The ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 10 years later
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- Hello everyone! Excited to be back at it after a long hiatus, this time taking a look at the original X1 Carbon from 2012. This was one of the first ThinkPads to feature a radically different design from the classic formula and was more or less Lenovo's first ultrabook. Nearly all modern ThinkPads today have taken inspiration from the X1 Carbon for their design, and this specific product line has become Lenovo's flagship laptop for business users and enthusiasts. At 3/4" thick and weighing in at 3 pounds, in this video we'll take a look at its design and features, how it compares to other ThinkPads from the time period, as well as how well it holds up for everyday use a decade later.
Thank you to everyone who watches my videos even when I have nothing new to put up, it's incredible to see people still watching regardless and I hope to have some more content for you here soon! Hopefully it won't be another year...enjoy the video and thanks for watching!
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:02 Design and physical tour
03:18 Keyboard and pointing devices
04:40 Specifications
05:19 Display
06:09 Proccessor/graphics performance
07:22 Battery life
08:13 Repairability/upgrades
09:41 Conclusion - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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The volume button is by far my favorite feature of the older ThinkPad.
Glad to see you back on TH-cam! Love the thinkpad content as always!
Kinda insane how the 2012 X1 Carbon looks almost identical to many laptops you'd see as the modern flagships of this year. Not that they haven't innovated, but I guess it's a sign of how advanced it was back then.
kind of like comparing my 2014 macbook pro to new models today
Watching in my X1 Carbon Gen 4 :)
Speaking of soldered memory: I really am hoping Dell's new CAMM standard (which is open) will make its way to ThinkPad. It's thinner and might have a chance to stay in some of the thicker series like L and T.
The thing is you wouldn't really even want 16gb ram on such device (don't know even if cpu supports that).
I agree... Hate the soldered RAM. However I highly doubt that slotted RAM will come back for economical reasons.
1) people will buy the higher end model (which you can sell for $150 extra, $120 of which is profit)
2) if they buy the lower end model they will come back and buy another one sooner.
My current laptop is an L390Y, the last yoga with slotted RAM, it will serve me another 3 years at least. However afterwards I most likely won't by another lenovo and go with a framework. Seems to follow the spirit of old 200x era thinkpads more than the newer thinkpads
such underrated channel
I have been using this model for the third year and only recently learned that the computer is 10 years old. To say that I was in shock is to say nothing. The design code of this laptop is not subject to time. Now, I'm a ThinkPad adept. Thank you for this video, it was very nice to listen
same for me but with the T460. Still very modern to me and I love the ruggedness.
I just started watching your channel yesterday and here we have some kind of anniversary 🤯
I am so glad to see that you are back!!!! Fellow Pittsburgher here lol I've been currently looking at an old IBM T43 to buy and tinker with. Love the new videos! Keep up the great work!
Thanks for watching! 🖤💛
Great video!
Awesome to see you back on TH-cam again!
ThinkPad life. Still using my 3632qm upgraded T430 to this day. I remember when the X1 Carbon first came out and that thinness was really drool-worthy stuff
It’s still droolworthy today imo
I was wondering when I'd see another Sebi video. Glad to have you back!
I still use the Gen 1 daily with no issue. This thing is built like a tank!
Most ThinkPads of the time were. Nowadays it's hard to say, my Nano seems pretty solid but I've heard more complaints on the quality control of newer models.
I’ve had this one since it was released, still works like a charm
great to see you back
Glad to see likely the best channel about ThinkPad's back
Welcome back!!
I didn't even realise the presence of LED indicator on the outer lid of X1 carbon 1st gen until I saw your video, great retrospective!
Thanks for watching!
Got one and still runs like a champ. Got NixOS on it. This channel helped me with wanting one. Thanks 👍
nice! hope you post regularly again!
I've been using X1s for the past six years and I absolutely love them. The form factor just hits the portability sweet spot for me while having enough juice for everything I need to run.
I recently swapped my gen 4 carbon for the gen 4 (equivalent to gen 7) yoga. The improved audio is incredible. That was always one of my issues with the older carbon. USB C is another nice to have. Hopefully this one should last me another 6 years
Great video as usual, it's always a real treat when you upload. Watched from my T430, time goes by and I still think I'll stick with this machine.
