Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold review
Our Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is a remarkable achievement with too many asterisks to give information technology a stiff recommendation.
For
- Gorgeous folding OLED display
- Innovative design
- Durable chassis
- Luxurious leather
Against
- Keyboard has a too-tight layout
- Lackluster operation
- $2,500 starting cost — without keyboard
- More software flaws than this price can afford
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is a remarkable achievement with as well many asterisks to requite it a stiff recommendation.
Pros
- +
Gorgeous folding OLED display
- +
Innovative design
- +
Durable chassis
- +
Luxurious leather
Cons
- -
Keyboard has a too-tight layout
- -
Lackluster performance
- -
$2,500 starting price — without keyboard
- -
More than software flaws than this price can beget
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold shouldn't really exist. I never thought I'd run into a folding laptop in my lifetime. But Lenovo didn't intendance to consult my expectations, and made the wildest thing they could. A 12.9-inch tablet that folds in half and has a keyboard that snaps to its screen. Wild.
But along the mode, Lenovo left a few corners cut a bit too tightly, as this ThinkPad X1 Fold review volition show. Its performance is non cracking; Windows x doesn't seem ready for a folding screen and the X1 Fold's battery life is not a pretty picture. And when the X1 Fold costs as much every bit it does — nosotros tested it at $2,749 — information technology's hard to excuse these issues. But when it works — its display is gorgeous and its blueprint is a marvel of engineering — information technology actually works. And then let's read on to see why the X1 fold didn't make our best laptops listing.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold cost and configurations
Y'all pay a lot to be an early on adopter, and that's the case with the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which starts at $2,500. That price gives yous a configuration with an Intel Core i5-L16G7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
But you'll want the ThinkPad X1 Fold's external snap-on keyboard for the "ooh" factor" and its pen as well — and both of those bring your final price to $2,749. Oh, desire more storage? You lot tin can go the X1 Fold with a 512GB SSD ($two,899) or a 1TB ($iii,099) if you've got Scrooge McDuck bucks.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold pattern
Belongings information technology in my easily for the first time, as I gripped its leather case, I was impressed that the ThinkPad X1 Fold was existent. This is the kind of technology that many companies would announce and never send.
You pay a lot to be an early adopter, and that's the instance with the ThinkPad X1 Fold, which starts at $2,500.
At 2.i pounds the ThinkPad X1 Fold feels like a sturdy slice of tech. The 12.ix-inch Apple iPad Pro (1.iv pounds) and Surface Pro 7 (1.7 pounds) are lighter.
Simply for those who demand a physical keyboard, the ThinkPad X1 Fold's a bit heavier with its optional keyboard — at ii.5 pounds, which is a hair heavier than the Surface Pro 7 with its keyboard attached, which weighs 2.4 pounds.
That being said, the Dell XPS xiii is fifty-fifty heavier at 2.9 pounds, as is the iPad Pro (3.1 pounds) continued to its Magic Keyboard.
As for ports, you lot're getting a pair of USB-C ports, ane for charging the X1 Fold and the other for accessories, such equally the Mod Pen.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold durability
The ThinkPad X1 Fold doesn't scream "rugged," just since it's so expensive, nosotros're happy to hear that it can have a lickin' and keep on tickin'. It passed 12 MIL-STD-810G-rated tests — which are the highly specific ruggedness tests for situations including sand and dust, extreme high and low temperatures, vibration and shock and humidity.
It also feels actually solid. When opening and closing the ThinkPad X1 Fold, everything looks and sounds like it will last — and it should, as Lenovo tested it to repeat this simple procedure thousands of times. Aside from the satisfying "chunk" racket it makes upon beingness closed shut, the X1 Fold is silent during the process.
Think of it equally a volume that'southward made of two big pieces, with a hinge that'due south hidden by the leather back. On the bezel, though, you'll see a ribbed department, which allows for the device to fold and unfold without habiliment or tear. You'll also run into a small bar-shaped spine when you open and close the X1 Fold.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold display
While the ThinkPad X1 Fold's display is a fingerprint magnet, I quickly forgot about that the second I started watching a 4K video of footage of the Samana peninsula in the Dominican Republic. The side by side best affair to actually vacationing, the X1 Fold'south thirteen.3-inch, 2048 x 1536-pixel OLED panel rendered the h2o in a cute serene blue, the trees in a range of potent greens and the sands looked so crisp that I could practically imagine my toes sinking in.
