Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold review: The world's first foldable PC | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
The ThinkPad X1 Fold, the globe'south kickoff foldable PC, ushers in a new era of computing
For
- Truly innovative blueprint
- Luxurious, durable materials
- Superb build quality
- Scenic flexible OLED display
- Supports stylus and a clever mini keyboard
Confronting
- Poor battery life
- Middling performance
- Some annoying software quirks
- It costs $2,500 without the accessories
Laptop Mag Verdict
The ThinkPad X1 Fold, the world's commencement foldable PC, ushers in a new era of computing
Pros
- +
Truly innovative design
- +
Luxurious, durable materials
- +
Superb build quality
- +
Breathtaking flexible OLED brandish
- +
Supports stylus and a clever mini keyboard
Cons
- -
Poor bombardment life
- -
Middling operation
- -
Some abrasive software quirks
- -
It costs $2,500 without the accessories
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold specs
Price: $two,499 (starting); $2,799 (reviewed at)
CPU: Intel Core i5-L16G7
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Display: xiii.3-inch, 2048 10 1536-pixel
Bombardment: 6:03
Size: 11.8 x 9.iii x 0.45 inches (unfolded); 6.2 x ix.3 ten ane.i inches (folded)
Weight: 2.ii pounds
Pitiful Lenovo, you proved me incorrect. I didn't expect to run into the X1 Fold this year. Heck, I even doubted a 2022 launch. There were good reasons for my suspicions. Microsoft indefinitely delayed Window 10X, the OS nosotros expected the X1 Fold to run. So COVID-19 happened and supply chains suffered. And let's not forget the backfire Samsung faced subsequently the Galaxy Fold debacle.
And even so, here I am, staring at a scenic flexible OLED display housed within what can be best described as a fancy leather notebook. No, Lenovo didn't demand extra time to craft this novel device — the build quality of this flexible tablet is exquisite, the brandish is stunning, and the keyboard and stylus accessories work reasonably well.
But like most first-generation products, the X1 Fold needs refining before I can recommend it. Maybe its biggest crime (besides the toll) is the poor battery life. Combine that with sub-par operation and frustrating bugs and it's difficult to envision using this flexible two-in-1 as a day-to-twenty-four hour period device. And then nosotros get to the price: $ii,500 without any of the accessories. That speaks for itself — the X1 Fold is made for the elite and eager early adopters, who I suspect volition fall in love with it. For everyone else, save some money and stick with one of the best ii-in-one laptops.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold toll and configurations
Before I get into the numbers, retrieve that this the first of its kind, the potential starting time of a new era. OK, enough of that — the X1 Fold is very expensive. The base model costs — concur onto your wallets — $2,500 and comes with an Intel Core i5-L16G7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
For $2,749, you get the same config bundled with the Modernistic Pen (stylus) and Fold Mini Bluetooth keyboard. An extra $50 upgrade gets you lot our review unit, which runs Windows 10 Pro instead of Windows 10 Home.
The only other upgrade available is expanded storage; a 512GB SSD brings the price to $2,899 while a 1TB SSD model goes for $3,099.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold design
Notebook by day, tablet by nighttime. The ThinkPad X1 Fold looks like something from a luxury stationery store from the exterior. Scissure the embrace open and your eyes are treated to a gorgeous 13-inch flexible OLED display.
If y'all've ever owned a fancy notebook — maybe a Moleskine or Leuchtturm — so you know how satisfying they are to hold. Think about the sumptuous leather on those journals then combine information technology with glass accents and a magnesium alloy frame and you've got the outside of the ThinkPad X1 Fold.
Imprinted in the leather comprehend is a familiar ThinkPad X1 logo, defective only the illuminated "i". On the front end is a thin glass console; when the X1 Fold is opened, the leather from the spine stretches to cover that glossy surface. The black glass is a clever design element that adds a touch of class to the tablet when closed and vanishes so you can savour a fully leather back in tablet fashion. It'south a beautiful combination of materials and the fit and finish is superb.
That said, the real magic happens when y'all open the X1 Fold to discover a flexible OLED brandish. When unfolded, the apartment screen is 13.iii inches, or the size of a typical portable laptop console. Adjoining the screen are thick bezels, kept mesomorphic in order to protect the display and give yous something to grip in tablet mode. The soft-impact rubber cloth Lenovo used for the borders is a nice bear upon.
