Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga (Gen 1) Overview

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 1 (begins at $971; $1,447 as examined) is Lenovo’s elite 13.3-inch 2-in-1 convertible pocket book for enterprise. Regardless that it bears a first-generation label, this fashion is a era refresh of the 2019 ThinkPad X390 Yoga. It is each skinny and light-weight (0.63 inch and a pair of.76 kilos), features a stylus that slots throughout the chassis, and has the unbelievable enter units that ThinkPads are well-known for. Regardless that it may well get sizzling beneath intense use, the ThinkPad X13 Yoga continues to be price a glance as a slimmer and extra feature-rich improve from Lenovo’s ThinkPad L13 Yoga. Likewise, it can be a more cost effective and virtually as feature-rich choice to the flagship ThinkPad X1 Yoga.

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Balancing the Worth Equation

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga’s enterprise concentration comes most commonly from its characteristic set. Its to be had Intel vPro-enabled processors, non-compulsory wi-fi broadband, and the Professional model of Home windows 10 don’t seem to be discovered on its shopper counterpart, the Yoga C640, despite the fact that they’re readily matched via the contest. Dell’s Latitude 7310 2-in-1(Opens in a brand new window) ($2,059, configured like my ThinkPad on the time of this overview) and HP’s EliteBook x360 830 G7(Opens in a brand new window) ($1,419, ditto) are the standouts.

This ThinkPad’s convertible nature is apparent handiest from its 360-degree show hinges. Its design theme is another way paying homage to ThinkPads from way back, a fascinating paradox within the laptop global the place issues are consistently evolving.

The X13 Yoga is, after all, so much smaller than the unique ThinkPads, despite the fact that it might stand to be even trimmer. At 0.63 via 12.2 via 8.6 inches (HWD), it is a few half-inch deeper than the Latitude 7310 2-in-1 (0.76 via 12.1 via 8 inches) and the EliteBook x360 830 G7 (0.71 via 12.1 via 8.1 inches), for which it has its thicker most sensible and backside show bezels in charge. No less than it is aggressive on weight at 2.76 kilos, as opposed to 2.91 for the Dell and a pair of.89 for the HP.

Construct high quality is some other space the place the ThinkPad X13 Yoga does neatly. Its matte external would possibly appear to be plastic within the footage, however it is magnesium, a robust and light-weight metallic that makes a high-pitched, virtually scratchy sound while you run a fingernail throughout it.

The chassis is impeccably inflexible, and its most sensible and backside items (simply two) are compatible along side minimum, constant gaps.

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A Comfy Convertible Mode

A 13.3-inch convertible is huge to carry on your palms, however I would argue this Lenovo does it higher than both the aforementioned Dell or HP for one easy explanation why: it has a integrated silo for its pen, a ThinkPad Lively Pen Professional. This selection gets rid of the awkwardness of lanyard loops, stick-on holders, or magnetic attachments, and simplifies charging. The pen is usual with the ThinkPad X13 Yoga, too; each Dell and HP price further for his or her styli ($95 and $76, respectively).

The pen’s storage faces out the precise edge from the ThinkPad emblem at the palm leisure. A fingernail coaxes it out, and then Lenovo says it is excellent for greater than two hours of continuing use consistent with price.

Its thin 6.5mm width can take some adjustment in case you are used to thicker tools, however that is my handiest grievance.

This pen is determined by Wacom AES(Opens in a brand new window) era. It helps 2,048 ranges of force sensitivity and is completely calibrated, the cursor showing precisely the place the top contacts the ThinkPad’s show. There may be some cursor lag whilst soaring the pen over the show, however none when touch is made. (The passive digitizer constructed into the show handiest is aware of the top’s true place when it makes touch, another way it will have to wager, and that is the reason now not slightly instant.)

As for the display, my overview unit has the usual complete HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) panel with IPS era for extensive viewing angles.

The image is slightly colourful, despite the fact that its rated 300-nit brightness is simply good enough for indoor use. A 400-nit panel is an additional $75, whilst $149 buys a 500-nit model. The closing comprises Lenovo’s PrivacyGuard era to make the display tricky for onlookers to peer on the press of a button. All alternatives strengthen 10 contact issues. Lenovo additionally advertises the panels as anti-reflective, which I discovered used to be most commonly true of mine, despite the fact that it nonetheless seems to be fairly shiny subsequent to a real matte-surfaced display.

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Persevered Enter Excellence

I may not spend lengthy at the keyboard for the reason that ThinkPad X13 Yoga upholds the ThinkPad circle of relatives custom really well. Its actual keystrokes and strong keyboard deck domesticate a extremely enjoyable tactile enjoy. The keys have two ranges of backlighting.

