Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 Review: Prioritizing Privacy and Silence!

Are all PCs not essentially designed for both professionals and individuals? Is there a real difference between these two categories when the chips are the same? Lenovo’s ThinkPad range always claims there is, and with the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10, it’s hard not to agree. However, this should not prevent it from being competitive.

Technical Specifications

Design

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is essentially a Lenovo laptop. Understand that, particularly with this 2-in-1 format, we find the distinctive signs of the brand which leans a bit more towards tablets than laptops thanks to the 2-in-1 format and in the placement of its options, including the power button. We also find these slightly offset sensors to create a small extension that allows easy one-handed opening.

The chassis, made entirely of metal, is superbly well crafted. One can declare with a genuine smile that it is “soft on the inside and slightly rough on the outside,” with the upper cover having a grippy texture that enhances the handling of the product. And of course, we find the classic features of the ThinkPad, including a more colorful logo than others and recognizable internal engravings.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We also find the usual Lenovo keyboard configuration, with these rounded keys at the bottom that look great. The ThinkPad X1 has an excellent activation distance for a laptop, with a very good bounce that one might have liked a bit tighter but is tremendously pleasant.

It is with the touchpad that many things change from the ordinary. Here we have a haptic feedback pad, whose click does not change from top to bottom. ThinkPad obliges, we find the traditional little red joystick in the center of the keyboard, as well as dedicated areas for left or right clicks at the top of the touchpad. “Between tradition and modernity,” one might say, although in truth, the ThinkPad is thoroughly modern in this regard.

Connectivity

On the left, we find a USB A 3.2 port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and the nano-SIM slot. On the right, we have an HDMI 2.1, a USB A 3.2, the combo jack port, and the lock button. Also note full compatibility with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

A very comfortable range of connections for a 14-inch diagonal computer.

Webcam and Audio

We find here a standard 1080p webcam for this format. However, Lenovo has worked well on the color rendering, maintaining a good dynamic range overall despite the slightly noisy output with underdeveloped sharpness.

The audio experience is more or less on the same level. The speakers placed under the device are not the most powerful, but Lenovo has tuned them quite well so they are… well, not so bad.

Screen

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 features a 14-inch diagonal IPS LCD touch screen supporting a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels, which is a 16:10 ratio. It only offers a refresh rate of 60 Hz, traditional indeed, but far from current standards.

Under our probe and with the CalmAN software from Portrait Displays, we observe that it covers 101% of the sRGB space for 68% of the DCI-P3 space. We remain within the range promised by Lenovo. Maximum brightness is measured at 475.5 cd/m² with an excellent contrast ratio of 2339:1.

The average delta e00 is measured at 2.15 with a maximum deviation of 5.48 on sky blue tones. The average color temperature is measured at 6129K, a bit warm compared to the NTSC standard.

However, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 incorporates a privacy screen that can be activated simply by pressing Fn and Q. A perfect feature for professionals on the move, especially when facing journalists not hesitating to look at the Excel tables next to them in search of news. This raises the question: would you be ready to have a screen that is objectively behind the competition in terms of colors and fluidity to have this feature?

Software

Lenovo still provides its central software Vantage. This remains one of the best developed today, allowing access to numerous computer options in a very clear and well-explained form. Although it is still shortcuts to Windows features, like all such software, the attention Lenovo pays to clearly expressing the interest of these options is appreciated.

Performance

In our test configuration, the most accessible of all, we find the SoC Intel Core Ultra 7 258V with 8 cores — 4 performance and 4 efficient — for 8 threads that can turbo up to 4.8 GHz. It is coupled with 32 GB of RAM LPDDR5 at 8533 MT/s, for 512 GB of storage on PCIe Gen 5.

Benchmarks

In Cinebench 2024, we find scores of 436 points in multi-core and 115 points in single-core. Clearly, this chip is primarily intended for office work with very good scores in single-core, but nothing very exciting for multi-threaded processes.

It’s a pity, since the Intel Arc 3D part is always delightful with a score of 3314 points on Steel Nomad Light. While video games are not particularly interesting here, Intel’s video management is commendable.

Finally, we find for a rare appearance a PCIe Gen 5.0 disk! Its performances are not the most remarkable in the industry, the 15k can be reached on this technology, but 12k in reading is already impressive in itself compared to PCIe Gen 4.

Cooling and Noise

At least, this Intel Core Ultra allows it to totally contain its heat. At a maximum of 44°C, and fans that rarely and quietly express themselves, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 knows how to remain discreet as a professional PC should.

Battery Life

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 incorporates a decent 57 Wh battery for a 14-inch format, and offers a very portable 65-watt charging block that uses the Power Delivery standard.

On typical office use, with the screen at 50% brightness, we find usage between 11 and 12 hours. For this new generation of x86 processors, we are rather on the low end of the average, but still well above previous generations.

Price and Availability

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 10 is available in France starting at a price of 2609 euros. A configuration with 1 TB of storage raises the price to 2769 euros.