I've been using the X1 Nano as my main machine for a while now but I still go back to the T430 a lot. Love that machine especially with the upgrades I've made to it!
Nice to see you back, Sebi.
well done my friend, your videos successfully got me to purchase a t430 about 6 months ago haha
He returned!! Hooray!!!!
Welcome back!
Laptop aside, I just really like those shots outside, especially the one at 4:56, sky here looks awesome!
Thanks! Glad somebody appreciates the "glory shots" :)
Great review 👍🏻 I just bought a Gen 6 on eBay, still waiting for it to arrive, I hope it’s better than my T460s. Cheers and keep up with the good work.
had this exact lenovo thinkpad x1 model before, still kicking in 2023
Yay! Welcome Back! Just watched the video on my X61 running Linux. :D Waiting for a T61 I got from ebay. It was listed in Pennsylvania by the way.
Hope you have good luck with the T61, those are known to have problematic GPUs. Thanks for watching!
@@SebisRandomTech Thanks Sebi. It was listed as just having only an Intel chip (8895-2FU). Good enough for light web browsing. Might upgrade the CPU and RAM later on. 😄
OMG YOUR BACK
HOLY SHIT I GOT BUTTERFLIES WHEN I SAW THIS VIDEO IN MY FEED.
welcome back
Hey Sebi,
my first video from you was the video about the T480 and finally I own one for myself. It is snappy and sleek, a great laptop I found from the second market.
I hope you like it!
Thanks for paying attention to the PWM issue which is often overlooked. 👍
It doesn't bother me but I know others feel rather strongly about it, so it's worth pointing out.
Glad that you are back and btw can you make videos on other laptops too.
The man the myth the legend is back!
Missed these videos. Got a L14 gen 1 recently.
I love the pictures of the thinkpad at random places
the return of the king
i might consider buying a used thinkpad that i can use when i got my future pc and for some reason decided to unalive itself
I'm still hanging in there with my w530 and t530 both all upgraded as far as I can. Good video as usual.
Would you mind sharing your thoughts on the W530/T530 screens ?
@@oussama4629 Both mine have upgraded 1920x1080 displays. So I like them both. If you are buy a used laptop make sure you have a high display resolution.
@@coegj Thank you, i'm actually considering getting the W530 that's why i'm asking
I remember being obsessed with X-1 when it was new, so slim
I'm typing this on my T500. Great machine.
It definitely is! Can’t go wrong with classics like that.
glad you're okay
HE's BACK!!!
Still rocking my gen 1. Battery is shot but it works great.
A number of years back I had one of these with the i7. Fantastic laptop. One the reasons I bought it was because it had dedicated volume buttons, which I still find annoying not to have on the newer thinkpads.
Agreed, I'm sure it came down to wanting to save a few cents in manufacturing costs and it bugs me not having that feature on the newer models. If only they had done a similar keyboard for the 30th Anniversary ThinkPad that they had done for the 25th Anniversary Edition.
@@SebisRandomTech no doubt it came down to that. Probably just like removing the blue accents from the center button for the trackpoint, and changing all the keyboard LEDs to white. I can't stand the white power button and caps lock on my T480s. It's the small things that matter.
The Sebi's Random Tech, 1 years later
Glad to see you.
from time to time I like to grab such a thin and light machine :)
Thanks Sebi, good to see your latest.
I'm a long-time ThinkPad fan, with my first having been a T42p. But I'm very pleased with the used T470s I bought a few months ago. I don't need it any thinner/lighter than that.
New video yoooooooo
such a good video
i like it
Thanks for watching!
1 year later, finally! I say Sebi should upload at least once a week from now on.
Once a week may be hard to juggle with my other committments at the moment, but I'd like to try to upload as much as I can!
Bro I literally subscribed to you the other day and was just checking your videos and saw that you posted your last video a year ago.
And now I get a notification of this video, wonderful.
Good timing! Hope to see you back for the next video!
@@SebisRandomTech Absolutely my man,
I had one from 2016 to 2019, but have since upgraded to a t540p(with a w540motherboard). Build quality was amazing compared to my current rattling plastic t/w540, and I really apreciated the dedicated volume buttons and thinkvantage button. I had programmed the thinkvantage button to turn off the display until mouse was moved, which helped me save battery when attending lectures. Soldered 4GB of ram, lack of ethernet port and ultimately the battery life were my biggest reasons for getting rid of the X1. I'm happier with the w540 but my god is it heavy and pumps out more heat than the sun. For my next system I've been thinking of an x1 extreme, which could be a pretty good middle ground between the two.
