Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2nd Gen) - Review 2022

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga starts at $1,682.ten, and is priced at $1,838.99 with a few upgrades like an Intel Core i5-7300U processor and Windows x Pro. Information technology's a convertible-hybrid laptop built with carbon fiber, which passes a dozen MIL-STD 810G durability tests. Its multimode hinge gives you unfettered access to the 14-inch impact screen, making it a skillful choice if yous need to requite frequent presentations from your laptop to small groups. In addition, it comes with 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports every bit well every bit traditional USB 3.0 and HDMI jacks, then it'southward hereafter proofed without leaving legacy peripherals backside. Information technology's a bit big for a 2-in-1 laptop, but consider it if you demand a traditional laptop most of the fourth dimension, and a office-fourth dimension touch-screen-optimized PC.

Looks Like a ThinkPad

The X1 Yoga has Lenovo'due south familiar soft-touch dark-gray finish, which tends to option up fingerprints easily. Yous'll demand to keep a terry or microfiber cloth handy to wipe finger oils off the exterior and the screen. It'due south a very corporate wait compared with the bright-argent HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2, our latest superlative pick for business convertibles. The laptop measures 0.69 by 13.1 by nine.0 and weighs three.09 pounds. It should fit comfortably in a standard laptop example and is light enough to deport around from meeting to meeting. It's larger in every dimension and heavier than the EliteBook x360, but we can attribute that to its larger screen. Final yr'due south lighter ThinkPad X1 Yoga was slightly thicker, merely with the same length and width.

Every bit a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga'southward screen can pin 360 degrees on its dual hinges, allowing you to employ the affect screen in 4 modes. In addition to Laptop fashion, there's Stand mode (which has the screen facing you lot, and the keyboard facing the table), Tablet fashion (in which you fold the keyboard a full 360 degrees away, with the screen facing yous), and Tent mode (which has the hinge pointing upward, and the screen angled toward you). One innovation that other convertibles can't match is the X1 Yoga'due south retractable backlit keyboard, an improvement over the last generation X1 Yoga. The keys retract into the keyboard deck after you tilt the screen beyond 190 degrees, so you lot can't grab the caps on things and pull them out inadvertently. It also gives your hand a apartment surface to grip when the arrangement is in Tablet mode.

The keyboard is as as comfortable as we'd expect from a ThinkPad. Information technology's a scrap softer than the one on the ThinkPad T470, simply the scalloped key caps help go on your fingers comfortable and on track during marathon typing sessions. In contrast, the keyboards on the Apple MacBook Pro xiii-inch and Microsoft Surface Volume are much less relaxing to type on. The keys are as well full size, thanks to the system'due south relatively large chassis. Contrast this with the 12.5-inch Dell Latitude 5289 2-in-ane, which uses a smaller-than-standard keyboard to save space. A TrackPoint pointing stick supplements the responsive one-piece touchpad. It might seem archaic to some younger workers, but ThinkPad veterans won't utilize a computer without one.

The X1 Yoga passes 12 military-grade requirements, including durability tests similar dust/water intrusion, vibration, and shock. Information technology'll shrug off the occasional spill straight on the keyboard, and survive nigh commuter and office environments.

The IPS impact screen has a 1,920-by-1,080 full Hard disk drive resolution, which is enough for most mainline data workers. Media mavens and spreadsheet ninjas will desire to upgrade to a WQHD (ii,560-past-i,440) resolution IPS screen for sharper graphics and text, which adds $125 to the buy price, or $250 actress for a brighter WQHD OLED display. Screen effulgence and colors are soothing to the eye, particularly while watching videos or viewing pictures. Viewing the screen at an angle is no problem, a benefaction for any presentation expert.

Yous can use the X1 Yoga to create art as well. It comes with an active stylus with ii,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. The ThinkPad Pen Pro stows in a slap-up cubbyhole on the left side of the laptop. The pen'southward storage also has contacts to recharge the stylus' internal bombardment, so yous won't have to buy disposable ones. The pen is smaller, thinner, and not quite equally comfortable equally Microsoft'due south Surface Pen. Drawing on the screen felt a little slicker than on the Surface Book, as the latter felt more than like sketching on paper. In whatever case, information technology's perfectly suited to signing documents or filling out business forms in addition to quick sketches and note taking.