On the rear of the X1 Fold is a kickstand, enabled by a hinge that runs diagonally along the back cover. Prying your finger between the leather and metallic opens the flap, revealing a plush red felt on the inside of the kickstand. The stand is stiff enough to concur the tablet in both vertical and horizontal orientations, but lapability is a major upshot.
By that, I mean that the X1 Fold isn't applied to use on any non-flat surface. The tablet volition wobble or sit down off-kilter on your lap or any uneven piece of furniture, like a couch. We accept this same trouble with the Surface Pro series although the kickstand on those models is amend at balancing the screen.
The best fashion to utilize the X1 Fold on your lap is with the keyboard on the lower half of the X1 Fold and the screen folded in a 90-caste angle, similar to a clamshell laptop. The trouble with this method is that your screen real estate gets cut in one-half, and you need to rely on the undersized accessory.
Some other issue I have with the X1 Fold is that the area between the screen and bezel, equally well as the seam betwixt the bezel and outer frame, collect particles. Those tight areas are difficult to clean and my compulsive self struggled to overlook the grime.
The main benefit of a foldable display is to reduce the footprint of the tablet. The X1 Fold achieves that, measuring 9.3 inches tall and only vi.3 inches broad when folded versus 11.eight inches wide when unfolded.
The downside? The X1 Fold is thick. At 2.2 pounds and 0.five inches in tablet mode, the Fold is already thicker than the Apple tree's iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (11 x 8.4 x 0.ii inches, 1.iv pounds), the Microsoft Surface Pro seven (11.5 x seven.9 10 0.3 inches, 1.7 pounds, and the Dell XPS thirteen (11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches, 2.eight pounds). Close the notebook and the thickness goes to i.1 inches, or gaming laptop territory.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold immovability
The ThinkPad promise of armed services-grade durability remains uncompromised. Despite being a first-gen production, the X1 Fold survived 12 MIL-STD-810G-rated tests. In layman's terms, this thing can accept a dial.
I'thousand really impressed past the build quality of this foldable device, especially afterward seeing other failed first-attempts at making foldables. The X1 Fold was silent when I opened and closed it — no creaking, nifty or other cringe-inducing noises, just the sweet snapping sound when the ii halves encounter.
Opening the device reveals an engineer'southward dream — the mechanisms found within seem capable of launching a spacecraft. After testing six different designs, Lenovo landed on a multi-link torque swivel machinery that manages stress when y'all fold the PC. Keeping the screen from permanently creasing or scratching are carbon-cobweb-reinforced plates that accept gone through "all-encompassing durability testing" to ensure the tablet can withstand hard taps and even drops.
It'southward articulate Lenovo didn't but make the world'due south first folding PC reliable, it made it down-right durable. If Samsung had put as much painstaking detail into the commencement Galaxy Fold, mayhap foldables wouldn't have had such a rocky start.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold ports
There are two USB-C ports on the X1 Fold. One is located on the bottom of the front cover, or the lesser-left edge when opened.
The other USB port is on the right border of the cover toward the lesser, or the lower-left edge of the tablet when opened and viewed in the horizontal orientation.
An optional SIM card slot is located on the right edge of the front encompass beneath the speaker grille. Unfortunately, there is no headphone jack or SD card reader.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold display
It'south i thing to dazzle at the dazzler of an OLED Television receiver from the other side of your living room. It's an entirely different feel to hold this breathtaking display technology in the palm of your mitt and interact with it past touch.
I've been using the X1 Fold for virtually a calendar week and everything I've watched on the 13-inch, 2048 ten 1536-pixel flexible OLED display has blown me away. Cheering on FC Bayern confronting Atletico Madrid in a UCL game was quite the experience; I felt like I was holding the pitch in my hand. Windows ten icons and graphics burst from the screen with vivid colors and text looked crisp fifty-fifty when zoomed in.
At present, nigh the crease. It does exist. It has to otherwise the plastic volition permanently fold. But considering the multi-link hinge keeps the OLED screen perfectly apartment, the crease is so subtle that I never noticed it when the pixels beneath illuminated. Put the X1 Fold to sleep and you lot'll spot 2 lines running vertically up to the screen where they fold at the spine.
Pucker or not, the screen is absolutely mesmerizing. The Lasso of Truth pierced my corneas equally it zipped across the screen like a golden lightning bolt in the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. The superhero'south cherry chrome armor was as vibrant equally a freshly painted machine while the pastel blues and pinks in a funky t-shirt worn by Chris Pine gave me nostalgia for the fearless way of the mid-'80s. The panel is also detailed; I could meet private leaves in miniature trees lining the red rug at a posh event, and spotted veins bursting from Gal Gadot'south cervix as she hurled her lasso.
