retina MBP to a 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen) and I'm extremely happy with it. https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-
by shazow 9y ago
I switched from a 2014 13" Retina MBP to a 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen) and I'm extremely happy with it.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-2018-WQHD-HDR-i7-Laptop-Review.284682.0.html https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X1-Carbon-2018... is the most objective/detailed review I've seen.
One of my biggest anxieties was the fear of "upgrading" to an inferior device after a decade of being on Apple devices. Thankfully, that has not been the case.
- The 14" WQHD HDR screen is remarkably more vibrant with similar DPI.
- The battery life is almost double what I had before.
- It runs cooler, faster, and quieter than my rMBP.
- It's more than half a pound lighter than my 13" rMBP and is smaller despite having a larger screen.
- The keyboard is just amaaaazing, I forgot what a good keyboard feels like. It's a joy to type on.
- The build is excellent, still has that "Thinkpad" feel to it--like I could use it as a sledgehammer if I had to, despite looking quite slick.
- Everything works on Linux except the fingerprint reader and S3 suspend required an easy tweak before working properly (add a boot flag).
- I added a 4 year warranty for $140 USD, fair bit cheaper than Apple's. You don't get the Genius Bar experience but the Thinkpad brand is strong world-wide and there are certified local repair centres pretty much everywhere. (Fun fact: IBM still has a repair contract with Lenovo for the Thinkpad brand). In general, the machines are very serviceable with standard screws/components/etc. For every MBP I've owned, I've averaged bringing it in for repairs about 2-4 times per MBP. I've never had to repair the Thinkpad I had before that, and I hope this one holds up as well.
I bought it the week it was released, so only the maximum spec version was available for about $2000 USD. (Lenovo perks sites or discount coupons usually get you 15-20% off the retail price, or buy from Costco.)
My second choice was the 13" Dell XPS with 4K, but the deciding factor was the build quality and 4K is a bit too much (the battery/perf penalty wasn't worth the DPI gain over what the X1 Carbon offered). In general, it seems the Thinkpad build quality is much more consistent than Dell's.
If budget was really tight for me, I'd strongly consider getting an older Thinkpad and replacing the internals. The Thinkpad modding community is very active, it's kind of remarkable.
- blinkingled 9y agoI just got the 16GB/i7/512 with 2 year warranty from Costco for $1599. And I agree totally that it's an amazing machine! I have left it running W10 for now because I don't want to have to modify the DSDT for S3. Modern standby on Windows is magical - instant desktop after lid opening with the fingerprint reader! I wish it had better speakers though and I still feel like the low power CPU in a thin package might get bogged down when thermally throttled compared to full wattage one in a bigger config. But so far no such problem.
- shazow 9y ago> I don't want to have to modify the DSDT for S3. While I did end up doing that (it wasn't as scary as I thought), turns out just adding `acpi.ec_no_wakeup=1` is sufficient on many distros (I presume ones with recent kernel/systemd versions, older versions seem to require hitting power to wake up). > I wish it had better speakers though I find the speakers fairly comparable to my old MBP, fwiw. > and I still feel like the low power CPU in a thin package might get bogged down when thermally throttled compared to full wattage one in a bigger config. Yea, kinda mixed feelings on this. I really like how cool/quiet it runs with the default config, but you're right that the throttling is fairly aggressive. I mostly went with the i7 for the L2 cache size rather than max freq so it doesn't bother me too much. You can override the throttling thresholds a fair bit. The whole machine is fairly hackable (in the good sense). I plan to play around with underclocking at some point to get a few extra hours.
- ericd 9y agoI find the speakers to be awful, but I just use headphones most of the time anyway, so nbd. I have the last gen, so may be different. I'm curious how you tuned the thermal throttling, though!
- blinkingled 9y agoIt might be this - https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/870u0a/t480s_linux_throttling_bug/?st=jfr7pmsp&sh=61f58307 https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/870u0a/t480s_linu... TL;DR Booting Linux the throttling triggers at much lower temp than on Windows. Fixed by overwriting some MSRs I think.
- ericd 9y agoSweet, thanks!
- dannyw 9y agoThanks for your detailed recommendations. I also have anxieties about buying something “inferior”, but your comment has convinced me that Apple devices are not the best on the market.
- shazow 9y agoYou're very welcome!
- michaelangerman 9y agoWhat version of Linux ? Thanks...
- shazow 9y agoI'm currently running Arch. Before that I was working on a custom kernel config with Gentoo but my timebox for that has elapsed. :) Related blog post: https://medium.com/@shazow/my-computer-is-my-home-5a587dcc1d76 https://medium.com/@shazow/my-computer-is-my-home-5a587dcc1d...
- sxg 9y agoWhat's your opinion on the trackpad? The thing I love most about MBPs is the trackpad—the size, responsiveness, gestures, and being clickable everywhere make it feel great to use. My girlfriend has a Lenovo T460, and I've been a little disappointed with the trackpad on that laptop.
