Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable review: A solid and stylish tablet-first 2-in-1 Review

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X12 Detachable is a 12.3-inch 2-in-1 with separable tablet and keyboard sections. It is accessible in just one particular configuration in the British isles, costing £1,459.14 (inc. VAT £1,216.20 ex. VAT), although US buyers have a lot more alternative, starting off at $1,099.80. Obviously there is opposition in the ‘tablet-first’ detachable segment. Most lately I looked at the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and HP Elite Folio — and of system, there is always the progenitor of this kind aspect, Microsoft’s Surface Pro. 

The tablet and keyboard (which Lenovo contains in the selling price, in contrast to Microsoft) are separable, so the keyboard can be remaining at the rear of when it really is not wanted. The two features are held with each other with incredibly potent magnets, and the keyboard can be either sat flat on a desk or elevated by pushing the keyboard and display towards one particular one more and producing a pleat in the leading of the keyboard portion. I want the elevated place, which is relatively high. 

The develop is incredibly good, and feels strong (Lenovo’s product sheet notes that the ThinkPad X12 Removable has passed MIL-STD-810H testing). The tablet’s metallic back again, which incorporates a comprehensive-width kickstand, provides enough security for the 12.3-inch unit. The tablet measures 283.3mm huge by 203.5mm deep by eight.8mm thick, with the latter mounting to 14.5mm when the keyboard is hooked up. The tablet weighs 760g, with the keyboard incorporating 340g for a overall of 1.1kg in notebook manner. 

If the kickstand is established at a quite acute angle, with the display quite upright, I observed it was feasible to push the tablet backwards and force a collapse by prodding at the higher reaches of the display. But wider kickstand angles, which existing the display on a lot more of a slant (and which are near to that I normally pick out for notebook operating) felt steady. 

Lenovo isn’t going to always crack the issue of how to home its pens, and the ThinkPad X12 Removable is no exception. The chassis is not thick ample for on-unit housing, as noticed on the impressive Yoga 9i, and Lenovo has not but arrive up with a version of the clever on-keyboard charging tray applied by Dell on its Latitude 7320 Detachable and HP on its Elite Folio. As a substitute, what we have is a Electronic Pen which is run by an AAAA battery, a flimsy-searching loop on the ideal of the keyboard portion to maintain it, and no magnetic attachment.  

It is fiddly to get the stylus in and out of the loop, which usually means it really is a lot more probable to sit on a desk and get remaining at the rear of when you depart the office environment or dwelling. If the pen is housed in the loop for travel, it could conveniently work its way unfastened in transit in a bag or backpack. What’s more, established in opposition to the terrific style of the ThinkPad X12 Removable in standard, the stylus loop appears to be a little bit ‘make do and mend’. Rethink expected. 

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All of the familiar ThinkPad style touches are in this article, from the crimson illuminating dot around the ‘i’ on the back again of the tablet to the vivid crimson TrackPoint sitting down in between the G, H and B keys, with a trio of involved buttons previously mentioned the touchpad. The thinness of the keyboard isn’t going to have an affect on the TrackPoint’s usability, which I observed labored easily. Customers of standard ThinkPad laptops will sense incredibly considerably at dwelling. 

The keyboard is essentially squeezed into a relatively modest area, and some of the keys undergo, but Lenovo has completed a superior work of optimising the accessible area. The Fn essential row is fairly massive, and the frequently-utilised Esc and Delete keys that bookend the row are double-width, serving to to make them straightforward to locate. The arrow keys are as massive as they can be in the accessible area, and the Enter essential is double-height and pretty chunky.  

Important motion is incredibly optimistic with a significantly springy bounce-back again. A incredibly light ‘click’ is emanated when the keyboard rests flat on a table, whilst a a lot more ‘thunky’, hollow sound is produced when the keyboard is elevated. Neither place induced me any issues, and I could conveniently touch-type at my typical pace. The touchpad is modest and a little bit fiddly to work with, despite the fact that I are not able to fault its responsiveness. 

The 12.3-inch IPS touch display sits inside smallish bezels. It gives FHD+ resolution (1,920 x 1,280 pixels, 187.6ppi) with brightness up to four hundred nits and a contrast ratio of 1500:1. It covers a hundred% of the sRGB colour gamut, with viewing angles of 178° in the horizontal airplane. I observed the 3:2 display flawlessly superior for viewing textual content, net web pages and a little bit of immediately after-hours video clip. Really don’t assume to work with two open up home windows facet by facet, while. The display is just as well modest to make this type of use situation feasible in any meaningful way.

Audio is delivered by a pair of 1W stereo speakers and Dolby Top quality, and I have listened to a ton superior. Even at lower volumes the output is tinny, and there is some distortion at better volumes. You will will need headphones or external speakers to rectify this. 

There is an outward-facing 8MP camera on the back again of the tablet and a 5MP camera with IR for Windows Hi deal with authentication on the display facet. The consumer-facing camera can be utilised to present an ‘over shoulder’ notify if anyone is standing at the rear of you searching at the display, but that aspect was not configured on my evaluate unit it also has a sliding privacy deal with. With the keyboard hooked up, you can also authenticate via a fingerprint sensor in the wrist-rest space, to the ideal of the touchpad. 

Ports and connectors are thin on the floor and all ranged alongside the remaining edge of the tablet (in landscape orientation). Here you’ll locate two USB-C ports, one particular with Thunderbolt 4 and one particular for charging the battery, additionally a 3.5mm audio in/out jack. LTE cell broadband is an optional extra, with the SIM slot also on the remaining edge. The volume rocker is on the ideal edge, whilst the power button is on the leading, on the ideal facet as you look at the display. If you will need legacy ports or an Ethernet link, you’ll will need to invest in adapters or a docking station. 

My ThinkPad X12 Removable evaluate sample ran Windows 10 Pro on an eleventh generation Core i5-1130G7 processor, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. There is assistance for up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, whilst processor assistance operates from Core i3 up to Core i7 (all eleventh era).

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Lenovo rates 10.8h of battery life from the 42Wh battery at its site, and 10.36-12.42h on its product or service sheet (depending on the benchmark utilised). Fast charging with the 65W USB-C charger will provide up to 80% demand in 60 minutes, Lenovo suggests.  

I established up on a comprehensive demand for one particular of my work periods and immediately after a few hours of writing into net apps, streaming video clip and new music, and browsing, the battery had fallen to 52%. This is a very long way short of Lenovo’s 10-12h claim, and I would not assume this notebook to give me all-working day operating on battery power on this foundation. Rapid charging could for that reason be all-important: on one particular occasion when the battery fell to thirty%, I plugged in and immediately after 15 minutes it had risen to forty eight% immediately after thirty minutes it was at sixty six% and immediately after forty five minutes it had got to eighty four%. 

Conclusions 

Lenovo’s initial-era ThinkPad X12 Removable is modest and moveable, but strong of body. The trademark ThinkPad style features are existing and proper, but are rather permit down by the flimsy loop for the bundled stylus.  

The 12.3-inch display is a small cramped, audio is inadequate, and the battery might not get a lot of persons via a comprehensive operating working day — despite the fact that fast charging assistance is a saving grace.  

Finally the good develop and ThinkPad style don’t truly compensate for the downsides, especially as the ThinkPad X12 Detachable’s pricing is a lot more in main notebook rather than secondary unit territory. 

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