Surprising additions: Lenovo officially launches more options for ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13

Launched in November 2024, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 achieved high praise in our December 2024 review.  However, up until now, the Lenovo laptop has only been available with a very limited set of options. In fact, the only choice users had been between a 1 or 2 TB SSD. Other details, such as the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU with 32 GB on-package RAM, the 400 cd/m² OLED screen or the lack of 5G was not configurable. This seems strange, as ThinkPad laptops are known for their high amount of options, but Lenovo told us that this was only meant to be a limited launch back when the device was announced at IFA 2024. The additional options were to be launched in "early 2025".

It is early 2025 and the promised options have finally arrived. Lenovo's PSREF database, which lists the most common models and specifications of their PCs, has been updated with new configurations of the X1 Carbon G13. Among them are the expected options, but also a few surprising additions.

The surprise: The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon will now be available with a new OLED screen that is brighter (500 cd/m²) than the one used up until now and also supports a variable refresh rate (VRR). The OLED panel which was used up until now and which we also tested could only do up to 400 cd/m² and it lacked VRR, making users choose between 120 Hz and 60 Hz refresh rates. The higher refresh rate would negatively impact battery life, VRR will help mitigate that.

In less welcome news, Lenovo is adding a new chassis option that is heavier. One of the key advantages of the X1 Carbon Gen 13 over the X1 Carbon Gen 12 is the lower weight of the magnesium chassis, but it appears that the old, heavier aluminum chassis will remain an option.

More CPUs for the X1 Carbon, but no Ultra 5 with 32 GB RAM

The other additions are pretty much as expected: Lenovo will now sell the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 with the Intel Core Ultra 5 226V, the Ultra 7 256V, the Ultra 7 266V and the Ultra 7 268V in addition to the 258V. The CPUs ending with 6 will chip with 16 GB, so the base-price of the ThinkPad X1 should go down considerably.

Contributing to that should be the new optional WUXGA IPS screen with 500 cd/m² of brightness, 100 percent sRGB color gamut and on-Cell touch - though curiously, it seems Lenovo is skipping the common Low Power screen option, at least for now.

Last but not least, there is a new 8 MPix webcam, which seems to be exclusively bundled with the WUXGA IPS screen for now, as well as the Quectel RM520N-GL sub6 5G module. This WWAN card will either be bundled with the machine, or the X1 Carbon can also optionally be had as 5G upgradeable. Up until now, the X1 was lacking 5G/LTE options.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 is already configurable with the new options on the Japanese Lenovo site, so a worldwide launch should follow soon.