The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 (begins at $1,638.45; $1,885.95 as examined) represents a slight change in ways for Lenovo. Previously often known as the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, the X1 2-in-1 laptop computer has a bigger stylus that attaches magnetically as a substitute of docking inside its chassis, and the fingerprint reader has moved from the ability button to the keyboard. Nonetheless, these variations don’t radically alter the X1 2-in-1’s place towards its competitors. It’s nonetheless a 14-inch, Intel-powered hybrid laptop computer that prioritizes sensible options over enticing design, which, coupled with middling efficiency for almost two grand, retains it from a better rating. As a substitute, we level to the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4 as a extra fulfilling 2-in-1 laptop computer for work (and an Editors’ Selection award winner) or, if these hybrid options aren’t valuable to you, the HP Dragonfly G4.The entry-level ThinkPad X1 bought immediately by Lenovo begins at $1,638.45. That buys an Intel Core Extremely 5 125U processor, 16GB of reminiscence, and a 512GB solid-state drive. Lenovo despatched us a midrange variant of this 2-in-1 laptop computer with an Intel Core Extremely 7 155U CPU, Intel Arc built-in graphics, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $1,885.95.
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(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Lenovo’s processor choices high out on the Intel Core Extremely 7 165U, RAM runs as much as 32GB, and storage will get as capacious as 2TB. All variations ship with built-in Intel Arc graphics. Most configurations have a 1,920-by-1,200-pixel, anti-glare contact display screen, however a 2,880-by-1,800 OLED contact display screen is offered. 5G mobile connectivity comes as an elective improve.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
These costs are steep for the {hardware} included, however ThinkPads, like Dell Latitude and HP EliteBook gadgets, are meant for enterprise clients and embody options not generally on shopper gadgets. To not point out: They’re usually bought in bulk orders negotiated by means of unique industrial channels. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 ships with Home windows 11 Professional and a three-year guarantee. Some additionally help Intel’s vPro, a know-how platform supposed to make a tool simpler for a company’s IT division to handle, however not this mannequin.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Design: Perform Over FormMost consumers can have bother distinguishing between the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 and its predecessor, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 8. The obvious change is the brand new mannequin’s silver colorway, which is lighter and brighter than the earlier gunmetal look. Measurement and weight have barely budged right here: The X1 2-in-1 is similar in thickness and weighs only a couple ounces much less. The X1 2-in-1 additionally retains its predecessor’s digicam hump, which accommodates the webcam, IR digicam, and microphone array.A few variations will stand out on shut inspection. The brand new design has a greater screen-to-body ratio, which has improved from 86% to almost 88%. That interprets to a barely smaller chassis, as the brand new X1 2-in-1 is a few tenths of an inch smaller in width and depth.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
The X1 2-in-1 is skinny and lightweight however doesn’t set data. It measures 0.61 inch in profile and weighs a hair lower than three kilos. It’s lighter than the Dell Latitude 9450, which weighs 3.5 kilos, but in addition a lot heavier than the two.22-pound HP Dragonfly G4. The Lenovo’s weight is simple to disregard when stowed in a bag, however it nonetheless feels unwieldy when utilizing the 2-in-1 as a pill.The digicam hump makes room for a feature-packed webcam. It data in 1080p decision and at as much as 30 frames per second. It additionally helps each Home windows Hiya facial recognition (by means of an included IR digicam) and Human Presence Detection, a function that mechanically dims the show or locks the laptop computer if you depart it unattended. The webcam’s picture high quality is sufficient however doesn’t stand out from the gang.In contrast with its alternate options, the X1 2-in-1’s design is obvious. The Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1’s seamless touchpad strikes a extra fashionable look, whereas HP’s Dragonfly G4 stands out with its unusual 3:2 show facet ratio. The X1 2-in-1 isn’t as luxurious as these alternate options.Utilizing the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9: Count on Commerce-OffsThe ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9’s keyboard is its most alluring function, with a spacious format that feels instantly snug and keys that activate with respectable journey and a nice, tactile snap. Customers skeptical of Microsoft’s Copilot AI shall be happy to listen to the X1 2-in-1 lacks a Copilot key, as a substitute leaving that house to the keyboard’s fingerprint reader.