New X1 Carbon Specs

[kevinc]

I'm considering getting a new x1 Carbon...i7-8550u, 16 GB Ram, 500GB SSD. I understand the 14" FHD touch screens are much improved over the old touch screens. The price difference is small. I need a non-glare screen so the high resolution display is out. Is a touch screen really useful on a laptop? I've never used one.
Are there reliability issues with the 6th gen X1 Carbon?
I'm replacing an excellent X230 with 500 GB SSD and 9 cell battery.
Thanks

[ZaZ]

Is a touch screen really useful on a laptop?

I think you can answer yes or no to this and be right. It just depends on your preferences.

[kevinc]

Thanks. I've never used one before...

[w0qj]

kevinc, a warm welcome to the Thinkpads Forums!

You are referring to the X1 Carbon Generation 6 (2018) with 14" LCD touchscreen option.
It got a fully complement of ports and a long battery life (Ethernet on an optional dongle).
It's a GREAT computer!

As for your question:
~Personally, I've never used a touchscreen for work.
~For leisurely media consumption, go use a touchscreen tablet.

~The last thing that I need is a display with fingerprints over the LCD screen when I'm working, which is the main reason I've avoided this.

***The X1 Carbon generation 6 (2018) touchscreen you are referring to:
~Screen brightness sounds very good (300 nits to 500 nits screen options)
~Matt Screen for X1C6 sounds good, but would it have fingerprints on it?
~Not sure if the X1C6 touchscreen would (likely) use slightly more power, and not sure if the LCD screen is slightly thicker <<===anyone can confirm on this point??

- - - - - - - - - -
Compared to older generations of X1 Carbon:

1) ***The X1 Carbon generation 3 (2014) & X1 Carbon generation 4 (2015) had touchscreens,
but the touchscreen lid was slightly thicker/heavier, and consumer more power, and less bright, and a glossy screen.

2) FYI, ThinkPad did not offer touchscreen LCD for X1 Carbon generation 5 (2017) and X1 Carbon generation 4 (2016).

[burhan]

Is a touch screen really useful on a laptop?

I think you can answer yes or no to this and be right. It just depends on your preferences.

I use a XPS 15 which has a 4K touchscreen. I am a power user / developer. I find the touch screen only useful when its too much of a hassle to use the mouse to tap a button. As this machine doesn't have pen / Windows Ink support (same as the X1C) using a stylus is not possible.

Since this is a laptop and not a Yoga / convertible, touch screen usefulness is only secondary. The main problem - by a large margin - is that whenever I or someone accidentally touch the screen, it triggers a click. Cursor will move or some other unintended input will happen. People around my office are not used to a touch screen laptop so I have to cringe whenever they reach to point something on my screen to avoid any accidental inputs.

Ironically the touchbar on my macbook pro has more utility simply because its easier to reach without lifting my hands from the keyboard; if you ignore the other issues with it.

IMO, touch screens are perfect for tablet-like devices; but on a traditional laptop its a novelty at best.

[burhan]

I need a non-glare screen so the high resolution display is out.

Don't dismiss the high resolution display just because its not matte - and this is coming from someone who loves matte screens. The 500 nits of brightness helps a lot in mitigating shadows or glare on the screen. I wasn't convinced until I did a comparison with my friend's X1C HDR and my Dell.

Conclusion - not all glossy screens are created the same.

I would recommend going for the glossy version; the brightness factor will make it more legible universally and will easily deal with any lighting shadow situations internally. The other side, having a dim but matte screen is worse because in direct light it will be less legible, IMO.