My first look at the 986-gram ThinkPad X1 Gen 13 laptop

I reviewed the original ThinkPad X1 Carbon for CIO Magazine in 2012, and it was amazing to see how it has grown from strength to strength.

Of course, when I was invited to learn more about Lenovo's Aura Edition AI PCs in Yokohama today, I didn't know that it was the central hub for ThinkPad laptops.

I also knew nothing about the rigorous engineering that goes into every ThinkPad, especially the just-released ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13.

Distinctively ThinkPad

ThinkPads have a special place in the hearts of many. Some remember it as a status symbol during college, others refer to it as a hand-me-down that just won't quit.

Personally, I loved its spacious, well-designed keyboard. Apparently, you can recognise a ThinkPad by touch alone - by the distinctive shape of its keys.

But when I shopped for a new laptop just before Covid, I skipped the ThinkPad over concerns that its rubber coating would "melt" in Singapore's hot and humid weather.

Guess what, I just learned that the rubberised coating is no longer in use.

Extreme engineering

Running Intel's latest Lunar Lake CPU, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 is an engineering marvel weighing an astonishing 986 grams.

A massive amount of work went into making it slimmer and lighter.

• Thinner carbon fibre case: Not content with the thickness of its carbon fibre case, Lenovo adopted a hexagonal pattern on the bottom cover, allowing them to shave off 0.3mm. For the top cover, the team used a cross-grain to increase strength.
• Custom camera module: Unhappy with the size of standard camera modules, engineers redesigned it to better fit a 4K camera with a larger lens, alongside a mechanical shuttle and Windows Hello support.
• Thinner motherboard: To trim a fraction of millimetres here, the team worked with Intel to reduce the standard 10-layer motherboard to just 8 layers. This is crazy as most laptop makers just use the reference design.

And yes, the ruggedness of ThinkPads is legendary. They are put through rigorous tests that are more stringent than market standards.

Continuous improvements

Work to improve various components found in ThinkPads never stops. Lenovo shared about other innovations that made it into the new X9-14 laptop released in January.

• Speakers: By replacing screws with a Velcro-like fastener, speakers take less space and sounded better. And it's true - I heard a side-by-side comparison.
• Camera module: By replacing the mechanical shutter with an electric one, the X9-14 now fits in an Ambient Light and Time of Flight sensors for even better video calls.

Have you ever used a ThinkPad laptop? What was it like?