Thinkpad X1 Fold on the way to us

We have one of these coming to us this week. I'm really looking forward to testing it out. Anything specific you folks would like to know, assuming they will let us fully test it?

https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/...ble-pc-nano-thinkbook-5g-tiger-lake-intel-evo

PS: it will be the first tiger lake device we have seen

 

Awesome, I'm very jealous! Simple question: how well does it stay flat when using it in laptop mode (without added external keyboard), and how is the typing experience with the on-screen keyboard. The other important things I already know: "Is it out of my budget?", and "is the Win10 tablet mode awesome?".

 

The typical question found here... how's the pen experience on a foldable such as this, especially in the "crease" area?

I see it has a unique magnetic storage design for a keyboard. Is it practical? What happens if you want to temporarily move it aside when you want to operate desk-free in tablet mode? Can you reattach it magnetically away from the screen?

How practically sturdy is the "kickstand"?

Thanks for the info!

 

A commenter on Ars stated "X1 fold uses the fancy new low-power hybrid lakefield chips, not tiger lake", which sounds vaguely familiar. Are you sure it's Tiger Lake?

 

Well depends on where I look . It references 11th gen intel which should be tiger lake , but in another spot it also says ultra low power intel

I guess we will find out when we get one.

 

I’m looking forward to your impressions, @desertlap.

 

I'm also quite interested in the new X1 nano which hits the sub 2 pound mark and might have cellular options as well. They are sending us one of those as well though date is TBD

EDIT: Sheesh!, Even Lenovo own site is vague referring to it with an i5 which again should mean that it's tiger lake

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/thinkpad-x1-fold?clickid=ytVxZp0RHxyLWkHwUx0Mo3b1UkiStXXPPxbsyI0&irgwc=1&PID=10078&acid=ww:affiliate:bv0as6

2nd edit; Ok it looks as though intel might have done some rebranding of what had been code named Lakefeild. It does appear to be that chip in the X1 fold and it's even in the product shot from intel.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...-processors-with-hybrid-technology-brief.html

 

I'm interested in seeing how much you like the folding OLED display.

Up for preorder for us peons. https://liliputing.com/2020/09/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-fold-is-available-for-pre-order-for-2500.html Peons with $2,500 bucks that is.

 

https://www.neowin.net/news/lenovo-details-the-thinkpad-x1-fold-and-opens-up-pre-orders

(Courtesy of NeoWin site)

 

tl&dr: THE UP SIDE - you can own a SG2 and Duo for about the same price as the X1 Fold...

I have to wonder who this is really for. The prices I saw show the ThinkPad X1 Fold is available for pre-order at base $2499 (without keyboard or pen) - what am I missing here - 1.5" thick when folded - 8gb RAM and 256gb SSD and of course full size 13.3" screen (open) but how is this a good alternative to an SG2 business SKU.

Weight
X1 Fold 999g (2.2lbs)

SG2 544g (1.2lbs)

Dimensions
X1 Fold Unfolded: 299.4x236x7.8mm, Folded: 152.2x236x27.8mm

SG2: 245x175x8.3mm

Doubtless a better hires screen (OLED no less) and probably a much better CPU (at least that's what rumors say), but early Lakefield trials have been less than spectacular - guess I'm just indulging in being biased in favor of my recent decision. Still, the folded size/weight of the X1 Fold is pretty porky.

As for Lakefield:

"The single-core performance of the new chip is very disappointing, because the Lakefield processor even falls behind the old Amber Lake dual-core m3-8100Y. This is mainly caused by the low clock of up to 2.4 GHz, and we could not see the advertised value of 3.0 GHz so far. The situation is a bit better in the multi-core tests, and the new hybrid processor is at least on par with the efficient Core i7-8500Y and Pentium or Celeron models are beaten as well." NotebookCheck

My take - C Suite gets ThinkPad X1 Fold, rest of us drones the SG2...