Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition laptop review: The X1 Carbon is finally back

When the X1 Carbon originally launched all the way back in 2012, it was made for 15 W CPUs of the original Ultrabook generations. Over the years, the X1 Carbon has gotten even slimmer and lighter, but the Intel CPUs have gotten more and more power hungry recently, which made them a mismatch for this slimline business laptop. With Lunar Lake, Intel has finally a CPU that fits the X1 Carbon line. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition is the best version of this series thus far.

This new version carries over the good aspects of last year's X1 Carbon Gen 12 and even further improves on it, as its weight is reduced. More importantly, it removes almost all critical weaknesses, as this new X1 Carbon G13 runs much cooler and most importantly, it runs much longer, as we see a 30 percent improvement in battery life. Finally, the battery life is decent even with the OLED screen. The only real misstep is the low resolution webcam. Also, unlike the previous model, there is no 64 GB option, but that is a Lunar Lake limit.

Overall, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 is a much-needed return to form for this premium business laptop - we can not wait until it launches with the full range of options, like 5G, even more power efficient IPS screens and more affordable CPU choices. Currently, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 commands a high price, so more entry-level options are certainly welcome to bring it down.

At the moment, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition is available at Lenovo.com for roughly $2,519. Note that the American version of the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition currently ships with the classic mechanical touchpad design that also features dedicated buttons for the TrackPoint instead of the haptic Sensel touchpad that we tested.

If there is one Lenovo ThinkPad to pick out of the vast lineup, it would be the X1 Carbon without a doubt. It is the most prestigious ThinkPad, an extremely thin and lightweight model designed for CEOs and other executives of large companies. It should not be a surprise that it also is one of the priciest ThinkPad laptops.

Unfortunately, the last few years have not been too great for the ThinkPad X1 line. The main reason for this is that Lenovo has a close partnership with Intel for these models, but Intel has struggled recently to produce CPUs suitable for such a thin and light design. Most Intel CPUs needed a beefy cooling system, something that the X1 line by nature does not provide. As such, models like the X1 Carbon Gen 11 ran pretty hot and had a short endurance to boot. 

This sorry situation has finally come to an end with the brand new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition. The new model that we are testing today uses Intel Lunar Lake, Intel's first CPU series in years to be properly optimized for Ultrabook style systems like the X1 Carbon. 

Three years ago, Lenovo launched a new model of the ThinkPad X1 line, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano. This model was at the time the smallest and lightest ThinkPad laptop, with a starting weight of just 909 g or 1.99 pounds.

The X1 Nano no longer exists, but Lenovo clearly still wants the customers who need a laptop that weighs less than a kilogram. Enter the new Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13, which weighs just 982 g / 2.16 pounds in the tested configuration. It is the lightest X1 Carbon ever and the lightest ThinkPad laptop with a 14-inch screen. Holding it feels like you are barely holding a laptop at all, it feels noticeably lighter than previous models. Compared to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12, which came in at 1.09 kg or 2.4 pounds, it has shed off exactly ten percent of its weight.

Port selection remains as it was on the X1 Carbon Gen 12. We wish Lenovo would switch out the right side USB-A for another USB-C, so the device could be charged from both sides, but otherwise, this is a great port selection for such a mobile laptop. Compared to models like the Apple MacBook Air, the XPS 13 or the HP EliteBook Ultra, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon G13 clearly has the upper hand here, thanks to its two USB-A and full-size HDMI.

This premier business device offers the latest and greatest Intel Wi-Fi solution, the Intel BE201, which naturally supports Wi-Fi 7. Transfer speeds in our test were excellent, though uploading data was slightly slower than downloading them.

There is currently no WWAN version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13. Since the predecessor did offer 5G-LTE, we would expect that Lenovo will eventually release such an option for this device as well.

The camera of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition sticks out like a sore thumb. This is not due to the camera bump, but because the ThinkPad only offers a resolution of 1080p - many other, lesser ThinkPad models already feature 5 MP webcams, so this is a weird decision by Lenovo for this premium model. The quality of the webcam is below par and barely sufficient for video calls.

