ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019: 4K panel costs almost 50% battery life
It can be difficult to select the right display when you want to purchase a new laptop. High resolution panels usually offer better picture quality and brighter background illuminations. However, they also consume more power, which obviously affects the battery runtimes. This can be important, especially for slim and mobile devices.
The 2019 ThinkPad X1 Extreme is also available with different panels, including a high resolution 4K screen. Contrary to the previous model (here in review), however, Lenovo waives the glossy screen this time (and also uses a different supplier for the panel), which should be good news for many users. The problem is the increased power consumption compared to the 1080p screen, which is also much brighter this year. We have already reviewed this 500 nits panel (Full HD) in the workstation sibling ThinkPad P1 2019.
| Battery Runtime | |
| 1920x1080 Witcher 3 ultra 150cd (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme-20MF000XGE | |
| WiFi Websurfing (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019 20QV000WGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P1 2019-20QT000RGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme-20MF000XGE | |
| WiFi Websurfing max. Brightness (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019 20QV000WGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P1 2019-20QT000RGE | |
| Battery Runtime - H.264 (sort by value) | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019 20QV000WGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad P1 2019-20QT000RGE | |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme-20MF000XGE | |
The differences in our runtime tests are extreme and the new model is even much worse compared to the last year's X1 Extreme with the 4K panel in our WLAN test with an adjusted luminance of 150 nits. We can see a difference of almost 50% when we compare the X1 Extreme 2019 4K and the ThinkPad P1 2019 FHD, both in the WLAN test (4:45h vs. 8:53h) as well as the video test (4:44h vs. 9:20h).
The gap is smaller when we repeat the WLAN test with the maximum luminance, but the difference is still significant at 4:05h vs. 6:42h.
The question is obviously whether the 4K display still makes sense thanks to better picture quality. Maybe the bright 1080p screen is the better choice? We will answer these questions in our full review of the ThinkPad X1 Extreme 2019, which will be published soon.
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