What's more than problematic than any creasing is the console'southward glossy finish. The plastic shimmers confronting any light source, then although it gets bright and has unrivaled dissimilarity, using the ThinkPad X1 Fold outside under the Texas sun wasn't ideal. I could still see the cute colors, and webpages were still legible, but my portrait was staring right dorsum at me from the sleeky laminated layer.
According to our colorimeter, the X1 Fold'southward display covers 104% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, making it much more colorful than the panels on the XPS 13 (81%), Surface Pro 7 (69%), the iPad Pro (87%) and the category boilerplate (86%).
As gorgeous as it is, the OLED display doesn't become very bright, reaching but 301 nits. The XPS 13 (469 nits), iPad Pro (559 nits) and Surface Pro seven (395 nits) all outshone the Lenovo, which didn't even reach the 387-nit average.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold audio
Dual speakers are positioned on the front end cover, or on the left edge when opened in the horizontal orientation. They audio fine, but I promise the next model includes an opposite pair for a quad setup.
The X1 Fold was fine for listening to soccer commentary, simply y'all'll want a Bluetooth speaker when jamming to your favorite tunes. Ben Howard'south live functioning of "Empty Corridors" sounded sparse and frail on the X1 Fold. The vocals and audio-visual guitar picking were airy, just at that place was an annoying fuzziness when the vocals overlapped the instrumentation.
Jessie Reyez & 6LACK'south "IMPORTED" sounded improve, but didn't have the depth I needed for chest-thumping bass or toe-borer rhythms. And when I jammed out to Leisure's "Nobody (feat. Aureate Link)," the chorus was blanketed at maximum volumes. The speakers become loud enough to fill a modest room, but you lot won't exist dancing at a party to this tablet.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold keyboard and touchpad
I can't stand on-screen keyboards. You take to pray they pop-up at the correct times so awkwardly tap abroad at a vertical piece of drinking glass (or plastic, in this case).
Fortunately, Lenovo created a custom keyboard just for this device called the Fold Mini Keyboard. There are lots of pros and cons, but overall, it's a useful accessory that could apply some fine-tuning.
I'll start with the good, and that'south how the keyboard enables the X1 Fold to be used equally a laptop. Cleverly placed magnets allow the keyboard to remain suspended on one half of the screen while the other acts as a primary display when the system is folded at a 90-degree angle. The swivel is strong enough that you don't demand to use the kickstand to keep the display portion from falling down.
Moreover, the keyboard nests nicely inside the folded tablet, filling the gap between both displays while wirelessly charging its battery. When you want to use the total 13.3-inch brandish, you tin disassemble the Fold Mini from the screen and use information technology every bit a regular Bluetooth keyboard. Pairing the keyboard to the X1 Fold is effortless, and the keys themselves have a pleasant clickyness.
Now for the non-so-skillful. Naturally, the keyboard is modest and will feel cramped if you lot take larger hands. Also, there are a few undersized keys and, as you might expect, no backlighting. The biggest criminal offense of all? The keyboard is sold separately for $299. Ouch. Information technology's an insult to injury for a tablet that'll already run you lot $2,500.
And then there's the touchpad. Information technology'southward cute, but not and then practical. The miniature rectangle has room for only 2 fingers, making information technology tricky to use for anything across moving the cursor. And while the shine, soft-bear on material feels great and fifty-fifty responds rapidly, at that place's no bespeak in trying any fancy Windows x gestures.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Mod Pen
The other custom-build accessory sold alongside (non included with) the ThinkPad X1 Fold is the Mode Pen. Aye, Lenovo (unlike Samsung) figured out stylus support on a flexible display. The pen is comfortable to hold, just I had trouble drawing direct lines in 3D Pigment.
I'm non sure if information technology was my own creative deficiencies (of which there is no end) or the imperfectly flat screen. Regardless, a drawing of my morn doughnut and cup of Joe had jagged edges and unintentionally squiggly lines. On a positive note, the pen, which uses Wacom's protocol, kept upwardly with my movements and supports tilt for different line widths.
On the side of the stylus are two buttons that can be customized in the Lenovo Pen Settings app. I kept the bottom push button equally a quick mode to get to the eraser (a tool I used quite oft) and the top button for undo (which I needed as as often).
