What are the best X1 Carbon (generation) Thinkpads?

[Hans Gruber]

It's time to update my Thinkpad collection. I am using ancient stuff (T430 X201) to this day. What generation X1 Carbon is the best to pick up? I am thinking 6th,7th or 8th generation Intel CPU's. Either an i5 or i7 works for me. Also things to consider are cheap batteries that will work with a X1 Carbon. Basically an all around X1 Carbon. I am thinking best value to pick up off Ebay.

[Ibthink]

ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 6 (2018) is considered a sweet spot:

- 8th gen Quad Core CPUs (huge performance upgrade over X1 Carbon G5 and earlier)

- Old 1.8 mm travel keyboards (newer models are 1.5 mm travel)

- Windows 11 compatible (if you care about Windows)

I would not bother with X1 Carbon Gen 4 or earlier, as their designs are inferior and platforms are obsolete. X1 Carbon Gen 7 is a nice option if speaker quality is important to you, as that is a huge improvement over X1 Carbon Gen 6. X1 Carbon G9 is the first one with 16:10 screens, which is a cool addition, but that is still pretty new and thus probably not a good value yet used.

[Hans Gruber]

I was looking at the 6th gen X1 because of the Intel 8th generation CPU's. The 6th generation seems to be the consensus pick with the 7th gen X1 carbon being a distant 2nd choice. I like the 16:10 monitors. My T500 is 16:10, love those screens.

A question regarding the chargers. They are USB-C 65w. Are they Lenovo proprietary or will any 65W USB-C charger work if I get one without a charger? I am in no rush, but I should have a X1 Carbon within the next month. The other issue is replacement batteries. If I went the generic route for replacement batteries. Would they work in the X1 carbon? I want to make sure there is no chip technology allowing only genuine Lenovo Thinkpad batteries.

For the 6th generation X1 Carbon. What is the difference between the i5 and i7 8th gen CPU's? It looks like the i5 8365U is a 4core 8 thread CPU. The I7 8650U CPU's also seem to be 4 core 8threads and not 8core 16threads like their desktop counterpart.

Thank you for taking the time to give me some useful information regarding the X1 Carbon, Ibthink.

[Edward Mendelson]

USB-C charagers are inherently interchangeable, so any USB-C charger should work if it produces enough power. I use an Apple charger sometimes; sometimes a third-party charger; sometimes the one that came with the machine.

I think something 68W is the likely minimum for power. Lower-powered chargers will keep the machine running while the charger is attached, but you'll get a warning message on startup, and it won't charge the battery (if I remember correctly).

[Ibthink]

If I went the generic route for replacement batteries. Would they work in the X1 carbon? I want to make sure there is no chip technology allowing only genuine Lenovo Thinkpad batteries.

For the 6th generation X1 Carbon. What is the difference between the i5 and i7 8th gen CPU's? It looks like the i5 8365U is a 4core 8 thread CPU. The I7 8650U CPU's also seem to be 4 core 8threads and not 8core 16threads like their desktop counterpart.

Thank you for taking the time to give me some useful information regarding the X1 Carbon, Ibthink

Pleasure to help!

Replacement batteries: All ThinkPads starting from the T430/X230 generation require a chip in the batteries, so generic replacement batteries won't work. But the batteries last longer than in the olden days. If your batteries is depleted, it should still be possible to find a genuine battery as the X1 Carbon G6 is not extremely old yet.

i5 vs. i7: The only difference between those in this case is the slightly higher clock rates of the i7. So don't go i7, unless the i5 config only has 8 GB of RAM soldered (don't go beneath 16 GB).

[mikemex]

Each generation has pros and cons.

The first X1 Carbon I had was a 4th and I really liked it. It felt solid, despite of the thinness and in that generation it still had the old power plug, which I find more reliable / durable than USB-C. It also has a docking port (I also had the docking station) and you could plug the power adapter to the dock instead of the machine, saving even more wear. Mine had 6600U, 16GB of RAM and the high resolution screen (I think WQXGA). The screen in particular was gorgeous, certainly nicer than the FHD displays on my more recent machine. Performance is about the same as the top CPU from a T430 (3540m) but it works way cooler and quieter. Also, it supports NVME, which is considerably faster than SATA.

X1C4 Pros:
* SUPER CHEAP. Get a top of the line on for pennies. Accesories too.
* Battery lasts for very long, among the longest running in the series.
* Nice keyboard. It still uses the 1.8 mm key travel one.

X1C4 Cons:
* Sightly less battery capacity than later models (around 52 Wh if I remember correctly).
* Sightly "outdated". It has TPM 2.0 but it's firmware based, so it may be difficult to set up a later Windows. (I personally don't mind since I still use Windows 10; you can always try Linux).
* Limited to 16GB of RAM.

After I felt in love with the series, I got an X1C5 (7600U, 16GB, FHD), which is a major upgrade on pretty much everything compared to the X1C4. It's considerably smaller but at the same time runs for longer, having more capacity in the battery. Keyboard is just about as nice. It has the USB-C charging port, which I don't personally like, but since alI laptops now use that, I guess you can live with it. I think it's the first model with Thunderbolt. I'm pretty sure it's the longest running in the entire series: mine easily lasts 12 hours in light use and over 20 hours idling and the battery isn't new.

X1C5 pros:
* Very cheap by now.
* Very compact format.
* Large capacity battery (57 Wh). Longest running of the series.
* Thunderbolt.
* Has discrete TPM 2.0 for later Windows.

X1C5 cons:
* USB-C charging port (for durability). May be a plus if you share power bricks with other devices or use power banks.
* Sightly "outdated". Performance is just marginally higher than a 6600U.
* No real docking options.
* Limited to 16GB of RAM.

I just got a super deal on an X1C9. I wasn't really looking to upgrade since I'm quite happy with my X1C5, but I couldn't pass on it. I have the perpetual issue to be a Spanish speaker and I find particularily hard to swap keyboard languages on the X1 Carbon series. This machine was far from top of the line (1145G7, 16GB, FHD) but was very well equipped otherwise (IR Camera, WWAN, slim 65W adapter, it even had the etherner adapter). The WWAN and Spanish keyboard combo was simply too hard to resist, since Lenovo doesn't offer WWAN option here in Mexico at any price. It was brand new in box, with warranty, for about $400. Performance is much better, of course, being a 4 core and later generation. The screen is 16:10, which is gorgeous. However, the X1C9 is sightly taller than X1C5, so the new screen came with a price. Keyboard and trackpoint are worse. Battery life is definitely worse.

X1C9 pros:
* Subjectively, if feels sightly more solid than my previous X1s.
* Much better performance.
* 16:10 screen.
* IR Camera and WWAN, but you can install those aftermarket on a X1C5 if you wish.
* Can have 32GB of RAM.

X1C9 cons:
* Keyboard and trackpoint definitely worse (1.35mm of key travel vs 1.8mm on the X1C5).
* Worse battery life. I'm getting 7-8 hours max on light tasks.
* May or may not matter to you, but I don't think X1s from this generation on support SATA SSDs.

If you really want four core, I'd say get an X1C6, since it has most of the benefits of the X1C5 and none of the drawbacks of the later generations. The only major drawback I see is to be limited to 16GB of RAM.

[Ibthink]

@mikemex,
X1 Carbon G9 has 1.5mm of travel, not 1.35mm.

Also, speakers may not matter to you, but if you compare the speakers of the X1 Carbon G9 vs your earlier models, you will probably find that the X1 Carbon G9 is much better in this regard. This is also one of the weaknesses of the X1 Carbon G6, X1 Carbon G7 was the first where Lenovo paid more attention to the speakers.