X1 Yoga

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6

Posted on September 3, 2021September 2, 2021 by Adam Fowler

Lenovo’s X1 Yoga for 2021 is now out – the 6th generation in the line of X1 Yogas, bringing in several changes to the line. We’ve come a long way from the first release too, but in essence it’s still an all-rounder laptop that can be flipped and rotated in all different ways, with a stylus and touch screen to provide an adaptable piece of hardware.

Specs

Tech Specs

Processor	Up to 11^th Generation Intel^® Core™ i7-1185G7 Processor with vPro™ (3.00 GHz, up to 4.80 GHz with Turbo Boost, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 12 MB Cache)
Operating System	– Windows 10 Home – Windows 10 Pro – Linux Ubuntu
Display	– 14″ UHD+ 4K (3840 x 2400) IPS, anti-reflection, anti-smudge, touchscreen with Dolby Vision™, HDR, 500 nits, 90% DCI P3 Color Gamut, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions – 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen with Privacy Guard, 500 nits 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-glare, touchscreen, 400 nits, TÜV Rheinland-certified for reduced blue light emissions – 14″ FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, anti-reflective, anti-smudge, touchscreen, low power, 400 nits Screen to body ratio = 83%; aspect ratio = 16:10
Memory	Up to 32 GB LPDDR4x 4266MHz
Battery	Up to 16.1 hours 57Whr (MM18) Rapid Charge (requires 65W PSU or higher)
Storage	Up to 1TB PCIe SSD
Graphics	Integrated Intel^® Iris^® X^eGraphics
Security	– Discrete Trusted Platform Module (dTPM) 2.0 – Optional: Human-presence detection sensor with IR camera – Smart Power On fingerprint reader integrated with power button (match-on-chip) – Webcam privacy shutter – Kensington lock slot
Audio	Dolby Atmos^® Speaker System – 4 x 360-degree far-field mics – Dolby Voice^® professional conferencing solution
Camera	720p HD with webcam privacy shutter Optional: Hybrid infrared (IR) / 720p HD with webcam privacy shutter
Dimensions (H x W x D)	14.9mm x 313mm x 223mm x / 0.59″ x 12.32″ x 8.77″
Weight	Starting at 3 lbs (1.35 kg)
Color	Storm Gray
Certifications	Energy Star^® 8.0 EPEAT^® Gold
Connectivity	– Optional: WWAN* Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System – Optional: WWAN* Quectel EM120R-GL 4G LTE CAT12 – WLAN: Up to Intel^® AX201 WiFi 6 802.11AX (2 x 2) with vPro™ – Bluetooth^® 5.1 *
Ports / Slots	– 2 x USB 4 Type-C with Thunderbolt™ 4 (DisplayPort, Power Delivery and Data Transfer) – 2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (One always on) – Headphone / mic combo – HDMI 2.0 – Optional: Nano SIM slot
Keyboard	Spill-resistant Color-matched keyboard with wider 110mm / 4.33″ TrackPad Backlit with white LED lighting Call-control keys (F9-F11)
Supported Docking	USB-C Dock ThinkPad Thunderbolt™ 4
What’s in the box	– ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 – 65W AC Adapter (Supports Rapid Charge) – 57Whr Internal Battery – ThinkPad Pen Pro – Quick Start Guide

I’ll cover the components I think are worth discussing:

Processor

Intel’s 11th Gen CPU is inside the Yoga X1 Gen 6. Tom’s Hardware do a good comparison of the differences and benchmark comparisons between 10th and 11th gen mobile Intel CPUs, with some rather large graphics and gaming improvements due to the Iris Xe Graphics’ capabilities. As expected, the CPU is a bit faster overall :)

Display

Some big changes here. The first obvious difference is the resolution – 1920 x 1200 instead of the usual 1920 x 1080. This is due to the screen ratio change, 16:10 instead of the 16:9 it used to be. The result is a little bit more space top to bottom, which is actually handy to have. If you have corporate backgrounds deploying out a 1920 x 1080 picture, you might need to adjust it to look good on this screen too.

Memory

The first X1 Yoga to have 32GB of RAM as an option! Nice if you’re planning on some grunt work, like running a few virtual machines.

Battery

The ~16 hours claimed battery life is quite high – so this should get you through a full working day without needing to plug in. Previous models were way over the 8 hour mark too, which to me would be the goal of battery life – last a working day so if you’re travelling, you’re not looking for a power point.