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Whereas the keyboard is classy, Lenovo’s touchpad is polarizing. The X1 2-in-1, like different ThinkPads, has a TrackPoint in the course of the keyboard. It’s a substitute for the touchpad that enables mouse management with out shifting your arms from a typing place. The TrackPoint is supported by three bodily, clicky mouse buttons occupying the touchpad’s high finish. They take house away from the touchpad, which measures 4.5 inches vast and a measly two inches deep—the smallest touchpad in its class.Each X1 2-in-1 ships with a contact display screen. It really works effectively and has a matte end, which is unusual: Most touchscreens have a shiny end. However, as talked about earlier, the X1 2-in-1 is simply too heavy to carry and use as a pill for quite a lot of minutes.Lenovo’s Slim Pen is a $60 improve and is included in some configurations. It’s slimmer and shorter than most, accommodates an built-in battery that prices by way of USB-C, and attaches magnetically to the aspect of the 2-in-1. It differs from the X1 Yoga Gen 8, which had an excellent smaller pen that tucked contained in the 2-in-1’s chassis. The rise in dimension is appreciated, however it’s nonetheless a lot smaller than a Microsoft Floor Pen or Apple Pencil, and I do not discover it as snug to make use of as these.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Connectivity is a power for this laptop computer. The X1 2-in-1 has two Thunderbolt 4 ports that help DisplayPort Alternate Mode (for connecting exterior shows) and Energy Supply (for charging). Lenovo additionally serves up a pair of USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. For comparability, Dell’s Latitude 9450 2-in-1 depends completely on USB-C ports, and HP’s Dragonfly G4 has only one USB-A. Wi-fi connectivity is first rate on this laptop computer, too, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 joined by elective 5G cellular information (although our take a look at laptop computer didn’t have that function).
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Testing the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9: Mid-Pack PerformerThe Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 specs are typical for a midrange 2-in-1. The Intel Core Extremely 7 155U, a 12-core processor with two efficiency cores, eight environment friendly cores, and two low-power environment friendly cores, is often discovered in lots of shopper and enterprise laptops. The X1 2-in-1’s reminiscence and storage choices additionally match the competitors.
We benchmarked the X1 2-in-1 towards a wide range of comparable laptops. These embody the extra mainstream Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 and Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 (7445), the latter of which is a shopper 2-in-1 with related specs that now we have examined however not but revealed our evaluation for at press time. In the meantime, the Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1 and HP Dragonfly G4 are business-class 2-in-1 and clamshell laptops, respectively.Productiveness and Content material Creation TestsWe run the identical basic productiveness benchmarks throughout each cellular and desktop programs. Our first take a look at is UL’s PCMark 10, which simulates a wide range of real-world productiveness and workplace workflows to measure total system efficiency and likewise features a storage subtest for the first drive.Our different three benchmarks deal with the CPU, utilizing all obtainable cores and threads, to fee a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads. Maxon’s Cinebench R23 makes use of that firm’s Cinema 4D engine to render a fancy scene, whereas Geekbench 5.4 Professional from Primate Labs simulates common apps starting from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine studying. Lastly, we use the open-source video transcoder HandBrake 1.4 to transform a 12-minute video clip from 4K to 1080p decision (decrease instances are higher).Ultimately, we run PugetBench for Photoshop by workstation maker Puget Methods, which makes use of the Artistic Cloud model 22 of Adobe’s well-known picture editor to fee a PC’s efficiency for content material creation and multimedia functions. It is an automatic extension that executes a wide range of basic and GPU-accelerated Photoshop duties starting from opening, rotating, resizing, and saving a picture to making use of masks, gradient fills, and filters.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 was mediocre in our productiveness and content material creation benchmarks. It traded blows with aggressive laptops however incessantly fell to the center or latter half of the pack.The AMD-powered Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 stood out from the comparability record. Powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor, it beat the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 in 5 out of six productiveness assessments. The Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1 additionally scored a number of wins towards the Lenovo. Although equally priced, the Latitude 9450 2-in-1 we reviewed had a extra highly effective Intel Core Extremely 7 165U processor. Nonetheless, these numbers counsel a reliable system for basic workplace work.Graphics TestsWe take a look at the graphics inside all laptops and desktops with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL’s 3DMark, Evening Raid (extra modest, appropriate for laptops with built-in graphics) and Time Spy (extra demanding, appropriate for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs).To additional measure GPUs, we additionally run two assessments from the cross-platform GPU benchmark GFXBench 5, which stresses each low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like picture rendering. The 1440p Aztec Ruins and 1080p Automobile Chase assessments, rendered offscreen to accommodate totally different show resolutions, train graphics and compute shaders utilizing the OpenGL programming interface and {hardware} tessellation respectively. The extra frames per second (fps), the higher.