ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10: Lenovo should not use Alder Lake P28

Expectations are very important for the success of a product. Low expectations make it easy to exceed them. High expectations on the other hand make a disappointment even worse.

For example: On paper, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 10 is much more powerful than its predecessor. It not only has newer CPUs, there is also a completely new CPU class: While the predecessor was only available with the typical U class chips, the X1 Carbon G10 uses CPUs of the Alder Lake P28 series. The 28 stands for the typical TDP of 28 W, and the CPUs can have up to 14 cores (Intel Core i7-1280P). An impressive difference compared with the four core Tiger Lake UP4 CPUs of the X1 Carbon G9.

Unfortunately, our comprehensive review shows that the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 2022 can not keep up the high level of performance for long. Under sustained load on all cores, the multi core performance starts to decline after a while and becomes even worse than the predecessor ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 9 (available from Amazon, affiliate link), despite the higher core count.

Lenovo should not have use the P28 CPUs in the X1 Carbon: They need a far stronger cooling system, which the thin and light business laptop that is focused on mobility and a low fan noise can not provide.

Instead of advertising the high performance of the P28 CPUs, Lenovo should concentrate on the Alder Lake U15 chips. Using too powerful CPUs in a too limited chassis does not provide the customers with any advantages.