Is this what Millennials want? - Lenovo Thinkpad Z13 (2022)
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A killer webcam, decent speakers, solid specs, vegan leather? Does Lenovo have its pulse on the millennial market, or should they have spent more time solving some of this laptop's flaws?
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CHAPTERS
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0:00 This laptop doesn't smell good
0:48 Look and feel impressions
1:48 Keyboard flex test and wrist rest feel
3:13 Sponsor - iFixit
3:37 Display and trackpad impressions
4:43 Specs
5:14 Keyboard impressions
6:31 Webcam
8:10 Speaker test and comparison
9:50 Gaming - Valheim
11:21 This keyboard gets HOT
12:39 Teardown
13:57 Overall thoughts and pricing
15:51 Outro
Alex is just transforming more and more into Linus
Looking like his stunt double
Very fun to watch tho. Him and Riley are by far my favorite to watch. Alex for his technical knowledge and Riley cuz his comedy.
Socks + Sandals then he's Linus
@@noturkill9879 Candidates to host ever more LTT videos whenever Linus goes on vacation?
Linus 2, electric Boogaloo
I appreciate Alex's commitment to calling out Windows Modern Standby in every video because he's right.
3 cheers for Valve with the steam deck.
I have had so much issues with sleep/standby/hibernate the last years it's really making me wanna go apple on laptops.. only 1 system here is able to resume work without crashing every goddamn day.
I leave my laptop plugged in at all times :/
I'm kinda lost. Could someone explain the issues with standby in windows?
I don't use windows, but I am curious: what does it do? why it sucks?
That M2 slot is not for SSD. It's LTE/5G card. You can fit a small M2 in there but it might be white listed on the bios to only work with certain cards. Also they have like 2 lanes typically.
Most lenovo laptops let you use an ssd there and a lot of 2230 ssds are 2 lane.
For anyone curious, using an additional M2 SSD in there will absolutely kill your battery life.
SSDs aren't whitelisted on Lenovo models, but yeah, it's originally meant for a 4G/5G card (WWAN cards ARE whitelisted). The model in the review doesn't have the WWAN antennas though, so it's only a plug-and-play upgrade if the antennas are installed from the factory. If you wanted to install a 2242 NVMe drive in there or upgrade the existing one, sourcing one might prove challenging (and costly).
Isn't that slot wired to USB though instead of pcie?
@@CockroachMunchingKrabbyPatty not really, just twice the power of one m.2.
I love how Lonovo keyboard magically manages to fit F11, F12, End and Home separately, while Dell somehow lacks space to do just that and you have to Fn all the time this way or the other 🤦
Thinkpad's have always been really clever and good with the keyboard aspect. IBM really did some things outstanding (I know it's Lenovo now, but IBM's legacy is all over this aspect). It's almost unhealthy how much I miss them in the consumer pc space. Also such a simple thing as having a good looking font with the legends correctly placed, why is it so hard for most other manufacturers? One thing I want in the future - the keyboards being easily swapped standardized modules with a few different options for form factors (60%, 65%, 75%, 100%, . So you could just buy a better third party keyboard and easily install it yourself. And more options for keycaps.
@@user-lv6rn9cf8m I like how everyone hates Lenovo and ThinkPads for the switched up Ctrl and Fn buttons, despite IBM being the first one to implement it and it's everyone else who mixed them up.
@@user-lv6rn9cf8m Well of course IBM would know how to make PC keyboard layouts. They kinda made the first one. And the first PC to go with it... And the first PC brand That's like saying Apple knows how to make good mac keyboard layouts. No shit, they made the mac.
Honestly that hand size information is immensely cool to have in a review. I’m super glad you included that. It’s not a perfect stat because there’s region to region variation but almost no one includes the fact that the diamond cut sides would cut into your wrists if you have even average hands.
It seems redundant to me. It's a 13 inch laptop of course it's gonna be too small for most people.
@@IRMacGuyver My thoughts as well.
@@IRMacGuyver But my girlfriend told me 12 inches was really big :(
@@Gatorade69 it's above average dw man
@@IRMacGuyver I disagree. I'm about as normal size wise for a white american guy (aside from being a lot slimmer than most lol) and my Lenovo 100e can comfortably fit my hands. That's a 11.6 laptop, also from Lenovo just like the Thinkpad. A 13 inch laptop should be able to fit my hands if they fit on the 100e, but from those stats listed I doubt they would.
I'm disappointed, Lenovo always had amazing IO even on really thin laptops.
