I recently read a review in PCMag that proclaimed the 2025 Lenovo X1 Carbon gen 13 the "world's best" laptop so I thought I'd get one since I hadn't set up a WinPC laptop in a while. I'd like to share some of my first impressions for those who might be interested. You can find benchmarks and quantitative data easily in Youtube videos and reviews. This is more subjective.
First off, the Lenovo doesn't compare directly with either the Macbook Air or Pro. It's sort of a combination of both. The unit I purchased from B&H Photo was $1,899. Lenovo list prices are all over the place, but the closest equivalent on their site is about $2,400. Mine has the Intel Lunar Lake Ultra 7-258V/32GB/512GB and the 14", 2.8k OLED, non-touch display.
Unboxing: Everyone is using eco-friendly packaging these days. This was neatly packaged and included a quick-start flyer with the smallest fonts I've ever seen. The only included accessory was the charger.
Design: The Thinkpad series is the classic business laptop design. This gen keeps the pointer nub and the two buttons above the touchpad but I understand a haptic touchpad is available in the EU. The X1 Carbon has always been very lightweight, but they trimmed it down to only 2.17lbs! Quite a feat. But, having owned an earlier X1 Carbon, this seems to have more chassis flex. The soft-touch black finish is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but oh well. The keyboard is excellent with terrific feel. The touch pad is very responsive but it does not have the smooth glass finish like a Mac. It's kind of rubbery which inhibits dragging. There are nice touches like the slider to cover the camera and I like the tab on the lid to house the camera instead of a notch on the display. That also makes it easy to lift the lid to open it. For security there's Windows Hello and a fingerprint reader. Nice to have both.
Display: Lenovo did a nice job with the OLED display with 120Hz refresh. It has a "semi-matte??" finish that cuts way down on glare. Brightness and color accuracy subjectively seem very good.
Start-up experience: Here's where Windows 11 Pro continues to be really annoying. I spent just over two hours downloading and installing Windows, Intel and driver updates along with at least a half-dozen reboots. Then I had to run the Lenovo Vantage updates including the BIOS. Starting up a Mac, even if the OS is behind a rev only takes 15 minutes. Customizing Windows is similarly a pain. Windows still uses both its settings app and the old control panel so changing parameters sometimes bounces around between the two. Lenovo also had HDR and 120Hz refresh off by default. You have to hunt around to find and change a bunch of stuff to get the experience you want.
MS 365: I have a 365 subscription which was picked up by signing in with MS account credentials. CoPilot is enabled by default in 365 and the Edge browser. You have to turn it off (if you want to) in each of the Office apps. The "New" Outlook is also interesting. I set it up with my MS email address and my iCloud email. In order to use it with iCloud email, you have to get an app-specific password from your Apple Account. Not a big deal, but there's another 5 minutes. If you use Outlook without a subscription, it generates an ad email everytime you open it up. Yikes! Even with a subscription, the ad email briefly displays when you first open Outlook, then disappears after a couple of seconds. So glad Apple doesn't do stuff like this...
Odor: I have to include this because I always get a kick out of threads that pop up complaining about Macbook odor. Yes, the Lenovo is electronic equipment just like the Mac so it has an odor when you first use it. Between reflow soldering flux and outgassing of various components exposed to heat, there will be an odor but, like the Mac, it quickly fades.
Battery life: After just a couple days, it's hard to tell, but battery life will not be a Mac killer. My guess is I'll see about 8 hours in regular use. Charging is fast. This morning I went from 60% to 100% in about 20 minutes.
Warranty: This was interesting. When I ran Lenovo Vantage, it indicated my 1-year warranty would run from April 16, 2025 through April 15, 2026. I ordered it June 16, so I was expecting the warranty to run a year from then, or a year from the day I set it up, June 18. My guess is Lenovo starts the warranty clock when they ship it to the retailer. Clearly this could be a problem for someone needing coverage who didn't save their receipt. I went to warranty detail and there's a way to challenge the date by uploading your receipt. I did this and was pleased to have a response from Lenovo Support within 24 hours changing my start date. Just something to be aware of.
In summary, I think the X1 Carbon is an impressive laptop. The weight is incredible. But, Windows, at least for me, remains kind of a hodgepodge with some really annoying aspects. I know Mac OS has some bugs and certainly isn't perfect, but its tight integration with other Apple OSs and devices and ease of setup is a pleasure. I set up iCloud for Windows and over the first couple of days, it has worked fine. Photos loads thumbnails really slowly, but other than that everything is okay. I enjoy using both Macs and WinPCs, but my preference is still the Mac.
