Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga G1: A $100 Ultrabook in 2023

[@MikeDancy]

Hey! Thanks for the shout out @6:06 Yes, I'm the the Knowledge Computers sales guy in case you're looking for a machine :)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

No problem! Thanks for hooking me up!

[@herrfaust2020]

Are you the Knowledge Computers in Duncan? Only been to Duncan once, when I took the PCL to Chemainus :-) . Not in need now, but maybe near the end of the year.

[@MikeDancy]

@@herrfaust2020 I'm in the Toronto office but feel free to swing by the Duncan office and I can set up a quick tour for you

[@herrfaust2020]

@@MikeDancy - Thanks. I'm in Vancouver and don't get to the island much, but it is always nice to have choices :-) .

[@catgirl_eva]

It's amazing what you can get for $100 or less these days. I actually recently got an X240 for right around $80 before shipping and tax. It's one of the higher end models too!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, if you know, you can get so much value.

[@catgirl_eva]

@@LaptopRetrospective And if you know your way around a motherboard, you can make that value stretch so far!

[@603840Jrg]

It's kind of unfortunate that the RAM is soldered on this model. Was going to buy one for college but ended up on a spiffy E480 and upgraded the RAM to 32GB, what should be considered the min spec for Chromium-based browsers lol

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah the soldered RAM is par for the course for a device like this.

[@ekoprasetiyo]

Can we desoldered the RAM chip and solder the bigger one?

[@603840Jrg]

@@ekoprasetiyo You definitely can but there's no guarantee it'll work and there's a chance of shorting something out if a resistor or cap that's there on the higher RAM models isn't there, and even worse if the board itself doesn't have pads for them

[@LaptopRetrospective]

If you have the skill and tools. Many don't.

[@ted-b]

Nice little machine, great if you are on a budget, great review.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks Ted!

[@rocketscientist007]

Bought one of these a few months ago to complement my X1 Carbon Gen 6. The X1 Yoga is I7-6500U with the FHD+ IPS panel. The 512GB M.2 SSD is SATA but the slot is compatible with NVME. Most models shipped had the SATA drive. Also got the OneLink+ Dock (40A4) with 90W power brick.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Sounds like a great team of machines!

[@rocketscientist007]

@@LaptopRetrospective The X1 Yoga was $170 + $30 for the dock. The WQHD IPS panel on my X1 Carbon Gen 6 is 500 nits. Add another, X395, same as T495s, but AMD Ryzen.

[@wmatatan1]

Might go on a bit of a tangent here, but I was looking for an affordable convertible laptop/tablet. As I was watching this exact video, I was on ebay, and I was debating between a X1 Yoga Gen 3 (and up) or a X1 Tablet 3rd gen. I was astonished by some of the deals I found. After doing tons of research, I managed to scoop up a X1 Tablet Gen 3, with the i7-8650U, 16 gigs of RAM, and 512Gb NVMe SSD and as a bonus, it came with the LTE module from the factory. It's an amazing ultraportable, and not only do I get touch and pen support for my OneNote needs, I can use WWAN wherever I have cell service. Also since it's 8th gen Intel, official Win11 support is super clutch.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Glad you found something, let us know what you think of it once you use it.

[@human-V-oid]

hey, can you pls make a video on the x1 yoga gen 3 and do a little comparison with this one

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I'd love to and if I ever have a G3 show up I will.

[@cannibalholocaust3015]

Own one, i7 with 16GB. Unfortunately fan has quit & getting exact spare is difficult. So light and powerful, did get hot though

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Really? No luck on the fan?

[@cannibalholocaust3015]

I’d replaced it before once, only place I can find is Ali express and they’re looking $70 or so. V annoying how specific fans are , can’t use any other type. @@LaptopRetrospective

[@totome2206]

I just bought for my daughter a x380 I5 yoga for 150€ For sure much better than a new entry price laptop. Buying older pro laptop is always a good deal I have a x1 carbon gen3 I7 touch wqhd and a fujitsu u904 I7 touch wqhd still running great

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Definitely bargains to be had, no question about it.

