I've owned X1E 2nd gen for some while. I never intended to purchase this device, but I had an accident with 1st gen, and that device is basically dead. Well, almost dead. After coming home from work, I've parked my bike in garage, and left my laptop bag behind the car. Wife turned on the car, and ran over it. She couldn't see the bag, my fault completely. What's interesting, my car is about 2100kg in weight.
And even after fully running over my X1E, it sort of worked. Screen was completely shatterd, chasis broken... But after removing RAM from one memory slot, device would actually turn on. Fan on GPU side was still working, but not on CPU side. So laptop would basically overheat and turn off after 1-2 mins. And yes, internal screen wasn't working, I've tested this when connected on external screen.
But long story short... X1E I own now has 48GB of RAM (16+32), 3TB SSD (2+1), i7 9750h, and a 1650 GPU. And then there is 4K HDR screen. I've bought 4K because it was cheaper. With 16GB of ram and 1TB SSD, it was only 1499$ on ebay. 1799$ for FHD HDR and 512GB SSD. So I went with 4K. But funny thing is, X1C with 4K HDR has way better screen. It's easily noticable. Why is that, I have no idea
This device is 99% the same as first gen. But with one big difference. Mesh behind the backplate is completely different then on first gen. No one in reviews mentions this. And it makes a difference. Device is overall more silent. But when I push it and fans do ramp up, sound is completely different then on 1st gen. In a good way.
It's a shame I had to purchase this laptop, even though I still consider it to be the best thin and light laptop in the market. I would prefer to wait a year or two to update my 1st gen X1E, and then purchase one with either new Ryzen chips, or Intel 10nm (if those ever come out...).
But never the less, this device is still awesome!
I just with that when they redesign it, battery gets bigger. With 4K under Linux I can get around 4 hours tops. And that is just with browsing and watching videos. Under Windows 6h or so is the limit.