NotebookCHECK - Notebook Forum

Hi Andrew, thanks for the review. When you say the glossy display will be a problem, could you elaborate in comparison to a Dell & MacBook glossy display? Is it worse (more glossy) and because of its (lower brightness) much harder to see?

Sorry I meant Andreas*

I am very curious about the glossy display comment as well, being the owner of a 4K model.  I wonder if the versions vary or if the model sent for testing is a pre-production model.  My display has an anti-glare/anti-smudge coating and is definitely not as glossy as the Dell XPS or Surface Book Pro. Having owned several MacBook Pro models, including a 2016 and 2018, the latter I returned to buy the X1E, I find the display perhaps even less glossy than the MBP.

I also have a number of color profiles installed, not just one, none of them extended color gamut.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for the info Anthony. Good to know and yes weird how it can differ so much between the same model. I read on the forums the other user found it fine with his/her 4k as well. Helps me in making my decision to purchase! As I'd have to decide by today if I wanna get sale price!

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your great review!
Snifff ...yes your "The very glossy screen surface is another problem." is a real cold shower.

Please, don't forget to test Full HD version  ::)

I have to low a message count to post a link apparently, but I took a photo side by side with my wife's MacBook Pro.  The MacBook Pro display is shinier & the reflections more clear.  While Apple levels the playing field a little with a brighter screen when on, I am not sure how the X1E display can be problematic when less glossy than the MBP and certainly less so than the Gorilla Glass clad models like the Surface and XPS 2-1, unless we are saying the entire genre is problematic. Puzzled ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anthony or Andreas,

Is the low response time of the screen noticeable? Like compared to other laptops say the MacBook Pro which has around 40ms GTG while this one has a whopping 60 GTG.

I've been looking for this kind of detailed, technical review of the X1 E / P1 for a while but didn't find anything until now. Thanks. Looking forward to get additional information about battery life etc. I'm currently trying to decide between a Dell 5530 and a ThinkPad P1. The main differences as I see it would be keyboard, screen, battery life and build quality. Any additional info as to how the 5530 and  the X1E/P1 compares in these regards would be great.

If this is going to be your work pc, I would go for the Thinkpad due to the keyboard. The keyboard for the xps 9570 is simply not pro quality. My xps shipped with a bad arrow key (which was fixed by dell onsite support) but my F2 key is beginning to make trouble as well...  :-\

Good point below, but the XPS 15 is a grand cheaper and comes with an additional 20 Wh battery and Dell's excellent power optimization. The 9570 configured to i5 / FHD absolutely cruses X1E with its 15 hours of unparalleled runtime and a $1,030 price tag. Difference in keyboard is indeed pronounced but not enough to be a deal breaker for the XPS, which offsets this advantage by offering better touchpad, speakers and brighter displays.
Ultimately I'd go with the XPS if I had to spend my money. Though I do favor Thinkpads and fancy the idea of X1E as maybe a gift or a work laptop.

Interesting jack of all trades model, the only aspect left wanting is probably graphics but 1050Ti is already decent.
While the screen is already impressive I didn't realize a max brightness of 400nits could meet the DV HDR specifications? IIRC it needs at least 1000nits.

Just a heads up to potential buyers, P1 and X1E 4k UHD model owners have been reporting on average 4 hours of actual battery life. 6.5 hour estimate appears quite unrealistic as the XPS 15 4k gets close to that number.

On a side note, missing LTE and the apparent screen ghosting really crushed my high hopes. Can't Lenovo get anything right these days.

@WWAN

There are plenty of things I'm not happy with Lenovo about with this laptop. (e.g. the lack of 16:10 aspect ratio and significantly worse speakers than MBPs)

That being said, the slow 4K panel is not one of them. Can you honestly name a single high colour accuracy wide gamut panel that is fast? It simply does not exist.

They're all slow. (XPS 15, Surface Book 2, MBP 15, etc)

Short response times are well anticipated given this is the first modern Thinkpad with a gaming class dGPU as opposed to the P series. Personally I am searching for a professional laptop that doubles as a portable gaming rig to run some older AAA titles and competitive FPS. And especially given its "Extreme" price, I won't tolerate such compromise.

I'm afraid granular issues like screen's aspect ratio, response time, audio quality, and battery life accumulate to no longer being minor oversights. When everybody is pushing forward, a flagship Thinkpad slipping in multitudes becomes hard to overlook.