First off, the Lenovo doesn't compare directly with either the Macbook Air or Pro. It's sort of a combination of both. The unit I purchased from B&H Photo was $1,899. Lenovo list prices are all over the place, but the closest equivalent on their site is about $2,400. Mine has the Intel Lunar Lake Ultra 7-258V/32GB/512GB and the 14", 2.8k OLED, non-touch display.
Unboxing: Everyone is using eco-friendly packaging these days. This was neatly packaged and included a quick-start flyer with the smallest fonts I've ever seen. The only included accessory was the charger.
Design: The Thinkpad series is the classic business laptop design. This gen keeps the pointer nub and the two buttons above the touchpad but I understand a haptic touchpad is available in the EU. The X1 Carbon has always been very lightweight, but they trimmed it down to only 2.17lbs! Quite a feat. But, having owned an earlier X1 Carbon, this seems to have more chassis flex. The soft-touch black finish is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but oh well. The keyboard is excellent with terrific feel. The touch pad is very responsive but it does not have the smooth glass finish like a Mac. It's kind of rubbery which inhibits dragging. There are nice touches like the slider to cover the camera and I like the tab on the lid to house the camera instead of a notch on the display. That also makes it easy to lift the lid to open it. For security there's Windows Hello and a fingerprint reader. Nice to have both.
Display: Lenovo did a nice job with the OLED display with 120Hz refresh. It has a "semi-matte??" finish that cuts way down on glare. Brightness and color accuracy subjectively seem very good.
Start-up experience: Here's where Windows 11 Pro continues to be really annoying. I spent just over two hours downloading and installing Windows, Intel and driver updates along with at least a half-dozen reboots. Then I had to run the Lenovo Vantage updates including the BIOS. Starting up a Mac, even if the OS is behind a rev only takes 15 minutes. Customizing Windows is similarly a pain. Windows still uses both its settings app and the old control panel so changing parameters sometimes bounces around between the two. Lenovo also had HDR and 120Hz refresh off by default. You have to hunt around to find and change a bunch of stuff to get the experience you want.
MS 365: I have a 365 subscription which was picked up by signing in with MS account credentials. CoPilot is enabled by default in 365 and the Edge browser. You have to turn it off (if you want to) in each of the Office apps. The "New" Outlook is also interesting. I set it up with my MS email address and my iCloud email. In order to use it with iCloud email, you have to get an app-specific password from your Apple Account. Not a big deal, but there's another 5 minutes. If you use Outlook without a subscription, it generates an ad email everytime you open it up. Yikes! Even with a subscription, the ad email briefly displays when you first open Outlook, then disappears after a couple of seconds. So glad Apple doesn't do stuff like this...
Odor: I have to include this because I always get a kick out of threads that pop up complaining about Macbook odor. Yes, the Lenovo is electronic equipment just like the Mac so it has an odor when you first use it. Between reflow soldering flux and outgassing of various components exposed to heat, there will be an odor but, like the Mac, it quickly fades.
Battery life: After just a couple days, it's hard to tell, but battery life will not be a Mac killer. My guess is I'll see about 8 hours in regular use. Charging is fast. This morning I went from 60% to 100% in about 20 minutes.
Warranty: This was interesting. When I ran Lenovo Vantage, it indicated my 1-year warranty would run from April 16, 2025 through April 15, 2026. I ordered it June 16, so I was expecting the warranty to run a year from then, or a year from the day I set it up, June 18. My guess is Lenovo starts the warranty clock when they ship it to the retailer. Clearly this could be a problem for someone needing coverage who didn't save their receipt. I went to warranty detail and there's a way to challenge the date by uploading your receipt. I did this and was pleased to have a response from Lenovo Support within 24 hours changing my start date. Just something to be aware of.
In summary, I think the X1 Carbon is an impressive laptop. The weight is incredible. But, Windows, at least for me, remains kind of a hodgepodge with some really annoying aspects. I know Mac OS has some bugs and certainly isn't perfect, but its tight integration with other Apple OSs and devices and ease of setup is a pleasure. I set up iCloud for Windows and over the first couple of days, it has worked fine. Photos loads thumbnails really slowly, but other than that everything is okay. I enjoy using both Macs and WinPCs, but my preference is still the Mac.
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