If you're lucky enough to have a boss who bestows you with a top-of-the-line third-generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (starts at $1,649; $2,739 as tested), congratulations are in order.
This 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop is excellent at powering through spreadsheets and other productivity tasks thanks to its Intel Core i7 processor, 1TB SSD, 16GB of memory, included active stylus, and more.
It is also the first laptop we've seen to sport a high dynamic range (HDR) display, which makes it a stunning video platform when work is over.
All of this comes at an eye-watering price, though, and HDR is still in its infancy, which means that the X1 Yoga is more of a status symbol than other excellent business 2-in-1s like the Editors' Choice HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2.
A Classic With a Carbon Fiber Twist
The new X1 Yoga ($2,049.00 at Amazon) looks almost exactly like the second-generation one it replaced, which in turn looks like pretty much every other ThinkPad.
There's little to mar the expanses of black that adorn every surface, save for ThinkPad and X1 logos on the outside of the display lid and a second ThinkPad logo below the keyboard.
That the conservative black chassis has remained largely unchanged since the 1990s is also what helps endear it to both IT departments and the road warriors they support.
The X1 designation, which the Yoga shares with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon ($1,019.99 at Amazon) , includes some understated but significant quality improvements over more run-of-the-mill siblings like the ThinkPad T470.
The soft-touch chassis feels both luxurious and satisfyingly slim, measuring 0.67 by 13.11 by 9.02 (HWD).
It's also reinforced with carbon fiber and glass to increase durability and decrease weight.
The weight savings are significant with the X1 Carbon, which weighs just 2.49 pounds compared with the T470's 3.74 pounds.
That's not the case with th 3.08-pound X1 Yoga, which is laden with a 360-degree hinge and other assorted hardware that allow you to use it as a conventional laptop, a tablet, or to prop it up on the table like an easel.
Part of the additional hardware enables a nifty and unique feature that automatically recesses the keyboard into the chassis when you rotate the display hinge past 180 degrees.
Since the keys are flush with the chassis, they're far less distracting or likely to be damaged when you use the X1 Yoga as a tablet.
Fortunately, none of this affects the legendary ThinkPad keyboard comfort.
Start the Show
While you can order an X1 Yoga with a more common full HD display, our review unit is the flagship model, which includes a 14-inch quad HD (2,560-by-1,440) HDR touch screen.
Also available as an option on the X1 Carbon, the screen is a first for the ThinkPad lineup, and in fact it's the first HDR laptop display we've tested, although we've seen quite a few HDR monitors and televisions.
HDR increases the vividity of colors by widening the gap between the darkest dark and the brightest bright the screen can display, and the results are stunning, assuming the video you want to watch supports HDR.
More specifically, it has to support the Dolby Vision variety of HDR that Lenovo uses, which is currently available on a limited but ever-expanding amount of movies and TV shows from Netflix (assuming you shell out extra for its top-of-the-line subscription plan), Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu.
There is also a lot of HDR content uploaded to YouTube, but it's hard to find and of varying degrees of quality, since anyone can upload it.
I watched a few clips of nature footage in HDR that I found on YouTube, and the difference was immediately apparent compared with watching the same footage on a full HD (1,920-by-1,080) desktop monitor.
Not only are colors more vivid, but the picture appears sharper, too, almost as if I was watching in 4K (I wasn't, though, since the X1 Yoga's quad HD screen is a few hundred pixels short of that resolution).
When you're not watching an HDR video, you'll still notice more vivid colors.
To me, the increased vividity of colors within app windows comes across as a color temperature that's too warm, at least until I got used to it.
You can edit the color profile in the Lenovo Vantage app, where you also have access to many other hardware and software settings.
Stylus Storage
Watching HDR videos isn't the only thing you can do with the X1 Yoga's amazing screen.
You can also tap it with your fingers or draw on it using the included ThinkPad Active Pen.
Unlike the active digital stylus that you can buy to go with Lenovo's consumer touch screen laptops, the ThinkPad Active Pen has a built-in rechargeable battery and fits into a slot on the bottom right edge of the X1 Yoga.
It's very similar to the stylus system on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 ($396.19 at Amazon) , and far better than the magnetic Microsoft Surface Pen if you like to keep the stylus out of sight when it's not in use.
Leaving the Active Pen in the slot for 15 seconds will give it enough juice for more than an hour and a half of use, Lenovo says.
Ports are plentiful, including two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, two USB Type A ports, an audio input/output jack, an HDMI output, and a microSD card reader.
One major port deficiency is the lack of a full-sized Ethernet connector, a must-have for business travelers attending conferences with poor Wi-Fi connectivity.
The X1 Yoga does have a built in Ethernet interface, but you must purchase a proprietary adapter to access it.
It's an inconvenient but likely necessary design decision given the X1 Yoga's slim body.
Configuration Options Galore
The X1 Yoga is eminently configurable.
The base model includes an Intel Core i5-8250U, a full HD display, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD.
You can boost the memory and storage up to the maximum capacities mentioned earlier, and choose an Intel Core i7 processor.