[@whitebeartigtig]

needed something cheap and portable, and found an i5 model with the 1440p touch screen and 8GB RAM for £128, and it's in super good shape too! When I'm doing real work, I'll be using remote desktop to access my PC at home, but for just web browsing it'll be pretty great. Comes with the 52Wh battery, so probably not OLED, but even IPS is still pretty sweet. I haven't got the machine yet, but will within the next few days!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Let us know how things go when you get it. 👍

[@whitebeartigtig]

@@LaptopRetrospective As suspected, it's the 1440p IPS model, which is still wonderful. Also happens to have the LTE card installed too, pretty handy. This is actually my first thinkpad, and I love the thing already. Spent most of the night getting it set up the way I like it. The touch screen is good and all, but I absolutely love the pen input too, feels nearly exactly like my Wacom tablet, well because it is, just a little more slippery. I don't think I could have got a better laptop for this price. Btw this is replacing my fully specced out Dell Precision 7530, so yeah, not going to be as fast, but it sure as hell is portable.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That's awesome! Glad you got it safely and it's meeting expectations.

[@herrfaust2020]

Love this machine. If you have it in your hand, you can tell it's a premium machine. Sadly, each generation of the X1 Yogas seem to lose a bit: the Windows button, the "rectractable" keyboard, the little rubber feet on the keyboard deck, actual volume buttons, microSD card slot. I'm lucky enough to have the OLED panel. It does not come with the anti-glare sticker that the other panels have. While I couldn't tell just by looking at it that it was an OLED, the quality certainly stood out. If you go into the BIOS hardware test menu, it will say what the panel is. OLED is Samsung ATNA40JU01-0. I think only the i7 models had the option for 16GB RAM. The 2240 m.2 slot does not accept an SATA SSD. For NVMe, I plugged in a 2280 and it was not recognized, but maybe there was a loose connection (since I couldn't screw it in). No antennas preinstalled in models that didn't come with a WWAN card. PS. I don't use touchpads, but I did notice how smooth it was. It's glass.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for sharing the model for the OLED. 👍

[@rionugroho1403]

Which X1 Yoga version that have USB C charging 🔋⚡

[@LaptopRetrospective]

G2 and onward I believe.

[@rionugroho1403]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thanks man

[@LaptopRetrospective]

You're welcome.

[@mysteryman7024]

Hi there I have a Lenovo ThinkPad x1 Yoga but I'm not sure which generation it is. Its processor is i7-6600U can you tell me which generation it is, please? I'd appreciate that very much thanks

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Best way to tell is to look at the model number or serial number on the bottom. Entering either into the Lenovo Support website should pull up your model.

[@mysteryman7024]

@LaptopRetrospective Thank you 4 answering, but unfortunately I can't see those numbers at the bottom. I'll pull it up from the computer instead. Thank you so much.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@mysteryman7024 You can get the same info from the BIOS screen.

[@arbarlarbar]

Hi! I've been looking at a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga FHD Gen 2 on Ebay for £100 and I would like to ask if you can check whether it is worth purchasing as the listing states there is pressure damage on the screen from usage which is somewhat visible. I have contacted the seller requesting to make a closeup video on the screen and am still waiting for a response. I've also looked around and wanted to install Linux on the laptop but I don't know which version to install and am open to any recommendations as long as it supports touchscreen and rotation when in tablet mode.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Whether the damage will bother you or not is really a personal decision. I'd be tempted to shop around a bit since screens aren't cheap to replace. Regarding Linux, the touch and rotating screen experience isn't flawless but just about every distro supports it.

[@arbarlarbar]

@@LaptopRetrospective Thank you. I will try to look around for a slightly better screen condition but if I can't find one then I'll take the one I have found as it's a better price in comparison to others.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It might be a better price to account for the cost of a replacement screen.