So am looking forward to the FHD review.

Quote from: WWAN on September 29, 2018, 16:12:42
Short response times are well anticipated given this is the first modern Thinkpad with a gaming class dGPU as opposed to the P series. Personally I am searching for a professional laptop that doubles as a portable gaming rig to run some older AAA titles and competitive FPS. And especially given its "Extreme" price, I won't tolerate such compromise.

I'm afraid granular issues like screen's aspect ratio, response time, audio quality, and battery life accumulate to no longer being minor oversights. When everybody is pushing forward, a flagship Thinkpad slipping in multitudes becomes hard to overlook.

So am looking forward to the FHD review.

Before this is "Extreme" know that this is first and foremost X1, its positioning is obviously a professional portable, this is the correct way to make a X1 into a 15" model. 16:10 would probably be the more sensible aspect ratio but giving up screen gamut for response time is plain stupid.
1050Ti is a mediocre choice for gaming anyway but generally suitable for the Adobe suite and about as much as can fit in this form factor considering the cooling requirements.

Again, I won't apologize for having high standards. I realize what Lenovo is going after, same as when they released the T25. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great machine and competitor to XPS 15, MBP 15, etc. But if corners had to be cut, then it's absolutely sensible to expect lower prices. Plain and simple. Defending X1E's shortcomings throwing around buzzwords like "professional" and "business" makes it look all the more sloppy and makes people turn elsewhere to find their right laptop.

Again, there's a sea of laptops dedicated to Adobe this and that. I would assume X1E has Geforce graphics for a reason. And S.Yu, please don't talk about how people should be using their laptops #gatekeeping :P

Another fake HDR that don't have 1000nits brightness and probably non 10bit display. This is just the usual high gamut display like other laptops.

@WWAN

It's okay to have high standards, just be aware you maybe waiting a few decades on your pursuit to perfection.

About prices, bro, it just got released 4 weeks ago. Wait until atleast Black Friday or Christmas / New Years holiday sales before passing a verdict and being so judgemental.

No company is going to reduce prices on a product they just released, unless they really screwed up somewhere.

It's true Lenovo is overcharging for it atm but so does every company when they first release a new product. It's an industry practice. The prices will get better when supply / availability improves and demand starts to level off.

The reason why there are so many laptops dedicated to adobe stuff is because there is allot of money in content creation. Whether we like it or not, there is not much money in gaming. It is a small market. Nobody cares. Even gaming laptop companies don't take gamers seriously, they still keep releasing stuff with multi coloured LEDs as if we asked for this.

I think you're confused about somethings. The T25 was a joke and a completely different product. Words like business and professional are used not to defend shortcomings but more to emphasise certain features for a certain target audience (MIL-spec durability, decent keyboard, etc).

And S.Yu is right, for modern gaming a gtx 1050 ti is not enough. A card like this is barely enough for 10 year old games, IMO. (if you care about decent minimum frame rates)

The FHD panel will be faster no doubt, but if you're expecting 144 hz panel response times, you maybe better off looking for another laptop or using an external display instead.

Just be aware that those other gaming laptops which come in similar form factor but faster panels cost just as much and come with their own fair share of compromises aswell. So it just comes down to on what you value more and willing to prioritise.

I have no delusions and I'm not looking for perfection. After all I'm typing on a $1,000 secondhand Gigabyte Aero 14 v7 and fully satisfied. But I do recognize a half-hearted attempt even from afar. "Business and professional" might imply certain features but the underlying truth is they serve as a strategy for companies to divide and confuse a market. This also allows OEMs to make the benefits of a consumer laptop including good speakers, screen and low pricing exclusive from their rival business lines and vice versa.

From what I understand, Lenovo's Thinkpad prices are increasing annually and by hundreds of $. That doesn't strike me as a result of supply or inflation but only greed. You mistook my first comment. I wasn't asking for a 144Hz 4K DolbyVision 10 IPS screen but one that has acceptable response times for playing a little CS:GO which 62ms on this review unit unfortunately is not. But that won't matter anyway because 4 hours is woefully insufficient battery for my use case and the LTE I was hoping for is absent.