Right??? My ThinkPad has 4 USB ports, DP, VGA, 3.5mm jack, RJ45 ethernet, SD card, DVD drive, Express port, and a couple of others. Even though the Z series is pretty slim, they shold have dropped thunderbolt on one of the type-C ports and added HDMI or DP plus a coule of type As and a SD reader. That should be the minimum for any laptop beyond the very slimmest and lightest.
@@slartibartfast2649 This laptop is the 'very slimmest and lightest' you are talking about. The Z-series is their 'macbook killer' style devices, whereas the x1 series is the in-between with lots of IO and a slightly less slim/design focused device.
@@CockroachMunchingKrabbyPatty There is definitely is room for an A type on that thing. The chassis is not that thin. They are tyring to emulate the looks and feel of a macbook air by restricting the ports, not because they actually have to do it. Also, they are pushing business and power-users to other models by needlessly restricting this one. I agree that most ultrabook users do not need rj45 or sd cards, or even HDMI, but I still think two USB A ports for a mouse and thumbdrive is pretty basic stuff.
@@slartibartfast2649 If your ThinkPad has a VGA port, then it's not "thin and light".
@@x0myspace0x That is not what I said. I know it's worded badly, but if you read the next sentence, you will realise I was referencing the Z series, since my laptop does not include thunderbolt either.
I will agree on that very clear sounding audio part. It sounded surprisingly nice in the YT video itself, which says a lot for audio from putting a mic next to speakers and then running it through YT compression.
One of the funny things is that back when it was owned by IBM, those ThinkPad laptops were always reliable, but the speakers, webcam, and microphones were so absolutely awful it was painful. When Lenovo took over, the first major change they made to the ThinkPad lineup was to give them competitive speakers, webcams, and microphones. As things like video calls became more common, that change probably saved the brand. It's not surprising, but still welcome to see that they are continuing to pay attention to that. Also, not mentioned in the video, but Lenovo's build quality is leagues better than most other companies. I have not yet had a Lenovo die on me. I've had a consumer grade HP die after about 4 years (although their nicer models and business models are decent, one of which is going on 8 years and still kicking), Acer laptops kind of feel cheap (and usually ARE cheap) but haven't died on me. My Dell G15 died after 13 months. I bought a Lenovo to replace it, and honestly immediately wondered how I ever thought the Dell was even OK. The Lenovo is so much better built, the Dell feels like a joke.
It doesn't sound even remotely near as good as MacBook speakers
@@yoshi555king Ironically, I watched the video on my MacBook. I dunno how the MacBook sounds in a YT video played thru another set of speakers, but you're listening to an audio recording of laptop speakers on YT through your own speakers lol. Sounds pretty good for that context
@@lucun_ I work in IT. I wrenched a lot on Lenovo, HP, Dell and Apple MacBooks and in every test no Windows device managed to get even near the complete package of sound. The only thing that did got close was a Samsung Android tablet (one of the newest generations) but those still doesn't sound nearly as good as a iPad.
@@lucun_ also try some good headphones. Then you can hear the difference even better
Alex just killing it - love the laptops and cars reviews he does
100%, Alex hosts really well. I generally enjoy whatever the content is regardless of how much I am into the topic
6:20 They did the same thing on the trackpad on the T440. At the T450 where the buttons back, because most people hated it, that the buttons where missing.
Yeah, the 40 series was actually awesome. I ran an x240 for many many years and loved the larger trackpad size. I guess diehards who buy thinkpads just prefer the more familiar IO, but for me, the trackpoint is just a fun little vestige, not a main selling feature.
It's a little different though, since that was still physical buttons, no?
Force track pad if done right is better than regular track pad with buttons. There's a reason why MacBooks are still regarded as having the best track pad for laptops.
@@supernenechi no, they worked exactly the same as the Z13 in the video. Except the whole trackpad clicked in like a button, rather than haptic feedback
foxxo
"Your laptop should not be at 51 degrees", these are very wild statements Alex
instead you should cook on it at 97 degrees
@@zsoltpeterdaniel8413 C or F lol
my R9 5900HS RTX 3070 Zephyrus G15 is laughing in 95 degrees
@@KingLarbear C
@@busybox4984 the keyboard (where you touch) was 51 C, not the processor
Like the extra information and numbers on who's hands fit on the laptop! I feel that ShortCircuit miss out a lot of information for things that arn't on the specsheet, if I wanted to buy something I'd have to look at other reviews to get more of an indepth idea if the product is right for me. I'm happy to see that might be changing!
