Early into testing Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 Gen 1, I briefly regretted buying its dual-display Yoga Guide 9i. I purchased it months in the past, and it improved my day-to-day life in so many surprising methods, I advised myself I’d by no means purchase one other single-screen laptop computer. However then, the X1 Fold confirmed up with its folding OLED display screen and tried to show me into that Distracted Boyfriend meme as I reworked it from a 12-inch netbook to a 16-inch drawing pill whereas shouting to my accomplice from downstairs, “Come have a look at this laptop computer!”
We spent a while folding and unfolding the laptop computer, sticking the curved centerfold near our eyeballs so we might see how clean the seam was. We rapidly forgot that it folded in half as we performed video games and watched motion pictures with it unfolded. I finally realized I had already purchased the correct laptop computer for me, however the ThinkPad X1 Fold is a folding laptop computer performed proper, so hell yeah, I wished it.
Lenovo launched its first X1 Fold in 2020, but it surely was too forward of its time. Its well-built and delightful OLED show couldn’t make up for a number of points: quick battery life; a small and dim show; an underpowered processor; a $2,500 beginning value sans stylus or keyboard; and the truth that it didn’t at all times acknowledge whether or not it was getting used as a pill or as a laptop computer. Lenovo mounted virtually all of these points with its 2024 Fold.
The show is way greater and far brighter. The battery life has doubled. The processing and built-in graphics efficiency have shot up like a puck hitting the bell atop a strongman carnival sport. The design is much more beautiful. Lenovo additionally threw in a stylus, and thank goodness it did as a result of this laptop computer is pretty much as good a drawing pill as it’s a netbook. It’s a higher laptop computer in each manner, besides in value.
Lenovo remains to be asking for $2,500, minimal, however the value is extra justified this time round. The one caveat being it needs one other $300 for a Bluetooth keyboard and kickstand folio, that are each essential to the Fold expertise. Its digital keyboard works nice, but it surely’s not splendid for typing something quite a lot of search phrases into Google. Plus I wanted the folio to prop the ThinkPad Fold up subsequent to my 27-inch monitor, which is how I exploit my Yoga Guide.
Positive, I might drop $20 on a pill stand sufficiently big to accommodate the Fold’s 16-inch show, but it surely wouldn’t double as a keyboard cowl, and it most definitely wouldn’t be as moveable. I spent about an hour looking for a third-party magnetic keyboard however couldn’t discover one thing appropriate. Even when I did discover one (I’m satisfied they don’t exist) and it exactly lined the Fold’s backside half, it most likely wouldn’t inform the gadget to change into laptop computer mode when connected. (I attempted this with the Yoga Guide’s included keyboard — no cube, and it’s too huge for the Fold.)
So not solely is it annoying that I’d have to purchase Lenovo’s “non-compulsory” keyboard and folio to get essentially the most out of this foldable laptop computer, but in addition the trackpad was irritating to make use of. I needed to clear my finger oils off the trackpad incessantly or else it could miss too many swipes. That’s disappointing since typing on the keyboard is as good as you’d anticipate from a ThinkPad or another Lenovo laptop computer.
Fortunate for me that I most frequently used the ThinkPad X1 Fold the identical manner I exploit my Yoga Guide 9i: linked to my monitor with a standalone keyboard and mouse. In that mode, the Fold labored higher than my Yoga Guide in some methods. Not like the Yoga Guide, which has two separate screens, the Fold’s hinge is behind its show and doesn’t create a spot in the midst of a paragraph, and I can not emphasize sufficient how good it was to not should cope with any form of display screen hole throughout my time with the Fold.
Nevertheless, my Yoga Guide 9i’s two 13.3-inch bodily shows do present a bigger workspace than the Fold, whether or not oriented horizontally or vertically. I additionally choose how I can alter the angle of the Guide’s prime display screen to match my exterior monitor. As a result of the Guide’s twin shows are linked with a visual heart hinge, it doesn’t warp what’s within the heart of the show just like the ThinkPad Fold when I’ve one or two home windows open. So I needed to maintain the Fold tilted at an identical angle to the Yoga Guide’s backside show, which was form of awkward, however I forgot about it after some time.
And that’s the place my points with the Fold finish. Considered one of my favourite Fold options is the fluidity of opening the laptop computer into desktop mode. When the keyboard is wrapped contained in the folio cowl, which attaches to the keyboard through a magnetic hinge, you merely open the ThinkPad Fold like a e book till it’s completely flat, prop it up towards the stand, and ta-da! All you want is a Starfleet uniform and a LCARS background, and also you’re able to go the place not many laptops have gone earlier than. (No? Simply me?)
