Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G12 laptop review: First major refresh in three years

[Neenyah]

lol why are you always responding with unrelated stuff

Good question (you won't get an answer). We can't understand that without an 8K monitor.

[vwoolf]

How is it with Linux, though?

[Chuck Davis]

I have been using the Carbon X1 since (probably) Gen 1 or Gen 2.  I have a particular use case, that I suspect is shared by many other users, and that you might want to add to your review.

For 90%-95% of the time I use the Carbon X1 as a desktop, with an external monitor, keyboard, etc.  In this configuration the lid is closed. 

I have read elsewhere that the Gen 12 moved the cooling fan exhaust to the keyboard.  You don't mention this, so is this (partially?) correct?

It also appears that it is thermal management that constrains or causes fluctuations in the Gen 12's performance.

Does running with the lid closed reduce cooling efficiency?  If you re-ran the benchmarks with the lid closed, would performance be reduced?

(Side note – There is no longer a docking station offered for use with the Carbon X1.  You have to use a docking hub like a CalDigit or Lenovo's own hub.)

[lmao]

I have read elsewhere that the Gen 12 moved the cooling fan exhaust to the keyboard.

there's thermal imagery in 'emissions', exhausts are visible

Does running with the lid closed reduce cooling efficiency?

varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and from laptop to laptop. i'd not expect miracles from lenovo

[Neenyah]

For 90%-95% of the time I use the Carbon X1 as a desktop, with an external monitor, keyboard, etc.  In this configuration the lid is closed.

ThinkPads are designed with that specific use case in mind (because of docks) so you won't have any issues.

I have read elsewhere that the Gen 12 moved the cooling fan exhaust to the keyboard.  You don't mention this, so is this (partially?) correct?

No, that's wrong, here are the fans and exhausts, below the lid at the bottom, when the lid is up/open or when it's fully closed they are freely open in both cases to push hot air outside the chassis, nothing is blocking them unless you block the bottom part of the laptop (placing it on a blanket for example): https://imgur.com/a/j3XBHYv

Does running with the lid closed reduce cooling efficiency?  If you re-ran the benchmarks with the lid closed, would performance be reduced?

Heat goes up, everywhere and with everything, laptops are not exceptions. So unless you flip it (bottom up, top to bottom) there will be some small performance loss like with any laptop with good cooling solution, but unnoticeable outside of benchmarks.

(Side note – There is no longer a docking station offered for use with the Carbon X1.  You have to use a docking hub like a CalDigit or Lenovo's own hub.)

Thunderbolt docks, yes. I have this one at work in the office, just one cable to my X1C and that's it; dual 4K screens running fine with a plethora of other ports if I need them, plus power delivery of course: https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/accessories-and-software/docking/docking_thunderbolt-docks-(universal-cable-docks)/40b00135us

[lmao]

Heat goes up, everywhere and with everything, laptops are not exceptions. So unless you flip it (bottom up, top to bottom) there will be some small performance loss

no causality here.
if cooling system is designed adequately and top plate isn't used for emission, doesn't matter.
plus overall laptop power consumption and heat signature are lower due to screen being off, so it is (or should be) emitting less heat overall.
so basically depends on design choices. if they don't pump heat away efficiently enough or if their airflows are laid out badly, nothing will help.

[Neenyah]

That's true, but like I said - small performance drop noticeable only in benchmarks and I meant those long benchmarks or multiple consecutive runs. In general that is definitely not an issue with ThinkPads, other Lenovo consumer laptops with China R&D (ThinkPads are R&D'd in Japan) are hit or miss. ThinkPads are designed with that specific thing in mind, to just close them and put them on the desk and connect to the dock.

I mean the proof is exactly there on the exhaust design of the X1C G12, when many other Lenovo non-ThinkPad laptops have exhaust(s) completely shut when the lid is closed. Also basically all Lenovo docks have a power button included on them so user won't have to lift the lid to turn the laptop on and then close it again: https://imgur.com/ahiayTw 😁

[lmao]

small performance drop noticeable only in benchmarks

not sure why drop should happen if everything is designed properly, either nothing will change or fans will go louder (then it's not too properly designed), that's it. performance drop is probably the edge case of bad design, when things go wrong and it's throttling.

ThinkPads are designed with that specific thing in mind

if they are designed for that mode, yeah, just close them no worries

[Queboocha]

Are you planning to review other configurations once they become available? It'd be interesting to see the performance of 125H under load - it turbo boosts to a lower frequency than 155H, so maybe it won't throttle as much and be able to maintain a stable performance?

[TN]

Please, make a review on Ips version of g12. Most carbon users prefer Ips in my opinion. is there Pwm or Dt? How is display in General? Loks like ips options should be considered only as "badget" one now.

[Ke]

I found fan loud on my gen12. I am only browsing youtube playing 1080p60 video and no other task running. The noise level goes to 35db in an quient environment with 28bd background noise. I compared it with my 2021 latitude 7400 in the same environment with same task, the noise on latitude 7400 was around 28 with is almost inaudible. I wonder if I have bad luck got this one with some issue or this generation is just like that. I contacted Lenovo, they told me to upgrade BIOS, which I did. Nothing changed after.

[Dennis C]

I found fan loud on my gen12. I am only browsing youtube playing 1080p60 video and no other task running. The noise level goes to 35db in an quient environment with 28bd background noise. I compared it with my 2021 latitude 7400 in the same environment with same task, the noise on latitude 7400 was around 28 with is almost inaudible. I wonder if I have bad luck got this one with some issue or this generation is just like that. I contacted Lenovo, they told me to upgrade BIOS, which I did. Nothing changed after.

I suffer the exact same situation where the rep of Lenovo came and determine the unit is functioning properly without any repair or replacement.  The only solution I found by now is to switch the power profile to "Best efficiency Mode" which the unit remains completely dead when doing general office and light use tasks such as rendering a 4K60p YT video and doing web browsing.

For the "Balanced" mode, I got crazy fan noise even the CPU is totally not under load at a temp of about 50 degrees.  My guess is that genius Lenovo just set a very aggressive goal to cool the device which the fan just constantly kick in to do its job.

[Nacho]

On Lenovo's official website I can only find X1 Gen 12 with "U" intel processors (155U, 165U...) yet the unit rewiewed here (and any other review I've found) always mention "H" processors... where can I purchase one with the H processors?

[avatar/ds]

Per Lenovo product specification reference website, models with H processors are not available in US. Outside of US they are available only with 125H and 155H. You can easily find them on ebay, but buying them calls for being mindful of warranty and reginal details such keyboard and power plug. Many units on ebay are offered out of Korea so they will have a secondary Korean alphabet on the keyboard.

[Fourthdose]

Is it pointless to buy this notebook model with such expensive CPU? I mainly use software that uses single core only, like OCR PDF files in Adobe Acrobat Pro.