Graphics

Intel’s onboard graphics are still plenty good for general use, even light gaming. Note that Intel claim “Gamers can play fast and hard with new Intel® Iris® X^e graphics featuring up to 1080p 60FPS for more detailed, immersive gaming.”. I’m sure AAA gaming titles will need to be played on low/medium settings, but depending what you play and your expectations, this might be fine (low graphics quality games like Among Us are fine!).

Camera

We’re still at 720p for some reason – which is not isolated to Lenovo. I’m hoping next year we see 1080p as the standard resolution of inbuilt cameras, especially on premium laptops.

As usual, Lenovo progresses forward while keeping the fundamental reason Yogas exist – a flexible device that provides an all round experience. Going all the way back to the X1 Yoga Gen 1 I said the same thing. Now we have a few different laptop options in the ThinkPad series such as the X1 Nano and the X1 Fold (which I’d love to get my hands on), while the X1 Carbon is up to the 9th Generation – a very nice, thin laptop, but no touch screen.

Also worth noting is the touchpad is bigger on the X1 Yoga Gen 6, so this could be a deciding factor if comparing it to older models.

I’m sticking with the X1 Yoga still, but we’ll see what new devices Lenovo come out with, and if they’ll tempt me with something different and new!

For some more photos and a comparison to the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, check out my other post Fifth and Sixth Generations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

*Although I am in a program with Lenovo (called Lenovo Insiders), no direct arrangements were made regarding this review or providing of hardware.

Fifth and Sixth Generations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga

Posted on July 14, 2021July 15, 2021 by Adam Fowler

For the first four generations of the X1 Yoga click here

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is still my favourite all-rounder laptop. In 2021 we’re up to the 6th Generation of the X1 Yoga and I’d previously written up the first 4, so figured it was time to cover these two.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5

Coming out in 2020, we saw the jump from the 8th Generation Intel CPU to the 10th Generation (we skipped 9th Gen Intel for some reason). It was also the first with WiFi 6 which is now seeing wide adoption across markets.

Beyond that, there was very little difference between the 4th and 5th generations of the X1 Yoga. All the ports are the same, the layout the same, and the keys the same beyond a few different special functions above some of the function keys. There is a privacy shutter over the webcam though, which is a handy addition.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6

This one is a bigger jump again. The screen bezel is smaller, and at a 16:10 ratio rather than 16:9, the base resolution has changed from the very standard 1920 x 1080 and is now 1920 x 1200, providing a little more screen real estate without making the unit bigger – it’s actually slightly smaller as you’ll see below. Also coming with an 11th Gen Intel CPU, Lenovo changed the entire laptop from one shade of grey to another (OK, it’s officially changed from Iron Gray to Storm Gray which sounds like a superhero name).

The trackpad itself is a lot bigger, and the power button has moved to being above the keyboard, instead of on the side as per all previous generations. This button doubles as the fingerprint reader, no more dedicated fingerprint square to press. There’s also speaker grills on each side of the keyboard instead of above, and no dedicated special NIC dongle port.

Here’s some photos of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 on top of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5:

From the above, there’s little differences to the ports beyond what I’ve already mentioned – the grill for expelling air went from the right on the 5th Gen, to the back on the 6th Gen (which is better to blow hot air away from you), and the audio jack is on opposite sides which shouldn’t bother anyone either way.

I don’t have any complaints around either model of laptop – there is something that feels more modern about the 6th Gen X1 Yoga in it’s colour and stylings, so the better CPU and screen differences are the biggest deciding factors. As always, I’m keen to see how the X1 Yoga line progresses, and this is a solid entry in the lineup.

Four Generations of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga

Posted on September 3, 2019July 14, 2021 by Adam Fowler

Lenovo’s X1 Yoga is my favorite business laptop. Ever since the X1 Yoga Gen 1 came out, I liked it over the other X1 options as it was an all-rounder, while doing everything really well.

That first generation came out in 2016, and each year there’s been a new one, the 2nd Gen, 3rd Gen and now in 2019, we’re at the 4th Gen.

It’s about time I did a round up and comparison of these four models.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 1

The Gen 1 came out in 2016 as the X1 Carbon became lighter, thinner and lost it’s touchscreen. There was mixed reaction to this decision from Lenovo, and although the Yoga had existed in several forms previously, this was the first in the ThinkPad X1 series.

Notable on this model is the OneLink+ connector – a shortlived port for a OneLink+ dock that only survived a single generation, to be replaced by USB-C/Thunderbolt. It has the standard rectangle style power plug hole, again this would not be seen on future X1 Yogas.