- shazow 9y agoI like it. I feel it's about the right size and the texture/precision is good. It's a bit smaller than my 2014 rMBP which I thought was fine too. On the other hand, the new MBPs have these comically massive trackpads which also scared me away. Less room to rest your palm, lots of accidental clicks, etc. Overall, I don't think about it which probably means it's good. There's also the optional trackpoint/nub. I use it occasionally for fun, but I'm not a fanatic about it yet. Nice to know it's there, I guess? Might be handy for some kinds of games on the go.
- mst 9y ago"Better than everybody except Apple, not quite as good as Apple" is roughly my opinion. I usually turn it off on a thinkpad since I vastly prefer the trackpoint but Apple's trackpads are, at least to my mind, noticeably superior, just not enough to make me give up my trackpoint.
- Rotareti 9y agoI use an x230 (amazing little machine). I deactivated the touchpad in favor of the trackpoint. I would go nuts if I had to move my hand back and forth in order to move the cursor. If your profession involves a lot of typing, the trackpoint is the pointing device of choice, IMHO. If you happen to use the trackpoint, I suggest replacing the default rubber piece with a concave one. Here is an example: [0]. https://superuser.com/a/854794/431390 https://superuser.com/a/854794/431390
- michaelangerman 9y agoWhat version of Linux would people recommend for this machine ? 2018 Thinkpad X1 Carbon (6th gen)
- ianai 9y agoI read a review about running OpenBSD on them last night. It’s probably wide open to anything.
- peatmoss 9y agoYeah, OpenBSD is my litmus test for Linux compatibility. Linux distros like Ubuntu will often figure out how to get questionable hardware working for some value of “working.” But if OpenBSD runs, it’s a good indicator that the hardware will be extremely well supported and work with the absolute minimum fuss, even if running Linux rather than OpenBSD.
- flyingfences 9y agoIf you want something practical and productive right out of the box then just go with Ubuntu for any hardware. Thinkpads are popular in the Arch community (and vice versa), so there's discussion and documentation available if that's your cup of tea.
- michaelangerman 9y agoDo you have link for the Arch community where I can read more about what you are referring to., I am not familiar with that... Thank you !
- eat_veggies 9y agoThe Arch wiki has general information and laptop-specific errata for most models: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop/Lenovo https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Laptop/Lenovo It appears the X1C 6th generation doesn't have a page yet, but it's likely extremely similar to the 5th generation one.
- ogig 9y ago2018 X1 Carbon user here. I fully agree with your review. Emphasize on the keyboard thing. I'm about to start a book catalyzed by the mechanical pleasure of pressing.
- roryisok 9y ago> the mechanical pleasure of pressing And there's your title right there
- foepys 9y ago> I added a 4 year warranty for $140 USD, fair bit cheaper than Apple's. You don't get the Genius Bar experience but the Thinkpad brand is strong world-wide and there are certified local repair centres pretty much everywhere. When I bought a Lenovo Thinkpad T420 years ago, it came with a 3 years on-site warranty included, extendable to 4 years for a small fee. On-site as in "a technician will come on the next business day and do their best to change all components to make it run again in front of your eyes". Has this changed in recent years or just with the X1 Carbon?
- shazow 9y agoI think the included warranty varies by country. Some countries have required minimums for warranties. In Canada, it comes with a 1-year warranty. The 4 year I bought was a depot warranty (aka take it to the nearest certified repair center or mail it in). The premium "we'll come fix it" warranty does exist but it's like 50-80% more expensive I think. I didn't feel the need for it. In fact, I probably wouldn't have gotten the extended warranty at all if it wasn't so cheap. I feel comfortable with the build quality of the device that I'd risk it and possibly do repairs myself.
- cmcginty 9y agoCan we talk about how terrible the config/ordering experience for an X1 is compared to Apple? Why does Lenovo (and Dell) make it so difficult to actually buy an X1 without being a product expert? The shop page has 6 or 7 base configurations that all can be customized. To me, this is a really good sign they are not consumer focused, but instead catering to the direct enterprise buyer. Someone who is more willing to spend hours deciphering the subtle difference between every configurations and go through multiple customization flows to find some ideal configuration for a large multi-unit order. Can someone explain why it's so hard for PC companies to move away from this purchasing model when the simplified Apple flow is generating 10x or more sales directly to consumers.
- SZJX 9y agoExactly my case as well. Though I'd say I don't really find the keyboard much better than the MBP keyboard. Maybe it's because I'm used to using a mechanical keyboard in my workspace. But everything else surely is a joy to work with. It feels much lighter than the MBP 13'' even though the screen is larger. I actually bought the XPS 13 first since it's much cheaper. But Dell messed up by having the keyboard totally unusable for fast typists. See the post at https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-13-9370-Keyboard-Skips-Button-Presses/td-p/5835431 https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/XPS-13-9370-Keyboard-Skip.... Thinkpad's build quality does seems reliable still.