Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet review: The Surface Pro 4 rival you can expand

We first encountered the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet at the CES technology show in Las Vegas earlier this year, and at that time aping the Surface Pro 4’s flappy keyboard and kickstand seemed the thing to do. Seven months on, the number of alternatives has swelled to an almost unhealthy number, but none of the pretenders have yet come close to threatening Microsoft’s market-leading design.

The ThinkPad X1 Tablet at least offers something different: upgradability, through a series of plugin modules that add new features as and when you need them. Lenovo was able to send only one of these to test – the “Productivity Module”. Its key skill is to boost the X1 Tablet’s ten-hour battery life, but it also has a series of extra ports: one USB 3, Lenovo’s proprietary OneLink+ connector and a full-sized HDMI video output, to complement the USB 3, mini-DisplayPort and USB Type-C ports around the edges of the tablet itself.

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In tandem with the keyboard – which connects in a similar fashion to the detachable keyboard found on Microsoft’s Surface products – this turns the ThinkPad X1 Tablet into a proper portable workhorse. With the Productivity Module clipped to the bottom and the keyboard attached to its front, the tablet is heavier and thicker than the Surface Pro 4 by quite a large margin, but its stamina is more fitting for a device designed for office use. The bad news is that the extra battery will set you back £139.

That’s not the only expansion module available for the ThinkPad X1 Tablet, though. Also available is a “Presenter Module” that includes a pico projector capable of displaying 60in displays from two metres away. However, this is even pricier than the Productivity Module, at a whopping £361, and with a brightness rating of 32 lumens, I can’t imagine it will be all that effective anyway.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet: Design and keyboard

The good news is that, despite the fact that nominally they’re optional extras, the prices you see on the Lenovo website include both the keyboard and the pressure-sensitive ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus.

That keyboard, together with the well-designed kickstand, lends it a practicality and “lappability” that’s unrivalled among its 2-in-1 tablet rivals – and that includes the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.

Instead of the hinge point being in the centre of the tablet, creating a thin edge for it to balance on, the ThinkPad X1 Tablet’s kickstand hinges out from the bottom edge. Although this doesn’t make much difference on a desk, when it comes to perching it on your lap, the kickstand’s flat surface area rests on your thighs, making it feel more secure. It’s an adjustable hinge, too, so you can tilt it back and forth to achieve the most comfortable viewing angle and, in typical ThinkPad fashion, the quality of the keyboard is excellent.

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The keys have a soft, cushioned action that gives it a great touch-typing feel and there’s loads of travel (1.35mm per keystroke to be precise). There’s also plenty of space in between each key, so typos are kept to a minimum, and the touchpad is good, too, with a smooth top and a reliable and responsive action. Lenovo has even found room here for the traditional ThinkPad red-dot trackpoint, nestled in between the keyboard’s G, H and B keys.

It’s all very light and portable. Adding the keyboard increases the weight from 725g to 1.1kg, which is pretty good for a 12in 2-in-1, and it’s pretty slim as well, measuring 14.2mm thick with the keyboard and 8.6mm without. And I do like the inclusion of a fingerprint reader. Embedded in the front-right bezel, next to the screen, this can be used to unlock the tablet in a trice – a quick dab of your thumb is all that’s required – without having to type a password.

The ThinkPad X1 Tablet isn’t all about practical excellence and thoughtful design, however. The main problem is the means by which you attach the extra modules. To add a module, you have to first remove a plastic strip that runs the length of the tablet’s bottom edge. (And don’t lose it, because it will cost you £35 to replace.)

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If that wasn’t bad enough, the mechanical clips that secure the extra modules in place are tricky to engage. It took me several attempts to get the productivity module firmly seated and locked in. And to attach the keyboard with the Productivity Module in place, you have to remove yet another eminently losable plastic strip.

Having said all of this, one thing in favour of the system is that, once your modules are in place, it’s impossible to dislodge them by accident, and the magnets holding the keyboard in place are equally strong and secure.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet review: Screen and performance

The 12in screen is very good, without being spectacular. It’s an IPS screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2,160 x 1,440. It reaches a maximum brightness of 403cd/m2, and contrast is a reasonably high 1,105:1, although the sRGB coverage isn’t all that great at 86.9%. I was a lot more impressed with the colour accuracy of this screen compared with the HP Elite X2, but it can’t compete with the Surface Pro 4’s all-round excellence.

Don’t expect cutting-edge power, either, because Lenovo employs a Core m processor rather than a fully fledged Core i5 or Core i7. In testing, we’ve found these throttle back once you start pushing them (for example, when encoding video), but they’re fine for occasional bursts of activity, and Lenovo has eliminated another performance bottleneck by using superfast NVMe SSD in its pricier models.

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In the case of the sample provided for this review, I have a Core m7-6Y75 running at 1.2GHz with 8GB of RAM backing it up, and a 512GB Samsung NVMe SSD. It’s as quick and responsive in day-to-day use as you’d expect it to be. In the Geekbench 64-bit test, it scored 2,960 and 5,893 in the single-core tests, which is about what I’d expect from this setup, although it does lag a touch behind its 2-in-1 rival, the HP Elite X2.

The SSD is supremely fast as well, gaining sequential write and read speeds of 2,075MB/sec and 1,374MB/sec in AS SSD, keeping Windows 10 Pro feeling fast and responsive. However, battery life is less than impressive. The ThinkPad lasted 5hrs 44mins in our video rundown test, which makes the expensive productivity module an essential purchase.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet review: Prices and verdict

The ThinkPad X1 Tablet is a peculiar mix of the wonderful and the awkward, then, but how does it stack up against its key rivals, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and HP Elite X2 in terms of the overall package? In some ways it surpasses both of them, especially given that neither has the facility to add components in the way the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 does, and it’s a match for both in terms of its ergonomics.

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On the other hand, certain parts of the design are clunky and awkwardly implemented, the modules themselves are pricey, and battery life is poor. Plus, it won’t surprise you to discover that the tablet isn’t exactly bargain-basement. The base model, which features the lower-spec Core m5-6Y54, starts at £1,050 inc VAT, and this rises to £1,180 inc VAT for the base-level Core m7 I have here.

There’s no direct comparison with the Surface Pro 4 since its specifications start at the Core m3, then skip straight to Core i5 and Core i7, but the HP Elite X2 I looked at earlier this year is a close match and it comes out on top for value. Although the screen isn’t as good as the Lenovo’s, the HP’s price of £1,229 is more tempting, although note this is for the model with a lower-capacity 256GB NVMe SSD.

In short, then, there’s nothing drastically wrong here, but the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet’s price is certain to put off many potential customers.

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