ThinkPad X1 Tablet is not Lenovo's first surface like product. There was a simple version of the Miix700 before, but this time it is finally the turn of ThinkPad product line. It is estimated that what many people have added to their brains is the surface printed with the ThinkPad logo, and this machine targeting business people is more reliable than expected.
appearance
If you are a ThinkPad fan, X1 Tablet's notebook mode is likely to directly hit the weakest part of your heart: the minimalist black metal back cover, the spacious keyboard, and the symbolic little red dot rocker. This kind of symbolic design tells me that this is an authentic Windows business book.
Of course, its keyboard is a keyboard cover, which is very thin and can be removed. There is a bracket on the back of the body. Although its shape is not as postmodern as the surface, its appearance can still make people remember it in a short time.
The main source of the machine's shock is the 12 inch screen that is very suitable for making a tablet, the 794g weight, and the 1.06kg keyboard. This also happens to be the weight of the Surface Pro 4, which makes people very suspicious of whether Lenovo has specifically focused on the latter. The machine will certainly weigh more than a 10 inch tablet like the iPad Air, but it only weighs 4.5g more than an iPad Pro with a 12.9-inch screen.
The appearance of the flat part is nothing special. Some injection molded magnesium aluminum alloy fuselage is only 8.6 mm thick. The machine looks very solid. Just like the ThinkPad in the PC era, Lenovo claims that the machine has passed 10 military level tests, and the operating temperature of the machine ranges from minus 20 ℃ to 60 ℃, which is very important for business customers who often work in harsh environments.
There is a protruding part like a baffle at the bottom of the screen, with a 2 megapixel front camera at the top and a fingerprint identification module on the right.
The back is an 8 megapixel camera and a YOGA series like bracket. The rotating shaft is on the side of the body rather than in the middle. This difference makes X1 Tablet more comfortable to put on the knee and type, instead of slouching like the surface.
There are USB 3.0, USB Type-C, mini DP and headphone interfaces on the side, and a TF card slot is hidden under the bracket. Like many ultra-thin tablets, Type-C must also serve as a charging interface.
The X1 Tablet's keyboard is only 4.6 mm thick, which is not only a full-size keyboard, but also the ThinkPad's TrackPoint small red dot. Below is the same classic entity left and right keys and scroll buttons, and below is the common multi touch touch pad. The keyboard is also attached to the machine body by magnetic force, which is large enough to drag the whole flat plate (except for shaking with force, of course).
An interesting aspect of X1 Tablet is its extensibility. The jaw at the bottom of the screen seems to be used like this (somewhat similar to LG G5, which can change the chin). This official name is the modular design of UltraConnect, which allows users to choose to insert different modules, such as the $150 productivity module. In addition to adding an HDMI and several USB ports to the machine, it can also provide an additional five hours of endurance. In addition, there is also a projection module, but Lenovo failed to provide a real object for testing at the time of this evaluation, so the experience is still unknown.
Screen and stylus
The 12 inch screen of ThinkPad X1 Tablet has a 3:2 2K resolution (2160 * 1440), which is weaker than the 2736 * 1824 screen of surface Pro 4. However, the screen looks good, with accurate colors and enough brightness (50% brightness is enough indoors). In the outdoors, X1 Tablet can still see the screen in direct sunlight, even with sunglasses, much better than my 2014 MacBook Air. But like other machines, the reflection of the screen protection glass will be dazzling under strong light.
As a tablet computer, X1 Tablet's screen will be very comfortable when watching videos and comics, but because it is a 3:2 panel, there will be large black edges when watching widescreen movies, and it will be better to watch 16:9 ordinary movies and TV programs, but there will definitely be black edges. This ratio will be more suitable for cartoon, and the details of cartoon can be seen without magnification. However, if it is used for work, the 12 inch screen will still be a bit cramped, especially for those who are used to laptops with 13 inch screens and 21 inch monitors. In addition, even though it is light enough to be used occasionally to read comics or news, it is not realistic to hold it for a long time.
Lenovo also equipped the machine with a touch pen called ThinkPad Pen Pro, which is powered by an AAAA battery and uses Wacom's active electrostatic technology (AES) to provide 2048 level pressure sensing - twice as much as the surface Pro4 official pen. However, there is no place to store the pen on the body, and it cannot be magnetically attached to the body as the surface. Lenovo equipped a plastic sleeve for the pen, which was fixed to the body through the USB interface, but this would occupy the precious interface, and the shape was a bit strange.
