- Lenovo has introduced the 2nd Gen of its revolutionary ThinkPad X1 Fold PC
- The brand new system has a a lot bigger 16.3-inch foldable OLED show
- It ships with Intel twelfth Gen Core-U collection i5 or i7 processors
- Availability is predicted beginning November 2022, beginning at $2,499
- We frolicked enjoying with the pre-production model for a hands-on
In 2020, Lenovo shocked the world with the first PC with a foldable show. The ThinkPad X1 Fold had lots going for it, together with pen help, a Bluetooth keyboard, non-obligatory 5G, and Lenovo’s tough {hardware} testing.
However regardless of its groundbreaking design, which was a few years within the making, Lenovo knew the unique X1 Fold was extra of an experiment. And every little thing they’ve discovered from buyer suggestions has gone into the all-new ThinkPad X1 Fold 16.
Almost every little thing in regards to the new ThinkPad X1 Fold is up to date, modified, and improved. I spent a while dealing with the system in New York Metropolis and was surprised.
Right here’s every little thing you could learn about it.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: Specs and options
Whereas the unique X1 Fold had Intel’s ill-fated and underpowered Lakefield “hybrid” CPU, the brand new X1 Fold makes use of Intel’s twelfth Gen U-series Core i5 or i7 vPro processors, providing ten cores (two of that are efficiency), giving it way more a punch.
Not solely is there extra CPU efficiency, however the design can also be wholly fanless this time. That’s a win-win.
The true story of the brand new X1 Fold is that show. It’s a wonderful 16.3-inch (2024×2560) foldable Samsung OLED 600nit HDR/400nit SDR with 100% DCI-P3, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, On-cell Contact with Pen help. When folded, it shrinks to a extra cheap 12-inch show, which, paired with the Bluetooth keyboard, makes it really feel way more like an precise laptop computer.
| Lenovo X1 Fold (16-inch) | |
|---|---|
| OS | As much as Home windows 11 Professional |
| Processor | As much as Intel vPro with twelfth Gen Intel Core U9 i5 and i7 |
| RAM | As much as 32GB LPDDR5 |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe Graphics |
| Storage | As much as 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD |
| Show | 16.3-inch (2024×2560) foldable OLED/ 600nit HDR/400nit SDR |
| DCI-P3 100%, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, On-cell Contact with Pen help | |
| Ports | Two Thunderbolt 4 |
| One USB Sort-C 3.2 Gen 2 | |
| Keyboard | ThinkPad full-sized with TrackPoint |
| Haptic touchpad | |
| Audio | Dolby Atmos 3-speaker system (2 audio system work at anybody time) |
| Wi-fi | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) (Twin band) 2*2, Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Non-compulsory 5G Sub 6 (LTE supported) | |
| Digicam | 5MP RGB+IR with Intel VSC choice |
| Safety | IR digicam, fingerprint reader |
| Battery | 48Whr (non-obligatory extra 16 Whr based mostly on configuration) |
| 65W AC Fast Cost | |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 276.1 x 345.7 x 8.6mm (10.87in x 13.6in x 0.34in) |
| Folded: 176.4 x 276.2 x 17.4mm (6.9in x 10.87 x 0.68in | |
| Weight | System: 1.28kg / 2.82 lbs |
| System with Keyboard and stand: 1.9kg / 4.19lbs | |
| Colour | Tech Black |
By comparability, the unique X1 Fold’s show was solely 13.3-inches spanned and nearer to 8-inches when folded.
Furthermore, Lenovo has discovered how you can fold the show with none hole this time and no seen crease. When closed, the X1 Fold now really appears like a ebook.
Different specs are additionally spectacular. The X1 Fold could be configured with as much as 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, and three USB Sort-C ports, two of that are Thunderbolt 4. There’s additionally an choice for a Nano-SIM tray for 5G Sub 6 with LTE.
Lenovo designed the X1 Fold in order that no matter its posture, a minimum of two Sort-C ports can be found to be used. Likewise, for the audio system, of which there are three with Dolby Atmos. Solely two work at any time, however they’re positioned, so once more, whatever the X1 Fold’s posture, you get good stereo Dolby Atmos audio.
Lenovo has a 5MP RGB+IR digicam with an non-obligatory Intel VSC (Visible Sensing Controller) for safety. Intel VSC brings human presence detection for zero-touch login and “onlooker detection.”
That full HD 5MP digicam with Intel VSC means it could auto-frame whatever the pill’s posture – panorama, portrait, laptop computer mode, and so forth.
Lenovo separated the kickstand from the pill for this technology. Whereas that appears a step again, the corporate’s new kickstand attaches magnetically and lets clients do one thing they may not do earlier than: Mount the X1 Fold vertically and horizontally.
Lenovo claims this mode portrait mode proves “…extremely efficient for studying and enhancing lengthy paperwork, simultaneous social feeds, web sites, and extra.” In my time with the X1 Fold, I agree that it was a bit wild not solely utilizing it in portrait mode but in addition barely curving it for a “bent L” form.