The Lenovo Vantage app means that you can switch the Fn and Ctrl keys on the decrease left, despite the fact that ThinkPad first-timers ought to offer the format a check out as is; I to find it strangely simple to regulate after coming from a “commonplace” computer.

Focused within the keyboard is the ThinkPad diehard’s satisfaction, the vintage TrackPoint pointing stick, whole with 3 devoted buttons. The buttonless touchpad targeted slightly under additionally gives a very good mousing enjoy.

Rightly sized for a 13.3-inch display, the pad’s matte floor makes for correct finger monitoring. Bodily clicks, achieved via urgent down at the pad, are tactile and quiet.

For sound, the ThinkPad X13 Yoga has two side-facing audio system that dispose of enjoyable vibes for a enterprise computer. The soft-focus pictures from its 720p webcam (which is correctly positioned above the show) are much less spectacular, despite the fact that your video chat companions must nonetheless have the ability to acknowledge you, and there is a handbook sliding privateness shutter to stay the remainder of the arena from doing so.

The digital camera on my overview fashion additionally helps infrared for facial logins by the use of Home windows Hi. The usual fingerprint reader supplies a 2d biometric choice.

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Decent Connectivity 

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga has an excellent port variety. At the left are a couple of USB Kind-C ports (the leftmost helps Thunderbolt 3), a proprietary connector for Lenovo’s Ethernet dongle or bodily docking stations, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-A port (5Gbps), and an audio combo jack (headphone/microphone). The facility adapter plugs into both USB-C port. The non-compulsory SmartCard reader (now not found in my overview unit, stuffed with a spacer) is close to the entrance.

The precise edge holds a recessed energy button, a microSD card reader, some other USB-A port (this one helps always-on charging of hooked up units), and a (fortunately) full-size HDMI video output.

The cable lock slot right here comprises Kensington fashions. In contrast to some convertibles, the ThinkPad X13 Yoga has no quantity rocker to be used in pill mode. Within, the newest Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and Bluetooth 5 alerts are courtesy of an Intel AX201 wi-fi card. Lenovo gives WWAN LTE-A cell broadband as an improve (now not provide on my fashion).

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Trying out the X13 Yoga: Extra Pep Please

The $1,447 ThinkPad X13 Yoga I am reviewing is quite provided with a quad-core Intel Core i5-10310U processor (1.7GHz base, as much as 4.4GHz turbo), built-in Intel UHD graphics, 16GB of reminiscence, and a 256GB solid-state pressure with Home windows 10 Professional. The bottom fashion has simply 8GB of reminiscence, but it surely cannot be upgraded, in order that method purchasing all you wish to have from day one. My unit additionally has a three-year guaranty, a $109 improve from the usual 12 months. (I’d actually like to peer 3 years of usual protection on an elite enterprise system like this.)

I’d like to indicate that the Core i5-10310U is a vPro-enabled chip. Until you wish to have that era, the bottom Core i5-10210U must carry out just about the similar (its turbo pace is 4.2GHz) whilst shaving over $100 off the checklist pricing.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga is going for $1,778 provided in a similar way as I sort this. That isn’t a trivial upcharge, however the flagship fashion has its perks; regardless of the usage of a bigger (and brighter) 14-inch show, it is trimmer in all dimensions than the ThinkPad X13 Yoga.

The ThinkPad L13 Yoga, however, despite the fact that heavier and thicker (3.17 kilos and nil.69 inch), is significantly less expensive—the $949 preconfigured fashion I noticed on Lenovo’s website did not have Wi-Fi 6 or Thunderbolt 3, but it surely did have a quicker Core i7-10510U chip and two times the garage (512GB). Custom designed variations with 16GB of reminiscence are nonetheless masses not up to ThinkPad X13 Yoga configurations.

Sibling rivalries apart, I pitted the ThinkPad X13 Yoga in opposition to the next 2-in-1 convertible notebooks for our benchmark comparisons. (See extra about how we check laptops.)

Those are all designed-for-business machines excluding the HP Envy x360 13, which I incorporated for selection as it has an AMD Ryzen processor. The HP Elite Dragonfly and the Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 are previous-generation fashions, however their eighth Technology “Whiskey Lake” processor silicon is little other than the tenth Technology “Comet Lake” chips within the ThinkPad pair.

Garage, Media, and CPU Checks

We’re going to get started with PCMark 10, our common device functionality evaluation that simulates internet surfing, video streaming, and place of business productiveness. The ThinkPad X13 Yoga predictably fell in keeping with lots of the others, despite the fact that the HP Envy used to be the one one to complete north of our inner 4,000-point size for high-performance PCs. In the meantime, the PCMark 8 garage check ratings have been a lifeless warmth, as they typically are amongst programs that use speedy solid-state drives.