What didn't feel as luxurious, though, was moving windows between the sides of the screen while it was non 100% flat. For example, when I drag a window across the folding divide line, it detaches from my finger well-nigh one-half the time.
This is because X1 Fold's touch on screen requires a very business firm bear upon, at least in my testing. This is likely to prevent accidental actuation when yous're belongings it like a volume, since your fingertips are going so close to the screen when gripping it by the bezels. In one case I got used to information technology, I noticed that the X1 Fold accurately tracked my input.
Co-ordinate to our colorimeter, the X1 Fold's display emits 147% of the sRGB color spectrum, which beats the 123% rating from the iPad Pro, the 97% from the Surface Pro seven and the 98% from the XPS 13.
On effulgence, though, it did not concur up as well, producing an average of 301 nits. The iPad Pro (559 nits) XPS 13 (469 nits) and Surface Pro vii (395 nits) are much brighter. That lack of brightness showed a bit when I watched that gorgeous 4K beach video darken a tad (non that badly, though) from 30 degrees to the left and right — with beaches looking slightly browner and calm waters not popping as much.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold keyboard, touchpad and Mod Pen
When yous hear "foldable laptop" you automatically think of something with a keyboard, right? Well, the ThinkPad X1 Fold's keyboard is an optional ($250) accessory that snaps onto half of the display (or can be used externally).
The touchpad is but too darn modest to feel comfortable. My fingertips striking the sides as if my feet were hitting the walls of a tiny kiddie puddle.
Taking it out for a spin on the 10fastfingers typing test, I had a mountain of a learning curve to handle, and slowly saw my typing speeds get upwards, from 49 words per infinitesimal, to as high equally 75 wpm. All the while, it still felt uncomfortable, as both of those positions — fastened and divide — pose their ain problems. When typing with the keyboard docked, my wrists lay on the corners of the device, which was not comfortable, to say the least. And trying information technology out discrete, I realized that the keyboard is so slight that I needed to prop it upwardly onto something else, as it'due south and then thin you're practically borer your tabular array.
And while there were glitches with the keyboard, which I'll explain further in the Software department, my biggest gripe about this keyboard is it's pin-hole sized power button, which is then small you probably won't notice it until you lot go looking for it.
Oh, and about the keyboard'south 2.5 x i.3-inch touchpad. It's accurate enough, and scrolling is smoothen via this method, but it's just too darn small to feel comfy. My fingertips hit the sides of the touchpad, every bit if my feet were hitting the walls of a tiny kiddie pool, earlier I knew it.
My final frustration nigh the keyboard is how its scrunched layout — which reminds me of the whole "netbook" trend that disappeared (as it should have) leads to having the ?, /, [, ], { and } characters crave property the part fundamental. And if you desire the question mark or curved brackets, y'all're gonna need to hold downward shift while you hit the function cardinal.
The $99 Lenovo Mod Pen is a pretty good stylus. It'southward got the heft of a serious pen, and it'due south easy to keep rail of, thanks to a loop attached to the keyboard for storage.
And when yous pull its "cap" off, you reveal a USB-C port where it charges. Plus, its built in eraser and right-click buttons piece of work smoothly. I only wish it magnetically snapped onto the side of the X1 Fold.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold audio
Both Phoebe Bridgers' "Kyoto" and The Clipse'due south "Grindin'" sounded great on the X1 Fold, with vocals hitting clearly and drums either stiff or crisp (depending on the tune) provided I had placed it into laptop way. But say you accept the X1 Fold standing upright, in landscape fashion? Then one of its speakers volition be pressed confronting your surface, muffling that sound.
Yeah, the sound quality of the ThinkPad X1 Fold will depend on what position you put it in, which is annoying — information technology should audio smashing no affair how you set up it upward. When yous purchase a device for its versatility, you lot wait it to be great in all modes.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold performance
I'chiliad not sure who'due south going to try and push button this device that fast, but you might hit a wall, every bit its Intel Core i5-L16G7 CPU with 8GB of RAM doesn't really hold up well against the contest. Its ane,794 on the Geekbench five benchmark is a mere fraction of the Dell XPS xiii'southward v,254 (with 11th Gen Cadre i7 CPU and 8GB of RAM), the 4,720 from the iPad Pro (A12Z Bionic) or the four,443 from the Surface Pro 7 (Intel Core i5-1035G4; 8GB of RAM).