That kind of is the point of these videos. They aren't meant to be full reviews, just initial impressions. Ideally they would use the laptop for a while and then review it on the main channel, but considering the large amount of released devices that probably isn't possible. Perhaps labs can help out with some of the statistics later down the road.
Ok the microphones were seriously impressive. Honestly sounded damn close to the audio in the main video. 👏👏❤️
I would LOVE a subsection of tests just for comfortability and ergonomics. I have some pretty big hands (~95mmx110mm palm), if it's not a 15.6" I more than likely won't be comfortable, but I like the thought of having something more portable, but don't want to make it hell for my hands.
I used to work in IT, we used to use Dell laptops then switched to Lenovo The reduction in tickets and repairs were crazy The cost reduction was also amazing I would never recommend a Dell to anyone these days too many bugs and bad software/drivers
I was working in IT when we switched from Lenovo to dell and we made the opposite observation. With Lenovo we had issues with hinges cracking, keyboards failing, and motherboards dying. With dell we’ve only had battery failures and bottom cases cracking in the center.
What dells you used? The sub-$500 Vostros?
@@suntzu1409 latitude 7000s with i7, 16gb ram
@@dylan-nguyen thats quite surprising since ive been daily driving a latitude 3440 with an i3, 8gb ram for a couple years and have never had an issue with it.
@@mxmobile5619 There is a differnce between Lenovo and Thinkpad.. Never happens on Thinkpads
there's something satisfying about listening to the laptop speaker review sections of your vids from my M1 MBP
I have a different lenovo with 2xtb3 usb c's, and i'm very happy it has a usb a as well. takes care of so much of the dongle needs
I use my thinkpad on the field a lot, I never pair a mouse with it, I prefer by far to have physical bottons that do not respond to touch on the top of the trackpad, that way i can keep my left thumb on it and ready to press while using my right index to navigate and it prevents the trackpad to start doing multitouch features.
I am more than pretty sure that this DOES NOT have vapor chamber cooling. It just looks like it has black paper covering the heatsink which was not removed in this video. No spec sheet from Lenovo says it has a vapor chamber. LaptopMedia's teardown said that paper was indeed just a shroud for covering the cooling. Otherwise it would have shown much better cooling capabilities.
Back in the day I had an Asus EeePC netbook, and I really liked the trackpad on that, even though it was tiny. It had two features in the software that I really liked: Inertia, so that I could flick the mouse cursor around quickly (and it stopped when I put my finger down, kinda like flicking a big trackball, and note that this is nothing to do with mouse acceleration nonsense), and an infinite scroll feature, where if I started to swipe up/down on the right edge (width adjustable) and then kept going in a circle, it would keep scrolling. And I could even reverse the direction by doing circles the other way around, as long as I didn't lift my finger (obvs I could start again if I did). Especially the latter one is something I miss all the time when working with big spreadsheets or long documents, two finger scrolling just can not compensate for that, no matter how massive the trackpad is. Can you achieve these things with modern laptops? I really miss them. =(
Yes, you can program inertia in current trackpads! Not all trackpads support that feature, Elantech apparently does, Synaptics doesn't. Apple supports it in accessibility.
@@DoctorNemmo Cheers, how about the scrolling feature?
EeeeeeePC. Eyes up everyone we're arming the nugget
trackPoints can do this. First the Inertia, just push the trackPoint hard and it will fly across the screen with great precision from one corner to the other. As for scrolling, press the middle click button once and a circle with arrows will appear, (you don't need to hold it down), then push the trackPoint down and your page will scroll down. The harder you push, the faster it scrolls. When you click the middle click button again the circle disappears and it immediately leaves scrolling mode. Pushing the trackpoint up after the mid click scrolls up and you can scroll left and right as well.
Man, I am loving Alex day by day and his transformation. When he first appeared on LLT and other channels, I was like, "Who's that awkwardly standing guy, should he be given the position of a host? He isn't even showing any emotion just like Linus and Riley do.", I now know how terribly I misjudged Alex back then. I am so much of a camera shy person myself, so was Alex. but him being more and more Entertaining, Open, Informative person day by day is so good to see. Keep it up.
FYI, that extra m.2 slot is probably a WWAN slot. Lenovo started updating their BIOS a while back to only allow certain cards to work in that slot. I don't think it'll work with an SSD. I was able to put a 2242 in my T470, but an SSD wasn't recognized in a T14 that I tried later on.
Same situation. T470 all good, T16, not anymore. They (Lenovo) should be called out for reimplementing this crap whitelist on the M.2 WWAN slot
As long as you don't use a newer BIOS the m2 can be used with their OEM opal SSDs. Only thing you lose out on is heat from charging but when I tried using newest BIOS there was major hitching with video so I put it back to stock BIOS. Newer BIOS blacklist even their own SSD so you need to use stock BIOS.
