Thinkpads Forum

I'm a newbie to these forums, so please forgive my X1 Carbon "ignorance."

I've got a 2014 X1 Carbon with the 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM.

I'm not "fond" of the Adaptive Function keys, but the lack of CAPS Lock and the goofy placement of the Home/End keys drive me crazy.

Sounds like Lenovo "fixed" these errors in the 2015 model.

I understand it is possible to upgrade the Drive to a 512 GB SSD, which sounds promising.

Would it be possible to simply change the top deck / keyboard to the new 2015 X1 Keyboard, or is this an impossible idea? I'm imagining that this would be prevented by Lenovo, which would rather sell you a new laptop every year as they listen to customer complaints vs. allowing you to physically upgrade one model year to the next model year by spending a lesser amount on hardware component changes vs. buying a whole new machine.

Thanks for putting up with a "newbie question."

welcome to the forum..

i have an X1 carbon with the adaptive Fn key strip and, like you, find it very difficult to use..
the keyboard key shuffle lenovo indulged in compounds the difficuly by removing the page forward and page back keys that once lived next to the arrow keys and turning them into page up and page down..

one has to wonder who signed off on these massive changes.. or what a focus group might have had to say when presented with these changes.. but i digress..

then lenovo made it all worse, for me at least, with the fancy touchpad/mouse key combination..
what ergonomic designer came up with THAT inaccurate and uncertain mouse key replacement..?
at first look it might appear to be OK but with my arthritic thumbs it becomes an exercise in pain management.. not good.. i compensate by using my left hand to punch the left side of the touch pad..
pain and uncertainty of the key stroke are gone..

SO, i too have inquired but the answer i got was nope, can't be done..
what i DID do was swap the SSD to the largest i could find (thanks amazon) but unless i dig out the parts, and i can not recall right this instant just where i put them, so i can't say what size the largest SSD is..

ALL this said, and in spite of these horrible mis-steps, lenovo and the guys at yamato, came up with one of the best thinkpads ever..
really slick..
the display (touch and highest resolution) is a real "dazzler" (salute to harry garland and roger melen), the size and thin package are just right..
the chicklet keyboard works (but for me i think the classic thinkpad keyboard was the end result of many years of slow incremental improvements that yielded a touch typists dream input device)..
add in the hinges, the new paint and i think the 701C will have competition for a must-have by thinkpad community members..

when and IF i can afford to get the gen 3 without the adaptive idea-that-went-wrong nd real mouse buttons i'll get one..

what i would like to see is a S30 sized sister t the X1 carbon gen 3..
tablet thinkpads are great, i have two, but i really want to see a tablet with an attached keyboard and a near full size display in the classic meaning of full size..

again, welcome to the oldest thinkpad forum online, running about 20 years now, the direct descendant of the original jaren levitt inspired compuserve IBM/thinkpad forum..
yo're in good company here..

Thanks, Bill.

I think the biggest SSD I could find was 512GB, which is certainly better than the 256.

Just thought it would be cool and helpful if I could buy the new 2015 "normal" keypad/top section, and swap it with the 2014 X1 Carbon set, rather than drop another $2,500 on a 2015.

Have you tried the new Yoga 3? Corporate I.T. at our company has standardized on this for all traveling execs, and I've got one, but can't decide if I like it enough to depart from the X1 Carbon. Screen is smaller, Fn keys are standard, not adaptive, doesn't have the fingertip sign on, etc. But, it's lightweight, and the touch screen lid flips all the way around (360 vs. 180), so I guess I'll have to play with it some more before finalizing which becomes my standard.

Anyway, thank you very much for the reply.

Rick Chubb

hello rick..

nope, I have not seen or tried anything other than this X1 gen 2..

I must pay for what I get to play with.. the X1 carbon was the only new thinkpad (ex. two tablet 2's and an android thinkpad) I have had since jan. 2008..

have not had the opportunity to see anything else except for a few used T400/410's I recommended to a friend..

well, if you get a corporate supplied thinkpad, just enjoy it and if you wish, post a review..

I think the problem with upgrading the X1 keyboard to gen 3 is much more than just a keyboard and bezel swap.. when I was messing with my X1 it looked like most of the planar/system board was mounted on the keyboard..

also, I think there would be bios/firmware issues as well..

Rchubb wrote:Thanks, Bill.

I think the biggest SSD I could find was 512GB, which is certainly better than the 256.

Rick Chubb

rick..

looking through the clutter I found two 512gig SSD's..
one I loaded win 8 on, the other i'll have to look at..
there ARE some external USB "boxes" for these SSD's..