Headed back to Windows

[raqball]

I generally switch back and forth between Windows and Mac every so often. With the M1 MacBooks I thought I was done for the long haul but I am bumping into issues with a few programs I run (no Mac version).. I know I can run Windows on the MacBook but it has it's own issues when doing so and it's not optimal..

I currently have an M1 Air with 16GB RAM and a 1TB drive.. The TB drive is overkill for my needs however... I was browsing the Lenovo site a few days ago and notice they are having one of their massive sales. I ordered an X1 Yoga 6th Gen and it shipped today via 2 day so I should have it Thursday...

I ordered:

14" FSD+ Screen 16:10 aspect ratio (w/privacy screen) rated @ 500 nits
16GB RAM
512 SSD
11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1145G7 Processor

The normal listed price for this machine is a laughable $3,400.. No way I'd pay anywhere even close to that for a machine with these specs. However, with their sale and the added discount I get from my prior employment (I'm retired but still get the discount) it came out to $1,571 which I think is a great price for it...

I am worried about the privacy screen but it can be toggled off so it should be fine.. Thank god Lenovo is moving away from the terrible 16:9 aspect ratios.. I thought about getting the Yoga Titanium 13.5" that has a 3:2 aspect ratio but decided on the X1 Yoga instead..

Should be here Thursday and I'll looking forward to testing it out..

 

[Steve Adams]

Awesome device. Congrats. Seems expensive however. I have a dell inspiron 5406 with has higher specs, all aluminum build quality and I paid 949.00 cdn for it. One thing, being lenovo, it can take a lickin' and still look fine after it. Post up a review after you get it!

 

[raqball]

Awesome device. Congrats. Seems expensive however. I have a dell inspiron 5406 with has higher specs, all aluminum build quality and I paid 949.00 cdn for it. One thing, being lenovo, it can take a lickin' and still look fine after it. Post up a review after you get it!

Lenovo's are always expensive.. I've had several X1's in past (3 different Carbons and 2 different Yogas) and I never buy until they are having a massive sale.. All in all, I don't think the $1571 I paid was out of line all things considered.. Now the non sale price? Laughable at $3,400....

 

[raqball]

I finally got around to setting it up, removing the boat (not much on it but there was some) disabling Cortana and a few other things..

Sadly there is a spec of dust or something behind the screen. I originally thought it was a dead pixel but it's not and is def a spec of dust or something... Lenovo offered to replace it but said that would take weeks. I opted to return it and reorder... They did give me an additional $200 off for my troubles. so after all is said and done I will have paid $1371 for it... Once the new machine arrives I'll send this one back for a refund..

Overall it's a very nice machine. Feels premium built, like MacBooks (as expected, it's an X1 after all), and while most X1's have the Carbon color this one is described as Storm Gray... I've never been a fan of the Lenovo Carbon as it's a fingerprint magnet and after shot usage, looks like a hot gooey mess! My OCD can't take it! The Storm Grey is much better in that regard..

Keyboard is stellar and the trackpad is smooth and accurate. It is a wider trackpad this year which is nice. The matte privacy screen is nice and it does get very bright but it looks a little washed out. Probably due to the privacy part of the screen. With Privacy turned off it's much better, but still a little washed out.

I'm really diggin' the 14" 16:10 ratio.. So much better than 16:9!

The machine is fast and smooth. I've not heard the fan yet even when running through the Windows updates.. It got warm but not hot..

Ports galore which is nice after using the MacBook Air with it's limited ports. Comes with a pen that docks and charges inside the machine. I have not used it yet and probably won't use it often but it's a nice included addition..

Bummed about the defect / spec under the screen though...

 

[TopherMan12]

Lenovo's always felt the closest to MacBook's in build quality to me. I've had two that I didn't keep for various reasons, but the construction of the laptop was very good.

So weird about the spec under screen. I don't think I've ever heard of that one before.

 

[NT1440]

I generally switch back and forth between Windows and Mac every so often. With the M1 MacBooks I thought I was done for the long haul but I am bumping into issues with a few programs I run (no Mac version).. I know I can run Windows on the MacBook but it has it's own issues when doing so and it's not optimal..

