Too many confusion options: Why Lenovo should simplify the ThinkPad X1 Carbon offering

When we first reviewed the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 (available on Amazon) in December 2024, things were simple: You could only get it in basically one version, the one we tested, which was with an OLED screen, Intel Lunar Lake CPU and lightweight Magnesium chassis. In fact, back then, the lack of options was a problem, as no power efficient IPS displays were available, and neither was 5G for connectivity on the go.

Over the course of 2025, this situation changed, as Lenovo rolled out more options. Added were mulitple screen options (there are six different screens now), a heavier Aluminum chassis option for 5G models as well as a whole army of new processors: The Lenovo spec sheet lists a total of 15 (!) processors for this compact premium business laptop now, including the full lineup of Intel Lunar Lake (Core Ultra 200V), Intel Arrow Lake U (Core Ultra 200U) and Intel Arrow Lake H (Core Ultra 200H).

This is simply too much, especially when some options are not beneficial at all. We recently reviewed the version of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 with Intel Arrow Lake U, and it is clearly a worse choice than Lunar Lake, except for the rare 64 GB option that is exclusive to Arrow Lake U. Also, for customers it is not at all clear which chassis option they get: While 5G is not available on the lightweight Magnesium options, sometimes you may end up with the heaver Aluminum variant even if you opt out of getting 5G.

Overall, Lenovo should work on focusing the options, simplifying the choice - because the current situation is just confusion.