I have a Lenovo X13 Gen 2 with a 16 thread Ryzen 5850U and 32GB of RAM. It’s about the most powerful you can get while still having a power efficient CPU under load. I spend all day compiling with all cores and battery is still around 8-9 hours with a 90% charging cap set in the bios to preserve battery longevity.

Linux works great on the AMD chipset but I had to replace the Wi-Fi card with an Intel AX220.

After buying the aftermarket Wi-Fi card and 2TB SSD, I spent about $1200. Build quality and dimensions are comparable but a little worse than the Carbon imo.

Using still a ThinkPad X220 with Linux and will switch likely this year to a X13 AMD Gen3. I personally prefer the X13 because it is solid, powerful and provide many connectors. I hope the next MediaTek WiFi-Chips are better this time, if not Intel-WiFi.

The X1 is slimmer, lightweight but scarifies a lot and is expensive. The X13 ARM is passively cooled which a major benefit, similar to the MacBook Air but due to ARMs and Qualcomm bad support of Linux not even an option. A passively cooled AMD variant would be more interesting.

I'm convinced laptops peaked with the X220. I have one sitting next to me now. It's not powerful enough for a daily driver anymore but I'm in the process of repurposing it for some self-hosting.

The T14s Gen 3 is apparently using Qualcomm wifi chips instead of MediaTek or Intel this time around, it seems likely that we'll see the same for the X13 Gen 3 as well.

Interesting! If Qualcomm means actually WiFI chips from Atheros this could mean good WiFi and good Linux drivers. Atheros has a good reputation, it is just Qualcomms ARM and GPUs drivers which are problem.

Hi. OP here. Thanks for the thorough review

> Linux works great on the AMD chipset but I had to replace the Wi-Fi card with an Intel AX220.

Curious to know why you switched out the Wi-Fi card? How easy was it to do?

I also have the same X13 gen2. The shipped Realtek wifi chipset works for me, but I needed to have a newer kernel. Fedora 34 was good enough.

Do you also experience significant battery drain during sleep? Asking since this is an issue with the T14 gen 1 with AMD.

x13 amd is just about perfect. linux or ltsc both work.

I used an X1 for a year, though with Windows. I'm not sure I'd recommend it at the price Lenovo want, but it has some nice points. Price is really the main downside for me. It's in the same ballpark as a Macbook Pro (the model I have was $2500 off the shelf) and the hardware just isn't quite there. Fine if someone else is paying for it!

Upgradeability is decent, though RAM is soldered in. You can swap in hard drives, upgrade the antenna and Lenovo has a decent manual for replacing parts.

It's a very light laptop, which is nice. It's also extremely sturdy. No problems with flex or whatever when it's thrown in a full backpack.

It works well with an eGPU, but the main USB-C power port is quite wobbly even after a thorough clean out.

It has a stupid proprietary Ethernet adapter that also blocks the USB-C port. I assume this is for use with the official dock, but why not just have two USB-C ports?

The speakers are awful. Yes we're going to compare to a Macbook as the gold standard, but for a $2k laptop I really want better.

Thermals aren't great and it dumps exhaust heat on your mouse hand.

Keyboard is good, trackpad is mediocre.

The display is good, and it's bright. There are some funny graphics driver issues with Intel. The display flickers when switching between power/battery and often the backlight settings mess up. It also suffers from screen burn if you forget to use a screensaver or leave it on for a while.

Battery performance tanked pretty fast for me. I barely get a few hours these days. If you run on low power mode, it's not usable because CPU throttling is so severe.

Hi. OP here. Thanks to everyone who's shared their experiences with the Thinkpad X series in this thread. Will add them to my list of laptops to review.

I've had the 6th gen for a few years now. Overall, I like it. But these are my issues:

- Really wobbly USB-C port(s). The original power brick doesn't work reliably anymore (I have to play with the connection in order to get the laptop to charge)

- 16 GB RAM is limiting now and can't be expanded

- The keyboard... It's more of a general modern laptop issue, but whenever I pull out my old W520 with the original Thinkpad keyboard, I start dreaming of going back. Maybe I will.

I am happier with the 1080p screen on the X1. Better performance, less headaches with non-high-dpi-friendly apps, better symmetry when connecting to a non-4k external monitor.

I'd recommend a 1440p screen, so that the dot pitch would be roughly the same as your external monitor, assuming it's 4k.

I think they are 1200p now also.

Same experience. Makes life easier with no downsides I can perceive.

Likewise I was going to get an X1 after owning several higher-end Thinkpad and Macbook models over the years.

Instead I went with a Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED, 11th gen i7, 32gb ram, RTX 3070 etc. and after using the trackpad and keyboard daily it's an excellent daily driver that'll power through anything I can throw at it.

My only qualm is I can't be bothered to get the fingerprint reader working properly in Linux and finding a slim but protective case that still fits in my rucksack has been a pain.

How does the display work for you in bright daylight? I couldn't find any definitive information about the OLED option if it's more glossy or more matte.

I believe the OLED version has a glossy, glass screen. I ended up going with the matte 1080p screen for both of my X1 generations. It works quite well in bright daylight from my experience, but will still have some glare.

Absolutely love the X1 series. I use it as a daily driver running Linux and can vouch for some of the points made in this thread about them.

I second that. I only use X1Cs. Had a gen3, gen7 and currently use a gen9. The one I have now (X1C Gen9) is the first one that turns the fans on without any CPU heavy task (compiling, blender, stuff like that). Low RPM, but fanning nonetheless. I throttled the CPU ([email protected]) to 2GHz (the hardware limit is 4.7GHz), and it no longer heats up; bullet dodged.

The gen7 had a screen malfunction, repaired under warranty with flawless service. I just upgraded because it would take two weeks for service turnaround, and we might as well have a spare laptop around.

Excellent keyboard, much better than Macs. I use trackpoint, so I'm unable to evaluate the trackpad. The internal display is 1920x1200, and I have nothing bad to say about it. Excellent linux driver coverage. Runs cool, even if it required capping its performance.

I have the X1C gen 7 and love it, has been a wonderful machine for me. It's my personal laptop, and I do most of my personal development on a desktop machine, but it sees use many days each week. I'm running linux. I haven't had any complaints about this machine whatsoever.

How is the battery life?

I get 5-7 hours on battery from my X1C7 FHD running Ubuntu. I carry a power bank in my bag that gives me that much again.

How has Lenovo dealt with the malware fallout from years past? I've wanted to purchase a thinkpad recently but I don't see how to trust them again.

The malware didn't affect their "business" Thinkpads. They really shot themselves in the foot by diluting the Thinkpad name and slapping it on $300 consumer laptops.