[@arbarlarbar]

@@LaptopRetrospective I'll look into a replacement screen but might not go through with it as I don't trust myself to install it. However it is a good price to buy a replacement screen.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Give the hardware maintenance manual a read. You might be surprised.

[@basukisugito3275]

I wonder how it is to buy one today but how many years am I expected to be able to use it. 3 more years or more? And how about the SSD which already been running for 6 years. Probably can break down any time or?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It probably has several more years to give depending on what use it saw in its life. At this price point, it doesn't take long for it to be a bargain.

[@basukisugito3275]

​Thanks 👍

[@PJ-om2wq]

I bought one of these last year for my daughter. In general it's really nice, but, I cannot get the touch pen to work properly. If I draw a line on the screen I get a dashed line as it sort of cuts in and out. I bought another pen and that's the same. My feeling is that it's a Windows 10 driver issue. Has anyone else had this problem and did you find a solution?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

If you make a live Linux USB and try it under a different OS that is a fast way to rule out drivers or reveal if it's a hardware issue.

[@Svetoslav85]

It's a great little notebook. Personally, I have the i7 6600u model with 2k LCD panel from LG. The IPS has some well known issues with ghosting. Also, it runs a bit hot. However, the carbon body makes it very light. Hope your unit came with the dongle for the lan port.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Haha, no such luck on the dongle but I'm okay without it.

[@Svetoslav85]

@@LaptopRetrospective You can still buy a docking station OneLink+ Dock (40A4). Please note that only the + connector is compatible. Also you will need 90 Watt power supply.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Noted, thanks.

[@herrfaust2020]

I have one with the LG panel. Despite it being high-gamut for sRGB, the panel is underwhelming. The AUO FHD panel looks much better. BTW, don't mess with the screen unless you have to. I found out the hard way how fragile the touch-glass is :-( .

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Panels have come a long way.

[@dotTomdotcom]

I'm not sure about other CPU variants of the X1 Yoga Gen1, but a 6600u (i7) equipped X1 Yoga will happily run Windows 11 with only two minor user actions required. 1) From within the BIOS, navigate to the Security menu > Security Chip options Change Discrete TPM (ver 1.2), and select the Intel PTT option. This will allow you to use Intel Platform Trusted technology (PTT) with TPM 2.0 mode. 2) Download the latest iso of Windows11, currently 23H2, and copy across to a bootable USB drive. Boot from the USB drive and perform a fresh installation of Windows 11. No registry tweaking is required, with no grumbles from Windows. OS doesn't present any stability issues or flag any warnings. Windows will happily download and apply updates from within the OS. If you are going to buy a new SSD, X1 Yoga happily runs with a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, due to the backward compatibility of the PCIe standard. The X1 Yoga Gen1 and its PCIe 3.0-equipped motherboard, can only run at half the maximum data throughput of the newer 4.0 standard. So, you can opt for either according to your budget. Running a newer drive, you can be sure it won't present a performance bottleneck to the remaining parts of the system.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Thanks for posting this information!

[@roikatz]

I still have the yoga s1. Was a bit before this one I believe

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, I have a video on the first ThinkPad Yoga. 👍

[@Olivander12]

It is sad that a device with those capabilities is only being sold for around 100 bucks. Tells much about the market situation and how strong W11 requirements have a impact on it.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Well I'm happy that these devices can be available to those that might really need a reliable device. Even a W11 machine is only $300 USD or so.

[@DeviaNZe]

Install Debian Linux, you don't need windows anymore.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Linux is an option more now than ever but some aren't ready or can't make the switch comfortably.

[@l8baiz977]

Could anybody please tell me where can I get this laptop for a 100 bucks? I've looked on Ebay and Amazon but I can hardly find the gen 1 model and the ones I get goes over 300$ with shipping cost

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I was able to get a good deal from a recycler that had them but when I did the video there were several listings on eBay under $300 and there are still a handful there, just checked.

