ThinkPad X1 Carbon G11 Max: A boon for traveling memory junkies

RAM is like money - there technically is no upper limit when you can say "enough". Having more is always advantageous. Bill Gates probably never said that 640K should be enough for everyone and that statement holds no truth anyway: When buying a PC, you always want to have as much RAM as possible.

This is especially true for users who dabble in virtualization with virtual machines. This use case requires much more RAM to be feasible than what regular users normally require. 32 GB of RAM is the lower limit for such users and 64 GB or even more are really advantageous for them.

However, this limits such users to certain devices. Soldered RAM is very often limited to 32 GB, especially in smaller laptop models. To get more memory, a laptop with socketed RAM aka SO-DIMM slots is a great a asset, but these models are mostly thick and heavy, making traveling more difficult than it has to be.

One laptop that breaks the mold in this regard is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 11 we just reviewed. This line has long been one of the most lightweight 14 inch business laptops as well as one Lenovo ThinkPad laptops with the lowest weight. Historically, this laptops has long been limited to 16 GB of RAM, expanding to 32 GB options just in 2021 with the X1 Carbon G9.

Two years later, buyers can now get double that amount of RAM, as the X1 Carbon G11 is the first generation of this model series with 64 GB of RAM. When taken together with the weight of just 1.16 kg, this is an awesome machine for buyers who use virtualization or other usage that requires a lot of RAM and need to travel a lot.

The configuration does have some disadvantages though - one being the CPU. 64 GB RAM requires the "best" CPU offered, the Intel Core i7-1370P, which does not deliver great performance in the X1 Carbon, at all. This thin device just can not cool this processor well enough for it to work well. Also, the model we tested had an OLED screen that seriously cut down battery endurance. However, different screen options, like a low-power IPS panel, are available, so this can be mitigated.