ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11: What Real Users Actually Think

That is an absolute steal bro!

I got mine just a few days ago. It's configured with an i7-1365U and 32 GB LPDDR5 6400 MHz Ram. Unfortunately, with powersetting on balanced, the fan is always running while browsing, watching youtube or streaming. I have to set it to "power saver" mode to keep it quiet.

Get the Gen 12. I have the 64GB ram Gen 11. The Gen 11 is suffering one major issue with the design where the screen will constantly rubbing the keyboard when the lid close. As an ultra portable laptop where most of us are travelling and moving around with the laptop put in the bagpack, this is something really deserve attention. My display full of these scratches and Lenovo wont bother about this. They claim this is not their problem.

Without knowing what your use case is, unless you somehow have a workload where you need 64GB of RAM paired with a relatively low-power 28W Intel P series mobile processor, I would personally go with the Gen 12 due to the better CPU cooling and efficiency, as it's just an overall more balanced machine spec-wise.

Intel processors and their consequences have been a disaster for the laptop race.

High refresh rate is a blessing, it makes the computer a delight to use. Get number two (Gen 12).

I have the gen10 version (1280P) that I run in performance mode all the time. Initial boot up the fans will kick on but within 5 minutes it isn't as loud and is manageable. The upper left area (esc key) gets warm for sure. I love it, but it's not like a MacBook Air where it never really gets warm and it's fanless. Intel still has ways to go.

No, all X1 Carbon models have always had RAM soldered to the motherboard, unfortunately.

Interesting that Lenovo switched the X1C to 15W CPUs while keeping the smaller X1N at 28W. The previous gen X1C, which used 28W CPUs, were criticized for how heavily they throttled, so I think it's a good choice to use 7 or 15W CPUs for both.

WoW! The carbon weave on the cover is gorgeous!

bro you should have put an NSFW tag on this 🥵

This situation is really bad, considering that we are getting the worst of all worlds: less performant CPUs that still generate a ton of heat and have bad battery life. I think it's better to forego a bit of portability and get a unit that's a bit bigger... or maybe just get a MBP.

Currently have both a gen 10 and gen 11. I thought the Gen 11 would run cooler and get better battery life due to the CPU. The opposite seems to be true, the fans on the Gen 11 will not shut off and I'm struggling to see a battery life estimate of over 4 hours.

I have a lot of Remote Desktop sessions open, a lot of Office Suite stuff, and a billion browser tabs. None of those things are CPU heavy but eat RAM like potato chips. It's better to have it than not in a soldered laptop you may want to keep a while.

64GB X1C Gen 12 is available but only with 165U and only in some countries. It kinda sucks because there's zero difference between 155U and 165U especially at thermal limits of X1C.

I would recommend to look for another vendor as Lenovo reduced in quality a lot. I got my new x1 g11 last summer, in 1 year my touchpad left button was broken. After replacing touchpad via official guarantee repair right button was partially broken right after I got laptop back. And touchpad itself started to work very glitchy, it feels like it just disconnected every 15-20 seconds, if I use mouse I don't see this behavior.

I got a new x1 carbon gen 11 two weeks ago. Mine has the i7 1365u, 32 gb of ram and the 1tb ssd. I did not get the fancy screen. After reading these comments on reddit I was worried that it would be hot, battery would suck and the fan would be running all the time. None of that has been the case. If the fan ever runs it's not loud enough for me to notice. It doesn't get noticeably warmer than any other laptop I've used.

This laptop does not run very hot unlike the other models. Air vents through the keyboard too, although you don't really feel it. Cooling works great so far. I love the OLED screen. True black, so text and images look very sharp.

OLED screens require significantly more power to use than the alternatives. When coupled with a very power-hungry processor that can draw up to 64W during turbo, you are likely to notice it. Additionally, the OLED screen is 2880x1800, so simply by virtue of having the higher resolution you are asking the machine to use more power.

Get the Gen 12: 120hz is an orgasm to eyes, better battery life, compact keyboard (FN key), bigger and haptic touchpad, deals better with fingertips, better design (subjective).

