Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Notebook

Lenovo’s ThinkPad range of notebooks are well known for their sturdy, rock solid design and build quality. They’ve been around for a long time and they have a distinctive feel and look to them. The traditional ThinkPad design continues with their newest X1 model. While most of the previous models have been either compact or powerful, this one is designed to be slim. It’s almost as if Lenovo wants to take on the Macbook Air. The target customer is also clear. As always, it’s inclined towards business users.

Corning Gorilla Glass

Design and Build Quality
Like all other Thinkpads, there are no fancy colourful designs on the top or on the insides of the notebook. The notebook is designed first to be functional before anything else. The top surface and the bottom are all made of plain matte finished material. Lenovo claims that the notebook is made of a carbon fibre rollcage. The finish is grippy and there are no panels that attract fingerprints. The only glossy bit is the gorilla glass protected screen. The bezel on the notebook is a little thicker than usual, but the hinge mechanism is robust. The screen can be pushed back right up to 180 degrees, which is impressive for notebooks these days.

Like many vendors, Lenovo has gone with a chiclet-style keyboard with scalloped keys on it. The finish of the keys is smooth but the keys themselves are extremely sturdy and can withstand abuse by the look of it. A line of quick access buttons can be found on the right side of the keyboard. There are microphone and sound muting buttons on the right side and also dedicated volume controls, which is a neat addition.

Spill resistant keyboard

ThinkPads are known for their distinguished red trackpointer, which is also present on the X1. The feel and texture of the button hasn’t changed much. A set of three mouse click buttons are also present next to the space bar key. A standard trackpad is also available. To prevent dust, a flap covers a USB 2.0 port and a 3.5mm analog audio output port on the left. Oddly, no flaps are present for the other connectors. A large exhaust vent is positioned on the left of the notebook through which you can see an array of fine metal heatsink fins.

A DisplayPort included at the rear!

The keyboard layout isn’t ideal. For example, there isn’t a Pause key and the print screen key is positioned close to the spacebar. The left Fn key is positioned where the Ctrl key normally is. Typing is still a joy and the trackpad with its mildly textured surface is accurate enough for most purposes.

Quick access buttons located at the side