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- Lenovo’s 7th-generation ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptops are lighter than Apple’s MacBook Air, have bigger screens, run on better processors, and don’t cost much more.
- They also have a classic, stealthy design, the best keyboards on any laptop, and importantly, they have a good choice of ports, including regular USB-A ports, USB-C, and HDMI.
- If you opt for the X1 Carbon with the 4K UHD screen, you should know that battery life will take a hit. If you value battery life, you’ll do better with the WQHD or FHD screen options.
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Lenovo laptops should certainly rank high up on any laptop shopper’s list, but there’s one line of Lenovo laptops that a lot of people likely overlook, just because they’re "business" laptops.
Lenovo ThinkPads are often associated with business uses, and they’re often issued by companies to their employees for that reason: work. But you’d be missing out if you dismiss Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon laptops while shopping around for a new laptop.
Indeed, there are some things about the X1 Carbon that are only really useful for businesses, like Intel’s "vPro" technology designed to make life easier for corporate IT teams. That "vPro" stuff is expensive, but it’s only an option.
You, me, and anyone else who wants an awesome laptop can get an X1 Carbon that doesn’t come with the business stuff. And they’re priced and specced competitively against regular, non-business laptops.
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Lenovo’s X1 Carbon start at $1,253 for a four-core Intel Core i5, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and a 14-inch FHD 1080p display. If you want a Core i7 and 16 GB of RAM, it’ll cost $1,453, which in an incredible price tag for those specs.
Everyone looking for a new laptop should be looking at Lenovo’s 7th-gen ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
Check out what makes it such an awesome laptop:
Within seconds of picking up the ThinkPad X1 carbon, its stock had already risen beyond other laptops I’ve tried.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
This thing is exceptionally light at 2.4 pounds — lighter than a 2.75-pound MacBook Air.
In fact, it’s thinner at 0.58 inches than the MacBook Air’s thickest point of 0.61 inches, but it doesn’t taper down like the MacBook Air does, so it’s still thicker overall.
Light weight and portability weren’t always priorities for me. But once you try something as light as the X1 Carbon, it can easily flip your priorities.
The other thing that immediately gave bonus points to the X1 Carbon was the ports.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
You get one HDMI, two USB 3.1 ports, two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports for docks and charging, an odd-looking ethernet expansion port, and a headphone jack.
If you still use, or want to use, your USB-A accessories without depending on a USB-C docking station or adapter, the X1 Carbon will make it easy for you compared to laptops that only come with USB-C ports, like Apple’s laptops and the Dell XPS 13.
With things like cloud storage and wireless accessories, it’s actually pretty easy to come to terms with a USB-C-only laptop. You might not often need an old-fashioned USB-A port. But for those few times you might need one, the X1 Carbon has your back. Meanwhile, Apple’s laptops and other Windows 10 laptops that are USB-C-only leave you stranded unless you have an adapter with you.
The X1 Carbon has a classic, stealth look that leans towards the utilitarian rather than the beautiful — and I love it.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
The rubbery plastic exterior and interior feels premium and somewhat unique in a sea of metal-laden laptops. It’s an updated classic IBM/Lenovo design that’s aged extremely well.
Open the X1 Carbon, and you’re greeted with the signature IBM/Lenovo red nubbin mouse nestled in the keyboard. I’m sure some people out there still use the nubbin, but for me, it’s more of a nostalgic detail. It’s like the Blackberry keyboard of laptops — it’s a throwback feature that’s made redundant with newer, better technology. For Blackberry phones, that tech was the touch screen. For the IBM/Lenovo nubbin, it’s the touchpad.
The nubbin never posed any issues, but I wish the three buttons below the keyboard/above the touchpad weren’t there, as to give more space for the touchpad itself.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Antonio Villas-Boas)