The surface surfaces of the laptop computer are adorned with finely woven strips of black recycled artificial fiber (PET), and the feel is pleasantly tactile. Operating my fingertips over it felt like a fabric-woven tote bag however smoother. It’s a chic floor that hides fingerprints in its tiny crevices, too. Overlook flat laptop computer lids, neglect enjoyable colours — I would like extra enjoyable, elegant textures in black! (Sorry, Yoga Guide!) These crevices do catch crumbs, so consuming across the Fold is a no-go. The smaller the crumbs, the more durable they’re to pick along with your fingernail, however a small brush, concerning the dimension of a child’s toothbrush, works to get them out if it’s important to get your snack on.
The Fold’s dimensions are well-balanced, which makes it really feel lighter than it’s whereas carrying with one hand or tucked into the criminal of your arm. It’s solely 0.68 inches thick and weighs 2.82 kilos (with out the folio keyboard), which makes it one of many lightest laptops in the marketplace — as gentle as a MacBook Air. I additionally favored how the magnetic stylus conveniently attaches to the bottom-right facet in laptop computer mode.
I’m glad Lenovo ships a stylus with this laptop computer as a result of, as a drawing pill, this gadget is marvelously large. Unfolded, it’s over 16 inches of OLED canvas that didn’t make my desk really feel cluttered.
I’m not an artist, however I gave drawing and portray a go along with the Fold and didn’t discover a lot to complain about. The expertise felt almost similar to Lenovo 2-in-1s and convertible laptops from different manufacturers I’ve examined over time, and the 2560 x 2024 show covers 96 % of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut, so no matter paints Bob Ross determined to combine within the video, I might create a detailed digital model of his colours.
I might typically really feel lengthy, slender bumps spanning the size of the centerfold, which isn’t unusual for folding shows. However as soon as your entire gadget warmed up, it evened out, in order that didn’t have an effect on my potential to write down and draw. The stylus itself was what gave me essentially the most hassle.
Nicely, most styluses give me hassle (thanks, dysgraphia), however the extra-pointy tip made it much less enjoyable to grease paint with Bob Ross in Adobe Fresco than it was to sketch an eye fixed as a result of it was troublesome to seek out the correct angle to imitate portray with a two-inch brush. To be truthful to Lenovo, oil portray with any stylus feels completely totally different in comparison with the true factor, for apparent causes, however as soon as I found out find out how to tweak the Fresco settings to get as near Ross’ tried-and-true flat brushes as potential, I felt principally good about my completely happy digital clouds.
Watching motion pictures and cloud gaming with ray tracing on was *chef’s kiss* because of the show’s coloration gamut, too, regardless of the 4:3 facet ratio. Cyberpunk 2077 (I’m lastly getting round to taking part in Phantom Liberty) regarded higher on the Fold than my Gigabyte M28U gaming monitor, though I did should fiddle with the in-game decision settings so the whole lot didn’t look so squished.
General, Lenovo did an exceptional job balancing the ThinkPad X1 Fold’s design with its {hardware} wants. I by no means had a difficulty with drawing purposes lagging or working too many browser tabs (inside motive). Its twelfth Gen Intel U-series processor is miles forward of the unique’s Intel Core i5-L16G7, which was a sluggish five-core, five-thread processor designed to deal with about 7W of energy. (That’s proper, no Hyper-Threading.)
In distinction, the Intel Core i5-1230U’s two efficiency cores are hyperthreaded (10-core, 12-thread), and its eight effectivity cores immensely helped with doubling the brand new Fold’s battery life; I used to be capable of play Cyberpunk 2077 on GeForce Now with the show brightness maxed out (446 nits, as examined) for a mean of 5 hours however averaged about 9 to 10 hours at about 50 to 60 % brightness if I used to be solely utilizing my pc for work-related duties.
Even with the stylus protecting one of many three vents in laptop computer mode (there’s just one spot the place it may possibly magnetically connect, and that’s it), the Fold by no means acquired hotter than a lukewarm tub. The CPU’s energy draw is capped at 26W, regardless that it’s designed to attract as much as 29W. The chassis by no means went above 31 levels Celsius, both, so I might comfortably depart it flat on my lap for an hour whereas Bob Ross helped me brush up on my digital portray abilities.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold 16 Gen 1 has set the bar as the foldable laptop computer to beat, even when the keyboard and folio are crucial add-ons to an already not-cheap laptop computer. The one different folding display screen laptops that might present a comparable expertise are the HP Spectre Fold and LG Gram Fold, however the latter is barely out there in South Korea, and we have now not examined the previous — to not point out that the Spectre Fold is twice the worth of the ThinkPad Fold.
Nonetheless, if this Lenovo foldable is an indication of the place extra laptop computer designs are headed, I’m all in. If the corporate could make a folding laptop computer the identical dimension as its Yoga Guide and embody a keyboard and folio sooner or later, even when the worth had been nonetheless $2,500, I’d purchase it.
Pictures by Joanna Nelius / The Verge