Modernistic and Legacy Ports

The X1 Yoga features two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 technology on the left side of the laptop, giving you one port complimentary while using the included USB-C Ac adapter. It's besides uniform with 3rd-party chargers; for instance, we were able to use the one from the Apple MacBook Pro. It can also back up dual external displays with up to 4K resolution. In add-on to the USB-C connectivity, there are two USB 3.0 ports on the left side, ready for legacy peripherals like older hard drives and the charger for your phone. On the correct are a headset jack, an HDMI port, a jack for the included mini Ethernet dongle, a Kensington lock port, and a third USB 3.0 port. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 handle wireless networks. Under a door on the back panel is a microSD carte du jour slot and a SIM slot for the optional WWAN modem. Unfortunately, we didn't have one on our tester.

The 720p Hd webcam is centrally located above the display, and it automatically focuses on your face for spider web conferences and the similar. The speakers are embedded in the bottom panel, aimed to the left and correct. Voices came through loud and articulate during our hands-on testing, and though there wasn't a lot of bass, music and sound effects from movie trailers were clearly audible. A fingerprint reader is on the right side palm rest, and information technology works with Windows Hello for i-bear upon login.

The base model of the X1 Yoga comes with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Windows 10 Home, and an Intel Core i5-7200U processor. Our $i,838.99 tester is upgraded with Windows ten Pro and an Intel Cadre i5-7300U processor. Other options include an Intel Cadre i7-7600U processor, the screen upgrades mentioned above, 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of SSD storage. The arrangement comes with a one-year warranty.

Proficient Speed, 11-Hour Battery

Thanks to its Intel Cadre i5-7300U processor with Intel Hard disk 620 graphics, the X1 Yoga was speedy on our benchmark tests. It scored 3,155 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, which measures tasks like editing office documents, web browsing, and video conferencing. Information technology soundly beat terminal year'south Core-i7-equipped iteration (which also came with an OLED screen) (2,718), too as the Microsoft Surface Volume (2,734), and the VAIO Z Flip (iii,011), simply was a scrap behind the HP EliteBook x360 (3,296). Likewise, on the multimedia tests like Handbrake (ii:xi), Cinebench (336 points), and Photoshop (two:06), it was in a higher place boilerplate. 3D tests were good among systems with Intel HD Graphics, but it lagged laptops with Iris Plus graphics (the Apple MacBook Pro and the VAIO Z Flip) every bit well as the Surface Book, which has discrete Nvidia GTX graphics.

Battery life is strong, if a fleck short for this long-lasting group of competitors. The X1 Yoga lasted xi hours, 17 minutes on our bombardment-rundown test. That's most three hours more than stamina than the first-generation OLED-equipped model. Unfortunately, both X1 Yoga models lagged other ii-in-1s similar the VAIO Z Flip (12:11), the HP EliteBook x360 (14:03), the Dell Breadth 5289 2-in-ane (fourteen:35), and the Surface Book (19:xvi). 11 hours is withal nothing to discount, every bit information technology's enough for well-nigh cross-country flights, including jaunts from the East Coast to Hawaii.

A Decent Selection, but Capable Choices Abound

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is a flake larger than its competitors with 13.3-inch screens, but its extra bulk pays off in condolement. The larger 14-inch screen is easy on the eyes, and the comfy keyboard pampers your fingertips. Information technology has plenty ability for a day's work and is a practiced choice if you need to draw on the screen, since it stows its pen in a handy cubby. That said, it's bested past our top option, the HP EliteBook x360 on features including a 4K screen option, an IR photographic camera, many more than hours of battery life, and a smaller chassis. Other excellent alternatives include the Lenovo ThinkPad T470, if you lot don't need the convertible hinge, or the Microsoft Surface Book, if you desire stronger performance and more than 19 hours of battery life.