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ThinkPad X1 Carbon

www3.lenovo.com

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Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#81

Post by joshyeager »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #56

As someone who is considering moving from a MacBook Pro 2015 to a Linux laptop, the keyboard and, in particular, the trackpad on PC models are the biggest disappointments. Apple has spent so much effort on the tactility of their laptops, while PC manufacturers still seem to be stuck in an earlier decade. I was a little bit shocked to discover that Thinkpads still have that terrible little mouse nipple, which I hadn't…

Counterpoint: I still use only Thinkpads because they have TrackPoint. For those of us who prefer it, it is vastly superior to trackpads.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#82

Post by [deleted] »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #56

As someone who is considering moving from a MacBook Pro 2015 to a Linux laptop, the keyboard and, in particular, the trackpad on PC models are the biggest disappointments. Apple has spent so much effort on the tactility of their laptops, while PC manufacturers still seem to be stuck in an earlier decade. I was a little bit shocked to discover that Thinkpads still have that terrible little mouse nipple, which I hadn't…

[deleted]

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#83

Post by farresito »

mactunes wrote: post #64
Waterluvian wrote: post #22

I want to be excited by a good non-Apple laptop. But they're all just so terribly designed. They're always some sort of plastic, feel flimsy and bendy, have grills and screw holes and uneven surfaces and stickers everywhere. I had a T530 for a few years at my first job and just hated it. It had fantastic specs but it felt awful and unreliable and like I had to babysit it. I got a 2015 MBP to replace it after IT damag…

I just recently bought a ASUS ZenBook UX360UAK with a 7th gen i7, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. It's made out of aluminium, has a glass touchpad and costs around half of what a similarly priced MacBook pro costs in Germany. It's my first non-Mac after 20 years. I've owned it for a good week and so far I'm very happy. It has superb battery life, great build quality and is fast. Only 1 minor con: the fan always runs, but i…

How's the keyboard? I'm so so sad that most laptops' keyboards are terrible... You can't imagine. I so much would love to buy an ASUS or similar laptop as the one you purchased, especially since they are affordable, but every time I check some laptops, their keyboards are beyond terrible. It's a shame, really. I will have to stick to Thinkpads.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#84

Post by archon810 »

rcarmo wrote: post #54

I was assigned one of these (the 2015 model) as my office laptop, and I hate the thing for five reasons (two dealbreakers on top): - It is huge and unwieldy, like a cafeteria tray (and comes with a sizable power brick) - The touchscreen doesn't have an oleophobic coating, so it becomes a smudgy mess within hours (unlike my iPad, which looks pristine for weeks despite being even more heavily used) - The screen seems d…

At 300 nits, the display is going to be mediocre at best. Even the P50 4K display which I think is supposed to be 350 nits is dim and really quite awful.

HP and Dell have much nicer screens these days.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#85

Post by extrapickles »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22

I want to be excited by a good non-Apple laptop. But they're all just so terribly designed. They're always some sort of plastic, feel flimsy and bendy, have grills and screw holes and uneven surfaces and stickers everywhere. I had a T530 for a few years at my first job and just hated it. It had fantastic specs but it felt awful and unreliable and like I had to babysit it. I got a 2015 MBP to replace it after IT damag…

The Razer Blade has similar unibody metal chassis as Apple laptops and is not coated in stickers. I have the Blade Stealth and its just as sturdy and sleek as the Apple equivalent.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#86

Post by lobster_johnson »

bpye wrote: post #66
lobster_johnson wrote: post #56

As someone who is considering moving from a MacBook Pro 2015 to a Linux laptop, the keyboard and, in particular, the trackpad on PC models are the biggest disappointments. Apple has spent so much effort on the tactility of their laptops, while PC manufacturers still seem to be stuck in an earlier decade. I was a little bit shocked to discover that Thinkpads still have that terrible little mouse nipple, which I hadn't…

The Surface Pro 4 type cover, and I'd assume the Surface Book, both have a comparable keyboard and I'd say the trackpad is definitely as good as the Macbooks I've used or better (haven't used the latest of any model, but some older Pros and Airs)

Does the Surface Pro series have a model that's comparable to the MacBook Pro 15''? From what I can tell, they max out at 12'', 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD?