Subsequent up is a couple of CPU-crunching exams: Cinebench R15 stresses all to be had processor cores and threads whilst rendering a posh symbol, whilst in our Handbrake check, we transcode a 12-minute 4K video all the way down to 1080p.

Notebooks on this elegance don’t seem to be identified for having a large number of processor stamina, and the ThinkPad X13 Yoga doesn’t trade that. What’s unexpected about those effects is that the ThinkPad L13 Yoga scored such a lot upper than the ThinkPad X13 Yoga in Cinebench regardless of the usage of a nearly similar processor. I ran the check more than one instances to verify those effects, or even did the check after a chilly begin to mitigate possible warmth issues (extra about that during a second).

Closing on this phase is our photo-editing check. We use an early 2018 unlock of Adobe Photoshop Ingenious Cloud to use 10 complicated filters and results to a normal JPEG symbol, timing each and every operation and including up the totals. This check isn’t as CPU-focused as Cinebench or Handbrake, bringing the functionality of the garage subsystem, reminiscence, and GPU into play.

Over 200 seconds is a very long time for this elegance of pocket book. My ThinkPad X13 Yoga check unit has a number of reminiscence and its garage pressure isn’t slower than the others (consistent with the PCMark 8 effects), so all arms level against its processor as being a bottleneck.

Graphics Checks

We use two benchmark suites to gauge the gaming functionality possible of a PC. Within the first, UL’s 3DMark, we run two DirectX 11-driven subtests, the mainstream Sky Diver and Hearth Strike, which is extra fitted to gaming rigs. Our different graphics benchmark is Unigine Corp.’s Superposition, which makes use of a special rendering engine to supply a posh 3-d scene.

The HP Envy’s AMD Radeon built-in graphics are a lot more potent than the ever-present Intel UHD silicon within the others. The ThinkPad X13 Yoga’s ratings point out it’s not up for far past browser-based gaming, despite the fact that it’s good to consistently use a carrier like Nvidia GeForce Now to get your repair. Since the Core i5 right here is likely one of the tenth Technology Comet Lake chips and now not one in every of Intel’s “Ice Lake” tenth Gens, it does not have Intel’s higher Iris Plus graphics silicon to offer it a spice up (or the even higher Iris Xe of the newest “Tiger Lake” machines).

Battery Rundown Check

For our closing benchmark, we measure a computer’s unplugged runtime whilst enjoying a in the community saved video with display brightness at 50 p.c and audio quantity at 100%. We use the pocket book’s energy-saving moderately than balanced or different energy profile, flip off Wi-Fi, or even disable keyboard backlighting to squeeze as a lot existence as conceivable out of the device.

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga supplies sufficient unplugged existence to get thru a workday and a few after-hours video streaming or chatting. It’s unremarkable however appropriate battery existence for this elegance of convertible pocket book.

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Thermal Checks: A Bit Sizzling to Deal with?

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga were given sizzling sufficient all through our benchmark exams that it warranted a couple of pictures with our trusty Flir One Professional …

I took those whilst the pocket book used to be sitting on a desk in an air-conditioned 75 diploma F room the place all I have been doing for 25 mins used to be average Web browsing. The highest and backside of the pocket book each registered over 120 levels F at their freshest issues, which is some distance above convenience degree—if truth be told, it is above the tolerance of your pores and skin.

Once more, this used to be all through our benchmark exams. It nonetheless were given heat in on a regular basis utilization, however to not a degree that I’d bitch about. But when you’ll be able to use this system for CPU-intensive duties over lengthy stretches, stay that during thoughts. (Thoughts you, it is usually a plus in a Minnesota iciness.)

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A Tidy Industry Convertible 2-in-1

The ThinkPad X13 Yoga’s all-metal design, first-rate enter units, and enterprise-friendly choices give it all of the credentials it must rank as a high-end enterprise convertible 2-in-1. It’s slightly priced, coming in round the similar or not up to the Dell Latitude 7310 2-in-1 and the HP EliteBook x360 830 G7. It additionally comes usual with a stylus, not like the ones fashions.

A few downsides—specifically, a chassis that will get sizzling beneath intense use and a normal guaranty of just a 12 months—don’t save you it from being a excellent choice on this class. It’s additionally horny inside Lenovo’s lineup as a sleeker, extra feature-rich choice than the ThinkPad L13 Yoga whilst providing lots of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga’s options at a lower cost.