I appreciate how Alex explains the feel of the laptop and stuff starting from the smell of the laptop.
It's the most important experience, lest the laptop farts some yucky smell
You can change the performance mode by clicking “Fn + Q”. They call it “Q Control.”
I own the top-spec Z13 (with the 6860Z + OLED). One thing to note about performance: It gets a non-insignificant performance boost when plugged in to power. On battery, at least with the 6860Z, there's a lot of performance left untapped for... Reasons. Even when Windows is set to "High Performance." Another note about the "Cool (temperature) mode", setting it to Power Saver in Windows seems to do an excellent job at keeping it much, much cooler. Definitely cuts a lot of performance, but that is the trade-off (You also, obviously, get much better battery life). I've noticed the modern Windows Standby that hibernates (ew) can sometimes not play nice with certain Thunderbolt 4 docks (eg the Dell TB4 dock)... Had it sometimes refuse to wake from sleep and require hitting the Reset button with a paperclip before it would turn on again. Seems to relate to plugging/unplugging the dock while it's sleeping (even if all that's connected to the dock is just power)... Sometimes also had it spontaneously wake up in my backpack and run the battery down while not technically "on" which I suspect is related... I always make sure to shut it down before putting it in my bag now.
Hey man, definitely thinking about getting thr z13. I would really like the oled model just for the sharper display alone but how's the battery life on that thing? That kind of scares me a bit. How long does you're battery last at say 50-70 brightness?
Disable all power saving in BIOS and use admin CMD and re-enable "Ultra Performance" in power options. Use Radeonmod registry tweaking app and disable all power saving features. You can't turn off all power saving features outside of editing the registry which is what this program does. Should make it while plugged in perform how you want.
My legion doesn’t turn on or wake up sometimes either. And one day I left it on but shut it, woke up the next morning and it was deas
I thought camera and mic of XPS was better but speakers were CLEARLY by a mile better on the Lenovo. The camera looked like it was smudged with grease of your fingers and needed to be cleaned (which I assume you did). The other looked "bad" because of the worse DR and exposure as well as resolution if it's 720p. But overall the colors and such looked better, albeit a bit dark.
I'd note that my Thinkpad x13 with the same APU was not set to game optimized in the Radeon settings, which meant that the RAM allocated to the GPU was severely limited. game performance was way better after setting it to game optimized, which allowed the GPU access to the full amount of RAM.
You can set it for game optimized sonewhere, the 680M iGPU is capable of 1080p low or 720p medium. It can also handles some RT if with FSR on, though barely
Not only that. He also probably shouldn't have tested gaming on the mouse pad surface, as it probably closed the vents on the bottom.
That message at the end. Honestly expected the segue. Have a good day you too!
My Z16 arrived today, with OLED screen and dedicated AMD video, unfortunately costs in EU around $4000, while in US it is on constant sale for half the price.
for some reason my ideal laptop is a ultra portable Thinkpad that can do medium -light gaming. recently got an x13 gen 3 amd with a 6850u, and I've got to say that I'm very happy with my choice. Great design, really amazing performance, great port selection, love the trackpoint and keyboard, great webcam, and even the cheapest screen option has good calibration and no backlight bleed at all. I'd much prefer an x13 over a z13, which prioritizes looks over everything.
I agree with everything you said however I'm wanting a better screen and Pen support, X13 doesn't have this unless it's an X13 yoga and there's no AMD version yet. Also I find the yogas less reliable as well, more moving parts means more to go wrong, (my daughter has gone thru a few) Think I'm going to give the Z13 a try, hoping the buttonless trackPoint isn't a total deal breaker, I despise trackPads because they suck in photoshop and illustrator and are less accurate all round.
4:43 I had no idea you could open task manager by pressing Ctrl Shift Esc, thanks for including that!
I bought my grandmother the Yoga 14 last year and she loves it, the cloth back feels like the old Pixel case you could get
wish u guys do more about thinkpad, the x1 line is very good
Its a funky little laptop but I like it's simplicity and power. Screen is also amazing.
Didn't know about the Crtl + Shift + ESC Task Manager Command, thanks for that!
Loving this approach Alex, enthusiasm and interest in the product, as opposed to being bored and sarcastic which really wasn't interesting to watch. Thumps up
I didn't see it in the specs on the lenovo site but does this have a Sensel trackpad in it? I think they invested in the company and the showcase you did on the trackpad and the technology behind it was pretty interesting.
plastic sounds premium if you call it leather. tbf regular thinkpads are a finger print nightmare so this is an improvement.