Removing the cap reveals a USB-C charging port, which gets you 250 minutes of use from 15 minutes of charge or a month of drawing from a 2-hr accuse. When you're done using the Modernistic Pen, a loop in the keyboard accessory acts as a useful storage spot. I wish the loop were on the bodily tablet (where it was on prototypes nosotros tested) but at least there'south a place to store information technology.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold modes and switcher
Lenovo sees the ThinkPad X1 Fold every bit being capable of replacing not just your tablet, simply besides your laptop.
Y'all tin use the X1 Fold equally a standard tablet with the device unfolded entirely and the screen stretched apartment. If you're reading a volume or multiple documents, y'all can bend the X1 Fold to create a left and correct half.
Of course, to go the nearly out of the flexible screen, you'll need the keyboard. The obvious setup is having the X1 Fold propped up with the kickstand while in tablet mode with the external keyboard placed in front of it.
As previously explained, the X1 Fold uses clever software and strategically placed magnets to recognize when the keyboard is placed on top of the lower half of the screen. In this position, content gets pushed to the top screen and you can use the X1 Fold as a laptop. Again, this cuts your precious display real estate in one-half, and then it feels similar to using a netbook.
Helping you stay productive in each of these modes is Lenovo's custom Manner Switcher software. It works similar to the split-screen characteristic in Windows ten, except that information technology recognizes the fold in the center of the screen and considers each one-half a separate display. This way, you can place one window on the top one-half and some other on the lesser, or one on the correct and the second on the left.
Mode Switcher worked well in my testing. I received a prompt the moment I started folding the brandish that permit me choose my preferred layout. I went with my camera app on the correct and Pigment 3D on the left. When I rotated the tablet, the windows adjusted appropriately with 3D Paint moving to the top and my mugshot dropping below.
You don't demand to bend the X1 Fold to use the Way Switcher — tapping a small icon on your toolbar brings up the prompt.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold functioning
What is an Intel Core i5-L16G7 CPU, y'all might ask? The most premium of Intel's Lakefield family, this fleck is the smallest x86 processor effectually. A hybrid chip, it uses a unique "Foveros 3D stacking" technique that stacks 2 logical dies and two layers of DRAM. Doing the heavy lifting is a single x-nanometer core while four low-power cores piece of work in the background for efficiency during less intensive tasks.
The goal? Give the X1 Fold enough functioning to run multiple apps, but with an efficient fleck that ensures the tablet tin can deliver long battery life. In practice, the Core i5-L16G7 does reasonably well with performance, but struggles with endurance.
The X1 Fold, paired with 8GB of RAM did a good job in my existent-world testing. I loaded 2 dozen RAM-hungry Google Chrome tabs, two of which streamed Twitch videos while another pair played YouTube clips. The tablet didn't freeze or crash, even when I loaded x more abode listings during my incommunicable search to buy my first dwelling house. Graphics and text took a few extra measures to fully return, but I was pleased with the performance.
More annoying than how slowly some apps loaded was the sluggishness of Windows 10 Pro. Switching from portrait to landscape mode takes a full 3 seconds, and I found that the brandish occasionally defaulted to portrait way even when I was holding it horizontally. I also noticed some screen flickering and the exceptional but infuriating bug when pulling upwardly the search bar or Start Bill of fare. There were times when I couldn't click on my app'southward toolbar to exit out or downsize it, and at one point, the Style Switcher put two apps I had open up in a small window in the eye of the screen instead of splitting them on each side (see the above photo). I can't attribute all of these faults to the X1 Fold, only they sour an otherwise satisfying experience.
While it's faster than previous Y-series CPUs we've tested in the past, the Core i5-L16G7 CPU is no match for U-series processors in today'due south meridian laptops or the A-serial chips in Apple's slates. The X1 Fold scored a 1,794 on the Geekbench 5 overall performance test, coming nowhere most the XPS 13 (5,254, Intel Cadre i7-1165G7), Surface Pro 7 (4,443, Intel Core i5-1035G4), iPad Pro (4,720, A12Z) and the category average (iv,102).
That subpar score translated to our video transcoding test in which the X1 Fold needed 33 minutes and 31 seconds to convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution. XPS thirteen (18:22) owners tin almost accomplish that job twice in the same corporeality of fourth dimension, while the category average (17:38) is even faster than the Dell. For what it's worth, the Surface Pro 7 (32:47) also struggled on this benchmark.