The P50/51/52/53 might also be a good option. Similar size to the W540, but from what I've heard better build quality and infinitely more modern.
LETS GO NEW SEBI VIDEO
1st, Much Appreciated
I've got an RTX 3080 MSI GP66 laptop but I've just bought a second hand gen 6 x1 carbon because there are so many great features, like the keyboard, size, and screen (and it's battery will last longer than 90 mins)
I was just thinking about buying this laptop :)
I meant the gen 9/10 lol
How does he find all these laptops laying on the roads and trails? I never get lucky like this
Yooo! A new video! Was that a Bessemer train in the display comparison with the other laptops?
It was! Good eye!
@@SebisRandomTech Sweeet. I used to always drive by the big “Bessemer” bridge on the turnpike, didn’t know they were still running trains
It's also important to note that the dedicated power light on the top cover went away mid year. So if your model as those indicators you have an early to mid build X1 Carbon 1st gen. Late builds did away with that awesome feature.
Interesting, I never knew that! Pretty interesting for them to make a... "revision" (downgrade) like that in the middle of production.
@@SebisRandomTech I stand corrected. IT wasn't a mid year change but rather if you opted for the touch screen then they did away with the outside light indicators. I had to go back and check my documentation. So once again, if you have one of the very rare TOUCH screen models, you will NOT have the outside light indicators. I guess Lenovo had a hard time adding the digitizer for the touchscreen and keeping room for the wiring to run up to the LED indicators would be my guess. The reason I thought it was a mid year change was that the touch screen option was NOT available at the start of production. So it took awhile to ramp up those models for sale. Also since they weren't avaiable at the beginning of production, all touch screen models came standard with windows 8, not 7. Also the touch screen models have the red blinking "I" in the Thinkpad on the outer case. Just wanted to be correct.
Yes great laptop. What hdmi adaptor can I use? Thanks
Hooray! a new upload, i recently got into thinkpads and wondering if t480 is still viable option for 2022. I will be mostly using it for school and media consumption i would love to hear ur thoughts in terms of battery life, performance and thermals :)
If you can get it for a good price then by all means go for it, just make sure the Thunderbolt ports are functioning correctly before dropping money on it. ThinkPads from that generation had issues with the Thunderbolt controllers that kill the port over time, this has been addressed with a BIOS patch but there may be some defective units out there.
Running a T480 my self. I7 and 16 gig of ram 2 tb of storage. Great machine. Good battery life and you can get replacement batteries for them from Lenovo still.
Considering I run a t420 from 2011 you should be fine.
Suggestion: "Best Thinkpads for Zoom meetings". A lot of Zoom use going on. For example, an X220 can do basic Zoom ok, will not support any additional video backgrounds. My T440 can use virtual still backgrounds, but not video backgrounds. My T580 can use both stills and video backgrounds very nicely.
Any thoughts on the P52? I'm looking to get a newer used Thinkpad to upgrade from my beloved T420 and I'd like to hear what might be a good option~
-also love the Thinkpad videos!
If you can land a good deal on one the P52 is a great option. The P51 and moreso the P50 have become very affordable lately and may also be worth considering if the P52 is a little out of your price range. Thanks for watching my videos!
Can't get enough history on the ThinkPad line. I've got the 1st Gen X1 Nano and I'm thinking about picking up an X1 Carbon. So glad they don't use PWM on the new models.
The PWM doesn't bother me too much, but even setting that aside the better picture quality of modern panels is enough of a reason to give newer models a look.
I got one but the Buttons at the top don't work right. Like the Power Key has to be pressed many times and the Volume keys and mute don't work most times. Same with the Mic Mute. Don't know how to fix it.
Great video. Can you advise which is the best Thinkpad or Thinkbook for video editing? And do you have any suggestions for a budget version?
The P series (and if you go older, the W series) is likely the best choice for video editing. A "budget" version is a used machine, such as a P50 or W541. They should both still be very capable for video editing aside from intense 3D rendering/effects.
