Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Convertible Laptop (2018 20LD0015US) Review

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Describe your perfect laptop. What would you want? Light enough to carry every day? A brilliant and large display packed into a compact body? Powerful enough to run every program? Something with plenty of built-in ports? Long battery life? The ability to be used as a tablet? The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2018 20LD0015US) checks every box.

It wasn’t that long ago that if we wanted a sleek, light, portable, and powerful laptop, a MacBook incarnation was the obvious answer. The last few years, however, have given us plenty of Windows Machine choices. Lenovo has a winner in its ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2018 20LD0015US; mine came with a 14″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS anti-reflective, anti-smudge, multi-touch, 270 nits screen, an Intel Core i5-8250U CPU with 8GB RAM, and a 512 GB Solid State Drive (PCIe-NVMe OPAL2.0 M.2). With the options selected, the retail price comes to $1740.60 after discounts.

Like all ThinkPads, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga is tested against 12 military-grade requirements and more than 200 quality checks to ensure they run in extreme conditions. From the arctic wilderness to desert dust storms, from zero-gravity to spills and drops, you can trust this laptop to handle whatever life throws your way.

Specifications

Processor: Up to 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-8650U with vPro® (1.9GHz, up to 4.2GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Operating System: Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro
Graphics: Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Memory: Up to 16 GB LPDDR3 2133 MHz (Onboard)
Storage: Up to 1 TB PCIe-NVME SSD OPAL2.0
Camera: HD 720p with ThinkShutter
Optional: IR camera – required for facial recognition. ThinkShutter is not available on configurations with the IR Camera.
Battery: Up to 15.4 hours, integrated Li-ion 54 Whr with RapidCharge technology
Display: 14″ FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS anti-reflective anti-smudge multi-touch, 300 nits, 14″ WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS anti-reflective anti-smudge multi-touch, 300 nits , 14″ HDR WQHD (2560 x 1440) IPS anti-reflective anti-smudge multi-touch with Dolby Vision, 500 nits
Touch Screen: Standard
Audio: Dolby® Audio™ Premium, Noise-cancelling dual-array far-field microphones, Dolby Atmos® for headphones
Security: Fast Identity Online (FIDO) authentication capabilities, dTPM 2.0, Match-on-chip touch fingerprint reader . Windows Hello with facial recognition software (requires optional IR camera), ThinkShutter, Kensington® lock slot
Colors: Black with color-coded hinges, Silver with color-coded hinges
I/O (Input/Output) Ports: 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (one Always On), 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C / Intel Thunderbolt 3 (Power Delivery, DisplayPort, Data transfer), HDMI, Headphone / microphone combo jack, 4-in-1 MicroSD card reader (SD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC), Ethernet Extension Connector (Dongle for Native Ethernet sold separately)
Connectivity: WLAN: Intel® Dual-Band Wireless-AC (2 x 2)8265 + Bluetooth® 4.1, WWAN; Fibocom L850-GL 4G LTE-A cat 9 (optional) *This product must be purchased with LTE configured and is not upgradeable.

Let’s take a look.

I know the box is something that will end up in storage (or tossed, depending upon how you roll), but I appreciated the X1 opening experience. Vivid black and red colors greet you from the start, and when you open the two inside flaps, the platform holding the laptop actually rises. It’s a little thing; it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a nice reminder that what’s inside is something special. Under the laptop, there are two boxes that hold the power cable and the included paperwork.

The X1 Yoga measures approximately 13.2″ long by 9.1″ wide by 0.75″ thick; it weighs just 3 pounds, 1.6 ounces. Available in black or silver, the matte black version I received has a carbon fiber body covered in a soft-touch finish. The result is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but it’s not a deal-breaker.

On the back, there are two metal 360º hinges that allow the laptop to assume one of four handy positions.

Modes include: Laptop, Presentation, Tent, and Tablet

There is a cooling vent on the back left side. It will blow warm air while you are using the laptop, but I have only heard the internal fan kick on a couple of times, and it wasn’t obnoxious. Otherwise, the X1 Yoga is exceptionally quiet.

On the right side, there is a covered section which when opened reveals a microSD and nano-SIM slot.

Worth mentioning is that the red dot on the ThinkPad “i” is also an LED indicator. It will glow when the laptop is in use, and it will also blink as the laptop charges.

On the right side, there’s a slot for the included ThinkPad Pen Pro, the power button, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a mini ethernet port, a USB 3.1 port, an HDMI port, and a security lock slot.

Note the fingerprints. A small microfiber cloth is included to deal with them, but I stopped noticing them after a while. Consider it part of the case’s acquired patina. 😉

The front edge is clean.

On the left side, there are two Thunderbolt 3 compatible USB-C connectors (you’ll use one of these when charging the laptop), and an Always on USB 3.1 port. In other words, unless you specifically need an SD slot, you’ll be very pleased that every single port you might possibly need has been included.

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She got her start in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie has written for or been profiled by nationally known sites and magazines, and she has served on multiple industry hardware and software award panels. She is best known for her device-agnostic approach, enjoyment of exploring tech, gadgets, and gear, and her deep-diving, jargon-free reviews.