Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano review

Featuring up to 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processors and Intel Xe Graphics, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is an incredibly light and portable 13-inch laptop with a weight just under 1kg.

To be Intel Evo certified, laptops should be able to wake from sleep in less than a second, offer at least 9 hours of real-world battery life (with 1080p displays) and support fast charging (four hours of power with just 30 minutes of charge), include Tiger Lake processors, Wi-Fi 6 and Intel’s new Thunderbolt 4 standard.

With a 48Wh battery that can deliver up to 13 hours of battery life on a single charge, the ThinkPad X1 Nano is perfect for today’s work-anywhere lifestyles with its Tiger Lake processor, Thunderbolt 4 support, and the beautiful 2K 13-inch display.

The ThinkPad X1 Nano supports fast charging with the supplied 65-watt charger, users can also use standard USB-C or USB-C Power Delivery (PD) chargers.

Specifications

Packaging, Design & Build Quality

The ThinkPad X1 Nano arrives in a brown cardboard box. Inside are the laptop, charging adapter and manuals.

The X1 Nano comes in a single black color, the other option is a carbon fiber weave design (black with a texture). The laptop has a carbon fiber and magnesium chassis making it super light and durable, but is prone to fingerprints due to the rubberized coating. With its dimensions of 292.8mm x 208mm x 13.87mm and a weight just under 1Kg, it can be easily carried around wherever you go.

Ports

There are just two ports on the X1 Nano and they are all located on the left side of the laptop. This includes 2x USB4 Thunderbolt 4 which lets you enjoy dual 4K and single 8K display connection using one Thunderbolt port.

Or you can connect an external GPU which can then connect to external displays. This way you use the secondary port to connect to a dock and add some ports. Located is here also the headphone/mic combo jack.

In terms of wireless connectivity, it comes with a built‑in dual‑band WiFi 6 (802.11ax) wireless network card and Bluetooth 5.2.

Display

The X1 Nano features a matte 13-inch in 16:10 ratio format. The IPS display has a 2K resolution (2160 x 1350). It features a refresh rate of 60Hz and 100% sRGB color coverage. The display also supports Dolby Vision HDR.

Colors are rich, vibrant and really pack a punch with no signs of stuttering or ghosting, and the viewing angles are good. At the top of the display is a HD webcam with support for Windows Hello facial recognition and features a privacy shutter.

Keyboard & Trackpad

The backlit keyboard two levels of brightness intensity to choose from. It has a short key-travel and offers good resistance. The first row of function keys are smaller in size which allows adjusting simple things like screen brightness, multimedia controls etc. Typing experience is good and has solid feedback.

The laptop features a fingerprint sensor, so you don’t have to go through multiple steps or worry about forgetting your password.

Coming to the touchpad, the X1 Nano features Microsoft Precision touchpad, which has physical buttons above it. it’s easy to navigate, multi-touch gestures are recognized and handled properly. The ThinkPad X1 Nano also features the iconic ThinkPad TrackPoint that lets you control the mouse pointer.

Performance

Powered by the 11th Generation Intel Core i7-1160G7 processor, The X1 Nano offers up to 16GB of LPDDRX4 4266MHz RAM, Intel Iris Xe graphics and 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD storage.

The performance benchmark is respectable due to the smaller chassis with limited thermal space.

CPU

The i7-1160G7 has four cores at a clock frequency of 1.20 GHz each reaching up to 4.40 GHz with eight threads, offering good multitasking performance.

GPU

The X1 Nano is powered by the new Intel Xe graphics which is powerful enough for daily tasks, work and photo editing. However, gaming performance is really poor and most games fail to achieve playable frame rates in full resolution/quality.

RAM

In terms of RAM, the X1 Nano is equipped with 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM at a frequency of 4266MHz.

STORAGE

Our review unit came with a 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD. However, depending on the region, they may be different. The SSD offers respectable performance with read speeds of up to 2,484MB per second and write of up to 1,815MB on CrystalDiskMark.

BENCHMARKS

In Cinebench R20 tests, the i7 1160G7 scored 398 in single core benchmark and 1,718 in multi-core benchmark. In PCMark 10 Benchmark, the X1 Nano scored 4,261.

Since this isn’t a laptop built for gaming, we haven’t benchmarked any games with the X1 Nano With the said the hardware can run games at low-res with low quality settings.

Temperature & Noise

With typical day-to-day tasks and using the silent profile, the noise and heat remained at very low levels. Even with resource-intensive tasks, the noise is minimal and the laptop does not get too excessively warm.

Upgradability

In terms of upgradability, the RAM is soldered on board and isn’t upgradeable. There is no slot for a second NVMe SSD either.

Battery & Audio

The X1 Nano comes with a small 45Wh lithium-polymer battery and with USB-C power delivery it can work with chargers as powerful as 65W for a rapid charging.

On paper, it’s rated for about 13 hours of battery life. On a full charge, based on the usage and screen brightness, the laptop lasts between 8 to 10 hours.

There is Dolby Atmos audio on the ThinkPad X1 Nano, with two speakers above the keyboard and two below the laptop. The volume isn’t very loud but works great for phone calls and music. But as with most laptops, we recommend using a headset.

Verdict

The X1 Nano is made primarily for frequent travelers. It is lightweight, slim as a book and features good hardware. In addition to the great battery life, the ultralight laptop features a Tiger Lake processor, Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 2K 13-inch display.

In terms of performance, the Core i7-1160G7 is great for everyday tasks and work. The downsides here are that the RAM and SSD are not upgradeable and the starting price is really steep.