Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 Review (Intel 165U, 16GB, 14" PrivacyGuard)

A review of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12 business laptop. (Intel Core Ultra 7 165U, 16GB LPDDR5x-6400, 512GB PCIe Gen4 NMVe M.2 2280 SSD, Intel Graphics 4-core Arc iGPU, 14" PrivacyGuard)
One of Lenovo's best-selling business laptops is the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Now in its 12th generation, the X1 gets a major facelift, new Meteor Lake processors and updated display panels. Is it enough to keep it ahead of the competition?
00:00 Introduction
00:21 Design
01:23 Green Credentials
01:33 Upgrade Options
02:00 Display
03:20 Connectivity
04:26 Keyboard & Touchpad
06:04 Audio & Webcam
06:26 Audio Samples
07:24 Performance
08:38 Benchmarking Results
10:22 CPU, Fans & Temps
12:24 Target Audience
12:33 Graphics
12:59 Gaming
13:12 Gaming Samples
14:33 Security
15:02 Battery Life
15:30 The Good, The Bad and the Really Bad
15:32 Polished Design
15:44 Good Inputs
15:56 Wicked Webcam
16:11 Decent Ports
16:23 Purring Audio
16:38 Finicky Fans
16:50 Pitiful Battery Life
17:04 Enterprise Expensive
17:26 What Privacy?
17:50 Competition
18:27 Summary
19:32 Outro
Gaming benchmarking results
Apex Legends 38 FPS High 1200P
Counter Strike 2 32 FPS High 1200P
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty 9 FPS 1200p Low
GTA V 31 FPS 1080P High
Helldivers 2 11 FPS 1080P Medium
Red Dead Redemption 2 12 FPS 1080P Medium
Fortnite 30 FPS 1080P High
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III 54 FPS 1080P High
MUSIC: Like It Loud - Dyalla
Wallpapers: / @vibevaultmusic
If you wish to purchase or need support for this device (UK only), please contact us at www.dovecomputers.com. We are Microsoft / Lenovo Partners.
Let us know what videos you would like to see from us!
Facebook: Facebook.com/dovecomputers
Twitter: @dovecomputers
Instagram: @dovecomputers
LinkedIn: Dove Computer Solutions Ltd
We own no rights or claim to the TV shows and games shown in this review.
UK SKU: UK SKU: 21KC006DUK £2,037.49p + VAT (£2,444.99p inc. VAT)
Model: Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12
Alternatives:
Intel Core Ultra 7 165U, 64GB, 2TB, 5G WWAN, 2.8K OLED, £2,245.83p + VAT (£2,695 inc. VAT)
Competition::
HP EliteBook 840 G11
Dell Latitude 7440
ASUS ExpertBook B9 OLED (B9403)
Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 5
HUAWEI MateBook X Pro (2024)
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
MSI Prestige 14 AI Evo C1M
Acer TravelMate P6 14
ASUS Zenbook 14 OLED (UM3406)
#Lenovo #ThinkPad #X1Carbon

[@juanzuniga1064]

Awesomely detailed review! Many thanks!

[@GeordiLaForgery]

Nice to see such a detailed thinkpad review. The keyboard button travel doesn't look as deep as older models but glad to hear it's still excellent.

[@daralcantara1860]

My gen 6 still working great! Just the battery is only charging to 80%. So, the T14s is my optional replacement.

[@ojwh]

Solid.

[@nguyencobap]

Waiting for T14 gen 5 AMD review from your channel

[@Dovecomputers]

Working on The ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 (Intel) review as we speak! 😉

[@yu-gi-oase7498]

is there a possibity to get the haptic touchpad working on linux?

[@LucianLatife]

Seems the better option would be to go with the T14 or P14s?

[@Dovecomputers]

Working on The ThinkPad P14s Gen 5 (Intel) review as we speak! 😉

[@Pigletsyes]

After seeing this review I'm glad I bought a ThinkBook instead

[@KC-uf1rg]

P1 G7 next please 🥺 no one is reviewing that laptop

[@Dovecomputers]

It's on my radar! 👍

[@joshuamclean1417]

I bought one last week (I have a gen 5 too), it’s not great, don’t keep your hopes up. Terrible latency with the keyboard and that haptic touchpad, hopefully they fix their drivers. Battery life is a bit better (165h + rtx3000). I use it for solidworks and performance is better on my gen 5 with a 12700h + a1000. I/O score on the solidworks benchmark is also super bad on the g7, I think due to the core camm2 memory. Memory scored really low on passmark too

[@barrykandell623]

Don't talk so fast but excellent review

[@rakesh273276]

Waiting for T14 and T14s gen 5 models

[@reflectionrecon]

What is the diffrence between T14 & T14s?

[@Dovecomputers]

T14s = slimmer + soldered on memory.

[@akin242002]

I like that the SSD is upgradable with a 2280 SSD and good ports. This makes it easy to work with for the user and IT department technicians. All employees dealing with data analysis, finance, and accounting will like it. Weakness is the 4 core ARC iGPU. It is barely above Intel Iris XE (worst iGPU on the market). Hard pass for gaming, video editing, or any intensive use of the GPU. Also, the battery life is worse than the previous iteration (X1 Carbon Gen 11).

[@kartunka]

Could you please tell me if the 2.8K OLED display is gloss or matte because it's not very clear from the specs?

[@andy5434]

I looked at other reviews and the oled screen looks matte.

[@elmoe01]

That battery life is horrendous!