If this thing had AMD 7000 series, RJ45, and an extra USB type A, they would have my wallet.

The X1 Carbon G11 is still available with P28, but the focus now is on the U15 models. I think that is the right call, the cooling solution is just not powerful enough with the current designs.

If you use it on battery a lot, keep in mind the gen 11 with the P processor and the OLED screen will drain really quickly. It's worth looking into if that may be a concern for you.

I had that same configuration and that was your first mistake. The i7-1370p is terrible in the x1 carbon. I returned mine and hit the i7-1365u and it literally performs about the same in cinebench because it doesn't thermal throttle.

So that would be about $1,500 in USD. Honestly, that seems overpriced to me in terms of what you can do with a thin and light machine. This one has the OLED, so it won't win any awards for battery life.

Get the Gen 12 unless you desperately need 64 GB RAM for specific tasks. Better thermals, more performance, less weight and better screen are worth it.

I also would recommend different vendor. Issues with usb ports, external screens not working. Number keys no longer works. Would not recommend.

I just returned two Gen 11 X1s that I got pretty good deals on during Black Friday. I had not read Notebookcheck's review as thoroughly as I should have, and didn't pay attention to the latency issues. I don't do a lot of audio/video processing, but some. With this purchase I was upgrading to faster processor and better graphics with Iris Xe, so I thought I would be good. But when I ran LatencyMon, I got the same bad results.

The multitasking is smooth and the weight is light, perfect for data storage and also for school!

I have this one too. Does anyone know if there's a way to reduce the heat at the top left edge (near the USB-C charging port) when connected to an external display? I have an Apple Studio Display (5k). Would a lower resolution monitor be better?

At $1600 with no GPU, that thing is a rip off. Marked down from $3,200 it just screams scam.

I ran the X1 Carbon Gen 11 without the Thinkpad Thunderbolt 4 dockingstation and it seems to run cooler including streaming 4k youtube videos. However, I consider to return the X1 Carbon Gen 11 and wait for the T14s Gen 4 with the newer AMD Phoenix CPU.

That's because 1370p isn't really works well in this X1carbon small case. I made same mistake as you. And had similar issues. Ended up returning it and getting 1365U version of X1 carbon Gen11. Works about the same. Maybe lost like 5% performance. Laptop runs 43 degree when browsing and 71 when gaming.

I have the same but with i7-1370P. Bought it new for like ~2800$. Everything is perfect except the battery. It is unpredictable. Usually goes up to 4-5h, BUT sometimes it does not reach the 1h. The CPU is very power-hungry. I think it has to do with P and E cores where Intel/Microsoft are not managing it as they should.

Get the G12 if you have to get x1c out of those options listed. I would avoid the P series intel processor as you'll have issues with heat and throttling.

My personal X1C Gen 11 had motherboard replacement after it would just BSOD (after firmware updates), and this was barely used laptop with around 60h of combined operational time in 6 months that I owned it before selling it.

I've been using an X1C11 (i7-1365u, 32gb ram, 512gb SSD, 400 nit display). When in Balanced performance mode, my X1C will run fans at audible levels, and particularly so when plugged into my Lenovo TB4 dock. It gets toasty and aggressive when outputting to a 38" ultrawide at 144hz.

I just got mine, I don't know why everyone gives it so much bad press. I think the battery is on par with my Carbon 9 (maybe slightly better). I do notice some heat but nothing different than what I'm used to with laptops under loads. I do concede that AMD will likely run cooler and have better battery. But I do really like the carbon build.

1000 for the low res screen is diabolical work.

Just unboxed and plugged in my new X1 carbon (32gb, 512 SSD). It heated up rather quickly. I read that using it while being plugged in is part of the issue. After patching it appears to run cooler (unplugged). But I will test it out in the coming days. If it has any issues, I'm gonna return it.

New owner of the Gen 11 here and I'm noticing the fan noise during idle in the balance mode. I'm reading a few people mention this as well. Were you able to fix? Is it a mere bios update?