This is the only model to not have a dedicated Ethernet port, instead a special OneLink+ Ethernet dongle, USB2 100mbit dongle or USB3 gigabit dongle was required.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 2

2017 saw this release with the 7th Gen Intel CPU and the OneLink+ port abandoned, replaced by USB-C. This was great, since it was now an industry standard and meant there was a lot of flexibility with what power pack and dock you could use.

This is the first model to have an OLED display option, and strangely this Gen 2 is slightly thicker and heavier than the Gen 1. There wasn’t that many improvements in this model, but overall it’s pretty well rounded solution.

Battery life on this was claimed to be a lot better than the Gen 1.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 3

It was the third model’s turn in 2018 which saw few changes again. Another generation jump on the Intel CPU, which this time doubled the core count from the 7th to 8th mobile CPU generation.

Other smaller changes included the introduction of a shutter over the camera, a HDR display option with Dolby Vision, and the black colouring a bit different – the chassis is glossier, and anything silver has gone black including the hinges and ThinkPad logo (it still looks silver in this photo sorry!)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4

And finally, here we are in 2019 with the Gen 4 being released… and it’s a major jump. The biggest jump we’ve seen year to year so far. An all metal chassis, the laptop footprint has been drastically reduced (17% smaller footprint, 11% thinner), the colour is now ‘iron grey’ which I’m personally a fan of, and the screen to bezel distance is much smaller.

There’s also a new connector for a different ethernet dongle, and support for a new style of dock that connects on the left hand side to the combo USB-C/ethernet slot. Of course it’s jumped a CPU generation again, up to Intel’s 8th.

The MicroSD slot has been dropped, probably as part of making the laptop smaller. If you really need that, then look at any of the previous generations.

One other interesting feature is a new privacy screen option called PrivacyGuard that can be toggled on and off, and stops people seeing the screen on an angle. The retractable key feature has gone again – there’s no rubber feet to protect the keys, but they might be minutely sunk in, I couldn’t tell with the naked eye.

The final note on this model is that it has a very similar CPU to the Gen 3, still an 8th Generation Intel CPU but a newer variant – Whiskey Lake rather than Kaby Lake.

Let’s have a look at the 4 generations stacked together, going bottom to top Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3 and Gen 4:

You can see that footprint difference in the photos above. The 4th Gen looks completely different to the rest.

Each of my individual reviews lists out the possible specs for each model if you want to dive a bit further into the technical differences;

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga Gen 1
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga Gen 2
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga Gen 3
Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Yoga Gen 4

The X1 Yoga will never be as small and light as the X1 Carbon, and never be as portable as the X1 Tablet, nor the powerhouse of the X1 Extreme – but it is all of these devices at once in it’s own way. It’s still my pick of the X1 series for it’s flexibility, but the other choices could also be better for your personal needs if you know how you’re going to use it.

Lenovo X1 Tablet Review

Posted on September 29, 2016September 12, 2021 by Adam Fowler

A few months back, I reviewed the Lenovo X1 Yoga which was my pick of the latest X1 series of laptops (and still is). That doesn’t discount the other Lenovo offerings though, as they may be better suited to other people’s requirements more than mine.

One of those options worth looking at is the Lenovo X1 Tablet. At the time of writing, the Australian store is completely sold out of them, so they must be doing well :) Somehow I was still lucky enough to be sent one from Lenovo, and I’m glad they did.

Lenovo X1 Tablet Side On

The X1 Tablet is Lenovo’s take on the Microsoft Surface. A lot of ideas are borrowed, and then improvements on top. Let’s look at the specs first, then the form factor.

CPU

This has a Core m CPU – the 3 options are:

Intel Core m3-6Y30 Processor ( 900MHz 1866MHz 4MB)
Intel Core m5-6Y54 Processor ( 1.10GHz 1866MHz 4MB)
Intel Core m7-6Y75 Processor ( 1.20GHz 1866MHz 4MB)

The new mobile fanless CPUs are a lot better than they were a few years ago. Even the Apple Macbook uses them, and those CPU speeds are a base speed, not the turbo speed they’re capable of pushing to. Which one should you pick? Tough choice as the cost differences aren’t small, but apply the same logic you would as the ‘i series’ between i3, i5 and i7. Apart from a fanless design, you get a lot more bang for your buck battery wise.