It didn't fare well on our video conversion test either. Handbrake converted a 4K movie to 1080p in 33 minutes and 31 seconds on the X1 Fold, more xv minutes longer than it took the XPS xiii (18:22), and under a infinitesimal longer than the already terrible 32:47 from the Surface Pro seven.
At least the X1 Fold has a decent SSD, as information technology duplicated around 5GB of files at a charge per unit of 445 MBps, chirapsia the Surface Pro 7'southward 267MBps charge per unit. The XPS thirteen's 728 MBps charge per unit smokes the competition, though.
And as for gaming, nosotros've got more than bad news. Civ VI (at 1080p) ran at a mere 9 fps on the X1 Fold, notably choppier than the XPS 13's non-groovy score of 16 fps.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold software
Lenovo's not waiting for the modular Windows 10X that's coming, which could have fabricated it easier for them to brand such a unique tablet. And I'chiliad not sure that was the right call. There's a lot about this device that doesn't work in a way that a $2,499 price tag would suggest. Rotating the screen from portrait to landscape takes about 3 seconds, which might not sound like a lot, but left me waiting on it repeatedly. Just merely opening Spotify would take five seconds.
And while I spent some time trying to get improve scores on the 10fastfingers.com keyboard test, I often saw Windows 10's software keyboard pop up on screen, even though I had the physical Bluetooth keyboard attached. I couldn't effigy out why the X1 Fold thought I'd want to apply both. Even more annoyingly, having a virtual keyboard on-screen — with the keyboard roofing half of the screen already — gives you barely any screen estate.
There's a lot near this device that doesn't piece of work in a way that a $2,499 price tag would suggest. Rotating the screen from portrait to landscape takes about three seconds.
Except, that is, when I wanted to drag i window from one one-half of the tablet to the other. I'd detect that the X1 Fold would think my finger was trying to reduce the size of the window, and dragging it from an edge and not trying to take hold of the pinnacle of a window. This is a matter of how Windows 10'due south design isn't e'er perfect for touch. The Os has a lot of blocky objects — slap-up for stubby digits — merely when it tin't respond as you intend it to, it gets annoying.
For instance, the Lenovo Way Switcher utility is supposed to arrive like shooting fish in a barrel to apply apps in split up view or total screen. But when I split the screen between two windows, with ane window taking up the bottom half and the top one-half empty — every time I bring a window to the top one-half, it refuses to "snap" into that section of the screen. Instead, it just tries to take over the full screen. Oh, and if I use split up-screen mode, but tap the Full Screen option while watching a YouTube video, it tries to take over the whole screen, not just one-half.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold battery life
If you're buying the X1 Fold and hoping its portable nature will mean information technology was designed to last a long time on a single charge, I've got some bad news. It lasted just 6 hours and iii minutes on the Tom'south Guide bombardment examination (web surfing at 150 nits of brightness).
Its competitors lasted much longer, with the Surface Pro 7 (seven:52) making it nearly ii hours longer, the iPad Pro (10:16) going 4+ hours longer and the XPS 13 (11:07) enduring for nearly twice as long.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold webcam
Selfies shot with the X1 Fold'south 3.six megapixel photographic camera are a lot like most I've taken on laptops: they're grainy. Yes. even though this sensor is sharper than most. The photos I took of myself with the ThinkPad X1 Fold looked far from crisp. It'll practise for your next Skype call, simply information technology won't exit a positive impression either.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold review: Verdict
I wish I had amend news for you lot. We desire the future to be here, but this Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold review has shown that we've got a ways to wait before foldable laptops are a truly cool thing.
I beloved how the ThinkPad X1 Fold looks and feels exactly similar the laptop that a villain would have in a futuristic Sci-Fi movie. It's leather, folds and can masquerade every bit a book. And its screen is gorgeous too. Yet, there's the large problem of actually using it. Its 3 major problems — short battery life, glitchy software and overall unimpressive performance — stack up to likewise much of a problem together. Yous could handle one by itself with this innovative pattern, but all iii is too much to ask. Especially when it'due south $2,749 with keyboard and stylus.
Instead, you could get a similarly spec'd iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard and second Gen Apple Pencil for $1,577, to become both a great tablet and laptop experience. And those who want a great Windows machine should only go the tried and true XPS thirteen, which is only $1,225 when similarly configured as the X1 Fold. Neither of those laptops have folding displays, but after writing this review, we know when to fold 'em, and when to walk away.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-fold
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