Just because companies don't know or pretend not to know what we want doesn't mean we might as well forget it too. I, for one, am definitely willing to open my wallet for a do-it-all laptop with complete sets of bells and whistles - Impeccable screen, audio, keyboard, I/O, touchpad, webcam, design, build quality, ergonomics, quality control, serviceability, reliability, expandability, customer service and battery (which btw is the most expensive component). I want it all and expect them to meet me at the top. The X1ExtremelyExpensive is merely not compelling enough to jump ship just yet.

Quote from: WWAN on September 30, 2018, 16:01:53
I have no delusions and I'm not looking for perfection. After all I'm typing on a $1,000 secondhand Gigabyte Aero 14 v7 and fully satisfied. But I do recognize a half-hearted attempt even from afar. "Business and professional" might imply certain features but the underlying truth is they serve as a strategy for companies to divide and confuse a market. This also allows OEMs to make the benefits of a consumer laptop including good speakers, screen and low pricing exclusive from their rival business lines and vice versa.

From what I understand, Lenovo's Thinkpad prices are increasing annually and by hundreds of $. That doesn't strike me as a result of supply or inflation but only greed. You mistook my first comment. I wasn't asking for a 144Hz 4K DolbyVision 10 IPS screen but one that has acceptable response times for playing a little CS:GO which 62ms on this review unit unfortunately is not. But that won't matter anyway because 4 hours is woefully insufficient battery for my use case and the LTE I was hoping for is absent.

Just because companies don't know or pretend not to know what we want doesn't mean we might as well forget it too. I, for one, am definitely willing to open my wallet for a do-it-all laptop with complete sets of bells and whistles - Impeccable screen, audio, keyboard, I/O, touchpad, webcam, design, build quality, ergonomics, quality control, serviceability, reliability, expandability, customer service and battery (which btw is the most expensive component). I want it all and expect them to meet me at the top. The X1ExtremelyExpensive is merely not compelling enough to jump ship just yet.

The fact here is that this laptop fits a couple of *typical* usage cases incredibly well, which means more people paying, not just you. It has plenty of ports rivaling 17" workstations, and much more than both of its main competitiors. The battery is smaller, but the weight difference is notably more than just the battery difference, the HP also has a much slower GPU. Lenovo's X1 series also has much better reputation for the keyboard and chassis reliability. Compared to the Dell and HP, this model trades brightness for a much wider gamut, again, this is smart (but also adds to the price) because it's coherent with the other specs and the pricing, as to why the "professional" positioning makes sense, it's because this means the manufacturer assumes that either somebody will pay for your unit or it will pay for itself very quickly which means they could ask for higher margins and only in this case will they deem it worthy to add certain functions and characteristics, they're not running charities. You could yap all you want about adding a crappy TN with nothing but fast response for your quirky needs of a little this and a little that but that does not make business sense for the company and they won't make it happen. The SSD is a decent PM981 and not the cheap Toshiba models of the competition, you may not need it but it's there for the photo and video crowd. The 32GB memory option is crucial for using the Adobe suite comfortably, with only 16GB of the Dell you'd need to focus on only one task at a time, say you have LR+PS and a dozen Chrome tabs open, it's gonna lag and one of them's gonna crash eventually, similar case with some games. A 32GB option should be the new norm in anything mid-high tier model except business ultraportables but not even Razer gets this.
Again, when you look at the difference between competing models it's clear that this model is the closest to perfection. The price is 2800 euros but when you look at what you get for the 2100 euros of the XPS15 or especially the 3800 euros of the HP(nothing except the 2T SSD comes close to justifying that price, it deserves a DreamColor screen for no extra charge) this isn't so hard to swallow. If you're in the market for mid-sized high-specced portables these are your choices, and obviously none of the three companies care about CS-GO on these models. To meet other performance standards for the intended use of these models and also give you fast response time they need to add the option of a 15" OLED screen for maybe 1200 euros more, a handful of people are going to pay for that, and since larger OLEDs still have much worse efficiency than the latest smartphone panels from Samsung, it will eat into battery life, and you whine about that too.

"Lenovo's X1 series also has much better reputation for the keyboard and chassis reliability."
As much as I'd like to agree with your opinion there's no actual evidence to back it up, so until then it's debatable.

"Compared to the Dell and HP, this model trades brightness for a much wider gamut, again, this is smart (but also adds to the price) because it's coherent with the other specs and the pricing"
To the majority of people, a small percentage gain in ARGB coverage is far less noticeable and practical than an extra hundreds of nits of brightness that makes the colors look unmistakably more vibrant or "pop", as they say.

