2024 ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 REVIEW - RE-LOADED, RE-DESIGNED, OVERPRICED?

Check out the replay of the live unboxing:

#Lenovo #thinkpadx1

Video Index:
00:00 Intro
01:37 Specs & Pricing
02:01 Unboxing, Design & Build
03:07 Size & Weight
03:54 Ports & Connections
04:37 Internals & User Upgradeability
06:05 Display
07:49 IR Webcam, Mics & AI Studio Effects
08:50 Performance, Benchmarks & Gaming
11:16 Thermals, Surface Temps & Fan Noise
12:28 Battery
13:14 Keyboard, Touchpad. & TrackPoint
15:27 Audio & Sound Test
17:37 Pros & Cons
19:01 The Score
19:14 Outro

[smartxmusculado]

We need an AMD variant of this laptop, with the U-series processor (Ryzen 7 PRO 7840U). The battery can be bigger: about 65Wh or 68Wh or even 70Wh. I was going to ask Andrew: did the palmrest bite into your wrist? Problem with the laptop is that it collects fingerprint and it's harder to clean. It's still a great laptop geared towards business users, for those who want it.

[dintism]

For anyone curious, I'm only getting about 4hrs on my lenovo with office use (chrome, outlook, excel) - the OLED display really sucks the battery. I regret my purchase. Battery life is awful.

[rsdnt_of_kyiv]

Thanks for the review. I had long waited for the X1 gen 12 review for a long time! Thanks, Andrew!

[ucheanwuanwu]

Best YouTube reviewer hands down... The x1 carbon need a battery pump up, at least 70k mah

[BYBTech]

Great work Andrew! always great to see you with the latest ThinkPad coverage. I was really excited as I was thinking of picking up a X1 Carbon to be my daily computer when I want to leave my P1 Gen 6 at home. Unfortunately with this Gen 12 I feel like I might be skipping this one. I feel that this generation took some steps forward but took more steps backwards in my honest opinion.

Steps forward:
1. 120 hz OLED display: Finally a high refresh rate OLED display, I just wished that it was an adaptive refresh rate monitor to help save battery life.
2. New intel core ultra processors: Meteorlake proves to help keep the heat down and innovate with efficiency.
3. Lighter and smaller footprint (at least from what it looks like): Very light and portable while maintaining this display size is impressive.

Steps backward:
1. Communication bar: I personally hate the way this looks, disrupts the design and I don't care if it makes it easier to open. Plus the camera is mediocre.
2. Keyboard layout: I am not mad at the Ctrl and Fn swap as I swap them out anyways using the Lenovo Advantage software, but I hate the fact that the power button and fingerprint sensor had to be 2 separate things. It seems like a waste space for the button to be there.
3. Soldered RAM: self explanatory
4. Battery life: I appreciate the introduction to a better display but at least increase the battery size to compensate for the power draw, I'd rather sacrifice weight and size if they can at least keep it around the same size as the last gen that would be great.
5. Speakers: So disappointing that they are taking a step backwards here when I always appreciate the quality of the speakers they put (although not MacBook Pro level) they were good enough.
6. Price: So many new thin and light Core Ultra laptops with great screens and inputs are coming out and the competition isn't what it used to be, not to mention the competitiveness of Apple's MacBooks now this seems to be an oversight on Lenovo's part.

I love the ThinkPads and this was the generation of the X1 Carbon I was looking forward to the most but I think I am going to have to wait until the newer versions come out.

[ItsMeProday]

Finally nice visual improvement...but I would always pick faster and cheaper Slim 5 14" before this 12 gen carbon! Anyway, great review Marc as always! ❤

[VadimMarchenko]

Finally standard control and function buttons layout! I know there are fans of old inverted one out there. But for myself I can finally consider x1 carbon! And I hope there is some kind of setting in BIOS to invert buttons for Thinkpad old schoolers;)

[salimbinyussup]

I like Lenovo laptop so much cause I'm using it for years now thanks for this video David ☺️

[little_fluffy_clouds]

I sold my 10th gen X1C because its battery life was so poor with the OLED screen and the fans would come on at an annoyingly loud noise level as soon as I launched any program on it. Good to see they're improving on the noise aspect with gen 12, at least, even if the battery life has not improved. I think choosing an OLED screen on a thin and light was a mistake since it drained too much power.

[blackgold]

Looking forward to the new XPS series review!

[vecherinsky]

Andrew, thank you so much for the video! I found you recently, and I still don't believe my luck! I really appreciate your huge contribution to technology and gadget reviews!

Regarding the device: let me disagree with you that it was created for Microsoft Office and the browser, as you mentioned in the review, since not only can it run modern games on low to medium, but also it's suitable for photoshop, rendering at an average level, for a designers. Moreover, Thinkpad laptops have been always one of the best daily drivers for a programmers and other IT specialists and engineers as well! This is a pretty powerful premium machine for a large number of fairly heavy multimedia and work tasks, thanks to the Core Ultra 7 155h, isn't it?

Unfortunately, it wasn't very clear about the sound... Seemed that the current speaker placement design played a cruel joke on him 😢

P.s.: after the swapping the Fn and Ctrl keys in the Thinkpads, the world will no longer be the same 😂

[bigdisme]

Nice to see you still doing videos, been a long time since I seen you....I'm still running I think an 8th Gen X1 Carbon....Thing has always had battery charging issues so I have to do a pin reset on the back and it seems to charge again...Plus the trackpad sticking when you push it down. I'm just too cheap to replace it cause I don't find the new laptops any better lol.

[Kassiedass]

You are amazing. Please keep reviewing Dell XPS Laptops. P.K.

[tomaszl]

Hi David try compare first generation with current generation

[ZK-oddb]

I have been using it for three days, fan noise is crazy! I barely run any heavy task with it yet and the fan just goes loud

[SenselInc]

We're excited for when you to get to review the version with our upgraded haptic touchpad!

[JohnByeBye]

I was hoping to see a bigger battery life jump with Meteor Lake. Maybe with continued driver updates it will improve.

[andreaforcella]

So, would you guys buy this instead of the usual MacBook Air ? I’m really trying to convince myself to skip Apple for this one and venture in the pc world. I’d most likely use it for stock market while on the go..

[Blue_Phire]

Andrew, thank you for your profound review. I've been looking at another Lenovo ThinkPad to upgrade my current T470. I have been looking at the X1C Gen12 but I'd like one that has a 15.9" screen (more visual real estate for trading when I travel), and powerful enough to run multiple trading platforms simultaneously while on a zoom as well. Would you recommend the ThankPad P1 Gen 6? I think Lenovo is too conservative with the upgrading of their laptops. As you mentioned, The Wifi 7 card would have been a great upgrade.

[v-cafe]

Excellent review! Thank you, Andrew for a thorough outlook.