@@SebisRandomTechwhat about music production? Like abelton and fl studio
Sir how much is the new one in 2023 Lenovo thinkpad x1carbon ultrabook grn1
do you do tutorials on how to reset cmos passwords?
What's your opinion on the Yoga variants or the X220 tablet? I kinda like doing amateur art on the Yoga 260, but am considering an upgrade in the same ballpark. If it's a choice between the 90 or the 80 models, do you prefer the L or the X?
X series machines are generally better quality than the L series. I don't know very much about the Tablet variants of ThinkPads.
@@SebisRandomTech My girlfriend has been using the X1 Yoga Gen 3 as an upgrade over her X220T since she needs to run the Adobe suite for her classes (obligatory fuck Adobe). The quality of it seems to be on par with the other X1 laptops. On one hand, it's still better quality than other tablet laptops on the market. But on the other hand, it's plagued by the X1 line's limited upgradability. I miss the chonky, ultra upgradable ThinkPads. Lenovo has taken the ThinkPad brand in the wrong direction in my opinion, and at this point it's getting harder to want to choose them over something like Dell's enterprise laptops because very little separates them at this point. If Lenovo gets rid of the trackpoint (like Dell has been doing with their laptops recently, see the hideous Macbook-like Precision 3560 for example), then that will be the day they lose me.
i missed you
Really enjoy to see your videos. I Got motivated to bring my Old T61 back to life. Any chance your could help me out which spareparts to search for.? From an older video of yours it looks like a bios Update, memory, new ssd, perhaps a cpu. Any chance your would be up for at chat about it.?
Depends on what all you want to do with your laptop. What are your plans? Just get it running? Upgrade it? Daily driver or just a spare machine?
@@SebisRandomTech I want it a laptop to play around with, try out new Linux distros.
Considering a Linux Alpine laptop.
It runs already. The battery isn't great, the fan a little loud, the monitor socket wackels a little, but nothing lose, nothing broken. All runs like i remember it from when it was new in 2008.
@@tomasnorre Might benefit from a new fan and a new battery, aside from that you can upgrade the RAM to up to 8 GB, make some processor upgrades and swap the hard drive for an SSD. The Middleton's BIOS I discussed in an older video will speed up SSD performance a little. Also make sure to repaste the CPU if you don't upgrade, the old thermal paste has probably gotten a little crusty by this point.
@@SebisRandomTech Thanks. I have searched for new fan, but hard to find in Europe. At least I haven't succeeded. It's already a SSD disk in there, so perhaps the bios update alone will make a difference.
Thanks for your suggestions.
After following you from years, and having a Model M myself now i figure out the sound of your intro comes from this keyboard, beautiful.
Im about to sell my gamer pc, and i need to decide for a thinkpad model. Will you recommend me T480 or any other model? (im scared of the t480 bc of the TB3 issue)
What will you need your laptop to be capable of? Is gaming a priority for you when deciding what laptop to get?
@@SebisRandomTech I just need to be able to run dota2 at 60 low graphics 1080p thats the only casual gaming i do. I thought about T480 but I’m worried will not be enough (there is no option of dgpu in my country)
Btw do u still use your model M?
@@narej3059 You could possibly look into something like the P1 or the X1 Extreme since those are more performance oriented while still being relatively thin and light.
And yes, I do still use my Model M ;)
Initially parsed that title as "The ThinkPad X1 Carbon 10, years later"
i still have 2 IBM X20 ^^
When are you coming back? We miss you
Welcome back Sebi.
So the X1 Carbon is less powerful than my X230T, but nowhere near as useful, sturdy, expandable, and you can't put a 7 rows keyboard on it? Why would anyone want it?
It's thin and lightweight and for some that's a selling point. Many MacBook users or would-be MacBook users are drawn to the X1 series. While MacBook users should not be the ThinkPad's target audience I have noticed the X1 Carbon has served as a starting point for many people converting from a Mac, and that accounts for something.
Hold up. At 7:30 on the left display is that the Kinzua Bridge?
Yup!
we had these at school, took 10 mins to start-up. Still don't know why
Kindly review X1 carbon 6th gen and above gen model
I kindly will if I can get my hands on one! Those newer models aren't exactly cheap...
