In a typing test, I averaged 107 words per minute, on a par with my rate using my desktop mechanical keyboard. They’re pretty rigid, which can take some getting used to, but they allow for fast, accurate typing once you get rolling. The keyboard on the X1 Extreme Gen 2 is standard-issue for a ThinkPad, so you’ll get shield-shaped keys with a generous amount of travel. To get more even brightness adjustments, you’ll have to take a trip to the BIOS. That brings some trade-offs we’ll discuss in the Performance section below.
Doing so makes the brightness controls more linear, but it also disables Intel’s integrated graphics, which the laptop uses to conserve battery life under light workloads. To override this behavior, you must restart the computer and enter Lenovo’s BIOS settings to change the graphics mode from “Hybrid” to “Discrete” under Config > Display. The display also supports Dolby Vision HDR, so the colors can really pop if you’re watching supported videos on Netflix or YouTube. We measured a maximum display brightness of 442 nits, versus Lenovo’s claim of 500 nits, but that’s still far brighter than any gaming or workhorse laptop we’ve tested recently. The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 cuts a pretty slim figure despite the discrete GPU inside.Īs for the display itself, the 4K LCD we tested has a matte finish and is brilliant, if a bit oversaturated out of the box. And while it’s not a thin-and-light laptop, its narrow display bezels keep things reasonably trim, measuring 0.34 inches on the left and right edges and 0.5 inches on top. This is not a touchscreen laptop, but the display tilts back 180 degrees in case you want to prop it up at eye level and use an external keyboard and mouse. To make it a little fancier, you can opt for a carbon fiber weave on the laptop’s lid. That said, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 2 looks about as businesslike as other ThinkPads, with an all-black finish and red accents via the ThinkPad logo and TrackPoint nub. The combination of light weight and decent graphics might help explain the “Extreme” moniker.
At 3.75 pounds, it’s more than a half-pound lighter than Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro and 0.35 pounds lighter than Dell’x XPS 15 7590. Like the original ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which had Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q graphics, the second-gen version touts lightness as a key selling point, though it now has a more powerful graphics card inside. But in all cases, that GTX 1650 graphics card remains constant.
You can also max out with 64GB of RAM and a 4K OLED display for $3,502.
Sticking to an Intel Core i5-9300H processor, 1080p display with 300 nits’ brightness, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid state drive, and Windows 10 Home brings the price to $1,721 on Lenovo’s website Remove non-product link. Granted, Lenovo’s minimum configuration costs a lot less.
Port selection includes two USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort, and 3.5mm audio on the left side, plus two USB-A 3.0 and an SD card slot on the right. Weight: 3.75 pounds (4.6 pounds with charger).
Right side: Two USB-A 3.0 ports, SD card reader, lock slot.Left side: Two USB-C 3.1 Thunderbolt ports, HDMI port, DisplayPort, headphone jack, proprietary charger.