Display and Screen

Just the one option here:

12.0″FHD+ IPS LED 2160×1440

12″ Screen

It’s a very high res which will more than meet your requirements for a 12 inch screen.The screen only comes in touch enabled, but you also get a nice pen to use. It’s similar to the Surface 3/4 pen, uses a AAA battery that can be replaced, and is nicer than the smaller pen that comes with the X1 Yoga:

Back: X1 Tablet Pen. Front: X1 Yoga Pen.

The Yoga X1 pen is smaller so it can discreetly fit into the laptop, while the X1 Tablet pen sits in an optional loop on the side of the laptop:

If you don’t like the loop, you don’t have to use it as it’s interchangable with a blank plate in the keyboard, which is a nice touch.

Memory and Hard Drives

The memory options are:

4.0GB LPDDR3-1866 LPDDR3 1866MHz
8.0GB LPDDR3-1866 LPDDR3 1866MHz
16.0GB LPDDR3-1866 LPDDR3 1866MHz

If you’re doing anything beyond basic web browsing and Word/Excel type work, or like to have a lot of things open go the 8gb. 16gb should only be needed if you’re doing high end work.

Same with the hard drives. The default options are:

128GB SSD SATA III
256GB SSD SATA III

You can go all the way up to 1TB too.

If you don’t need a lot of local storage, you might be fine with the 128GB. You can always use an external hard drive or USB stick (USB 3.0 is very fast for read/write), but if you want to keep a lot locally on the device, go the 256GB.

Size and Weight

The tablet part by itself is 767g which is a lot lighter than any ‘i series’ laptop. The keyboard brings it up to 1.07kg which is still incredibly light. In comparison, the very light and thin X1 Carbon 4th Gen weighs in at 1.21kg.

Being a 12″ hybrid laptop the dimensions are quite small:

Tablet :
(mm) : 291.5 x 209.5 x 8.45
(inches) : 11.47″ x 8.25″ x 0.33″
Tablet + Keyboard
(mm) : 291.5 x 209.5 x 13
(inches) : 11.47″ x 8.25″ x 0.51″

X1 Tablet on a X1 Carbon Gen 1 on a ThinkPad P50

Battery

You’ll get a 2 cell Li-Polymer battery, which gives 10 hours of battery in tablet mode, and 5 hours in ‘productivity’ mode, which means the keyboard is attached. If that’s not enough battery life for you, then you’d better have a look at the Productivity Module!

Productivity Module – 5 Hours Battery Life, HDMI™, OneLink+ and Full-size USB

Presenter Module – A Pico Projector Capable of 60″ Display from 2 Meters, Full-size HDMI™ (in/out)

Sadly these aren’t available in Australia (yet or at all?) but they both sound very cool. The productivity module adds another 5 hours of battery and a few extra connectors (including a OneLink+ dock connector which isn’t available otherwise). The projector also looks great, check out this clip from The Verge showing off the modules (I believe the 3D RealSense Camera has been abandoned):

Other Bits and Pieces

There is an optional sim slot for those people who want to be mobile and have internet access, which is discreetly hidden behind the stand. The keyboard is one of the standout parts of the X1 Tablet, where it’s as close as possible to the nice ThinkPad keyboard experience while being a thin and light addition. The keyboard attaches via magnets and pins, again similar to the Microsoft Surface. There’s also a fingerprint reader which can be used for Windows Hello, and an inbuilt camera/microphone.

Back of the X1 Tablet

Side on

X1 Tablet display on top of the ThinkPad P50

X1 Tablet Keyboard

Thoughts

I was first put off by the ‘m series’ CPU, but after using it and doing a bit of research, it’s a LOT better than I expected. It didn’t feel like I was using a slower chip at all. The form factor is quite nice, 12″ is a good portable size and the kickstand is very sturdy and secure, and lets you adjust smoothly to whichever angle you like (it doesn’t click in certain angles only). The keyboard has a design that lets you raise it from being flat which gets even closer to a chunky keyboard feel, and is even backlit. The Trackpad is of high quality as per usual in the ThinkPad series.

This is a really good ‘take into meetings’ device for note taking, and if you had the projector module it could add a lot of value for small presentations. It is powerful and useful enough to be your device that does ‘all the things’ too without feeling like you’re using a tablet with a keyboard addon (looking at you, iPad). A lot of people like the 12″ screen form factor with the tablet hybrid mode, and this is the best style of it I’ve seen so far (I was never a fan of the old Thinkpad Helix).

If you don’t need as much CPU grunt, and want a highly portable device that covers a lot of different situations, I’d definitely recommend this laptop/tablet/hybrid.

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