The packaging is a pole away from Apple. A brown corrugated cardboard box. Stiff egg-crate-material supports. A couple of small foam pads. No plastic bag. No plastic sheets covering every shiny surface (I’m glad to see those go). The manual: a single tabloid-size piece of paper with minimal utility. Computer, charger, ac cord. Battery already installed (and charged, which was a surprise, given the Li ion battery fires of recent times).
Windows 8 fired right up and I answered its questions. There seemed to be no option to set up a user account other than using the Microsoft login, so I grudgingly did it their way, knowing that I’d have to create another account later on.
Keyboards are a Lenovo strength going back to the IBM days, and a big reason why I keep buying Lenovo laptops. The X1 has the worst Lenovo laptop keyboard I’ve ever encountered. Let me be clear; by laptop standards in general, it’s a perfectly good keyboard, but it’s several steps backwards from Lenovo’s best. The key travel is modest, but I understand why they made it that way – longer travel would mean a thicker computer. What I don’t understand is why the keytops are nearly flat. Without a nice depression in the middle of each key, it’s difficult to keep your fingers properly centered on the keys. Usually there is a gap between the F4 and F5 keys, and between the F8 and F9 keys. On the X1, that gap is present, but narrow. I use the F5 (refresh) key a lot, and it’s a little hard to find on this computer.
Even worse is the complete rethinking of the location of the navigation keys. The arrows are where you’d expect them, with PgUp over the left arrow and PgDn over the right. Across the top of the keyboard are Home, End, Insert, and a larger Delete key. All four keys in the top row are half-size top to bottom. I don’t mind having the PgUp and PgDn keys moved. I find them convenient in their new location. I hardly ever use the End and Insert keys, so I’m not put out they they’re in a new place. However, moving the Delete and Home keys from where God and man intended them to be is taking me some time to get used to.
While I’m on the subject of keyboards, I’d like to get something off my chest. Why does the key with the “\” and “|” characters on it need to be so big? Just to fill the space? Or do some people use those characters all the time?
The keyboard backlighting works very nicely, although I’d like the brightness to be controllable. It’s much better than the old white LED at the upper right of the screen on the old T-series and X-series Lenovo laptops.
Win 8 and touch? I got the computer to see how Win 8 worked with a multi touch display. The Lenovo display fills the bill, but after more than a month with the machine, TileWorld (the word is David Pogue’s invention, and a delightful one, now that Microsoft has disavowed Metro), even with touch, is a big yawn. It might be different if there were a slew of great TileWorld apps, but they’re really thin on the ground. In fact, if I interpret great strictly, I haven’t seen any.
After a while getting used to it, I’m not put off by the schizophrenic nature on Win 8. I mostly use the start screen as a prettier, zoomier version of the old Win 7 start menu, and stay with the desktop almost all of the time.
In sum: the Lenovo X1 Carbon Touch is a decent computer with a good keyboard that’s a step down from the company’s best efforts. It’s thin and light and pretty. The touch part isn’t much use now, and won’t be until – and if – the TileWorld side of Win 8 takes off with developers.
Leave a Reply