Powerful system with a bigger screen – Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme

If you liked the look, feel and light weight of the X1 carbon, but want a more powerful system with a bigger screen, the next Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme could be your answer. Because in September for an output price of $1,859, the X1 Extreme offers a 15-inch screen that is up to 4k resolution, a CPU that climbs to core I9 and NVIDIA GTX 1050 ti dedicated graphics.

The Raven-Black mobile workstation weighs only 3.76 pounds with its base-level display, 1080p. This is about half a pound lighter than the Dell XPS 15 and a quarter of a pound less than the 15 MacBook Pro. This weight jumps up to 4.04 pounds when you choose the optional touch screen, 4k.

Considering the packing components inside, the X1 Extreme is only 0.72 inches thick. Although not as subtle as some competitors, it leaves room for two full-sized, USB-type-to-ports, dual-beam 3-port, an SD card reader and HDMI output.

We have not had the opportunity to test the 4k screen, but if it is something like the 2k HDR panel on the X1 Carbon, it will be one of the best screens on the market. Lenovo claims that, like the High-end carbon display, the Extreme panel will support Dolby Vision HDR and reach up to 400 brightness lice. It will also add touch capabilities, rather than displaying the carbon-HDR lacks. The default, the 1080p panel promises 300 brightness lice.

In addition to the high-end screen, the X1 Extreme Packs NVIDIA GTX 1050 TI graphics with 4GB of video memory. The GPU uses NVIDIA’s MAXQ technology, which allows it to run cooler and quieter (read: Less fan noise), but also limits performance a bit.

The system is powered by a 6-core, 45-watt Intel H Series processor. It will be available with Core i5, Core i7 and-over the year-core I9. The end also supports up to 64 GB of RAM.

The Lenovo laptop has room for two NVMe M. 2 storage units. You’ll be able to do this with two 1TB drives in a RAID 0 or RAID 1 Array, which is one feature we’ve seen mostly just on game laptops before.

Creative professionals and high end users who want the same svelte chassis as X1 Extreme, but need a NVIDIA Quadro professional card and the Intel Xeon CPU should look at the ThinkPad P1, which will start at $1,949.

ThinkPad X1 Tech Specs:

Processor	8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8250U Processor (6M Cache, 1.6 GHz, 3.4 GHz max) 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8350U Processor (6M Cache, 1.7 GHz, 3.6 GHz max), vPro™ 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U Processor (8M Cache, 1.8 GHz, 4.0 GHz max) 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8650U Processor (8M Cache, 1.9 GHz, 4.2 GHz max), vPro
Operating System	Windows 10 Home 64-bit Windows 10 Pro 64-bit – Lenovo recommends Windows 10 Pro.
Display	14″ FHD IPS (1920 x 1080), Anti-Glare, 300 nits 14″ FHD IPS (1920 x 1080), Anti-Glare, 300 nits, Touch 14″ WQHD IPS (2560 x 1440), Anti-Glare, 300 nits 14″ HDR WQHD IPS with Dolby Vision™ (2560 x 1440), Glare, 500 nits
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620
Memory	16GB max / 2133MHz LPDDR3, memory soldered to systemboard, no SO-DIMM socket
Webcam	Standard: 720p HD camera with ThinkShutter Optional: IR camera* – required for Windows Hello and facial recognition, but it does not have ThinkShutter Both with dual array microphone *IR camera option is available only on X1 Carbon Gen 6 Black with FHD display
Storage	Some: M.2 SSD / SATA: 128GB Some: M.2 SSD / PCIe NVMe OPAL2: 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
Optical drive	None
Dimensions (W x D x H)	323.5 x 217.1 x 15.95 mm
Weight	Starting from 1.13 kg
Case colour	Black Silver
Battery	3-cell (57 Wh), integrated
Battery life1	Up to 15 hours
AC adaptor	65W 3-pin USB-C, supports RapidCharge
Keyboard	Backlit keyboard
Fingerprint reader	Match on Chip (MoC) touch fingerprint reader
Audio support	Stereo with Dolby® Audio™ Premium
Wireless LAN	Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265, Wi-Fi 2×2 802.11ac + Bluetooth® 4.2* *Bluetooth® 4.2 capabilities limited by Windows OS
Wireless WAN	Integrated global mobile broadband LTE-A (optional)
NFC	None
Ports	2 x USB 3.0 (1 x AlwaysOn) 2 x Thunderbolt (x4 Gen3) 1 x HDMI 1 x 4-in-1 micro SD card reader (SD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC) Combo audio/microphone jack CS18 side docking connector

photo:Lenovo