Battery Life and Conclusion

Battery Life

We ran the PC Perspective battery test on the X1 Yoga, and the results were impressive. Our settings for all tested notebooks call for a fairly bright 180 lux brightness, which was a backlight setting of 78% on this device. Even with the brightness cranked up to this degree, the X1 Yoga still managed 7 hours of constant web-browsing over Wi-Fi.

Compared to the other notebooks tested, the XPS 13 offers about an hour more battery life, while the Yoga Pro machines – which have much higher resolution displays than the X1 Carbon – trail significantly.

Conclusion

The ThinkPad Yoga line offers a compelling alternative to the typical business laptop design, and Lenovo has (in this reviewer’s opinion) the best implementation of the 2-in-1 concept on the market. The hinges are strong, the IPS screen offers great viewing angles, and the keyboard is fantastic, with one of the best notebook typing experiences combined with the Lift-and-Lock design for a superior tablet experience. Lift-and-Lock really makes the ThinkPad incarnation of the Yoga stand out, as consumer Yoga notebooks don’t offer this feature.

The sticking point with this X1 Yoga is likely to be price, as the Carbon series from Lenovo has always been positioned as a premium product. Our base model X1 Yoga carries an MSRP of $1549, though it can routinely be found for about $200 less. The direct competition is from Lenovo itself with the non-Carbon ThinkPad Yoga line, which start at $1099 (MSRP) for the base model ThinkPad Yoga 260. It’s important to note, however, that equipping one of these lower-priced TP Yoga models to match this X1 Yoga raises the price enough to make the difference minimal. Think of the X1 Yoga as the most premium version of the standard ThinkPad Yoga – which it is.

The X1 Yoga in its base configuration (as reviewed) offers good performance, a nice-looking screen with digitizer and active pen, and one of the best keyboards available on any laptop. Battery life was good, and there’s enough I/O (including proper video outputs) to make this a versatile option.

If you’re looking for a high-end business 2-in-1, this is an outstanding option. The locking keyboard alone keeps the ThinkPad Yoga at the top of my list for a 2-in-1 design, and there's a lot to like with this X1 Yoga if it fits your budget.

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