Lenovo ThinkPad X390 (i5-8265U, FHD) Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

In the times of thinner bezels around bigger screens, even the business sector can not stand still. That is why Lenovo increases the size of its smallest ThinkPad from 12.5 to 13.3-inch. Is the new Lenovo ThinkPad X390 a worthy successor of the classical ThinkPad X200 series?

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-X390-i5-8265U-FHD-Laptop-Review.419740.0.html

[BNP]

I didn't understand why the 12.5" had no future. I still prefer the smaller form factor. Why couldn't they have just kept the same screen size and make the laptop's footprint smaller [just making thinner bezels and chassis]?
As written, now the difference between X & T is even smaller. So small, in my opinion, it's practically redundant to keep separated lines [for the two]...

[BlueHawk]

The keyboard is already smaller, if you take a 12.5" screen with slim bezel there is not enough space on the chassis to fit a decent keyboard

[wooooooooooooooooo]

I would still prefer the T480s for the sustained load cinebench test of 700 points, and option for dedicated graphics chip.

[BNP]

The keyboard is already smaller, if you take a 12.5" screen with slim bezel there is not enough space on the chassis to fit a decent keyboard

Judging from the x390's pictures, there is quite a margin between the keyboard and the chassis' edge. And it's not like x390 screen is now borderless... there is still a very distinguishable bezel.
They could've kept the 12.5" and just make the bezel around the screen slimmer while shrinking the margins around the keyboard [till whichever margin reaches zero first]. I'd, personally, prefer that...

[AA]

"RAM and WI-Fi module are now soldered down"
"2x lane PCIe Thunderbolt 3"
"proprietary mini Ethernet"
"battery capacity of 48Wh"

Lenovo, you have chosen... poorly.

Dell and HP, you both have chosen... wisely.

[bigaoi]

I like the 13.3" screen size (rather than 12.5"), just want it in a tight package, this is pretty close.

The bezels on the sides are narrow enough, I don't care if a tiny amount more could be shaved off or not, it's fine.

The bezels above and below are an area where some space should be reduced. The XPS 13 is smaller, but the X390 has the buttons for the trackpoint, and maybe a bigger touchpad (?), so it may not be possible to reduce the size as much. However, I think 5-10mm or so could still be shaved off without compromise. Not the end of the world, but nice to have, particularly with the other models in the range at similar sizes.

It would be nice to have the "standard" keyboard in place, as there is quite a bit of space either side. Again, not essential, but nice to have (the old IBM X-series models always looked great with edge-to-edge keyboards). I read someone comment somewhere that with laptops so thin, it's hard to have a keyboard extend to the edges, and have space for the sockets on each side - don't know if this is true or not. Frankly I wouldn't care if the laptop was a few mm thicker to accomodate this, leave ultra slim for the X1C.

Having a free RAM socket would be really useful though. I guess a single 32GB soldered DIMM is going to be expensive, so 16GB soldered + a free socket would be good (nothing soldered and two sockets would be even better, but that is heresy these days). This is probably the worst aspect of the X390, but it seems most laptops are going this way :-(

Only one 4K monitor is a bit odd.

The T490s / X390 / X1C lineup is very close on features and dimensions, though getting a decent amount of RAM in an X1C makes it rather expensive.

[doa379]

What's the point of this? Might as well go for a 14" screen X1 instead.
It's entirely possible to have made the X280 smaller and lighter still with a 12.5" screen.

[doa379]

The keyboard is already smaller, if you take a 12.5" screen with slim bezel there is not enough space on the chassis to fit a decent keyboard

Rubbish. If you look at the X280 the keyboard itself has a fairly big margin around it.

[Aike]

Thank you very much for testing the battery life with the screen on full brightness. That's how people actually use laptops. When you are on battery power you are probably in a light place and need maximum brightness. For example trains, cafes, airports and data centers.

[bigaoi]

What's the point of this? Might as well go for a 14" screen X1 instead.
It's entirely possible to have made the X280 smaller and lighter still with a 12.5" screen.

Well, I believe if you're buying an expensive laptop you should get at least 16GB RAM (this helps with future-proofing as well as present-day performance).

A Win 64 Pro / 16GB / 512GB X390 is about £1400, but the same in an X1C (6th gen) is £1700 to £1800. So there is a fair difference. The X1C can't be configured with 16GB RAM unless you make a step-up in processor and screen compared to the X390 (i.e. you have to take a i7 instead of an i5, and WQHD instead of FHD), so it's not apples-to-apples in that respect, but that's the only way to get the RAM, there's no 16GB configure to your own specs option, at least in the UK.

[jeremy]

The keyboard is already smaller, if you take a 12.5" screen with slim bezel there is not enough space on the chassis to fit a decent keyboard

Rubbish. If you look at the X280 the keyboard itself has a fairly big margin around it.

Exactly. The T580 and T590 prove Lenovo can do an edge-to-edge KB with decent port selection (for the times). 16.9mm vs 19.1mm. Was 2.2mm of thickness so important that the KB had to be neutered? The old X280 had the same cramped KB, and it was 17.8mm (against the T580's 20.2mm). Lenovo is just seeing how many lies we are willing to take.


Also, for the 2x lane TB3. What a lame joke. In the T490/T590, there was already the flimsy excuse of needing to feed the Nvidia dGPU. In the T490s/X390, that excuse doesn't exist anymore. 16 lanes from the CPU package, and they couldn't spare any more than 2 for the TB3 controller? Meanwhile, the older X1C6 only has 12 lanes from the CPU package, and manages to still allocate 4 for the TB3 controller, 4 for M.2 NVMe, and another 2 for the M.2 WWAN slot (1 more is taken by the integrated GbE controller/PHY combo). That is a poor attempt by Lenovo to artificially segment their market, even for their "high end" X series laptops.



The T590 still has a fullsize RJ45 jack, too.

[jeremy]

What's the point of this? Might as well go for a 14" screen X1 instead.
It's entirely possible to have made the X280 smaller and lighter still with a 12.5" screen.

Well, I believe if you're buying an expensive laptop you should get at least 16GB RAM (this helps with future-proofing as well as present-day performance).

A Win 64 Pro / 16GB / 512GB X390 is about £1400, but the same in an X1C (6th gen) is £1700 to £1800. So there is a fair difference. The X1C can't be configured with 16GB RAM unless you make a step-up in processor and screen compared to the X390 (i.e. you have to take a i7 instead of an i5, and WQHD instead of FHD), so it's not apples-to-apples in that respect, but that's the only way to get the RAM, there's no 16GB configure to your own specs option, at least in the UK.

I see. In the US, we get the X1C6 with the 16GB option, starting with the vPro i5 (during sales, it's only ~$20 more than the base i5).

[Unkasos]

Can somebody compare the size and weight of:
-the x300 or x301
-the x280
-the x390
thanks

[Bryan]

I just bought a x390. The one with the i7, 16gb, 512gb HD is like $1200 with 3 year warranty and after taxes in the USA. Do any of you when in the USA stock up on stuff before going back to the EU?