Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Yoga G4: ThinkPads should utilize magnesium more

ThinkPad laptops are going against the trend when it comes to the laptop chassis materials - instead of embracing aluminum designs like Apple's MacBooks and many other high end laptops, Lenovo uses a mix of different materials for the ThinkPads - with the common denominator that all of them are painted black on the outside.

The materials that ThinkPads use include various types of plastic, from simple ABS plastic to GFRP (glass fibre reinforced plastic) and CFRP (Carbon fiber reinforced plastic). The cheaper models use the cheaper plastics, while the screen cover of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is made out of the expensive Carbon reinforced plastic - just as the name suggests. Of course, ThinkPad designs do not eshew metal: Tradtionally, magnesium is used to reinforce the plastic with the traditional rollcage. For the thinner and more expensive series, magnesium often replaces the plastic wholesale to form the outer parts of the chassis, like the palmrest. Sometimes, aluminum is used like that as well, likely for the better heat transfer ability.

In recent years, the use of metal was mostly limited to the base units, with the screen covers made out of one of the plastics. They are often cheaper and while Carbon fiber is expensive, it is more lightweight. But stiffness and stability suffered.

Using magnesium for the screen cover - this has not happened in a long time, until now. The ThinkPad X13 Yoga Gen 4, which we recently reviewed, uses the lightweight metal alloy for the display cover. The difference to a plastic design is immediately apparent, since we reviewed the ThinkPad X13 G4 with a plastic lid at the same time: The magnesium ThinkPad feels more stabile, robust and high quality.

That is why we thing: Lenovo should use magnesium for new ThinkPads even for the screen lid. The lightweight metal would improve the quality feeling of this premium brand.