Glad to see you back! Viewing u from Ukraine. Can u make new best value thinkpad in 2022? Thank mate:)
Might be working on an installment for 2023, we shall see though! Thanks for watching!
Hey Sebi, I want to ask you if it is worth buying parts for thinkpads from aliexpres. I have in mind getting a t430 second hand for 80 doubloons but most parts I want to change are only on ali. What will be wise in this situation.
I've personally never ordered from AliExpress but many others in the ThinkPad community have, some have experienced issues with parts ordered while others have no complaints. I'd suggest ordering 1 or 2 parts and seeing if you are satisfied with those before spending a lot of money on there.
I stopped using my 2012 X1 a few months ago. It mostly just ran emacs, and still does everything I ask of it, though the battery and keyboard need replacing (I've lost 3 keys). It takes an extra trick to use the caps lock as a control key (it's nonstandard somehow?) and the battery life was never 8 hours on GNU/Linux. The keyboard doesn't feel half as good as my T20.
It has been that long since I could justify spending money on Lenovo. Newer models feel cheaper and have more misfeatures than ever. And their support is not worth your effort, at least here in Aus. I totally considered replacing with another 2012 X1.
I had the Gen 8, and it was an unreliable POS. Maybe I had a bad unit, but I now have an much older T590 and while slower it has been way more reliable.
Great laptop. Wish it had the ethernet socket. Noted the soldered RAM too.
Agreed, those are the two biggest downsides of this machine for me.
ngl i did NOT realise this was 10 years old already
Time certainly flies!
dude, consider making a video about thinkpad hinges. see what's the sturdiest of em all
Please suggest the best suitable ThinkPad model for my son to buy who is going to admit for the engineering college this year in July'2023. Also please suggest the best second sale/ refurbished online sites. We are from India.
Look at the P series, very solid options for that line of work. eBay is probably your best bet or Lenovo's outlet site.
Are the newer Gen 7, 8, maybe Gen 5, considered ThinkPads? Thank you 🤓
Depends on who you ask, for most they should be decent enough to get the job done!
I use a T420 and X1 carbon G1, and everyone at my school thinks the T420 is like 20 years old but the X1c is brand new because of how thin it is 😂
Question. I want a Thinkpad with a minimum 4th gen CPU and don't really care how slim or thick it is. Which model would you say is the best overall value for 4th gen and up?
T440p is easy to find and cheap, and it has a lot of upgrades available. 1080p IPS panels are a drop-in upgrade (and some models came with one from the factory), it's easy to put in a quad-core i7 and upgrade the RAM/storage. If you can get a model with dedicated graphics it isn't half bad for some modern stuff if you have reasonable expectations. The W540/541 aren't bad options to consider either, and if you want to get something newer and value performance the P50 series is worth a look. If performance is less of a concern to you then the T460/470/480 aren't bad options either.
@@SebisRandomTech Thanks so much Sebi! I was looking at some well priced T440s on ebay recently but I will certainly also look into the ones you mention. I really appreciate your time and value your opinion.
Sure thing! Thanks for watching!
Broo, where have you been?
It's been so long
Got a lot of stuff to do outside of TH-cam! Just hard to get the time to put videos together.
ayyy, glad to see you back. The laptop seems like... the worst of both worlds. It doesn't have most of the benefits of the older thinkpads, and doesn't have the benefit of being new.
Agreed, it's certainly nice in terms of being relatively thin and light (even for its age) and has a few of those nice classic features like the indicator lights and volume controls, but the lack of ports and soldered RAM limit expansion, the U-series processor dates it more than the thicker M and QM chips found in the T and W series, and it has a display that beats the T430's but is put to shame by anything newer. Glad you enjoyed the video!
I think my T480 has one more port than this.... ethernet... or maybe the Thunderbolt 3/ Dock combo.
Yikes back in 2012, the SSD would have cost an arm and a leg to upgrade/replace.
Where did you go!!!
School.
Back in 2021, I bought an i7 model of the X1 Carbon 1st Gen and the thermals were absloute trash.
You should make a video about the touchbar carbon that came out in the next generation. Those were, in my opinion, the worst of Lenovo's Thinkpads.
It's one I've wanted to look at, just haven't managed to get ahold of one just yet. Despite its flaws it was certainly an interesting model!
The only concerning thing I found in this video, was the "256GB Kingspec SSD" @@