Gotta cover them with stickers to protect from fingerprints.
Fun fact, the newest ThinkPads come with a different coating that basically leaves no fingerprints on it and is really easy to clean.
thank you for talking ergonomics its such an underrated topic on literally all other tech channels
Looks like a good corporate laptop for business folks/management, the minimal io to me says that it's intended for use with a docking station.
Yep, would work fine with one of their Thunderbolt docks and those are pretty nice by itself. It should sustain 2 x 4K @ 60 Hz without too much of an issue (but experience tells me that you should be a bit careful with screen size support, I currently have to run 3 cables from an older model with just USB-C 10Gbit/s + Alt DP for my 3 screens).
Docked or without peripherals. I use my laptop mostly for entertainment or school and I rarely hook anything to it. Bluetooth mouse and charger are the only things that come to mind. And school has had USB-C adapters for TV:s in the study spaces for years..
Can you guys make a video comparing different Thinkpad Series? E,T,L,X and Z I guess??
Dont click it .
I feel like Lenovo purposely makes the Thinkpad lineup impossible to understand for some reason. Their website is a nightmare.
E - Economy (C tier on build but S tier on price) L - Low budget (B tier on build and price) T - Traditional (A tier on build but C tier on price) P - Performance (A+ tier on build, S tier on performance but D tier on price) X(1) - eXecutive (S tier on build but D tier on price) Z - Gen Z and boomers (A+ tier on build but D tier on price) That's how I tell them apart.
TL;DR (very subjective) E: The cheapest option, u get what u paid for. (the material around the hinge is not very durable tbh) L: Better than E but not sure why it exists T: balance between performance/ports/weight (still a bit heavy tbh, I'm using t440p) X: Lighter option (X1: minimal ports, make it as light as possible, X1 is the Ultrabook of ThinkPad) P: Workstation, usually can choose Xeon CPU and workstation GPU as options Z: too new, no opinion, but most series that were introduced by Lenovo are not so good (ThinkPad formerly by IBM until 2005) Yoga: You wanna fold something? I only consider X, T and P series, X for lighter options, T is the go-to one for me, and P... when I need a workstation-grade GPU in it for rendering/simulation purposes. And if u see 's' at the very end means it's the lighter version of that model (e.g. t440s), and 'p' means kind of more performance, usually by giving u optional Nvidia GPU (e.g. t440p) I guess L is an alternative to the E series...? Z is kinda new for me, so no opinion on it.
@@FalconerDelta I am an Auditing professional with quite heavy Excel use, multiple chrome tabs and Tally(Accounting Software). I was thinking of getting an L15, I need numpad
I still have a win 98 ThinkPad and a x230. The 230 actually runs really well every day tasks with a cheap £20 ssd in it
The hand info was great Alex :)
I have that 2.8k OLED panel on my Zenbook flip 14, its a 90Hz panel on that, might be for the Lenovo, either way you 100% want that panel its SO good
This reminds me of the old ASUS bamboo laptop… I had one back in 2011, and it was beautiful.
old lenovo trackpoints (like REALLY old) used to register a click if you just single tapped the nub really firmly. I still find myself trying to do it on my X12, which doesn't, and it drives me nuts. Also windows 11 got rid of the user-operable tablet mode, and only lets it auto-enable on tablet devices with detachable keyboards, so it makes 360 devices nigh-unusable unless the laptop maker added a system that makes the keyboard software-detatch when rotated. I cannot describe how much I detest every single change made to windows 11. Nothing is more intuitive or easier or smoother. All they did was make it worse so we can have the taskbar in the middle (which I immediately disabled)
The mic is fantastic. I hardly noticed the difference when you switched to recording on the labtop from your normal mic.
That palm rest spreadsheet actually does seem pretty useful. It's a good way to quantify why some laptops just don't feel comfortable to use.
i would love to see more thinkpad videos
Lol "quality control: control your quality" made me chuckle out loud. Well done to that editor.
If Alex ever branched off from lmg and started something new I’d follow… favorite host
Don’t encourage a mutiny
I literally said "whoa" when I heard and saw the webcam/mic. Damn that's good.
I got two Lenovo thinkpad laptops and i love them, they are very wel made my 14 inch Thinkpad is 4 years and has a very rough life it’s scratched and dinged on each corner but it still everything works. I never going to buy a different brand
They should make a companion deck or port for the back that could bring extra battery, more ports, etc.
