Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano review: Slim, lightweight, durable, expensive Review

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 vary enjoys a longstanding popularity for excellence, and previous yr the corporation unveiled two intriguing new designs: the innovative ThinkPad X1 Fold and the extremely-lightweight ThinkPad X1 Nano. Whilst the thirteen-inch X1 Nano is Lenovo’s lightest-at any time ThinkPad, it’s going to have to have to pack a productivity punch commensurate with its setting up price tag of £1,739.ninety nine (inc. VAT) in the United kingdom, or $one,459.ninety nine in the US. 

Lenovo has not sacrificed any of the signature ThinkPad X1 design features to realize extremely-portability. The black chassis is emblazoned with the ThinkPad X1 brand on the outside the house, with the crimson dot around the ‘i’ illuminated when the laptop computer is in use, even though the keyboard incorporates the acquainted crimson TrackPoint. The chassis has a desktop footprint of just 292.8mm huge by 207.7mm deep, and it truly is a mere thirteen.87mm thick. And even though some ultraportables squeeze below the magic 1kg mark, the X1 Nano breezes by means of at 907g. I wrestle to assume of any thirteen-inch laptop computer I’ve reviewed that weighs considerably less. 

I was able to flex the lid a very little, but it needed sufficient effort and hard work for me to assume this laptop computer will endure just high-quality in a bag or backpack without the need of a protecting sleeve. MIL-STD 810H certification reinforces that evaluation. 

This is not a two-in-one design, but the monitor will hinge back again to lie flat on a surface area if needed. The thirteen-inch monitor sits in rather little bezels, running a sixteen:ten factor ratio many thanks to a smallish base bezel even so, the compromise with ultraportable laptops like this is that the monitor is not ideal for some sorts of duties.

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You can have two windows open side by side, but this feels like a little bit of a squeeze, and functioning with expansive spreadsheets is one thing of a obstacle, even with the sixteen:ten factor ratio. The monitor is also on the little side for providing shows, though the 2K (two,160 by one,350 pixels, 195.9ppi) IPS panel is sharp and dazzling (450 nits max), and colours glance lively. The matte complete is welcome, and viewing angles are great (170°). My evaluation sample’s monitor was not contact-enabled: to get this you can possibly configure it as a customisation possibility (in the United kingdom), or go for an off-the-shelf preconfigured model setting up at £2,029.ninety nine in the United kingdom, or $one,519.ninety nine in the US. 

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If you do use this laptop computer for shows or, far more probable, video phone calls, then you can value the quality of the speakers. Lenovo has designed space for a pair of speakers earlier mentioned the keyboard, and there are two far more on the underside. They push out fairly great quality sound: there is a lot of volume, with very little or no distortion even at the higher finish. Bass tones are weak, but which is rarely a novelty in laptops, particularly ultraportable ones. 

Lenovo provides its Commercial Vantage application which, among other tweaks, bits of process information and facts and settings selections, allows you change audio settings, deciding upon among five profiles. These make a variance, and are value experimenting with.  

Earlier mentioned the monitor my laptop computer had a webcam and IR digicam for Home windows Good day, the webcam benefitting from a ThinkShutter sliding protect. Neither the IR digicam nor the ThinkShutter are present in all designs. 

The foundation of the ThinkPad X1 Nano is very thin. This has ramifications for the vary of ports and connectors on offer you — and this might be a offer-breaker for several. There is very little on the appropriate edge apart from the power button and a cooling vent. On the still left there is a three.5mm headphone/mic jack and a pair of USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, and which is it. Also, a single of the USB-C ports is in use when the laptop computer is charging. If you want HDMI, USB-A or wired Ethernet, for case in point, you can have to have adapters or a hub. Arguably, offered the X1 Nano’s top quality pricing, Lenovo must have bundled adapters for the most popular connector varieties.  

A person far more factor: on the back again of the chassis, if the individual configuration supports it, there is a SIM slot for a mobile broadband link. 

Inspite of its thin chassis, the X1 Nano features the fantastic keyboard which is so characteristic of Lenovo’s ThinkPads. The pot-bellied, slightly concave QWERTY keys are big and nicely-spaced, the Enter vital is double height and wider than standard, even though the Fn keys are big sufficient for stubby fingers to prod at. Lenovo has also uncovered space for Contact and Conclude keys on the Fn row. 

You will find a lot of vital travel, the keys are nicely weighted, and I had no trouble contact-typing at my standard pace, albeit with a slightly louder ‘clack’ than I might have appreciated. There is a modicum of flex in the keyboard, but very little to be concerned about.  

Lenovo has, of course, equipped its TrackPoint among the G, H and B keys, and there are 3 buttons for use with it sitting down earlier mentioned the touchpad. The two the TrackPoint and the touchpad are responsive and snug to use. The fingerprint sensor in the wrist relaxation is a very little little, but that should not hamper it in use — and in any situation, confront login is a far more easy possibility. 

There are 4 ThinkPad X1 Nano designs, all of which operate on 11th-generation Intel processors, listed on Lenovo’s UK website with prices ranging from £1,739.ninety nine to £2,029.ninety nine (inc. VAT). Two are ‘ready to ship’ and two are ‘build your own’ programs with many configuration selections. My evaluation sample was this £1,939.ninety nine completely ready-to-ship model: 

• Intel Core i7-1160G7, Home windows ten Professional, thirteen-inch two,160 x one,350 pixel non-contact monitor, Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, mobile broadband 

Lenovo’s US website currently lists 7 completely ready-to-ship designs, setting up at $one,459.ninety nine and topping out at $two,231.40. 

The ThinkPad X1 Nano is an Intel Evo-branded process, and as this kind of claims at the very least all-working day battery daily life (9+ hours). Lenovo claims up to thirteen hours for the system’s 48WHr battery, though our tests counsel this is relatively optimistic. In a standard 3-hour perform session involving producing into world wide web apps, searching and streaming music, the battery fell from ninety nine{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6} to sixty eight{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6} — a drop of 31{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}. That interprets to a whole of just below ten hours – all-working day battery daily life of course, but not the total thirteen hours. 

Swift charging help is amazing. At a single position when the battery got to 32{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}, I put it on charge and in fifteen minutes it had acquired twenty{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}. The share acquired falls as the battery fills, and soon after an hour of charging the battery was at ninety five{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}. Lenovo’s assert of {36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6} to eighty{36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6} in an hour looks justified.  

Conclusions 

We are amazed with Lenovo’s most up-to-date ultraportable ThinkPad, though the thirteen-inch monitor will never match every single use situation, and the paucity of ports and connectors may possibly put some prospective prospective buyers off. The top quality pricing might be prohibitive, as well. But with a setting up bodyweight of 907g, a robust chassis, an fantastic keyboard, great display screen and audio subsystems, and selections which includes contact monitor and mobile broadband, the to start with-generation ThinkPad X1 Nano must strike the spot for a good deal of mobile professionals. 

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