The "type cover" looks decent, but in the YouTube videos I find, it looks like it's less rigid/solid than a fully integrated keyboard. I see that some people prefer to detach it and use it flat on a solid surface for that reason.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#87

Post by alaithea »

piker wrote: post #51
alaithea wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to this generation of the machine, but I've had a decent experience with Ubuntu on the 3rd gen Carbon X1. I have constant issues with the wifi, though... networkmanager needs to be restarted a couple times a day or else the OS will just lose connection and say wifi is disabled. There is also a general sluggishness, especially when web-browsing, that I have not yet tracked down. All in all, though, it is…

Interesting that your wifi experience sounds terrible, but you've given it a "decent" rating. For me, wifi concerns are among the most important. Thanks for the feedback.

At this point, the fix is just a matter of popping open a terminal, hitting Ctrl+R and typing "restart" to find the command that fixes things, and hitting Enter. So yeah, it is annoying but not a dealbreaker by any means for a power user. I could probably cronjob the restart, too.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#88

Post by lobster_johnson »

rcarmo wrote: post #71
lobster_johnson wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the parent, but for me, a reason would be to have a dedicated, company-paid data-only subscription. I work from coffee shops a lot, and my personal T-Mobile subscription doesn't have enough data. Right now I'm considering getting an external Verizon "JetPack" for this, but it's another little device to pack and charge.

Your company can just as well provide you with a Wi-Fi hotspot.

You didn't read my whole comment, then. "But it's another little device to pack and charge."

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#89

Post by rcarmo »

archon810 wrote: post #84
rcarmo wrote: post #54

I was assigned one of these (the 2015 model) as my office laptop, and I hate the thing for five reasons (two dealbreakers on top): - It is huge and unwieldy, like a cafeteria tray (and comes with a sizable power brick) - The touchscreen doesn't have an oleophobic coating, so it becomes a smudgy mess within hours (unlike my iPad, which looks pristine for weeks despite being even more heavily used) - The screen seems d…

At 300 nits, the display is going to be mediocre at best. Even the P50 4K display which I think is supposed to be 350 nits is dim and really quite awful. HP and Dell have much nicer screens these days.

Good point. My trouble with the display isn't so much brightness but contrast and color range. I can attribute that partially to the touch layer, but, in all honesty, I just find it an eyesore in general.

I use the same wallpapers on my Mac and Windows machines (a set of coloured trianglify patterns), and EVERYTHING looks so much nicer on the Mac that it's just sad.

Re: ThinkPad X1 Carbon

#90

Post by Roritharr »

tbrock wrote: post #29
Roritharr wrote: post #20

Only 16GB, no Quad-Core option (i'd take an underclocked one at this point :( )... i need more threads and ram on the go, why is that not an option outside of the alienware 13 monstrosity?

You must be trolling. Look at the size of it. The thermals for the quad core chip don't make sense and they can very likely only fit 16gb of ram. The T series is what you are looking for. Try find any laptop of that size with 32gb ram and quad core option. It doesn't exist.

Thats my point, it doesn't exist, but for arbitrary reasons. The RAM chips in an Alienware 13 aren't more or larger than in the X1 Carbon, its just that they opt-to not offering this. The Intel i7-7500U is capable of driving 32gb, so there's no limit there, even if I would have to compromise on the quadcore.

But the Thermal Restrictions of the quadcore are imo manageable aswell, as they only have to dissipate about 20W of heat more at peak. The Alienware 13 mostly needs the additional cooling performance for its beefy graphics processor, which is not necessary for most dev use-cases.

The smallest T-Series that would fit the bill is the 14 inch ThinkPad T470. For some reason i cannot fathom the T470s only supports up to 24gb of ram, as per their press release.

The T470 is needlessly heavy, has more ports than I need and is larger than I want.

13 inch is my personal maximum, i'd rather have something between 10-12 inch. I'm lovin the dimensions of my Surface Pro 2, i just need something with a quad-core and more ram. I can compromise at the quadcore, but it boggles the mind that theres nothing below 14inch with 32gb. The Alienware 13 is the only machine that currently fits the bill, but that graphics chip and ridiculous chassis makes it unnecessary heavy.

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