I currently have an M1 Air with 16GB RAM and a 1TB drive.. The TB drive is overkill for my needs however... I was browsing the Lenovo site a few days ago and notice they are having one of their massive sales. I ordered an X1 Yoga 6th Gen and it shipped today via 2 day so I should have it Thursday...

I ordered:

14" FSD+ Screen 16:10 aspect ratio (w/privacy screen) rated @ 500 nits
16GB RAM
512 SSD
11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1145G7 Processor

The normal listed price for this machine is a laughable $3,400.. No way I'd pay anywhere even close to that for a machine with these specs. However, with their sale and the added discount I get from my prior employment (I'm retired but still get the discount) it came out to $1,571 which I think is a great price for it...

I am worried about the privacy screen but it can be toggled off so it should be fine.. Thank god Lenovo is moving away from the terrible 16:9 aspect ratios.. I thought about getting the Yoga Titanium 13.5" that has a 3:2 aspect ratio but decided on the X1 Yoga instead..

Should be here Thursday and I'll looking forward to testing it out..

I order all the laptops at work (T series), all the “normal” pricing makes me laugh. They always show prices close to a MBP. Thing is, I don’t think there’s a way to buy one at “normal” pricing if you tried!

IMO Lenovo X/T series (we have no need for the P) are the closest you can get to Mac reliability in terms of hardware AND driver/firmware/Bios updating. I’m so glad I was able to dump the HP’s pro book series as soon as I got there. And don’t get me started about the crapshoot that is running a simple BIOS update on the Dell XPS series (😡).

 

[raqball]

Lenovo's always felt the closest to MacBook's in build quality to me. I've had two that I didn't keep for various reasons, but the construction of the laptop was very good.

So weird about the spec under screen. I don't think I've ever heard of that one before.

It's a small black spec.. It's in the upper right part of the screen. On Black backgrounds it's not noticeable at all but on any other color, especially white, it sticks out like a sore thumb..

Not a big deal really, just bummed. Lenovo sent me a return shipping label, they honored my previous pricing and gave me an additional $200 off the new order...

I order all the laptops at work (T series), all the “normal” pricing makes me laugh. They always show prices close to a MBP. Thing is, I don’t think there’s a way to buy one at “normal” pricing if you tried!

IMO Lenovo X/T series (we have no need for the P) are the closest you can get to Mac reliability in terms of hardware AND driver/firmware/Bios updating. I’m so glad I was able to dump the HP’s pro book series as soon as I got there. And don’t get me started about the crapshoot that is running a simple BIOS update on the Dell XPS series (😡).

I've always been a fan of the X1 series. One thing I can't stand though is the non automatic keyboard backlighting.. There use to be a LEDControl script you could run to get the functionality but something changed with the new machines as it no longer works.. ;(

 

[NT1440]

It's a small black spec.. It's in the upper right part of the screen. On Black backgrounds it's not noticeable at all but on any other color, especially white, it sticks out like a sore thumb..

Not a big deal really, just bummed. Lenovo sent me a return shipping label, they honored my previous pricing and gave me an additional $200 off the new order...


I've always been a fan of the X1 series. One thing I can't stand though is the non automatic keyboard backlighting.. There use to be a LEDControl script you could run to get the functionality but something changed with the new machines as it no longer works.. ;(

Oh man it’s infuriating, I have to show my users what the Fn key is and does. Do you know what kind of can of worms that opens up?!?

 

[raqball]

Oh man it’s infuriating, I have to show my users what the Fn key is and does. Do you know what kind of can of worms that opens up?!?

LOL...

Since posting I found a somewhat older method that still kind of works.. I can't for the life of me get it to start at boot even though task scheduler is configured for it to do so...

Either way, it's working. Backlight on KB stays lit until screen times out then it activates back on after sleep. The only thing I need to do is manually run the script after boot. No big deal as I put a shortcut on the taskbar for it and I honestly don't reboot that often..

Edit: I am an idiot.. I had a typo in the AHK script that pointed to the KB driver.. All is well now.. LOL

 

[raqball]

A few photos of the Storm Gray for anyone interested in the new color.