Despite being thinner than most ThinkPad laptops, the X1 Carbon still offers most security features that are typical for the enterprise line. On the inside, this includes a dedicated TPM chip and a bottom tamper detection, which locks the machine should the bottom cover be opened without authorization. On the outside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 has a Kensington lock slot, a fingerprint sensor and the IR webcam for Windows Hello. Unlike with bigger ThinkPads, the X1 skips the Smart card reader, but that is the only loss in this regard.

Included in the box is only the 65 W GaN charger with USB-C plug. There are no additional accessories, everything else like Thunderbolt docks or Ethernet dongles have to be added for an extra cost.

The X1 Carbon G13 is so new that Lenovo has not disclosed the CO2 impact of the machine. In other aspects, Lenovo is proudly advertising the sustainable nature of this premium laptop for business, which comes in a 100 percent compostable packaging to the customer. The base of the laptop is also made out of 90 percent recycled magnesium. Since it is a ThinkPad, Lenovo provides replacement parts and software updates for many years, as these laptops are used for up to five years by big corporations. Plus, there are repair manuals and video guides available.

As it is sold here in Germany, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition includes three years of warranty. Part of the package is Lenovo's Premier support with on-site service, which means that the laptop is repaired in the customer's home by a technician, if possible. An optional warranty upgrade to five years is possible, same goes for Accidental Damage Protection (ADP), which protects against drops and spills.

Since this is an enterprise laptop that is going to travel with CEOs around the globe, the warranty is a global one, though outside of Germany, it only includes basic bring-in service.

At the moment, the hardware choices for the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 are really limited in scope. There is only a single CPU available, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, which features the Intel ARC 140V iGPU as well as 32 GB LPDDR5X-8533 on-Package memory. Users get options only when it comes to the SSD, as Lenovo offers 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB of SSD storage - which can be either NVMe PCIe Gen 4 or NVMe PCIe Gen 5. Additional options, such as Core Ultra 5 CPUs and 16 GB RAM, will launch next year.

Lenovo offers three different power modes, which can be selected either via the Lenovo Commercial Vantage app or the Windows settings. There is also a "Mode" function on the F8 key, which can be used to access a quick-settings interface.

The three modes influence the CPU power consumption and thus performance via setting the Power Limits (PL). PL1 is the power consumption while under sustained load, and PL2 the power consumption for short bursts.

• Best battery life: PL1 10.5 W / PL2 37 W
• Balanced: PL1 12 W / PL2 37 W
• Best performance: PL1 20 W / PL2 37 W

As always, performance testing was done in the "Best performance" mode.

The Intel Core Ultra 7 258V is an octa-core CPU of Intel's Lunar Lake series. This Core Ultra 200V chip is optimized for a power consumption of 9 to 37 W. The four big Lion Cove P cores have a maximum clock rate of 4.8 GHz and the four small Skymont E cores reach 3.7 GHz. None of the cores offer hyperthreading, so there are only eight threads in total. For comprehensive comparisons with many older and newer CPUs, we recommend using our CPU comparison list.

Lunar Lake is optimized for a lower power consumption, so it is no surprise that the X1 Carbon Gen 13 does not beat out the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 when it comes to multicore performance - after all, we tested a version of the older model with Meteor Lake H28 in form of the Core Ultra 7 155H, a processor with 16 instead of eight threads. Multicore performance is more in line with U series chips. The sustained performance is similar to the X1 Carbon Gen 11 and its U series Raptor Lake CPU. AMD Ryzen AI and Snapdragon X Elite have the edge in this regard.

It is a different story when it comes to singlecore performance. If only one core is utilized, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition tops the list. Here, it is between ten and 16 percent faster than the X1 Carbon Gen 12 in the Cinebench rendering benchmarks.

Without a connected AC adapter, the CPU will run slightly slower. Performance is reduced by roughly eight percent.

For everyday performance, a high singlecore CPU performance is very beneficial. Since the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition offers just that, it is not surprising that it also delivers excellent scores in the system performance benchmarks.

With Lunar Lake, Intel introduced on-Package RAM for the first time on an x86 platform. This move clearly pays off, as the X1 Carbon Gen 13 clearly outperforms the X1 Carbon Gen 12 in the memory benchmarks.