I wish Framework would have a trackpoint that comes with it. That being said, I wish they had a KVM module too :D
Thanks for watching,hit me up ☝️☝️ to claim you gift
This laptop offer an OLED, and panels that cover 100% DCI-P3... neither of these attributes are covered with Framework
@@gotoastal I want that AND an AMD Rig DAMIT !! ARE U Listening Frameworks an AMD !?!
@@gotoastal Sadly yes.
my studio XPS 16 from 2010 had leather on it. overall killer laptop for the time.
I put a dbrand leather skin on my Surface Pro 8 the day the 8 came out, No issues, feels better than the aluminum. Probably end up getting a leather skin for the pixel 7 pro too
Linus' staff is gradually transforming into Linus himself.
The hand heating mode would be a great help in the winter.
As a software developer i can say unless your office is sub 65F this isn't desirable, i hate machines like this as i end up with unreasonably sweaty hands after just a few hours
@@workmailtome As a hardware admin who's workstation is in a shop that has an always on fan and what seems like the entry point for the department's AC, i would gladly welcome this in the height of summer.
Not many know that the little red knob is a Poiting stick / Trackpoint. That is a trademark of IBM. And it works really well. It´s been on IBM Thinkpads forever.
This has the be a record time unboxing for this channel. Alex’s technique was rather rough but the job was done much quicker than ever anticipated!
As someone who did support for Hollywood Execs, if Apple did this they would have been ALL over it.
I am hoping LMG would review Lenovo thinkbook 13s which have kinda insane specs/price ratio. I am curious enough to ended up buying one just because I got an Ryzen 7 6800u for ~$700, even though i already have a mbp14 and a good windows desktop as my gaming machine. To cancel the order or not, I am still researching about it but there werent that many reputable reviewers around that product, which is why i found it strange.
I have tgis laptop( from work) The build quality is garbage I already this year replaced it twice because of failing MB And my third one is also getting destroyed 😂😂😂 The bar above the keyboard below the screen is out of place and about to fully come out Thats why its cheap i think I have i5 10th gen 16gb ram and 512 ssd
Ahhh I see, thats the older version, not sure if its been 2 years-ish? This year version includes the same R7 6800U with 16 GB 6400 MHZ DDR5 and PCIE gen 4 M2 and USB-C 4.0, which is why I said it was kinda tempting. I think it is similarly specced with this $1700 laptop but for $700 lol.
I have to agree with the other commenter. The ThinkBook series is pretty much an IdeaPad with better warranty/support. The build quality between ThinkBooks and IdeaPads is pretty much identical: the keyboard, chassis, screen cover, trackpad, quality of materials etc. The ThinkBook is meant for small businesses on the budget that need fast-turnaround warranty repairs and good support and perhaps a few other business features.
Aaahhhh I guess you guys convinced me. Coupled with a really late expected delivery date, 12/05, and its being an unnecessary item, I ended up canceling my thinkbook order :) Oh well...
@@mardiansyah7275 I would really recommend picking up a few year old ThinkPad instead. eBay has a lot of good offers on lightly used ThinkPads.
I just ordered one of these a month ago for my new work computer it will be in on friday!
I appreciate the stats on average hand size to usable keyboard size.
The 40-series of Thinkpads had what’s called the Clunkpad, where they put the buttons for the pointing stick as a single button where the entire trackpad moves up and down. I don’t know if the haptic button will make this uhhh, approach feel less like a war crime
Clunkpad was... clunky. Those new ones... They vibrate. not click. vibrate. Haptic Feedback. It's miles better. For the trackpoint? Worse then buttons, better then the clunk. Miles better then the clunk.
I daily drive a 13 year old thinking pad the thing is an absolute tank!
............
They don't make em like they used to. You still have a decent keyboard.
Thinkpad has it in the Windows battery icon. Drag it down for "cool mode" that downclocks.
could we get the Thinkpad Z16 next? please please wanted to see a Z16 video from you guys the moment it was announced! 😁
I mean for these ultra slim, ultra-light laptops gamers should expect to game at low resolutions (600p-720p) with a 30fps cap... Even if the APU CAN theoretically perform better, the device itself is not designed to run at full tilt. but rather around 50% or below. These devices aren't designed to be gaming devices. I have an old Ryzen 2500U ultra-light & slim laptop and the same strategy apply there. You shouldn't max out performance, instead you should focus on frametime consistency, comfort and battery life.
I wonder why most of modern office laptops have those arrowkey arrangement, where you have big left and right but small up and down keys. I feel very uncomfortable using them, allways miss the key. I also cannot understand the abscence of navigation keys (home, end, page up, page down). Are they not used by the majority of people?
