Lenovo ThinkPadThink X1 Nano Gen1
An incredibly lightlig and compact laptop that’s packed with power,pow but the high asking pricepric hurts
SCORE
PRICE £1,675 (£2,010 inc in VAT) from lenovo.com
We all know that technologies technolog follow trends, es especially when it comes to siz size. Right now the mantra is more about going big, with homeworkers in particular appreciating large screens afforded by machines such as the LG Gram 17 ( see p51). With the aptly named Nano, Lenovo is bucking the trend. Jump from the LG Gram 17 to this and you feel much like Alice when she ill-advisedly consumed the “Drink Me” potion.
Both machines share one thing in common, and that’s a low weight. At 952g on the PC Pro scales, the Nano feels almost weightless in the hand and in the bag. Ideally, you want to leave the 65W USB-C charger at home as it weighs 329g and uses the ratand-tail design; Lenovo should follow Honor’s literal lead and switch to a more compact phone-style adapter.
The good news is that the Nano should last for the clichéd working day, as it kept going for 8hrs 50mins in our video-rundown test. That’s almost identical to two similarly light corporate laptops, the 870g Dynabook Portégé X30L ( see issue 312, p84) and the 1kg HP Elite Dragonfly ( see issue 307, p56), but the ThinkPad is faster than both those machines due to the latest-generation Intel silicon inside.
Lenovo gives the Core i7-1160G7 every chance in life by providing
16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD. The latter isn’t the fastest around, with sequential reads of 2,238MB/sec and writes of 1,654MB/sec, but the trio of components combined to great effect in our benchmarks to score 137 overall. As that indicates, Lenovo squeezes in plenty of active cooling despite the Nano’s 13.9mm depth.
There’s even gaming potential courtesy of Intel’s Xe graphics, with a 1,416 return in 3DMark’s Time Spy test, 69fps in the onscreen GFXBench Car Chase benchmark and respectable averages of 71fps and 43fps in Dirt: Showdown and Metro: Last Light at 1080p (High settings). As these results indicate, undemanding games are playable at the screen’s native resolution of 2,160 x 1,350.
That’s an unusual resolution, but the 16:10 aspect ratio is familiar. Likewise the quality of this nontouch IPS screen, which is tuned for the sRGB colour space: it covers 97% out of a 100% volume, so expect subdued colours compared to the wide-gamut Gram 17. Still, they’re accurate (the Nano’s average Delta E was 0.39) and a peak brightness of 483cd/m2 means you can use this laptop outside in bright conditions. Thanks to a matte surface and antiglare coverings, it’s just as at home in a bright office with overhead fluorescent lighting.
The keyb keyboard is yet another strength: Lenovo Le provides a welldefined acti action with plenty of punch. Few people will notice that the travel is jus just a fraction shorter than Lenovo’s fu full-sized laptops, and all the ThinkPa ThinkPad trademarks are here: a large Enter key, minimal function do doubling (note the semiseparated cursor keys) keys and a trackpoint trackp embedded in i the middle of th the keyboard. The glass-coated glass-c touchpad is a pleasure to use too.
“At 952g on the PC Pro scales, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen1 feels almost weightless in the hand and in the bag”
Lenovo doubles down on Windows 10 Pro’s security features, with a fingerprint reader to accompany the infrared camera for seamless login, while providing a mechanical cover for the 720p webcam. And applause for Lenovo here: while a 720p resolution is nothing special, it avoids the normal fuzzy horror show of laptop webcams and captures voices clearly. There’s no need for a dedicated webcam.
That’s fortunate, because there wouldn’t be anywhere to plug it. Lenovo follows Apple’s connection template, providing two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. These offer tremendous performance, up to a theoretical 40Gbits/sec, along with support for displays and power delivery, but aside from a 3.5mm jack that’s it. I’ll offer my usual advice of buying a USB-C monitor that includes plenty of ports – ideally Ethernet too, although Wi-Fi 6 is on hand.
The other wireless inclusion of note is 5G support, with a nano SIM tray tucked away at the rear, and this goes a little way to justifying the Nano’s price. As do a number of useful extras that make it easier for users to keep this system protected (via Lenovo’s Commercial Vantage software) and for IT managers to keep control remotely. Also note that the SSD is userupgradable, with the bottom plate easy to remove, and there’s no shortage of warranty options.
If someone offers to buy you a Nano, say yes. But is it a great use of IT budgets, or of your own money?
I’m not convinced. With HP due to release an updated Dragonfly, and the Dynabook Portégé X30L delivering similar performance for around £400 less, it falls several nanometres short of a full PC Pro recommendation.
SPECIFICATIONS TIONS
Four-core 2.1GHz GHz (4.4GHz burst) Intel Core i7-1160G7 60G7 processor
Intel I lI Iris i X Xe graphics hics 16GB LPDD4RX RAM (4,266MHz) 266MHz) 13in non-touch IPS display, ay, 2,160 x 1,350 resolution 512GB M.2 2 PCIe SSD 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth h 5.1 supports 5G
2 x Thunderbolt bolt 4 (USB-C)
3.5mm combo jack 720p IR webcam 48Wh battery Windows 10 Pro 293 x 208 x 13.9mm 3.9mm (WDH) 952g 1yr C&R warranty