Executive Editor, Lenovo would do well to figure out a way to narrow its screen bezels to rival Dell's XPS. When the newest models start shipping later in 2020 with starting price of $1,499, these corporate laptops will offer Intel's 10th-generation Comet Lake CPUs fortified with vPro security. Next is Maxon's CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. There are two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports (one of which doubles for charging the laptop), two USB 3.1 ports, a full-size HDMI port, and a 3.5mm combo headphone/mic jack. Today's test unit features a 1.7GHz Core i5-10310U processor, 8GB of memory, a 256GB NVMe solid-state drive, and a full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) non-touch IPS display. We'll look forward to learning more about the CPU and the laptop it runs if we have an opportunity to review this model. After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test. Business notebooks, especially ultraportables, simply aren't built to play games or shine in gaming simulations like 3DMark. The design, layout and action of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon's keyboard makes for one of the best typing experiences available on a laptop. Another, always-on USB-A 3.2 port is at the right, along with the power button and a Kensington cable-lockdown slot. Right side (above): power button; USB 3.1; Kensington lock slot. The Dell XPS 15 I reviewed recently packs a 15.6-inch screen into a chassis measuring 344mm wide by 230mm deep by 18mm thick. For the record, we're giving the Carbon Gen 8 only four and a half stars instead of a perfect five, because it's not perfect—it has no microSD card slot. The Enter key is large, and Lenovo has even managed to make the arrow keys, which often suffer on smaller keyboards, pretty sizeable by extending the keyboard area beneath them a few millimetres into the wrist rest. Long workdays, transcontinental flights, and catch-up evenings in business hotels will be no problem. The 720p webcam captures good color and is free of digital noise, but the picture is soft-focus, bordering on blotchy. While it couldn't keep up with the hot-rod T14s, the Carbon aced our most important test, exceeding the 4,000 points that indicate outstanding productivity in PCMark 10. This all adds up to one of the most comfortable laptop keyboard experiences around. VAT; £1,679.99 inc. VAT). VAT; £1,369.99 inc. VAT) and £1,716.66 (ex. The T14s and its Radeon Graphics integrated silicon led the way in this contest, but even it is blown away by almost any gaming laptop with a discrete GPU. The good news is that the battery charges quickly: Lenovo says it can go from 0-80% in an hour. Screen brightness was automatically set to 80%, which I found fine. Left side (top): USB-C Thunderbolt 3 (always on); USB-C thunderbolt 3 and network extension for Ethernet dongle/dock; USB 3.1; HDMI; 3.5mm audio in/out. We know the major specs for the next ThinkPad X1 Carbon, listed below. You agree to receive updates, alerts, and promotions from the CBS family of companies - including ZDNet’s Tech Update Today and ZDNet Announcement newsletters. The Photoshop test stresses the CPU, storage subsystem, and RAM, but it can also take advantage of most GPUs to speed up the process of applying filters. A tech journalist since the TRS-80 and Apple II days, Grevstad specializes in lightweight laptops, all-in-one desktops, and productivity software, all of which he uses when commuting and telecommuting between PC Labs and a cat-filled home office in Old Greenwich, CT. Email him at homeoffice.eric@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @EricGrevstad. Next up is another synthetic graphics test, this time from Unigine Corp. Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene, this one rendered in the eponymous Unigine engine for a second opinion on the machine's graphical prowess. The screen in my review unit was a 14-inch IPS panel with FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, 400 nits brightness and an anti-glare coating. Terms of Use, Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless noise-canceling headset review: Making the world better through a flawless music listening experience, Apple macOS Big Sur preview: The look-and-feel of Macs to come, Brydge 12.3 Pro Plus keyboard hands-on: Skip the Type Cover and enjoy your Microsoft Surface Pro on your lap, Hands on with the Akaso Brave 7 LE action camera: Perfect for vloggers and time-lapse videos, Galaxy Tab S7 Plus first look: The business device to buy for S Pen use, Intel Core i5-10210U, Windows 10 Home, 14.0-inch 1,920 x 1,200 anti-glare 400 nits non touch screen, Intel UHD Graphics, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Intel Core i7-10510U, Windows 10 Pro, 14.0-inch 1,920 x 1,200 anti-glare 400 nits non touch screen, Intel UHD Graphics, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel Core i7-10610U, Windows 10 Pro, 14.0-inch 1,920 x 1,200 anti-glare 400 nits non touch screen, Intel UHD Graphics, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD. They have a soft-touch feel that adds to the positive action and they click quietly. Both yield a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better. If you don't need the LTE, you would see little difference with the starter machine. In the US, prices start at $1,331.40 and top out at $2,207.40. It's conceivable that a Carbon owner might spend an hour or two with a casual or browser-based game, but it's far from a priority. (The current generation of ThinkPad X1 Carbon already uses the first wave of 10th-gen chips without vPro.) You may unsubscribe from these newsletters at any time. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon (8th Gen) has a 14-inch screen in a chassis with a desktop footprint that's only slightly smaller (323mm x 218mm). Lenovo uses the Dolby Atmos 4-speaker system, which includes profiles for use cases including movie, music, voice and gaming, has a dynamic profiling setting that will adjust depending on what you're listening to, and allows you to save three personalised profiles. Formerly editor-in-chief of Home Office Computing, Eric Grevstad is a contributing editor for PCMag and Computer Shopper, where he earlier served as lead laptop analyst and executive editor, respectively. The only question marks surround the screen bezels and the touchpad: Lenovo needs to consider how it might shrink the former and grow the latter. The screen lays flat to a desk, but does not swivel any further. As noted earlier, Lenovo claims 19.5 hours of battery life for the high-capacity 51Wh battery, which I suspect would be a bit of a stretch to achieve in everyday use. Two grilles sit on the underside of the chassis where they are in danger of being muffled, and two are above the keyboard. Lenovo's famously durable, yet lightweight ThinkPad X1 Carbon reaches its 8th generation with even more power and safety features. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. There are lots of good laptops, but it's rare to find one repeatedly described as the best laptop you can buy. As before, fidelity does drop if you push the volume to 100%, but at 80% it's fine, and I never felt the need to go higher. Project Athena, unveiled at CES 2019, is Intel's program to drive innovation in laptop development. The eighth generation of Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon (starts at $1,331; $1,888 as tested) carries that history, having racked up more rave reviews and awards than any notebook we can think of except possibly the Dell XPS 13.