As for screen options, you can step up to a non-HDR touch screen, which also adds IR sensors to the webcam so you can log into Windows using face recognition.
Our review unit has the ultimate screen option, which in addition to HDR comes with an increased brightness level of 500 nits instead of 270 nits.
Unfortunately, it's not available with an IR-equipped webcam.
A maxed-out configuration adds more than $1,000 to the $1,649 base price.
That's a steep premium if you're buying a fleet of X1 Yogas for executives at your company.
If you're just buying one for the CEO or for yourself, it's a bit easier to stomach.
All models include 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, a pair of decent-sounding single-watt speakers, and a one-year warranty with mail-in hardware support.
Performance Where it Counts
In addition to watching HDR movies, one other reason you might opt for such a high-quality display is if you need to squint at rows and rows of data in a spreadsheet.
When it comes time to crunch those numbers, the powerful processor and copious memory in the X1 Yoga will make short work of it.
On our processor-intensive benchmark tests like encoding video and rendering 3D images, the X1 Yoga was nearly twice as quick as last year's model and its competitors from HP (the EliteBook x360 1030 G2 ($1,349.00 at HP) ) and Dell (the Latitude 7389 2-in-1 ($1,149.00 at Dell Technologies) ), each of which use an older sixth-generation Intel Core i7-7600U processor.
The X1 Yoga took 1:09 to render a video and achieved a score of 616 on the Cinebench R15 3D simulation, compared with 2:08 and 326, respectively, for its predecessor.
On everyday computing tasks like web browsing, word processing, video conferencing, and the like, the new X1 Yoga is not much faster than last year's model or the competition.
It achieved a score of 3,293 on the PCMark 8 benchmark, which measures such tasks.
All of the other systems were within a hundred points or so, and anything above 3,000 on this test represents excellent performance.
All of the systems come with an integrated graphics chip, which means that none fared well on the Heaven and Valley benchmarks, our video game graphics tests that simulate GPU-intensive gaming.
Thirty frames per second (fps) is the minimum here for smooth gameplay, and the X1 Yoga barely achieved that with medium quality settings.
At full HD resolution and ultra quality, it recorded just 6fps on the Heaven test and 7fps on the Valley test.
See How We Test Laptops
At just less than 10 hours on our rundown test, battery life is good, especially considering the demanding HDR display and powerful processor.
The HP EliteBook 1030 G2 lasted far longer at 14 hours, but it has a less-bright full HD display.
One thing to note about the X1 Yoga: It charges quite fast.
The battery went from less than 5 percent capacity to fully charged in a little more than one hour in my testing.
Cutting-Edge, but a Worthy Splurge?
The X1 Yoga is a cutting-edge 2-in-1 stuffed into a tried-and-true but very premium chassis.
If you must have a laptop with an HDR screen, it's worth the considerable expense.
If not, there are other high-end business 2-in-1s with similar computing performance, better battery life, and cheaper prices that you should consider instead, including the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2018)
Pros
Copious memory and storage as configured.
Bright, vivid HDR display.
Built-in active stylus.
Keyboard automatically retracts in tablet mode.
Quick charging.
View More
The Bottom Line
With its combination of a staid black appearance and a 4K HDR screen, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga convertible laptop straddles the line between sublime business machine and movie lover's dream.
If you're lucky enough to have a boss who bestows you with a top-of-the-line third-generation Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (starts at $1,649; $2,739 as tested), congratulations are in order.
This 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptop is excellent at powering through spreadsheets and other productivity tasks thanks to its Intel Core i7 processor, 1TB SSD, 16GB of memory, included active stylus, and more.
It is also the first laptop we've seen to sport a high dynamic range (HDR) display, which makes it a stunning video platform when work is over.
All of this comes at an eye-watering price, though, and HDR is still in its infancy, which means that the X1 Yoga is more of a status symbol than other excellent business 2-in-1s like the Editors' Choice HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2.
A Classic With a Carbon Fiber Twist
The new X1 Yoga ($2,049.00 at Amazon) looks almost exactly like the second-generation one it replaced, which in turn looks like pretty much every other ThinkPad.
There's little to mar the expanses of black that adorn every surface, save for ThinkPad and X1 logos on the outside of the display lid and a second ThinkPad logo below the keyboard.
That the conservative black chassis has remained largely unchanged since the 1990s is also what helps endear it to both IT departments and the road warriors they support.
The X1 designation, which the Yoga shares with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon ($1,019.99 at Amazon) , includes some understated but significant quality improvements over more run-of-the-mill siblings like the ThinkPad T470.
The soft-touch chassis feels both luxurious and satisfyingly slim, measuring 0.67 by 13.11 by 9.02 (HWD).
It's also reinforced with carbon fiber and glass to increase durability and decrease weight.
The weight savings are significant with the X1 Carbon, which weighs just 2.49 pounds compared with the T470's 3.74 pounds.
That's not the case with th 3.08-pound X1 Yoga, which is laden with a 360-degree hinge and other assorted hardware that allow you to use it as a conventional laptop, a tablet, or to prop it up on the table like an easel.