"You could yap all you want about adding a crappy TN with nothing but fast response for your quirky needs of a little this and a little that but that does not make business sense for the company and they won't make it happen. "
I don't need any of it. But I do want it all. And that is the sole reason why any business decide to take a leap of faith and invest in innovation. Look at the improvements in laptop hardware throughout the last decade. They've added OLED screens, active pens and precision touchpads just last year. And this year we get USB-C charging, TB3 docking, HDR screens, and a consumer grade GPU in the X1E itself. Why the effort? Because we asked for them.

"The SSD is a decent PM981 and not the cheap Toshiba models of the competition, you may not need it but it's there for the photo and video crowd."
You seem to be under the impression that OEMs cherry pick superior and more reliable components for their business class laptops. That is simply not true. In case you didn't realize, the widespread practice of component lottery plagues all OEMs, not just Lenovo.

"The 32GB memory option is crucial for using the Adobe suite comfortably, with only 16GB of the Dell you'd need to focus on only one task at a time, say you have LR+PS and a dozen Chrome tabs open, it's gonna lag and one of them's gonna crash eventually, similar case with some games. A 32GB option should be the new norm in anything mid-high tier model except business ultraportables but not even Razer gets this."
Don't know what you are getting at here. Again, if you were unaware, X1E / P1, XPS 15 9570 / Precision 5530 / Blade 15 are all likewise competitors with x2 DDR4 SODIMM slots up to 64GB of memory.

"The price is 2800 euros ... this isn't so hard to swallow"
Maybe not for you. I am still recommending the XPS 15 that starts at $1,030 as a go-to laptop for anyone looking into this category. The price difference far outweighs what little edge the X1E might have.

"If you're in the market for mid-sized high-specced portables these are your choices, and obviously none of the three companies care about CS-GO on these models."
But I do. And I do a lot more of everything on my laptop. And that is all that matters.

@WWAN

If you want to continue recommending XPS, then go ahead. After all, I can't stop your way of making money lol. But for people who are in the business environment or simply want to have a decent keyboard as well as normally placed camera, and perhaps play some games at leisure, X1E is one of few best choices, and of course your XPS is not one of them. Plus your XPS is way uglier and duller.

@WWAN i don't know if you have an XPS 15 9570 yet or not as i haven't read everything you have typed but...be warned, do NOT update the BIOS to 1.4.1. if you are on 1.3.1, do not update. Dell nerfed the 1050ti quite heavily and broke touch function (whenever you close the lid and reopen, touch and pen function is gone), among other issues. i just returned my XPS 15 9570 because i can't trust dell to make a sane decision, or even role out with it properly. I felt like i was beta testing the XPS 15 at my expense. Some things i will agree with you. you cannot get such a well rounded machine, with great build quality, at such a low price relative to competitors, like this lenovo.

also, it seems like the notebookcheck reviewers didn't bother reading my messages that i posted in the XPS 15 9570 4k review as well as the precision 5530 review. To get full Adobe RGB, you have to disable "Color Accuracy" from the intel graphics control panel. Once done, you can achieve 100% Adobe RGB, which i confirmed with my Xrite i1 Display Pro + DisplayCAL. Notebookcheck would probably get their 88% ARGB reading they normally get for displays rated at 100% ARGB. Backlight bleed is less noticeable on the Sharp 4k panel vs the AUO 4k panel. Brightness also appears more uneven on the AUO panel.

Fun fact, Gigabyte Aero 15x 4k model (which i was able to personally test) uses the same panel as the lenovo thinkpad x1 xtreme.

@ danielee0707
,,Plus your XPS is way uglier and duller."

Only hell is uglier, than Crapovo!  :D

Quite disappointing to read the review. I've expected more of this laptop, since it was hyped to be a XPS/MacBook killer.

But in the end it looks like it's just another laptop trying to compete with XPS and MacBook in the segment they dominate, and are arguably better where it matters most (good battery life being the most important, followed by performance and screen).

I suppose if you're a business user you'd be better off with a proper thicker and heavier ThinkPad (or the 14 inch X1), and if you're a consumer then better go with an XPS 15 or a MacBook Pro 15, depending on whether you're a Windows or MacOS user.