My surface laptop is the same keyboard configuration and it is quite annoying.
The minimum I/O configuration that I deem acceptable is a charging port (either a barrel jack or a USB-C/Thunderbolt port), a USB-C/Thunderbolt port (for docks), a USB-A port (for compatibility), an HDMI port (for projector connectivity on the fly), and a headphone jack. It's honestly not that much to ask for. It's just an extra two ports over what this laptop already has and neither are thicker than the laptop is, so I don't know why it's so much to ask for. Admittedly, though, my preferred configuration includes even more standard USB-A ports. I also wouldn't mind an RJ-45 jack. I don't like having to carry around dongles if I can help it. They get lost easily. Also, not enough stuff has moved to USB-C as its default connectivity, so USB-A ports are still very useful to have. The thing that I've yet to understand is this: Lenovo is at least part if not complete owner of Motorola. Why don't they just steal the camera sensor module out of one of their phones to use as a webcam? Down-sample in software to get to whatever resolution and bitrate you need, but get something with decent raw performance from the beginning. Particularly since this is a laptop designed since the pandemic started, so webcams really ought to have been more important on their checklist than something like lid finishes.
SO TRUE. XPS 17 user here, constantly suffering from completely unstable Interruption of Waves Maxx Audio. For me, the Laptop with or without tuning are both fine. BUT with speakers, Headphones etc., Waves is a pain in the Ass. Sometimes for a month you get completely normal stuff with normal usage. Then connect to the speaker again. Boom. Waves is on without any Sign. And thanks to modernstandby I don't turn off my Laptop at home anymore. Neither do I leave my XPS not shut down completely when taking it anywhere outside.
FINALLY - Ever since the original Macbook Air I've been FUMING at the whole industry copying the wedge shape for laptops. No it doesn't make it 'look thinner', it only does that in advertising photos, all the while being a worse shape for internals and for holding and even just for resting my fing palms on top of it. Last round of upgrades at the company I worked at I REFUSED to get a new (at the time) x280 or something, and instead got them to upgrade my x260 - as that was THE LATEST Fing MODEL to be a rectangle and not a wedge. I even called a few of my friends when apple announced the redesign of their laptops to be more rectangular, because surely that was the only way for the other manufacturers to go back to the much superior laptop shape. Gosh I'm still mad. I'm not sure if this model specifically is for me, but at least it at last shows the industry is moving in a better direction.
Yup, wedge-shaped laptops are incredibly frustrating to use on uneven surfaces.
Me: "I just wanna change my battery" Lenovo: "Leather? Yeah we'll add that no problem"
The camera sound is phenomenal
Will you be reviewing the z16? Very interested in that machine.
This will play any AAA game like a champ with FSR with its rdna2 apu . lack of USB-A and hdmi port is a crime for a ThinkPad. they better fix that next year ..
yeah they didn't give it a fair chance in this video. 680M is amazing
@Goat they dont have their flagship carbon X1 with AMD CPUs. all Mobile Intel CPUs are utter garbage. poor battery and the performance is crap for any cpu that use less than 45w.
Personally, I felt the XPS had a way more natural sounding microphone (less reverb), whereas the Lenovo sounded like the mic amp had been driven too hard and was boomy. It amazes me how bad laptop cameras look in terms of fidelity compared to the front facing camera on most modern smartphones.
The screen being so think unfortunately means Laptop webcams are pretty bad. Now days they’re like half the thickness of a smart phone so they can’t fit the same great cameras :/
dangggg that built in microphone in the laptop is just as good as the one he was using for the video
you guys should do a review on the 16 inch maxed out version of this laptop
Windows modern standby is one of the reasons I went to buy my first Macbook instead of a windows laptop. I dont understand why manufacturers went out of their way to block S3 sleep (probably some dumb*ss contract with Microsoft)
From what I've heard, modern standby is easier to develop for, so lazy manufacturers will always use it even though it's so much worse than S3. Unfortunately, S3 sleep requires BIOS support, so there's no way to enable it without serious bugs.
@@nocommentarygaming2644 S3 will not make your laptop catch fire while it is in backpack. “Modern” standby will. It just does not work. It is just amazing how long has this been going on.
@@erenatas I completely agree. There is a way to "tone down" modern standby by disabling network connectivity in standby through the registry. Even after that, it's still not near as good as S3, though. Microsoft just uses "slightly faster boot-up time" as an excuse for BIOS developers to do less work.
