Lenovo ThinkPad X390: The X Series goes to 13"

[@pasip4851]

I bought X395 here recently. I'm very pleased with it. Big plus was the laptop came in mint condition. The previous one was somewhat surprise.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Always nice when they are like new.

[@carnelianknight5713]

I'm glad to see this unit getting coverage. It was very interesting to come across this transition to 13 inches in the x series. I'm excited to get models like this in my collection in a few years when the price (hopefully) goes down. Also very interesting to see 10th gen cpus. Didn't know they went that far. And of course ryzen powered thinkpads, always cool to see.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yeah the newer CPUs as an option was really neat. Just before they moved to the X13 platform.

[@carnelianknight5713]

@@LaptopRetrospective lenovo works hard to keep up with Intel's shenanigans. I don't remember a w550 because of weird broadwell things I believe but we did get a very cool unit in the form of the W550s. Definitely not the most powerful thing out there but very interesting nontheless. It kind of felt to me the way the X300 was to the X1 carbon was the W550s and the X1 extreme.

[@captainmcadams]

I definitely can’t find any 10th Gen’s on eBay in the UK, suspect that’s a missing SKU for us.. I’ve noticed that rather a lot with chromebooks when I was looking for specific screen/processor options. Some you just can’t find unless you ship from the US, an then they keyboards is all wrong. But I do love myself some used Thinkpads 😏

[@xmlthegreat]

I just recently got one of these for my mom. I just found this model locally, it was in the right price so I bought it. It's a core i7 8665U with 16 GB ram, the seller put in a cheap 512 GB M.2 SSD which is running fine for now. It's a touchscreen model and it has the IR camera. I wasn't really part of the ThinkPad cult before but my God... After handling it and using it I'm amazed, especially compared to the PCs I've used at work, e.g. an Acer Nitro and a Lenovo V15... I now understand when someone says something is greater than the sum of it's parts.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Great choice for your mom and glad to hear your experience.

[@xmlthegreat]

@@LaptopRetrospective yeah at about 320 dollars US equivalent it was a pretty good price.

[@MY5TCrimson]

I scored one of these for a great price with i7, 16GB. Great little daily driver.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That's awesome, I hope you enjoy it.

[@azurexdave04]

Great video as always! You should make some more videos reviewing the P series of ThinkPad, particularly the P5x, P7x as well as newer P15 and P17 models. They've got all things people would want from a true mobile workstation. Much more better than those from HP/Dell.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I'd love to feature more workstations but they are rare up here and usually expensive.

[@bgnicolas]

Just ordered 1 today. Planning to dual boot with Fedora.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Very nice!

[@ilkovicb]

just ordered one today, 16gb ram, 1080p IPS display, i5-8365U, 256GB hd for 280eur...its a steal :-)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Excellent! Hope it arrives safely.

[@this-is-not-a-channel-]

Upgrade paths! Upgrade paths! 😊

[@ted-b]

That's a really nice example you got there. I don't know but ThinkPad's that you can't upgrade, seem so wrong! Great review as usual.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It was a little sad to see so many soldered components but sometimes that's the trade-off.

[@J_CtheEngineer]

I’m actually trying to get my boss to order some used thinkpads after seeing my T480s

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Good luck, lots of value to be had.

[@zdenakarvayova7217]

Can I know how turn on numlock on my laptop lenovo yoga x390 thank for your answers .

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Check the user manual to see if it is supported. I don't have the machine anymore so I cannot check.

[@dustojnikhummer]

X390 Yoga is the first ThinkPad Yoga since the S240 (that's has well, 5 generations! ) that has a docking connector. Not as good as the traditional bottom one, not as easy to use as OneLink, but better than nothing!

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I rarely see Yoga models but I'll keep that in mind if I ever see one.

[@LucyGray-cv6xj]

Which one do you think is better for light use: the X390 (Core i5-8265U) or the T480 (i5-8350U)? Both have the same 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD and the T480 is about $10 cheaper than the X390

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It's entirely user preference. One is bigger and has two batteries, the other doesn't. One is slightly more upgradable, the other more portable.

[@LucyGray-cv6xj]

@@LaptopRetrospective is the 8265U faster than 8350U or do those two processors have no difference whatsoever?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

There is a difference but depending on what you're doing with the laptop, it may not be noticed by the user.

[@LucyGray-cv6xj]

@@LaptopRetrospective probably only for office use, some browsing, zoom, netflix etc. I only play Sims 4 for gaming and I don't mind having low/mid settings

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I suspect you wouldn't notice then.

[@rebootpc]

Do these X Series machines suffer from the same type of issues with the soft touch material degrading and falling apart like the soft touch rubber material on Yoga machines?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I haven't seen any issues in a while. What era are we talking?