Lenovo provides a program called WriteIt on the software side. This stylus is surprisingly accurate in positioning. The pressure response is sensitive, and the time delay is not serious, but the strokes are too slippery, and the feeling used for writing or similar work is ordinary. Microsoft has solved more than half of the similar problems on Surface Pro 4. The latter's pen slides on the screen like writing on paper, and several pen heads can be replaced by themselves.
Input experience
The keyboard of ThinkPad X1 Tablet is a bit deceptive. In the shape of this typical full-size ThinkPad keyboard, the key stroke is much shorter than that of the traditional ThinkPad. It can still be used for high-speed input, but the soft pressing feel is satisfactory. Maybe it's because I'm a heavy keyboard user and have too high expectations of Lenovo, especially after Microsoft has equipped a fairly good keyboard cover for the surface.
In terms of folding support, X1 Tablet is well done. It performs well both in bed and on the knee. Its sense of balance and sensuality is much lighter.
The polyester thin touch pad on the keyboard also does not perform well, and the sliding is too dull, which is obviously different from the hand sensitivity smoothness of the glass touch pad on the MacBook and surface. It is more painful to use it in evernote and traditional desktop programs that have many small buttons to click.
I am not a fan of ThinkPad TrackPoint, but I was forced to learn to use this more effective tool when facing this touchpad. Although it is slower than usual, I can at least take care of myself.
Performance and endurance
Our test machine is the top configuration X1 Tablet (core M7 processor+8GB memory+256GB SSD). In a week's experience of the main office machine, we usually only open several programs at the same time. Usually, it is nothing more than simply communicating with the collaboration software, opening more than N pages in the browser, taking notes with Evernote and listening to music with Spotify when searching for information. Even the low-power Core M processor has no pressure on these requirements.
In the process, I accidentally encountered a long text task, and I had to deal with several pictures in the middle. I needed to use it with high pressure and intensity, and it was still a character on my knee... The machine was basically competent.
As shown in the running score table, the performance of X1 Tablet is between the Surface Pro 3 with i5 4300U and the Surface Pro 4 with i5 6300U. This is worth praising. After all, this is an ultra low power processor running at 1.2GHz, while the CPU of the Surface runs between 1.9-2.4GHz. It can deal with YouTube's 4K video stream smoothly, even in image post processing, it can keep smooth. Yes, it is impossible for it to have any outstanding score, but it is enough to deal with production work relatively easily.
The biggest problem with X1 Tablet is its endurance. It can only last for 4 hours when it is used moderately or lightly. In the test of playing high-definition videos in a loop, the results were better, which could last about 7 hours, but only the results of video playing were good. In other situations, the performance was really average. The small battery has its own advantages. It only takes about 1 hour to charge the Type-C interface. For users who are interested in it, I sincerely recommend buying the 150 dollar productivity module, which can allow the machine to run for another 5 hours. Of course, the machine will become heavier as a result.
Optional configuration and competitors
X1 Tablet was released at CES at the beginning of the year, and its initial price was $899 for a keyboard, but the price of the mass production version was a notch higher a few months later. The entry-level X1 Tablet, equipped with M3-6Y30 processor+4GB memory+128GB SSD, starts at $1029 (about 6750 yuan). Coincidentally (of course, perhaps Lenovo specifically), this is exactly the price of the entry-level Surface Pro 4+keyboard case ($899+130, about 6750 yuan). Lenovo may think that since surface can sell so expensive, it should also be able to, but this does make the advantages of the machine no longer obvious.
The version with M5-6Y57+8GB memory+256GB SSD costs $1349 (about 8850 yuan). The top configuration we tested uses the M7-6Y75 processor, and the price has even reached $1649 (about 10816 yuan). For most people, the $1349 Chinese version is probably the best choice. If you don't care about the soft keyboard and its endurance
If you are looking for a two in one device ("tablet/computer two in one"), the Surface Pro 4 will be a better choice. The latter has a stronger configuration, better keyboard, touch pad, stylus and battery life.
However, it must be admitted that some enterprises still only recognize the brand of ThinkPad and choose which machine to use as an office machine, which is not up to the majority of employees to choose by themselves. However, if the working environment of the machine is poor or needs expandability, X1 Tablet of military grade with "jaw expansion" accessories will be a good choice.
summary
Lenovo has been trying to make a surface like tablet/computer two in one device in recent years. Going to the generation of ThinkPad X1 Tablet, Lenovo has finally made a good finished product for business users. Although it is not perfect, it is one of the few similar products with high availability on the market, but its endurance and keyboard feel are really lagging behind.
fabulous:
Step on:
Average endurance
Keyboard and touchpad feel inferior to surface type cover
The friction of stylus writing on the screen is not enough
The price is far higher than expected and has caught up with the surface
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