In fact, customers can nonetheless use the X1 Fold in “ebook mode” for “proofreading articles or shopping digital publications” or old-school “pill mode” for notetaking, drawing, a number of consumer interplay, or watching a film on the Dolby Imaginative and prescient-certified show.
Being a ThinkPad, the brand new X1 Fold additionally meets Lenovo’s stringent sturdiness testing, together with assembly MIL-STD-810H requirements.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: New full-sized keyboard, haptic touchpad
New this yr can also be a much-improved keyboard. The earlier keyboard technically labored, and it even charged wirelessly, which was neat, nevertheless it was very cramped. In any case, it’s even smaller than the Floor Go’s keyboard.
Now, that new keyboard is way bigger and full-sized. Certainly, it’s successfully the identical keyboard because the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano with one large distinction: The touchpad is haptic and never mechanical. To save lots of area and provides extra of a pure really feel, Lenovo leveraged haptics to simulate what an correct touchpad appears like, which in addition they used within the ThinkPad X1 Titanium.
Bluetooth 5.2 retains the keyboard linked to the X1 Fold and is rechargeable by way of USB Sort-C.
When the keyboard is dropped onto a folded X1 Fold, Home windows 11 “shifts up” the show to suit the 12-inch viewable space. Lenovo says this place is good for cramped areas like a practice, aircraft, or when you could apply it to your lap.
When utilizing the X1 Fold and the kickstand, the keyboard slides up and sticks magnetically to the kickstand. Or, since it’s wi-fi, you might use the keyboard at a distance.
Lenovo might even squeeze in a fingerprint reader on the brand new keyboard, which is great if the privateness digicam is engaged, and Home windows Howdy face recognition is disabled.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: It is repairable
Lenovo went past simply making a PC with a gapless foldable show. Usually, these radical designs compromise on with the ability to be repaired, because the backs and show rely closely on glue.
However Lenovo even made repairability on the X1 Fold a precedence. The entrance and rear covers, which now function “recycled woven efficiency cloth” as a substitute of fake leather-based, can pop off to disclose the laptop computer’s innards.
Storage could be swapped or upgraded, and the batteries could be changed, as can the board and different parts, ought to they want it (I assume the show, as effectively).
You’ll nonetheless want semi-professional servicing, however a minimum of the brand new X1 Fold is just not a throwaway system anymore.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 16: First impressions
So, how is the brand new X1 Fold? We’ll have to attend a number of extra months (November) to get our palms on a manufacturing mannequin, however there isn’t any doubt Lenovo has stepped up its recreation.
It’s necessary to do not forget that Lenovo is effectively forward of everybody on this class as they began down this street a few years in the past. It’s not a part of Intel’s “Venture Horseshoe Bend” — a collaboration between Intel, Microsoft, and PC producers.
Lenovo is now on “gen 2” of PCs with a foldable show, whereas ASUS is simply beginning. That’s why the ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold has a large hole and a design much like what Lenovo did two years in the past.
With 5 postures (laptop computer mode, panorama PC, portrait PC, ebook mode, and pill), the brand new Lenovo X1 Fold is undoubtedly probably the most versatile PC round. When folded up and closed, you possibly can see how it’s dwarfed by a correct 16-inch laptop computer (the brand new ThinkPad X1 Excessive). It’s evening and day, making the X1 Fold a way more moveable PC (granted, the X1 Excessive can also be miles extra highly effective).
I do fear, nonetheless, in regards to the little bit of clumsiness that comes with this kind issue. Packed up, you will have the X1 Fold, the magnetic stand, and the keyboard connected to it, together with the pen. It’s not probably the most elegant factor to arrange since there are “three transferring components,” so to talk.
It’s a bit like deconstructing a laptop computer as a substitute of it being only one unit.
Nonetheless, the X1 Fold additionally does many issues that no different PC can do, making it particular and, for some, fairly helpful (primarily because of that $2,500 beginning worth, which doesn’t embody the keyboard).
Sadly, Home windows 11 doesn’t but have an excessive amount of software program to make the most of X1 Fold. Certain, with Home windows 11 22H2, which this pill ships with, you get some new contact and gesture help for snapping home windows. That helps. However nothing occurs if you fold the show with Home windows, instantly pretending it’s two screens, which might be extra useful—and even defaulting to this conduct.
Hopefully, we’ll see extra from Microsoft within the coming yr to help foldable PCs to leverage its capabilities.
Between the a lot thinner design (17.4mm closed, 8.6mm opened), a lot thinner bezels, nicer hinge, higher high quality supplies, bigger show, and improved efficiency, the brand new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold is definitely probably the most revolutionary — and distinctive — Home windows PC but.
I can’t wait to attempt the ultimate model out.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold goes on sale in November with a beginning worth of $2,499.