"there's no actual evidence to back it up"
For the keyboard there's practically no debate, as for "actual evidence" it's hard to quantify a somewhat subjective typing experience but when enough of the reviewers say so you've got a general consensus. For the chassis I could only say that there are more reports of failure for XPS chassis, and there's generally more creaking to indicate low structural strength which is often noted here at Notebookcheck.

"To the majority of people..."
You can stop here because you started off on the wrong foot, this is the high end panel and is not meant for "the majority of people" but for "a couple of *typical* usage cases" as I already mentioned, and if Notebookcheck's methodology is correct(I trust it is most of the time) color gamut is rated at a certain brightness, usually around 200 nits, the further you push the panel away from this brightness the less of the tested gamut you'll get, your fake "pop" mainly comes from the boosted contrast and brightness and is of very limited use to the targeted professionals, thus it can be said that HP and Dell's compromised efforts to potentially impress "the majority of people" on their top tier options leads to reduced usefulness in "a couple of *typical* usage cases" that are instead more likely to generate sales at this specific price level.

"Why the effort? Because we asked for them."
That's your opinion. I don't think that's the case at all, it's what competition's for, and many advancements are linear and we're bound to get there some day.

"You seem to be under the impression that OEMs cherry pick superior and more reliable components for their business class laptops."
I am not, what I'm saying is some models are while expensive, with better-than-average components that genuinely raise costs but are not apparently better unless you dig for specifics, however, some models are expensive yet still cheap out on components(like Surface Studio) and *no* cheap alternative is going to get you components like that.
Component lottery is while widespread practice, but not certain to plague every model, for example I have a tablet that only used ToTL(at the time) SM951 for every tier except the base tier. So unless you have proof that X1E's 1T SSD is a lottery this isn't an issue.

"...with x2 DDR4 SODIMM slots..."
Not part of the discussion, you're assuming that most buyers will immediately upgrade RAM by themselves after purchase, and even assuming that, the X1E's maintenance is the easiest. Another assumption needed for this to be of any relevance is that you can get the better GPU with different tier RAM in any combination, but that's not the case and to get the much faster 1050Ti you'll need to start at 2x8GB, which then go to waste when you swap them out for 2x16GB or 2x32GB, and RAM price will most likely need another year or so to return to 2016 levels, so currently buying your own isn't a cheap affair either.

"I am still recommending the XPS 15 that starts at $1,030..."
You completely missed the point, I was talking about top tier models and "closest to perfection" the entire time, at base tier they're all far from perfection and frankly they could be treated as completely different models just in the same shell.

"But I do...And that is all that matters."
Being so self-important isn't gonna get any of these companies to budge. This brings us back to the beginning:"The fact here is that this laptop fits a couple of *typical* usage cases incredibly well, which means more people paying, not just you."

@S. Yu:
Clearly you've missed my point since I've been here talking about my own use case and my wishes on a whim the entire time, while you were over there making false assumptions about everyone and everything.

Quote from: WWAN on October 01, 2018, 14:56:42
@S. Yu:
Clearly you've missed my point since I've been here talking about my own use case and my wishes on a whim the entire time, while you were over there making false assumptions about everyone and everything.

At least 70% of your last reply was about other things, yeah, and the rest is your narcissism which is entirely useless information to everybody else.
Since the ~$1000 base model XPS15, which is entirely differently positioned from this model, better fits your needs instead, your rant in the comments of this model is meaningless and pure trolling.

Does it support USB C charging?

Yes it can charge with either USB-C ports to an extent of 100W.

Pricing really depends on location. You cannot compare EU to US prices. EU includes 20% VAT and 3 year onsite warranty. US has much lower tax rates due to less regulation and models only 1 year depot warranty.

The XPS 15 that starts at $999 comes without nvidia graphics and with HDD. This isn't a fair comparison as the base model X1E comes with a dGPU and 256 GB SSD. The equivalent XPS 15 model costs closer to almost $1400. Yes, the base model X1E still costs more but the gap isn't as big as you make it out to be.

In the UK, the X1E is actually cheaper than the XPS 15 (again comparing base models with exact same specs / configuration). Like I said, depends on location.

Quote from: M2018 on October 01, 2018, 09:44:58
@ danielee0707
,,Plus your XPS is way uglier and duller."

Only hell is uglier, than Crapovo!  :D

I don't know about that.  I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but th Dell mixed materials madness of aluminum, carbon fiber and cheap plastic is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. That and the obsurd location of the camera is probably the 2 main reasons I haven't bought one.

