The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga is too thin

The ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga is the thinnest ThinkPad so far at 11.5 mm - this statement certainly looks good on marketing material. However, we are reaching a point, where you have to ask how thin a device really has to be or if there are more important aspects for mobile devices.

The base unit of the X1 Titanium Yoga looks like it was pressed down and the footprint with the pretty deep chassis is quite large in comparison. The 3:2 aspect ratio display is definitely a factor as well, but the bezels above and especially below the screen are very thick and you see that space has been wasted or Lenovo required the additional space inside the base unit. This means the X1 Titanium Yoga is not that handy in confined spaces (plane, train) and we would prefer a thicker but more compact device. At ~1.2 kg, the convertible is not heavy by any means, but there are lighter competitors.

The color is a striking visual feature and the bright silver represents the use of titanium. This means the X1 Titanium Yoga is definitely an eye-catcher and everyone immediately notices that you have a special ThinkPad. if you like that, then the X1 Titanium Yoga is right for you. In isolation, it is also a good convertible, but there are some areas where the manufacturer had to make compromises, which is not easy to accept when you pay at least 2500 Euros for the device.

The problem is definitely one big criticism we have. Similar to the ThinkPad X1 Nano, it is not a bad keyboard, but the typing experience is affected by the reduced key travel (1.35 mm). Yes, there is obviously a trend towards thinner devices, but the keyboards have always been a big strength of ThinkPads and we think the flagship X1 series should offer the best keyboards. The bigger ThinkPad X1 Extreme is still equipped with a really good keyboard (1.8 mm key travel), but there are rumors that the upcoming model gets a 1.5 mm keyboard. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga will keep the 1.5 mm keyboard at least for the upcoming generation, but we expect there will be a switch to 1.35 mm in the future as well.

The cooling solution is not very powerful, either, due to the slim chassis. The performance is still completely sufficient for everyday office tasks, but the same CPU offers more performance in the lighter ThinkPad X1 Nano. The speakers are also worse compared to the X1 Nano (4 modules), because Lenovo only uses 2 modules for the X1 Titanium Yoga.

The battery capacity is also lower compared to comparable rivals. Both the bright display as well as the higher 2K resolution increase the power consumption, and you can expect between 6-8.5 hours web browsing depending on the brightness, and obviously less as soon as you stress the CPU more.

All these issues lead us to the upcoming ThinkPad X1 Yoga (G6), which will be released in the next couple of weeks with a 16:10 panel. It will feature a better keyboard, more ports, more performance, and probably longer battery runtimes for a lower price. The only real reason for the X1 titanium Yoga is the 3:2 panel, but this does not justify the higher price in our opinion.