Ultrabuk Lenovo Carbon X1: description and characteristics

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is an ultrabook, which has already been re-released three times by a well-known manufacturer: in 2012, 2013 and 2014. What is he so fond of buyers that he received such an honor? What are the characteristics of this model? Read on, and we'll look in detail at all its pros and cons.

What is the difference between an ultrabook and a conventional laptop?

What is behind the new term? Ultrabooks are a relatively recent category of laptops, which occupies a niche between light notebooks and tablets. Intel has put forward clear requirements for models that claim this title. Ultrabook should be very thin (less than 20 millimeters, or 0.8 inches), light, work with powerful and low-power processors of the Sandy Bridge family or Ivy Bridge. It should guarantee a long battery life and quick charging.

This class of models is very different from netbooks. They offer more power in the form of fast processors and additional RAM, as well as more storage space for files, larger screen size and quality and often premium design. These features make the best ultrabooks much more expensive than most netbooks.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon version 2012

This model was made in a strict classic combination of colors - black and dark gray, the body is made of a pleasant to the touch carbon, which allowed to reduce its weight without compromising the resistance to damage.

Among the advantages of an ultrabook, first of all it is necessary to name a powerful processor (by the standards of 2012) - it could work at a frequency of 1.8 to 2.7 GHz during an intense load, a large amount of hard disk memory - 256 GB and 8 GB of RAM. All this guaranteed fast work with any tasks.

In addition, the battery was charged from 0 to 100% for 45 minutes and could boast of a long work. Build quality, security features - everything would be perfect in this ultrabook, if not for the screen and ports. The first was excessively bright, but it was slightly grainy, you could consider individual pixels. And some of the important ports had to be abandoned, because they did not fit in a slim body. But in general it was a fairly successful and popular model of the premium class.

A little later, in early 2013, there was a version with a touchscreen.

In more detail to consider notebooks Lenovo X1 Carbon 2012-2013 there is no sense - in the primary market they can not be found, and on the secondary list of offers is quite limited. With their cost and characteristics, today they could not compete with other models, and they were replaced by a more perfect version of 2014, which will be discussed further.

New version: cost, target audience, appearance

The last generation of the flagship Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook was released in 2014. Its average price varies slightly depending on the dollar rate - from 90 to 95 thousand rubles. Add here the necessary accessories, and the purchase will have to postpone a minimum of 100 thousand rubles.

Lenovo X1 Carbon 3rd generation is still focused on wealthy buyers, businessmen and top managers, and this is indicated not only by its cost.

Appearance device almost does not differ from its predecessors and follows the calibrated formula - laconic colors, neat shapes and edges, material that leaves the impression of high cost.

Carbon fiber, it's carbon, on the top of the case and magnesium alloy on the bottom allow the ultrabook to remain surprisingly light (its weight is 1.27-1.43 kg), but durable. He successfully passed the MIL-SPEC tests - the US Department of Defense Standards Systems - on stability to work in conditions of high humidity, extreme temperatures, resistance to sand, high altitudes, vibration and mechanical shocks.

All surfaces of the Lenovo Carbon X1 are matte, pleasant to the touch, non-slip and not collecting fingerprints. Its dimensions: length - 331 mm, width - 227 mm, thickness, as well as weight, differs depending on whether the model has a touchscreen or not: 17.5-18.3 mm, which makes it slightly thinner and lighter than the previous ones Generation, but still it is not the thinnest or lightest in the market.

Specifications

What is hidden under the heavy-duty hull? With an Intel Core i5-4200U, 8GB of RAM and an Intel HD 4400 graphics card, the ultrabook proved more than worthy in tests and in most standard tasks. But without a spoon fly, as usual, was not done. The volume of the hard disk varies - depending on the particular model - from 128 to 256 GB, which in any case is not very much. And the speed of its work is not high at all - in the tests the model with 128 GB showed about 86 Mbit / s, which is much lower than that of competitors.

The video card allows you to comfortably watch movies in HD-quality, as well as play in many games.

In this case, the ultrabook even under intense loads is not subject to strong heating.

The list of available ports was somewhat damaged due to the small thickness of the case. There are two USB 3.0 connectors, HDMI, Mini-DisplayPort and a mini-version of Ethernet (you need an adapter to work with a standard Internet cable).

For wireless connection, there is Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and Wi-Fi.