 

[NT1440]

A few photos of the Storm Gray for anyone interested in the new color.

Interesting. I got a T14 in storm grey (it was the quickest available machine) for my CTO….the lid and bezel are the standard black while the keyboard and upper case are grey. I was shocked that Lenovo would even think that was acceptable.

It looks decent when the whole machine is the same color like in your pictures though =P

 

[raqball]

Interesting. I got a T14 in storm grey (it was the quickest available machine) for my CTO….the lid and bezel are the standard black while the keyboard and upper case are grey. I was shocked that Lenovo would even think that was acceptable.

It looks decent when the whole machine is the same color like in your pictures though =P

I looked at the T14 before purchasing as I'd prefer the print sensor by the trackpad. I agree with you that the decision, color wise, is odd on the T14...

I also considered the X1C but my OCD can't deal with the hot gooey fingerprint mess the machine looks like after touching it a few times..

I think my 6th Gen X1C was Silver. I wish they would have kept that as a CTO option for the Carbon series as I would have purchased it instead of the Yoga....

Edit: It was my X1C 7th Gen that was Silver.

Lenovo X1 Carbon (2017) -v- Macbook Pro nTB (2016)

Lenovo X1 Carbon (2017) -v- Macbook Pro nTB (2016) I had the Macbook Pro nTB for about 3 months after it was initially released. I sold it and recently purchased a Lenovo X1 Carbon 5th Gen (2017).. The comparison won’t be fair in some areas due to the X1’s configuration but the key thing to...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[raqball]

Replacement arrived today for the screen defect and it's perfect! Happy camper. Now to set it up and reconfig everything...

 

[skaertus]

I generally switch back and forth between Windows and Mac every so often. With the M1 MacBooks I thought I was done for the long haul but I am bumping into issues with a few programs I run (no Mac version).. I know I can run Windows on the MacBook but it has it's own issues when doing so and it's not optimal..

I currently have an M1 Air with 16GB RAM and a 1TB drive.. The TB drive is overkill for my needs however... I was browsing the Lenovo site a few days ago and notice they are having one of their massive sales. I ordered an X1 Yoga 6th Gen and it shipped today via 2 day so I should have it Thursday...

I ordered:

14" FSD+ Screen 16:10 aspect ratio (w/privacy screen) rated @ 500 nits
16GB RAM
512 SSD
11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-1145G7 Processor

The normal listed price for this machine is a laughable $3,400.. No way I'd pay anywhere even close to that for a machine with these specs. However, with their sale and the added discount I get from my prior employment (I'm retired but still get the discount) it came out to $1,571 which I think is a great price for it...

I am worried about the privacy screen but it can be toggled off so it should be fine.. Thank god Lenovo is moving away from the terrible 16:9 aspect ratios.. I thought about getting the Yoga Titanium 13.5" that has a 3:2 aspect ratio but decided on the X1 Yoga instead..

Should be here Thursday and I'll looking forward to testing it out..

Why is the listed price $3,400?!? Unbelievable...

 

[raqball]

Why is the listed price $3,400?!? Unbelievable...

It's just what Lenovo always does.. The retail prices are always insane but they do have several 'sales' a year that make the prices much more reasonable..

 

[raqball]

And strike 2 on the Yoga...

During bios update the computer froze and sat there for an hour. Called Lenovo and they told me to reboot it (which is odd because it clearly say not to do so) after reboot it's a brick... The rep said they need to schedule repair and I said no dice as I am not interested in having a 2 day old computer repaired.. So they sent me a return label.. Heck the 1st Yoga is still sitting here waiting for me to mail back....

Now do I order a 3rd or get something else.... I was previously looking at the new XPS 13" with the 16:10 aspect ratio...

Really bummed with the Yoga. I like the machine but don't know if I want to roll the dice on a 3rd order....

 

[pshufd]

And strike 2 on the Yoga...

During bios update the computer froze and sat there for an hour. Called Lenovo and they told me to reboot it (which is odd because it clearly say not to do so) after reboot it's a brick... The rep said they need to schedule repair and I said no dice as I am not interested in having a 2 day old computer repaired.. So they sent me a return label.. Heck the 1st Yoga is still sitting here waiting for me to mail back....