@ Anthony D
Well, if you prefer Lenovo's "gorgeous" design from mid-nineties and "luxurious" plastic then OK, buy one  ;D

@confused:

That's a good point about the situation in the UK.
Though keeping in mind that everywhere else in the world is more or less the same or worse than the EU, importing from the US should be the most cost effective solution. And for customers in many countries unfortunately importing is the only option.

To set an even match, both laptops configured to i7-8750H, 1050 Ti, Win10 Pro, FHD, 8GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD and biggest batteries are

XPS 15 9570: $1,440 USD / X1E: $2,060 USD

That's more than $600 of disparity verging on a cost of another laptop that could be spent elsewhere. Furthermore this number shoots up when customizing for top specs (Thinkpads seem to charge more) and counting the mandatory state/import taxes, regional VAT, shipping fees, etc.

Of course all that is worthwhile when you know you're buying a Thinkpad. How much of it is really though? Where is the replaceable keyboard, the drain-holes, magnesium plate (modernized roll-cage), dual hinges, removable battery, WWAN module and simple serviceability of Thinkpads? The sore truth is this may be Lenovo's hungry last-minute attempt at a carbon-copy of the XPS 15 for a piece of market share, painted in Thinkpad colors and wrapped in business tax bills.

Still, should people want better inputs, a second storage slot, and that timeless "suit of all laptops" design for extra cash, choosing the X1E is most definitely sensible.

Can any one confirm USB C charging? I got different answers from sources.

USB C charging works

Is there any requirement on minimum USB-C charger wattage? For example, would the standard Lenovo USB-C Laptop Power Bank (14000mAh) work? (don't know it's max charging wattage)

The conclusion and pros and cons are still in German, not English.

@M2018 Will do.  Definitely looks better than some poor design by committee mashup of the XPS 15. :)

Hi and thanks notebookcheck for again a comprehensive review of a laptop!

Have you reached out to Lenovo about the very disapointing battery life and measured 72Wh?
Any feedback on their side?

My X1 extreme was 72Wh fully charged out of box as well. After a battery gauge reset, it's 82Wh fully charged, even higher than the designed capacity ::)

@ Anthony D
I bet, in music you prefer cacophony! :DDD

Quote from: Chase on October 04, 2018, 16:29:01
My X1 extreme was 72Wh fully charged out of box as well. After a battery gauge reset, it's 82Wh fully charged, even higher than the designed capacity ::)

Thanks for the insight Chase!
1- how did you reset the gauge?
2- how's your battery life experience in comparison with notebookcheck's measure?? or other computer you maybe dealt with?

Is there any technical explanation why OEMs won't configure 3x3 WLAN modules on Windows laptops? Currently the Intel 9560 / 9260 is capped at 650 Mbits vs its advertised speed of 1.73 Gbps. Bluetooth also appears to be limited to 4.0 in WIndows 10. Looks like if anything 9560 is only more expensive and takes away backward compatibility with older chips. Unless I'm missing something here.

This would've been end game with a GTX 1070 max-q and a removeable battery. But it isn't, so it's another XPS clone gone 'wrong'. No XPS replacement needed if it doesn't improve on anything other than perhaps the keyboard (the XPS keyboard is rock solid already anyways).

@Teun
"the XPS keyboard is rock solid already anyways"

Is it true? Because everyone is complaining about the crappy keyboard.

You can do it in the Lenovo Vantage app.
For the battery life I can't say much compared to the reviewed model cause mine X1x is undervolted and with a FHD display. It can last 8+ hrs for normal use.

Quote from: samuelk on October 04, 2018, 19:22:47

Quote from: Chase on October 04, 2018, 16:29:01
My X1 extreme was 72Wh fully charged out of box as well. After a battery gauge reset, it's 82Wh fully charged, even higher than the designed capacity ::)

Thanks for the insight Chase!
1- how did you reset the gauge?
2- how's your battery life experience in comparison with notebookcheck's measure?? or other computer you maybe dealt with?

"fans occasionally spin up while idling"

Does this still happens after undervolting or only with default settings?

Is the USB-C port 4x lane for external GPU support?  I couldn't find that explicitly stated either in the review or the comments.

x2 TB3 ports on a laptop always have the full x4 PCIe bandwidth.

