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Laptops · Lenovo ThinkPad X1

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 4th gen

5owners with an opinion
60%of verdicts positive
1/1positive/negative since 2024
8 yrslongest happy owner
1happy after 3+ years

Praised for reliability and noise; criticized for battery.

What owners wrote

Likes itOwned 8 years
It's sorta funny, the existence of Windows' stranglehold has worsened so many generations of thinkpads. The push for the S0 mac-style standby made my 11th gen X1 carbon basically unusable for me in Linux. The standby battery life is so bad, it will burn through half the battery overnight with the lid closed. The battery life actually seems better when using the laptop opposed to standby. Other standby modes were removed on a firmware level by lenovo despite the processor supporting it. I still have my 4th gen X1 carbon, it was an amazing machine for 8 years and I really thought I'd get another 8-year laptop buying the latest X1, but now it sits off and only comes out for specific uses. Bought an m4 air for day-to-day laptop use.
Likes itOwned 7 yearsStill going
I've noticed once in a blue moon, my thinkpad will get the screen state reversed if I close and open it too fast, interrupting the standby sequence. I wonder if its bouncing open in the bag? Mine's a 4th gen X1 carbon with an ancient Antergos install from 2016 that I converted to normal arch after they closed the project. i3wm, probably some thinkpad specific tweaks from the arch wiki but the machine is so damn stable I rarely think about it.
Doesn’t like it
> The losses on battery life are far too high to accept, Why do people keep saying this? I have been on M1 Air on Asahi for the last 4 weeks, getting 8-10 hours daily. I see my wattage consumption on screen at all times, it varies between 2.5-3W when scrolling web and around 5W when actively working with apps. I see no difference between macOS and Linux! The only difference is the s2idle consumption but personally I don't care, besides all other modern Linux laptops have same exact issue, often worse. On my Intel T14s 4th Gen I was getting maybe 5 hours, and that's already with heavily optimized setup!
Likes it
I was sad when I bought a new 10th or 11th gen X1 carbon to replace my 4th gen. I configured them essentially the same, second-to-fastest processor, FHD display, no touch screen. The 4th gen almost never kicked its fans on, especially in Linux. The new one gets far hotter, even at idle. Lenovo removed the traditional sleep mode in favor of modern sleep, which causes it to die with the lid closed in a couple days compared to over a week with the 4th gen.
Doesn’t like it
The X1 Carbon (latest.. 4th? gen) is my daily laptop since release and I can't wait to get rid of it. In anything other than low light/perfect lighting the screen is unbearably dull, speakers are appalling (though in ubuntu you can override to > 100% volume). Keyboard is pretty unsatisfying to use also. I got it because i wanted a 14" laptop and it was the only one on the market. Screen size is perfect (15" is a bit big for travelling & carry on luggage) This looks like the laptop i've been waiting for