Now do I order a 3rd or get something else.... I was previously looking at the new XPS 13" with the 16:10 aspect ratio...

Really bummed with the Yoga. I like the machine but don't know if I want to roll the dice on a 3rd order....

Dell has a commercial line and a consumer line. Maybe Lenovo does as well. You get less bang for the buck but I think that you get better reliability.

 

[ian87w]

Dell has a commercial line and a consumer line. Maybe Lenovo does as well. You get less bang for the buck but I think that you get better reliability.

The X1 is a Thinkpad line, which is already targeted towards enterprises.

 

[raqball]

The X1 is a Thinkpad line, which is already targeted towards enterprises.

Yup...

I've never really had problems with any of the X1's I've had before. They are generally top notch build quality and reliability.

I was bummed about the screen defect on the 1st one but things happen. The BIOS update bricking the 2nd one was another massive bummer.

Not sure if Lenovo's QC has went down the drain or what but I decided to not try my luck with a 3rd one..

 

[ian87w]

Yup...

I've never really had problems with any of the X1's I've had before. They are generally top notch build quality and reliability.

I was bummed about the screen defect on the 1st one but things happen. The BIOS update bricking the 2nd one was another massive bummer.

Not sure if Lenovo's QC has went down the drain or what but I decided to not try my luck with a 3rd one..

Imo Lenovo QC has always been the same. They're mostly fine, but it's definitely worse compared to the old IBM Thinkpad. That's why Lenovo bought the Thinkpad brand, to create the perception of "better quality." But in reality, Lenovo is just Lenovo. Overall not bad, but they are not exemplary either.

Even on the Thinkpad line, there are good and bad generations.

 

[pshufd]

Imo Lenovo QC has always been the same. They're mostly fine, but it's definitely worse compared to the old IBM Thinkpad. That's why Lenovo bought the Thinkpad brand, to create the perception of "better quality." But in reality, Lenovo is just Lenovo. Overall not bad, but they are not exemplary either.

Even on the Thinkpad line, there are good and bad generations.

They are standard models in big corporations so I'd expect that they are quite good. I've never owned or used a Lenovo myself.

I've always preferred Dell for laptops, desktops and monitors. Though I now prefer to build my own desktops. I looked at the latest XPS and didn't like the swingout design or the small case.

 

[ian87w]

They are standard models in big corporations so I'd expect that they are quite good. I've never owned or used a Lenovo myself.

I've always preferred Dell for laptops, desktops and monitors. Though I now prefer to build my own desktops. I looked at the latest XPS and didn't like the swingout design or the small case.

Lenovo is fine, but that doesn't mean the Thinkpad line is the "same" quality wise as the IBM Thinkpad. There are plenty of in-depth reviews and complaints about various generations of Lenovo Thinkpad laptops. In short, Lenovo's qc is good, but inconsistent if you want it to be at the same standard as the classic IBM Thinkpad.

 

[pshufd]

Lenovo is fine, but that doesn't mean the Thinkpad line is the "same" quality wise as the IBM Thinkpad. There are plenty of in-depth reviews and complaints about various generations of Lenovo Thinkpad laptops. In short, Lenovo's qc is good, but inconsistent if you want it to be at the same standard as the classic IBM Thinkpad.

I've never owned an IBM laptop or PC either but I do recall that they had a great reputation. It's kind of sad when a great product goes downhill like that. My main example is Hewlett-Packard.

 

[ian87w]

I've never owned an IBM laptop or PC either but I do recall that they had a great reputation. It's kind of sad when a great product goes downhill like that. My main example is Hewlett-Packard.

I think the ship has sailed since everything is made in China, in the same ODM factories like Quanta (from HP to Apple laptops). So the differentiation to me as a consumer becomes the support provided by the OEM.

 

[pshufd]

I think the ship has sailed since everything is made in China, in the same ODM factories like Quanta (from HP to Apple laptops). So the differentiation to me as a consumer becomes the support provided by the OEM.

I think that MSI has at least one model that they make in the US and it would be nice to see some manufacturing return to the United States.