EDIT - With annual "save 30%" holiday deal from Lenovo US the X1E is $1,445 for the same configuration as base i7 XPS 15 except with Win 10 Home ($2,064 as configured, -$619 item discount).

Any chance of including the DPC Latency figures for this (and other laptops) as it makes the difference between these being great for audio use and totally useless. Amazes me that reviews don't include it.

I did some quick stats gathering for USB-C charging if anyone is interested:

r/thinkpad/comments/9tdtrb/x1e_really_does_support_that/

Charge stats:

USB-C Charge Rate (Idle, 87w power supply):

~50 watts @ 5% (Total power ~68 watts)

~51 watts @ 25% (Total power ~69 watts)

~52 watts @ 50% (Total power ~69 watts)

~54 watts @ 75% (Total power ~68 watts)

~50 watts @ 80% (Total power ~65 watts)

~29 watts @ 90% (Total power ~44 watts)

~15 watts @ 95% (Total power ~30 watts)

~8 watts @ 98% (Total power ~23 watts)


USB-C Charge Time (1-80%, 87w power supply, Idle, max bright): 1 hour, 11 minutes.

USB-C Charge Time (80-95%, 87w power supply, Idle, max bright): 28 minutes

USB-C Charge Time (80-100%, 87w power supply, Idle, max bright): 56 minutes

 ::)
when do you finally learn the distinction between "discreet" and "discrete"?
dedicated video cards are discrete (i.e. standing apart, not the same as integrated). Some people may be discreet, i.e. considerate, especially about something private. Pointing out that your colleague forgotten to zip his pants after using a restroom should be discreet.

Thanks for this review - it helped me a lot with my decision X1 extreme or MacBook pro.
Why do you state the 4k Display was bit only? The specs show 8+2bit what tells me it actually is a HDR10 panel... (nonetheless it does not meet the HDR10 requirements of 1000nits).

Where is the DPC-latency figures from LatencyMon!!!?

Did you test a standard "off the shelf" model or did Lenovo send you a specifically pre-tuned/tampered model to test?

My generic online store model delivery disappointing benchmark results:
Specs: i7-8750H, 32GB, 1x 2TB Samsung 970 EVO

Cinebench 15 x64, Windows 10 Pro x64, latest drivers, clean install
~875 points (stock)
~1010 points (undervolted)

Undervolted in XTU
-0.155mAh, 57Watt (sustain), 78Watt (peak)

This is nowhere near your 1200+ results, and I could have spent my 2600EUR on a better laptop!

I have bought a X1 Extreme with core i7 8850H CPU, 16GB RAM.
My benchmark results come nowhere near the ones mentioned in the test, although I have a better CPU option.

PCMark10 score 4447:
Essentials: 8239
Produktivitaet: 6039
Digital Content Creation: 4799

Cinebench 15R:
CPU Single Core 120
CPU Multi Core 602
OpenGL 54.10 fps

What is going on? Can anyone else please share their results? Do you come anywhere close to the results mentioned in this test?

I have one of these and I would point out a few things the reviews miss.

1. The Screen is BRIGHT.... Tons of people rip on it because of the measured NITS but lemme tell you, this is the brightest laptop I have ever used. The 4k Pannel is also amazing

2. It the Geforce 1050TI AND the UHD onboard card. This surprised me but the design is great. It only uses the Geforce when it has to saving battery.

3. IT has a spare M2 Slot. This is what made me choose it over the dell. I dropped another 512gb m2 in it and I have a TON of space now

4.It does get hot in your lap and I had to buy one of those air coolers fo rat home but you really cannot beat this machine...

My only qualm is the ease the trackpad gets dirty.

Dear Andreas,
Thank you very much for the review

Do you believe the screen reviewed is the same as the 4k touch display on  the Thinkpad P52?

I'm considering buying the P52 but there is no review for the 4k display option and the fhd panel doesn't fit my needs unfortunately in terms of color accuracy
Thank you very much in advance for the reply

Just upgraded from a MBP 2017 "best" to this specific configuration and couldn't be happier. I use the machine for work during the day, and for personal use during nights and weekends. I have loads of TB3 and USB devices, including an UAD Apollo and musical equipment, from my previous Mac. Everything works just fine, including Windows 10.