Screen

Lenovo Carbon X1 comes in two versions, which differ in the type of 14-inch display. The first conventional TN-screen with QHD resolution is 1600 x 900 pixels, and the second one has a modern IPS touchscreen, with 10 touch points and WQHD resolution, which is equal to 2560 x 1440 pixels. Both versions have very good color rendering, brightness, which will allow working with the device even in the sun, and wide viewing angles.

The touchscreen is very sensitive, if desired, in Paint you can draw with all 10 fingers.

Undoubtedly, releasing this ultrabook, Lenovo took into account the shortcomings of previous versions and gave the new generation an impeccable screen.

Sound and webcam

The model has two speakers, which are located on the front side of the case. Usually, the sound in portable devices leaves much to be desired, but you can not say about the ultrabook of the Lenovo Carbon X1. It is crisp, without distortion at high volume levels and even with small bass. A significant role in improving the quality of the physical components of the audio complex is played by the Dolby Home Theater 4 software. Without it, the sound of the speakers is deteriorating noticeably.

3 MP HD-webcam allows you to easily communicate in Skype with friends and business partners - the picture quality is quite high, with the correct color rendering.

Keyboard

On the new Lenovo Carbon X1, the manufacturer made radical changes to its traditional ThinkPad keyboard, both in terms of the layout of the keys, and in their functions. These innovations consist not only in the addition of bright contrast elements of red color.

A new row of buttons with adaptive functions is at the top of the keyboard, replacing the standard row of function keys. The latter was present on all previous versions of the ThinkPad, as well as on any other laptop. Instead of the usual buttons, the manufacturer has made capacitive touch keys that show different symbols and perform different functions depending on what program you are currently using or in which of the 4 modes of operation you are in. You can switch them manually using the button on the left of the keyboard. For example, the standard mode offers brightness settings, volume settings, a list of all programs, the "Scissors" tool, the voice control menu and gestures. When you use Chrome, IE, or another browser, the functions change, and the keys show the forward, backward and update buttons.

Changes were made to the standard layout. So, the Caps Lock button is replaced with the Home and End buttons, and its function now performs a double-click Shift. Backspace has become half as large and is located close to the Delete key.

Compared to other models in the ThinkPad line, the Lenovo X1 Carbon notebook can not boast the most comfortable keyboard. The response of the buttons is not so fast and clear, they seem less deep and more taut. But the three backlight modes allow you to work comfortably with the keyboard under any lighting conditions.

Other management methods

Of course, this ultrabook "Lenovo" is equipped with a touchpad in the corporate style of ThinkPad. It is quite large - 10 x 7,5 cm, which allows you to work comfortably on it. There are no right-click and left-click buttons, the latter can be made by clicking anywhere on the touchpad, and the first one is only in the lower right corner. In addition, the Lenovo Carbon X1 has a TrackPoint manipulator - a large rubberized red button on the center of the keyboard that works quite accurately, especially when you need to select small text or click on a small element on the screen.

But this is not all that the manufacturer has prepared. If you are tired of using a keyboard or touchpad, then you can try waving a pen or talking to the Lenovo Carbon X1. The manufacturer equipped it with its own software for managing gestures and Dragon Assistant, a program for voice control.

To make Lenovo's ultranuke "see" your commands, the webcam is turned on when you are working in an environment where such commands are possible. For example, you can scroll through the images in the image gallery or stop / continue playing the video. And Dragon Assistant will be able to select a contact from the general list and send him an e-mail dictated by you; Post a post on social networks or manage a media player.

But if the gesture management program can work in the background, then the voice assistant must be "called up" every time. And his abilities are very limited, he loses to a similar "assistant" Siri from iOS.

Battery

For the ultrabook is extremely important portability, and Lenovo Carbon X1 is not something that disappoints the buyer in this aspect, but also not very happy. The battery capacity is only 2940 mAh, but the life of its 8-cell lithium-polymer battery can be estimated in about 8-9 hours of working with a browser, documents, or about 6 hours of watching movies in high quality. Full charge is carried out for 2 hours.

With such parameters, this model can not boast the greatest "endurance", many competitors in this price category will last 1-3 hours longer.

Summing up

Lenovo Carbon X1 - it is impeccable in appearance, size and quality of assembly ultrabook. It has a very good screen and high performance. But the hard drive leaves much to be desired, as well as controversial solutions for improving the keyboard. Battery life is also not the most impressive. By and large, its advantages outweigh the disadvantages, but one should not forget about another important factor - a high price. But if you are willing to pay for quality, then this ultrabuk completely justifies itself.