Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet 2018: A Creative’s Favorite

It’s been a few years that Lenovo has been producing the ThinkPad X1 Tablet, and it has evolved for the better since. The 2018 edition comes with a larger and better display that might make it a graphic designer’s favorite.

The most visible change is the new kickstand design with the hinge starting in the middle of the back side. This is a feature that resembles the Microsoft Surface which remains the original, and one of the most efficient kickstand in this category. In my opinion, this provides greater stability and flexibility as for the range that the kickstand can cover.

This detachable 2-1 computer connects to a Lenovo removable keyboard that features relatively long travel key for this kind of keyboard. The TrackPad with the physical “mouse” buttons and the ThinkPad TrackPoint is truly unique to Lenovo, and that is something that may win over ThinkPad enthusiasts who were thinking about getting a Surface Pro.

For graphic artists and designers, the 13-inch IPS touch display has a 3000×2000 resolution, which is superior to its predecessor’s 2160×1440. The display is compatible with the optional Lenovo Pen Pro, a digitizer pen that senses 4096 levels of pressure and supports tile-to-shade. Because the Pen consumes very little energy, it can be charged quickly and last for up to 30 days.

The left side features two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, but there is no full-size USB connectivity. However, Lenovo was able to fit a multi-card reader (SD, MMC, SDHC, SDXC) which is often dear to people who use cameras. There is, of course, a 3.5mm headphones connector and a SIM slot for the optional 4G LTE broadband connectivity.

There is support for WiFi AC (+Dual-band +2×2 MIMO), which is the fastest consumer standard at the moment, along with Bluetooth 4.2. Interestingly, the ThinkPad X1 Tablet 2018 has a discrete fingerprint reader on the side and a camera which is compatible with Windows Hello’s facial log-in.

Last year’s ThinkPad X1 Tablet was equipped with a Core i7 7-gen Core i7 7Y75 which was quite powerful, nearly as much as the more famous i7 7500U model found in most thin and light last year. It’s a good guess to think that the X1 Tablet of 2018 will follow the same pattern, offering clamshell performance in a detachable format.

This computer can host up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD OPAL2 PCIe-NVMe M.2 storage. Given the general form-factor, this computer could end up with a very high performance/volume ratio because without a keyboard, it weighs only 1.9lbs (890g) / 2.79lbs (1.27kg) and has dimensions of 11.45” x 8.24” x .34” (304 x 226 x 8.9mm).

A lot of Photoshopers are going to salivate over this detachable tablet which starts at $1599. It will be available this month.

Hubert Nguyen
Categories: Computers, Tablets
Tags: CES, CES 2018, Laptops, Lenovo