Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 Hands-on

Lenovo’s notebook line covers almost every kind of user. For regular users, there’s the IdeaPad. For those looking for slim productivity notebooks, there’s the Yoga. For gamers, there’s the Legion. But for those looking for a machine that means business, there’s the ThinkPad and the ThinkBook. In this case, we have the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8. A slim and light notebook with a tough exterior and powerful internals. Check out our initial thoughts below.

We always have this kind of expectation for Lenovo’s business notebooks that bear the letter X in its name. We’re expecting a machine with a subtle, straight-to-the-point design, but still premium and attractive. Kind of like a person in business attire. It’s not here to play around.

And that’s what we got when we first took it out of the box. What you’ll mostly see is the lid and chassis made of carbon fiber and magnesium. We expected a carbon fiber design, but we got a matte finish instead, which can help repel some fingerprints. Lenovo says that there’s a Carbon-Fiber Weave design, but it’s reserved for the 4K HDR400 model.

The ThinkPad badge is found on the upper left corner. The dot on the small letter ‘i’ is backlit and glows red when the laptop is in use or sleeping.

It’s cool to the touch and feels metallic. It’s light at 1.09 kg and thin at 14.9mm. You can easily lug it around, and will easily slide into a bag. It also has a small footprint so that it won’t take up much space on your desk. It’s also tough as it is tested against 12 military-grade requirements and more than 200 quality checks. It can handle spills, drops, and extreme temperatures.

Lift the lid, and you will see the 14-inch screen with slim side bezels. We have a Full HD resolution with an IPS panel and a brightness of 400 nits. The display can be tilted up to 180-degrees, so you can easily adjust it to maximize your viewing experience.

Found in the top bezel is the 720p webcam with ThinkShutter privacy cover, which should be a common feature in laptops nowadays, and microphone.

Below the display, but just above the keyboard, are two upward-firing tweeters. The two down-firing woofers are found at the bottom. It’s a Dolby Atmos Speaker System, so the sound is great.

For the keyboard, it has a white backlight with two levels of brightness. It is spill-resistant and features a new FN row with dedicated buttons for Airplane mode, accessing Lenovo Vantage, and answering and ending calls on Skype. There’s also a dedicated Page Up and Page Down buttons beside the arrow keys.

The keyboard is great, and the typing experience is excellent as it has good tactile feedback and plenty of travel. It’s comfortable that most laptop keyboards I’ve used in the past.

Long-time ThinkPad fans will be glad that the TrackPoint is still here, placed just above the B key, as well as the left, right, and scroll keys above the trackpad. Found beside the trackpad is the fingerprint scanner.

Speaking of the trackpad, it’s tiny and sometimes feels cramped if you’re used to large trackpads. But once you get the hang of the space, you’ll be able to navigate with it and comfortably use finger gestures smoothly.

On the left, we have the USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (always on), which can be used for charging, another USB-C Thunderbolt 3, network extension for the Ethernet adapter included in the package, USB-A 3.1 (Gen 1), HDMI 1.4, and 3.5mm headphone/mic combo.

On the right, we have the power button, USB-A 3.1 (Gen 1), vent, and Kensington lock slot. For a slim device, we’re impressed at the number of ports this notebook has.

Found at the bottom are more vents, two woofers, and four rubber nubs to keep the notebook stable.

Powering the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 unit that we have is an Intel Core i7-10610U CPU, 16GB LPDDR3 RAM, 1TB PCIe SSD, 51Wh battery, and Windows 10 Pro. Price starts at PHP 129,990. We’ll discuss more, including its performance, in our full review.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 8 specs:
14-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS, low power, 400 nits
Intel Core i7-10610U CPU
Intel UHD Graphics 620
16GB LPDDR3 RAM
1TB PCIe SSD
WiFi 802.11 AX
Bluetooth 5.0
2 x USB-C Thunderbolt 3
2 x USB 3.1 (Gen 1)
HDMI 1.4
Network extension for Ethernet/side mechanical docking
Headphone / mic combo
HD 720p with ThinkShutter privacy cover
Spill-resistant backlit keyboard
Dolby Atmos Speaker System
4 x 360-degree far-field microphones
Fast Identity Online (FIDO) authentication capabilities
Match-on-chip fingerprint reader
dTPM 2.0 chip
ThinkShutter camera cover
Kensington lock slot
Windows 10 Pro
51Wh battery w/ 65W charging (supports Rapid Charge)
323 x 218 x 14.9 mm
1.09 kg