Lenovo outfit the X1 Fold with a relatively speedy 256GB SSD, which duplicated a 5GB multimedia file in xi seconds at a charge per unit of 444.half-dozen megabytes per second. That outpaces the Surface Pro 7 (267.9 MBps, 256GB SSD) just lags backside the XPS 13 (729.3 MBps, 512GB Grand.two PCIe NVMe SSD) and the average (810.4 MBps).
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold graphics
Equally you lot might accept guessed, you lot won't exist playing any AAA games on the ThinkPad X1 Fold. Apps volition run fine simply gamers will want a proper gaming laptop or panel to play Cyberpunk 2077 whenever it finally arrives.
Nosotros struggled to run Sid Meier'due south Civilization Half dozen: Gathering Storm (1080p, Medium) on the X1 Fold, which puttered at a glitchy 9 frames per second. The XPS 13 played the same game at 55 fps, which is much smoother than the 27 fps average.
In our synthetic benchmark test, the X1 Fold reached a 3D Mark Burn Strike score of ane,184, well below the XPS 13 (2,837) and the premium laptop average (4,120).
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold battery life
When it comes to bombardment life, the X1 Fold has a lot going confronting it. OLED brandish? Aye. Sparse, compact form gene? Aye. Full Windows 10? Yes.
So when the X1 Fold lasted for 6 hours and 3 minutes on our battery test, I wasn't surprised although I can't say I wasn't a chip disappointed. Even the Surface Pro vii (vii:30) lasted longer on a charge while the iPad Pro (10:16) and Dell XPS 13 (12:39) stayed powered for several additional hours.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold webcam
There are no rear-facing cameras on the X1 Fold, only a five-megapixel photographic camera for selfies and video conferencing.
Information technology's the same ol' story with this photographic camera. In less-than-ideal lighting, photos and videos look poor. Move to a well-lit surround and things drastically improve. I took two selfies on the same day. One taken under normal lighting atmospheric condition has a layer of visual noise and obscures my beard into a singular web log. The other (see above image), taken near a window on a sunny day, looks much more articulate and captures individual hairs (I know, this quarantine hasn't been kind to me). For what information technology's worth, the colors are practiced in both shots.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold software and warranty
Beyond the Fashion Switcher and Pen Settings apps, the X1 Fold comes with a few Lenovo-branded tools.
Commercial Vantage is where you'll get the latest driver and BIOS updates forth with support, organization health and warranty info. Information technology's a visually pleasing one-end-shop utility software. In that location is besides a display optimizer app that lets y'all conform the panel to different presets (native, standard, Photograph Pro, Moving picture Pro, Blueish Light Cut) and pair apps to custom display settings. Information technology's a great tool for photograph or video editing.
Lenovo Camera Settings is pretty self-explanatory. It's a basic app that lets you alter the orientation of your camera preview and enable noise reduction software in low lite (the results are nothing to write domicile about). And lastly, Lenovo Voice is a vocalism translator that did a solid job of translating my rusty German into English.
Lenovo ships the X1 Fold with a one-year warranty. See how the company fared in our Best and Worst Laptop Brands and Tech Back up Showdown special reports.
Bottom line
This was always going to be a tough production to gauge. I really like having the ThinkPad X1 Fold effectually. Its modest class factor doesn't take up much infinite and the gorgeous OLED panel beautifully showcased my favorite shows and movies. Too, the first-class build quality, crafted with a mix of high-stop materials, earns Lenovo some hearty applause.
Only as much every bit I would love to own the X1 Fold, I have a hard time recommending it. While the X1 Fold works well as a tablet, I can't justify spending $2,500 on a device with so many shortcomings as a laptop replacement. Battery life, at 6 hours, is a major setback, software quirks get in the way of productivity, and the X1 Fold'south performance tin't compete with other laptops in this cost range.
Speaking of price, the ThinkPad X1 Fold is extremely expensive. I don't arraign Lenovo — this is just a upshot of beingness a first-gen production — but the vast majority of customers won't look past the $2,500 asking price. What I exercise blame the visitor for is charging actress for the stylus and keyboard, both of which are necessary if y'all want the Fold every bit your main computing device.
Given these gripes, the ThinkPad X1 Fold isn't practical for most people. Rather, it's a device I can see CEOs flaunting in board meetings. And the few people who do buy this PC volition probably really bask using it. Throughout my time with the X1 Fold, I struggled to answer the question: "Does this fifty-fifty piece of work as a concept?" Well, the growing dread I experience about having to ship this back to Lenovo says a lot, and I'm eager to run into what comes next.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-fold-review-the-worlds-first-foldable-pc
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