ThinkPads have a setting in Bios where you can choose between S3 sleep and modern standby, but AFAIK Windows still will force modern standby
@@vcprocles Wow, respect to Lenovo for doing that. There is a registry hack to force S3 sleep, but on my ASUS laptop it just restarts every 10 minutes while in S3 sleep and crashes shortly after waking up. Unfortunately, most manufacturers are too lazy to care about their users, so they won't support S3 in the BIOS anymore.
You know it is 2022 when you cannot even plug your mouse into a computer anymore.
dongle exists?
Bluetooth….. are you really using a wired mouse still?
@@XxTooMuchStupidxXmost of this audience have a gaming focus. Wired or wireless with a dongle (RF) is almost always lower latency so I would imagine most the people here are using a mouse that connects via USB type A.
Video idea. Can you guys hot rod cool a laptop like you did with the steam deck? Im theorizing a mobile streaming setup for when I travel, and a modded laptop like this might be perfect as an all in one streaming solution for indie games played with a controller. Just needs a little more cooling
Just for clarification: No cows actually die _specifically_ for leather. Leather is taken from cows slaughtered for other things (mostly meat).
As much as it pains me to say it, I credit Apple's switch to unibody aluminum laptops way back in 2007 to the huge leap in laptop build quality across the board, especially in the $700 - $1500 price range. They also deserve credit for the excellent trackpads we now have today. Even all these years later they're still top dog in that category.
No, the z13 is built better than the MacBook.
We just got one of these for the company CEO. She love it! It really is a well built machine with a premium feel.
We also got one for one of the upper management guys. We got the OLED edition and I think it's really really nice. compared to some older "workstation" considered laptop it's fast as heck (in compiling).
13:02 "You should have that on the other side as well" the way I screamed internally-
the way alex described the keyboard. it reminds me of my slim pro 7 x 14 AMD. lenovo makes very nice devices.
7:31 I half expected him to say for Lenovo to tell Microsoft that they're switching to Linux, I really hoped he would :( ThinkPads are so good with Linux they should ship it by default
You can choose to ship some of their models with Linux. You can also get them without windows if that's what you want. Most PC users still want or need Windows for the best software support.
@@disadadi8958just ordered another ThinkPad (somehow found an X1 yoga gen3 for sub £200) and the first thing I'm gonna do when I get it out the box is switch to Linux lmao
Lenovo's slim laptops are really good and durable but that keyboard heating problem is true even on my X1 Carbon. It's unbearable even with the most basic tasks for work it heats up.
I get bad heating on my yoga 7 but only on the bar above not the actual keyboard. Only really heats up when doing renders or gaming though.
Hello! Great video! I’m stuck between two options. Based solely only on the best display. Which display is better xps13 3.5k oled or the Z13 2.8k oled display? Im a content creator. Please help on your advice
I really, really think we need some more objective points of reference for the webcam. This one had very nice colour, but that blockiness looked absolutely awful in full screen video - however! What about in an actual Zoom/Teams call with a tiny little picture?
I waited 6 months from the announcement of this laptop to buy it, ended up going with an X1 Carbon instead because otherwise I would miss out on tax time sales, still very happy with my choice but this is a very awesome looking laptop
I remember when Alex was a nervous wreck and hated when he hosted a video, now, he's a damn pro, A+
I had a second hand Thinkpad in college. That thing was built like a tank. I totally abused that thing gaming wise and it never failed me.
Yes the old thinkpads were indistructable, but they are no longer sadly
@Julian Could you elaborate?
exactly, 2 things prevented me from using PCs anymore: sleep/hibernating too slow, constant updates where your current work and apps are not there anymore as the computer has reset itself! maybe the 3rd one being the constant fan noise on whatever you’re doing. maybe arm supported windows that would have apple like response times coming out from sleep / hibernation AND a work environment that keeps itself together without losing all the settings, apps, work…like on a mac..would bring me back again. otherwise I like windows
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*insert Squidward saying "NO." to Mr. Krabs here*
Stop kissing arse
If you have to chose between dropping the trackpad or TrackPoint on a device that size , drop the trackpad
Never understood the like for the trackpoint. Feels so uncomfortable for me.
@@hitmanslayer3003 It is also absolute shite at its only job. Moving a mouse pointer. Let alone the lack of gestures etc.
With current very thin bezels, the old 13 inch is now 14 inch. With a 14 inch they could give that bit extra battery, better cooling (thus better power) and decent hand rest when typing. It's really just a missed opportunity.
The fact that it's functional out of the box makes it an improvement on the last Lenovo laptop I bought, but I have no desire to ever deal with their customer service ever again.