1. A real keyboard, OMG is the MBP one an annoying piece of crap compared to the Lenovo. The pressure required could be a bit less IMO
2. Seven standard Phillips screws at the back and you are in. Took me 5 mins to upgrade to 32 Gb and an additional 1 To Samsung 970 EVO. The stock 512 Gb Samsung one has performance very close to the 512 Gb in the MBP, in fact I suspect it's the same part 
3. The screen is *very good* and the overall performance of the machine is excellent. I just wished they would have put a faster GPU in there, but I'll probably get an eGPU at some point with a RTX 2080 Ti or similar
4. The Lenovo "experience" - e.g. Lenovo Vantage software, support and web site is good and professional
5. The trackpad and point are just fine, none of that stupidly over-sized Mac trackpad and touchbar nonsense. The fingerprint scanner works
6. The build quality is just fine, the weight very similar and the style understated and professional (you will not be rocking an MSI or Razer gaming LED gore fest)
7. The Fn key on the left is dumb, but you can invert it with the Ctrl one in "Vantage" and just forget about it in a day or two
8. Two TB3 ports on a Windows machine !
9. The 135W charger is very compact and charges the machine much faster than the 85W MagSafe on the Mac
10. All my software works just fine under Windows 10

Price was not really a factor for me, but the price is "correct" and even decent compared to the MBP. I am (was) the core customer segment for Apple, and they should be very worried. IMO if you buy a MBP over this Lenovo, especially with the current keyboard and all the Apple shenanigans and f*ck up of the post-Jobs era, you are seriously delusional.

Hope this quick feedback helps any potential buyer sitting on the fence.

Quote from: Digital Fury on April 01, 2019, 22:25:38
Just upgraded from a MBP 2017 "best" to this specific configuration and couldn't be happier. I use the machine for work during the day, and for personal use during nights and weekends. I have loads of TB3 and USB devices, including an UAD Apollo and musical equipment, from my previous Mac. Everything works just fine, including Windows 10.

1. A real keyboard, OMG is the MBP one an annoying piece of crap compared to the Lenovo. The pressure required could be a bit less IMO
2. Seven standard Phillips screws at the back and you are in. Took me 5 mins to upgrade to 32 Gb and an additional 1 To Samsung 970 EVO. The stock 512 Gb Samsung one has performance very close to the 512 Gb in the MBP, in fact I suspect it's the same part 
3. The screen is *very good* and the overall performance of the machine is excellent. I just wished they would have put a faster GPU in there, but I'll probably get an eGPU at some point with a RTX 2080 Ti or similar
4. The Lenovo "experience" - e.g. Lenovo Vantage software, support and web site is good and professional
5. The trackpad and point are just fine, none of that stupidly over-sized Mac trackpad and touchbar nonsense. The fingerprint scanner works
6. The build quality is just fine, the weight very similar and the style understated and professional (you will not be rocking an MSI or Razer gaming LED gore fest)
7. The Fn key on the left is dumb, but you can invert it with the Ctrl one in "Vantage" and just forget about it in a day or two
8. Two TB3 ports on a Windows machine !
9. The 135W charger is very compact and charges the machine much faster than the 85W MagSafe on the Mac
10. All my software works just fine under Windows 10

Price was not really a factor for me, but the price is "correct" and even decent compared to the MBP. I am (was) the core customer segment for Apple, and they should be very worried. IMO if you buy a MBP over this Lenovo, especially with the current keyboard and all the Apple shenanigans and f*ck up of the post-Jobs era, you are seriously delusional.

Hope this quick feedback helps any potential buyer sitting on the fence.

Thinking the exact same thing, already moved to a windows workstation after my 12 core mac pro was failing me because of lack of Nvidia graphics support on OSX.

Now also leaving my aging Macbook pro retina 2012 for a windows laptop.

I tried the MSI PS63 first because they are the only ones offering a U processor with a 1050 gpu. The battery life is very good. 5-6 hours of editing in Resolve. 10 Hours on doing office tasks or streaming video. But the major downside is build quality. The PS63 only wheighs 1.65 Kg but it also feels like it would fall apart after a single drop. Construction is paneled, screen flexes etc...

I tend to keep my laptops 5 years with an battery replacement halfway. I can't imagine the PS63 would last more then 2 years. It's 1600€, so I might as well spend €1850 on an X1 and have the 3 years warranty and I'm sure the thing will last 10 years if I wanted to.

It also offers USB-C charging so battery life is less of an issue since you can just hook up one of your phone battery banks to get an extra hour or two. (I still have to test this so don't quote me on this).

K.