ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019: 4K panel costs almost 50% battery life

[Redaktion]

Lenovo offers the 2019 ThinkPad X1 Extreme with a matte 4K panel, but it also requires more power. As a result, the battery life is significantly shorter compared to the 1080p screen, which is also a very good option.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/ThinkPad-X1-Extreme-2019-4K-panel-costs-almost-50-battery-life.441158.0.html

[jimm98y]

Could you please also test the difference when the 4K model is running in FullHD resolution? It would be interesting to know if reducing the display's resolution would help to increase the battery life.

[Glenn Maples]

Thank you, very much looking forward to your upcoming Lenovo reviews.

In particular, can we disable the discrete gpu altogether, and if we can how does that change ability to output.   

If we can't disable, is there a huge difference in the discrete gpu's in "idle" mode.  For instance, could some of the time difference you are seeing be due to the overhead of the different discrete GPUs?

Thanks again.

[Puppy]

But its quality can be better than the poor FHD panel (color space), don't mention that FHD is terribly low resolution for a 15.6" display.

[Andreas Osthoff]

Hi, the tests were performed with the integrated GPU and not the Nvidia.
The system supports dynamic GPU switching, I will chick if you can disable the dGPU completely in the BIOS for the full review. Since both models used the iGPU for our WLAN and video tests, the different dGPU does not make a difference.

The switch to the FHD resolution will not improve the battery life because the native resolution is still 4K, so it is just software scaling.

[Vince]

If I recall the original NBC X1 Extreme (Gen 1) review, it was only after repasting and undervolting that they managed to get 6 hrs of runtime out of the X1E1 w/ 4k display.

I remember this because I had the exact configuration X1E1 (8750H, 32GB, 4k) and only managed close to 4.5hrs with mine and was surprised NBC got 6 hours.

[Kelsior]

The article doesn't mention if this is the 4k IPS or the 4k OLED variant. Which one is it?