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 once more stored tempo with the competitors however reached mid-pack leads to 3DMark Time Spy and Evening Raid. The X1 2-in-1 was edged out by the Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1. In the meantime, the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 with AMD Radeon built-in graphics beat the X1 2-in-1 by massive margins in all graphics assessments. This laptop computer will get you by in displaying the mandatory visuals for normal workplace work, like displaying 1080p video and dealing with primary picture touch-ups, however a lot past that and it would begin to buckle.Battery and Show TestsWe take a look at every laptop computer and pill’s battery life by enjoying a regionally saved 720p video file (the open-source Blender film Tears of Metal) with show brightness at 50% and audio quantity at 100%. We be certain that the battery is absolutely charged earlier than the take a look at, with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting turned off.To gauge show efficiency, we additionally use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its Home windows software program to measure a laptop computer display screen’s coloration saturation—what proportion of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 coloration gamuts or palettes the show can present—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per sq. meter).
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 ships with a modest 57Wh battery. That’s the second-smallest of the laptops we in contrast it with, and the drawback was obvious in battery life assessments. The X1 2-in-1 achieved simply 11 hours and 59 minutes of endurance, the least within the aggressive discipline.Lenovo’s ThinkPad show high quality was mediocre, too. The X1 2-in-1 had a wider coloration gamut than the Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1 and HP Dragonfly G4 however fell behind the ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 and Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1. The X1 2-in-1’s show wasn’t vivid, both: Whereas 340 nits are acceptable, it was defeated by the HP Dragonfly G4 and Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1, which achieved 428 and 547 nits, respectively.
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)
Verdict: A 2-in-1 Laptop computer for ThinkPad Followers OnlyThe Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 delivers the options ThinkPad followers anticipate. It has a first-class keyboard, prioritizes the TrackPoint over the touchpad, and serves up a wide range of USB-C and USB-A connectivity.Nonetheless, in contrast with the Dell Latitude 9450 or HP Dragonfly G4, the X1 2-in-1 appears to be like plain. And whereas the X1 2-in-1 managed to defeat the HP, which had a thirteenth Gen Intel Core processor, in processor benchmarks, the Lenovo was in any other case mid-pack in our processor, graphics, and battery assessments. It additionally fell behind in battery life, and the truth that it did not outstrip the ThinkBook’s weaker CPU in some assessments is regarding, contemplating this ThinkPad’s higher-end place.The X1 2-in-1 will attraction most to ThinkPad followers with unwavering opinions on keyboard high quality and those that favor the TrackPoint over a touchpad. In the meantime, consumers extra centered on performance-per-dollar will lean in direction of the Dell Latitude 9450 2-in-1, which presents a extra luxurious design and higher total efficiency.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9
Cons
Mediocre efficiency total
Show fails to face out
Disappointing battery life
Boring, primary design
View
Extra
The Backside Line
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 9 has glorious keys with the basic Trackpoint for purists, however its efficiency falls behind rivals, and its function-over-form design does not reside as much as its worth.
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About Matthew Smith
I’ve devoted the previous 17 years to reporting on the most recent developments in shopper know-how. My work spans hundreds of critiques on PC laptops, desktops, screens, and different PC {hardware}. I’ve contributed to high publications together with PCMag, IEEE Spectrum, The Verge, Ars Technica, Wired, Enterprise Insider, PC World, and IGN. As an editor at Digital Traits, I led a group to check and evaluation over 1,000 merchandise yearly.
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