[@rebootpc]

@@LaptopRetrospective Yoga 2 pro is the most common one I've seen with it just crumbling off.

[@rebootpc]

@@GerdLPluu This is spot on what I was looking for. TY

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Interesting. Haven't had that experience on a modern ThinkPad.

[@raivisrasnacs1088]

Legit Win10 or non-legit Win11 on X220? What do you guys think?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Linux on my X220 and Windows 10 dual boot.

[@thekaran7683]

its a i5 10th gen for a 13.3 inch, I wanna know if it throttles or not, considering how small the laptop is.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Everything throttles pushed hard enough. Intel back in the day made the decision that this was acceptable conditions for mobile chips especially.

[@amityville666]

What kind of wifi chip is this packing? Is it capable of Wifi 6? Also it's odd that the hdmi port is 1.4 and not 2.0

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Check the PSREF for the Wi-Fi cards that shipped it.

[@amityville666]

Thanks! Looks like a few models (I assume later gen ones) shipped with an AX wifi card. Right now, I have an option of choosing between the X390 (i5 8th gen) and X13 Gen1 (Ryzen 3 4450U) on the used market for pretty much the same price. It looks like both these laptops are identical on the outside except for the chip. If I had to prioritize battery life, which one should I pick? I primarily need it as an on the go laptop for light coding and media consumption. Maybe even some light gaming.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Battery life isn't usually mutually exclusive to gaming. 😂 The Ryzen should be easier on battery life and their integrated graphics are pretty good. Newer Intel models often have soldered WiFi cards as well whereas the AMD remains a socket.

[@KangYhanz]

How much does the touchscreen one cost, sir?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

That will depend on your region and the system configuration.

[@dustojnikhummer]

They really offered 10th gen on 90 series? Interesting

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, I wonder if they had the parts and decided to use them up.

[@dustojnikhummer]

@@LaptopRetrospective I also didn't realize the 8365U and 10210U launched within 4 months of each other. Well, my 8365U will have to serve for a few more years, fortunately I do have the 16GB RAM model. 8GBs is not really cutting it these days, and I don't think I'm that heavy of a user. It's also interesting to see the regional differences, like the European models of 390 and 390 Yoga being offered with LTE, while US models never and since WWAN cards on these are soldered you can't even add one yourself (not to mention lack of SIM slot)

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Yep, people often overlook regional availability and configuration.

[@ivnzqq]

I have this, but for now, my IR camera seems does not work, how to fix it?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

When you say it doesn't work, what is the problem?

[@ivnzqq]

Thanks for the response, actually the problem is windows hello face, i can't use it, I already tried reinstalling my windows 10 using the official lenovo recovery usb creator, but still can't use windows hello face, 😢, i just assumed that the ir camera doesn't work, i also tried to follow all of youtube tutorial to fix it but still can't

[@kakiii4456]

Is this laptop good for programming?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

Programming is a broad term that can cover a lot. My recommendation is to read up on your hardware needs and see if this machine has the specs to support the work.

[@Kiev-in-3-days]

Any laptop is good for programming as long it has a keyboard and a screen.

[@Oth.008]

I canr do video edeting with x390 ?!!?

[@LaptopRetrospective]

It should be able to handle some basic projects. More complex ones might take a long time to render depending on configuration.

[@jonh5032]

When I compare this with my X260 or even my Yoga 370, it seems such a retrograde step - what's so great about not having the power bridge battery system, no ethernet connection, only 2 USB type As, can't change the RAM etc etc. And a privacy screen - might as well have a lousy TN panel.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

I suspect there was a lot going on to design this including a certain level of uncertainty if it would even do well.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

As a person that handles a lot of those devices, I can still tell them apart from a user experience, human interface perspective. Inside and specs I can see the lines blur a bit though.

[@MrKillswitch88]

I agree there is a lot from past generations that was well liked and thought of as being essential only to be dropped without much or any reason at all for that matter. Doing away with the ports is just dumb and it is well proven that people in general despise dongle hell. Cheap TN panels in this era is a rough sell except in the low end and the lack of soddim slots is a huge disadvantage in the long run.

[@nickthaskater]

> can't change the RAM True, but at least it's running in dual channel here unlike the X200 through the 270 (280 had soldered dual channel RAM). The models with upgradable RAM all ran single channel.

[@Oth.008]

Hello is good for veideo adidtion

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

One day, computers will not again be made.

[@LaptopRetrospective]

?

[@Kiev-in-3-days]

Like anything else man made.

[@fairliemayne421]

ᑭᖇOᗰOᔕᗰ 😁