I Tested Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 2-in-1: Great Build and Battery Life but the Display Disappoints

7.0/ 10
SCORE

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition

Pros

• Sturdy aluminum build
• Solid productivity performance
• Killer battery life

Cons

• Dim, muddy IPS screen
• Overpriced for what it provides

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition has a clear audience in mind, and it serves that audience quite well, assuming you have the cash to spring for it. This convertible ultraportable is aimed at business users who want a compact and well-put-together productivity machine. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 fills this niche admirably, providing competitive performance and long battery life in a durable, slim aluminum chassis, along with the convenience and versatility of a two-in-one. 

As much as I like its mix of strong build quality, performance and battery life, there’s one aspect of the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 that prevents a stronger recommendation: the display. My review model featured the baseline display option, which is an uninspiring IPS panel that lacks color accuracy and brightness while topping out at a disappointing 1,920×1,200-pixel resolution. Lenovo offers a 2.8K OLED upgrade option, but it only adds to the already elevated price. 

When you consider that the price of my eval unit is already close to $2,000 — and that’s with a sizable Lenovo discount already factored in — I suspect you’ll agree with me that an OLED display should already be included. The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition still costs less than Lenovo’s flagship ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition, which lacks two-in-one functionality. If you don’t need your business laptop to double as a tablet, then check out the HP EliteBook Ultra G1i that includes a 2.8K OLED and can be found for less than the price of my ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 at its regularly discounted price of $1,799.

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The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition represents the very top end of Lenovo’s business laptop lineup, in terms of both specs and performance. The model we received for review included an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, supported by a generous allotment of 32GB of speedy LPDDR5X-8533 RAM. As you’d expect from a compact business notebook, there’s no discrete GPU; the Gen 10 Aura Edition instead relies on integrated Arc 140V graphics with predictable results. With the disappointing14-inch, 1,920×1,200 display, this configuration retails for $1,886 on Lenovo’s site. 

That display is the main Achilles’ heel of this machine, but a lot of my complaints would likely be remedied by replacing it with an OLED. Lenovo offers a 2.8K OLED, but upgrading to it from my SKU would run an additional $215, raising the price to a stiff $2,102. 

A similar config of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition starts at £2,070 in the UK and AU$2,825 in Australia. 

ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 performance

The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition stacks up well against similarly configured productivity laptops and two-in-ones, but as our benchmark charts reveal, it’s not going to impress. Its score on our Geekbench 6 multi-core test, for instance, was second to last in its category and its single-core score was third to last. That may sound bad on its face, but it’s mitigated by the margins: there aren’t huge differences between the top and bottom scores for the machines we tested in this category.

In real world usage, it feels snappy enough, undeterred by aggressive multitasking or a staggering number of browser tabs. It won’t run modern triple-A games at blistering frame rates, but for older or less demanding games, and even some newer titles at lower settings, it’s competent enough.

The only criticisms are again related to the display. There’s an unfortunate blur and even light artifacting when switching between or rearranging windows, or in action sequences in games. In general, you get the impression that the panel isn’t able to keep up with the hardware to which it’s attached.

On the bright side, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 showed strong battery endurance, lasting for nearly 18 hours in our YouTube streaming battery drain test. It’ll provide all the juice you need for a long commute and a full day at the office or keep you company on even the longest flights. It also runs cool. Even under the heaviest load, I never detected an excessive amount of heat, except in extreme conditions around the vents.

Unexciting but sturdy design

While it’s not particularly eye-catching, the sturdy aluminum frame looks handsome enough in silver, and I liked small touches like the red power indicator light replacing the “i” in ThinkPad on the lid. Other small touches, like the appealing font on the X1 and the standout silver stripe on the handle (the backside of the camera notch) add up to an understated, appealing package. I also appreciate how slim the bezels surrounding the display are, and the fact that they’re behind the glass rather than enclosing it. But I quickly found out that the silver chassis picks up fingerprints very readily; it was smudged up nearly the moment I took it out of the box.

While there are lighter two-in-ones, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is still an easy travel companion. It weighs less than 3 pounds and is well under an inch thick, tapering from 0.64 inches at its back edge to just 0.31 to inches in front. It’ll disappear neatly into a backpack or courier bag, and the compact and lightweight design makes it easy to use in tablet mode after you flip the screen around a full 360 degrees.

The keyboard is also a highlight. With 1.5mm of travel, it’s pleasant to type on, despite the rubbery chiclet design. It is also absolutely replete with mousing options. While the touchpad is a bit more narrow than I’d prefer, it includes both touch and mechanical clicks. And because this is a ThinkPad, it also supplies the little red nub in the middle of the keyboard along with dedicated mouse buttons for it above the touchpad for left, middle and right clicks.

The design and input devices are of premium quality, but the display is where the entire package falls down. It’s dim, not suitable for work outside or in bright environments even at maximum brightness, and the color reproduction is poor. The 1,920×1,200 resolution looks muddy even on the compact, 14-inch screen, and it tops out at a pedestrian 60Hz refresh rate. The 2.8K OLED display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz will assuredly present a better picture, but it adds another $215 to the already high price of the system.

The speakers were surprisingly effective, by comparison. Watching films or listening to music, I was impressed by the range of both bass and treble (bearing in mind that these are laptop speakers and I wasn’t expecting studio-grade audio). Even at high volume, the sound quality and clarity remained high. There’s also an infrared FHD webcam to enable Windows Hello sign-in options and a dedicated fingerprint reader.

Outside of the features built into Windows, the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 includes a handful of proprietary Lenovo AI features and other software under the Aura Edition banner, without (refreshingly) making them a central pillar of the machine’s marketing. There’s the option to enable Wellness Mode, for instance, which will remind you every 20 minutes to rest your eyes, an Attention Mode that disables notifications and limits access to distracting apps or sites and Collaboration Mode, which tweaks and improves video and audio quality during calls.

Is the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition worth buying?

The ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Aura Edition can best be described as workmanlike. It doesn’t stand out in any one area but provides a solid mix of design, performance and battery life. But even everyday people deserve a better display.

I’d suggest getting the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 only if you can splurge for the OLED upgrade. If you don’t need two-in-one functionality in your next business laptop, then Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition provides similar configuration options, including an OLED option, but in a much lighter design. And HP’s EliteBook Ultra G1i is CNET’s current pick for best business laptop for its compelling mix of design, features and performance that you can usually find on sale — with an OLED display — for less than $2,000.