The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition exudes elegance and offers a premium user experience. However, its high price tag doesn’t quite align with its middling performance and average battery life, especially when compared to more affordable competitors. This review dives into the details of this sleek laptop to determine if its premium feel justifies the cost.
Lenovo continues its ThinkPad legacy with the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition. This laptop boasts a new Intel Lunar Lake processor, a vibrant OLED display with an effective anti-glare finish, and the signature ThinkPad build quality, all within a compact and lightweight chassis.
However, this premium experience comes at a steep $2,519. With numerous competing systems offering better value, the question arises: does the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition justify its premium price? Let’s explore its features and performance to find out.
Specs and Features
Currently, the Aura Edition is available in two configurations, primarily differentiated by storage capacity. While our review unit had 512GB, the base model now offers a more generous 1TB. This is a welcome change, as 512GB felt inadequate for a laptop exceeding $2,000. The included storage is high-quality, boasting impressive read and write speeds, leveraging the PCIe bandwidth effectively.
Here’s a breakdown of the key specifications:
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V
- Memory: 32GB LPDDR5x
- Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V
- Display: 14-inch 2880×1800 OLED, 120Hz
- Storage: 512GB PCIe Gen5 SSD (1TB base model)
- Webcam: 1080p+IR
- Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C, 2x USB-A 5Gbps, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x 3.5mm combo audio, 1x Kensington Nano lock slot
- Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
- Biometrics: Windows Hello fingerprint, facial recognition
- Battery capacity: 57 watt-hours
- Dimensions: 12.31 x 8.45 x 0.56 inches
- Weight: 2.15 pounds
- MSRP: $2,519 as-tested ($2,519 base)
Design and Build Quality
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Aura Edition design
Lenovo’s expertise in laptop design shines through in the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition. The combination of carbon fiber, aluminum, and magnesium creates a lightweight, thin, and robust chassis. The soft-touch finish adds a touch of luxury, although it does attract fingerprints. The 14-inch display, surrounded by thin bezels, maximizes screen real estate. A small lip above the display houses the camera, IR sensor, and a privacy shutter. The wide hinge allows for easy adjustments and folds flat.
The classic ThinkPad keyboard features the iconic TrackPoint nib and a dedicated trackpad. While wide, the trackpad is somewhat small due to the laptop’s compact size. Lenovo retains the practical inverted-T arrow keys and dedicated Page Up/Down buttons. The function row is thoughtfully clustered for easy navigation, and white backlighting enhances visibility in low-light conditions. Unconventionally, the power button is located on the right edge, making it slightly difficult to access. The ventilation system is discreet, with exhaust vents integrated into the hinge slot and two small fans on the underside.
Keyboard and Trackpad
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Aura Edition keyboard
The X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition boasts a quality ThinkPad keyboard. The keys offer decent stabilization, short but snappy travel, and clear tactile feedback, contributing to accurate typing. However, they aren’t the most responsive, potentially due to the soft dome switches and less-than-perfect stabilization.
The trackpad’s sensitivity can be erratic, especially during demanding tasks. Scrolling occasionally stutters or mistakenly registers as mouse movement. While wide, the trackpad’s limited vertical space, due to the physical buttons above, can hinder scrolling through long webpages. The TrackPoint nib provides an alternative input method, particularly useful for scrolling, though it lacks the precision of the trackpad.
Display and Audio
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 straight on
The X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition features a stunning OLED display with a highly effective anti-glare finish. This allows for comfortable viewing even at lower brightness settings, while maintaining sharp visuals. With a peak brightness of 409 nits and support for HDR highlights, the display remains vibrant even in bright environments.
The 2880×1800 resolution on the 14-inch panel delivers exceptional sharpness. The display boasts vibrant colors, covering 100% of the DCI-P3 color space, and exceptional contrast. The 120Hz refresh rate ensures smooth scrolling and enhances gaming and media consumption. Color accuracy is impressive, making it suitable for professional use.
The speakers deliver surprisingly powerful audio with notable bass. While there’s a slight hint of being boxed in, the sound is generally clear with decent stereo separation. However, some harshness in the higher frequencies can make loud music less enjoyable.
Webcam, Microphone, and Biometrics
The 1080p webcam with Windows Hello facial recognition captures crisp images in well-lit conditions, but image quality degrades in dimmer environments. Facial recognition is fast and reliable. A fingerprint sensor next to the Copilot key provides a quick alternative for biometric login.
The microphones capture clear audio in quiet environments but exhibit some room echo. Dolby Voice Noise Suppression effectively eliminates background noise in noisy settings, but it can make voices sound compressed.
Connectivity
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 ports side
The X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition offers a comprehensive selection of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. While an SD card reader would have been a welcome addition, the existing port selection is generous for a thin and light laptop. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 provide reliable wireless connectivity.
Performance
Despite its Intel Core Ultra 7 258V processor, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition’s performance is underwhelming. While adequate for everyday tasks, it lags behind competitors in multi-core workloads. Fast memory and storage contribute to respectable PCMark 10 scores, but CPU-intensive tasks reveal its limitations.
In Handbrake and Cinebench benchmarks, the X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition falls behind competitors with AMD processors and even older Intel CPUs. While single-core performance is relatively strong, multi-core performance suffers, impacting performance in demanding applications.
The Intel Arc 140V integrated graphics performs adequately, placing it in the mid-range among competitors. However, it could have achieved better results with further optimization.