[@GrueneVanilleWaffel]

hey guys :) what is the longest battery life one can get for 200-300€ (used buy) ? with normal standards like fhd and 8gb ram should also not be too heavy and big - because mobile, that's why one need battery life ^^ best options I found so far are: thinkpad E14 gen3 ~10h battery? thinkpad x1 carbon ~13h battery? and very light asus zenbook 14 ~ also around 13h? and weight between e14 & carbon

[@LaptopRetrospective]

The X1 Carbon would be my choice, depending on the Gen.

[@GrueneVanilleWaffel]

wow, thanks for the quick reply

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@GrueneVanilleWaffel It's debatable if you'd notice the difference in weight. X1 is Intel only but will be better build quality and have better screen options. You have a few more things to compare. 😂

[@GrueneVanilleWaffel]

what are other choices of similar lightweight and long battery like the x1 carbon g5 for ~200-300€ used ? :) @@LaptopRetrospective

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I can't speak for regional pricing but if you're comparing the G5 to the E14 G3, that's a huge gap in performance and tech.

[@GabrieleTroscia]

Pity that, in EU, the prices almost doubles, at least on the bay...

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That is indeed unfortunate.

[@SincerityAF]

Bought one for 200USD, didn't know for $100 was possible!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Still a decent price. Recyclers can be cheaper.

[@2spiritpenguin]

I just bought it for 250 USD in 2024 😂. Looks cool with all that features but bit hot

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Nice, what are you using it for?

[@EleazarAnthony]

Is first gen really 2k resolution?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I've listed the panels that were available and that OLED was a show stealer at the time.

[@linhhiennguyen2915]

there is a little hidden pen!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That it does.

[@nzarbayezid9280]

I love how you answer all of your subscribers can you help me out which one should I buy? < Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (198$) used (I guess it is G1) > -cpu: i5-6300u 2.50GHz -ram: 8 -gpu : intel hd520 graphics -storge : 256 ssd -screen and size : touch screen 2 in 1 Laptop 14.0 inch (2560x1440) -battry: 4-cell (56wh) -came with a pen < Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga (220$) used > -cpu: i5 8th gen -ram: 8 DDr4 -gpu : Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU -storge : 512 ssd -screen and size : touch screen 2 in 1 Laptop 13.3 inch (1920 x 1080) IPS -battry: 4-cell (51wh) -came with a pen

[@LaptopRetrospective]

X380, the newer CPU is a huge jump. The battery might also have less wear due to age. The larger storage is also excellent.

[@nzarbayezid9280]

@@LaptopRetrospective but don't you think if it's a 1,8 ghz it makes the laptop slower? the x1 yoga i think is 2.5ghz, they say the x380 has a turbo boost for the ghz

[@LaptopRetrospective]

@nzarbayezid9280 CPU architecture is pretty critical. That and if you're running Windows, official 11 support is nice.

[@redbeardjunior]

It run Windows 11

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Unofficially.

[@yarmar97]

I really liked Lenovo laptops, i am a big fan of thinkpad series, even dating back to it’s starters in IBM. But after i found out Lenovo still supports ruzzian market (they told they gonna leave it and stayed gathering a lot of money because HP for example lost 1 bil because of leaving, so Lenovo basically the muscovites tech monopoly now) i won’t be buying their stuff for sure.

[@herrfaust2020]

I wouldn't have expected Lenovo to leave, since they are a Chinese company.

[@milk_bath]

Sure, but remember they don’t make money on 2nd hand sells.

[@Arun-yv3us]

Never buy LENOVO, They UV glued the onboard DDR4 RAM and Processor. It can never de-soldering... Horrible! Ex:- Ideapad 320-15IKB DG421 DG521 DG721 NM-B242 NM-B241 They can't repair if you faced any issue with processor and RAM! Why nobody address this big issue yet?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

This is common practice for devices like this across manufacturers. Not unique.