Part of the additional hardware enables a nifty and unique feature that automatically recesses the keyboard into the chassis when you rotate the display hinge past 180 degrees.
Since the keys are flush with the chassis, they're far less distracting or likely to be damaged when you use the X1 Yoga as a tablet.
Fortunately, none of this affects the legendary ThinkPad keyboard comfort.
Start the Show
While you can order an X1 Yoga with a more common full HD display, our review unit is the flagship model, which includes a 14-inch quad HD (2,560-by-1,440) HDR touch screen.
Also available as an option on the X1 Carbon, the screen is a first for the ThinkPad lineup, and in fact it's the first HDR laptop display we've tested, although we've seen quite a few HDR monitors and televisions.
HDR increases the vividity of colors by widening the gap between the darkest dark and the brightest bright the screen can display, and the results are stunning, assuming the video you want to watch supports HDR.
More specifically, it has to support the Dolby Vision variety of HDR that Lenovo uses, which is currently available on a limited but ever-expanding amount of movies and TV shows from Netflix (assuming you shell out extra for its top-of-the-line subscription plan), Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu.
There is also a lot of HDR content uploaded to YouTube, but it's hard to find and of varying degrees of quality, since anyone can upload it.
I watched a few clips of nature footage in HDR that I found on YouTube, and the difference was immediately apparent compared with watching the same footage on a full HD (1,920-by-1,080) desktop monitor.
Not only are colors more vivid, but the picture appears sharper, too, almost as if I was watching in 4K (I wasn't, though, since the X1 Yoga's quad HD screen is a few hundred pixels short of that resolution).
When you're not watching an HDR video, you'll still notice more vivid colors.
To me, the increased vividity of colors within app windows comes across as a color temperature that's too warm, at least until I got used to it.
You can edit the color profile in the Lenovo Vantage app, where you also have access to many other hardware and software settings.
Stylus Storage
Watching HDR videos isn't the only thing you can do with the X1 Yoga's amazing screen.
You can also tap it with your fingers or draw on it using the included ThinkPad Active Pen.
Unlike the active digital stylus that you can buy to go with Lenovo's consumer touch screen laptops, the ThinkPad Active Pen has a built-in rechargeable battery and fits into a slot on the bottom right edge of the X1 Yoga.
It's very similar to the stylus system on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 ($396.19 at Amazon) , and far better than the magnetic Microsoft Surface Pen if you like to keep the stylus out of sight when it's not in use.
Leaving the Active Pen in the slot for 15 seconds will give it enough juice for more than an hour and a half of use, Lenovo says.
Ports are plentiful, including two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3, two USB Type A ports, an audio input/output jack, an HDMI output, and a microSD card reader.
One major port deficiency is the lack of a full-sized Ethernet connector, a must-have for business travelers attending conferences with poor Wi-Fi connectivity.
The X1 Yoga does have a built in Ethernet interface, but you must purchase a proprietary adapter to access it.
It's an inconvenient but likely necessary design decision given the X1 Yoga's slim body.
Configuration Options Galore
The X1 Yoga is eminently configurable.
The base model includes an Intel Core i5-8250U, a full HD display, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD.
You can boost the memory and storage up to the maximum capacities mentioned earlier, and choose an Intel Core i7 processor.
As for screen options, you can step up to a non-HDR touch screen, which also adds IR sensors to the webcam so you can log into Windows using face recognition.
Our review unit has the ultimate screen option, which in addition to HDR comes with an increased brightness level of 500 nits instead of 270 nits.
Unfortunately, it's not available with an IR-equipped webcam.
A maxed-out configuration adds more than $1,000 to the $1,649 base price.
That's a steep premium if you're buying a fleet of X1 Yogas for executives at your company.
If you're just buying one for the CEO or for yourself, it's a bit easier to stomach.
All models include 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, a pair of decent-sounding single-watt speakers, and a one-year warranty with mail-in hardware support.
Performance Where it Counts
In addition to watching HDR movies, one other reason you might opt for such a high-quality display is if you need to squint at rows and rows of data in a spreadsheet.
When it comes time to crunch those numbers, the powerful processor and copious memory in the X1 Yoga will make short work of it.
On our processor-intensive benchmark tests like encoding video and rendering 3D images, the X1 Yoga was nearly twice as quick as last year's model and its competitors from HP (the EliteBook x360 1030 G2 ($1,349.00 at HP) ) and Dell (the Latitude 7389 2-in-1 ($1,149.00 at Dell Technologies) ), each of which use an older sixth-generation Intel Core i7-7600U processor.
The X1 Yoga took 1:09 to render a video and achieved a score of 616 on the Cinebench R15 3D simulation, compared with 2:08 and 326, respectively, for its predecessor.
On everyday computing tasks like web browsing, word processing, video conferencing, and the like, the new X1 Yoga is not much faster than last year's model or the competition.
It achieved a score of 3,293 on the PCMark 8 benchmark, which measures such tasks.
All of the other systems were within a hundred points or so, and anything above 3,000 on this test represents excellent performance.
All of the systems come with an integrated graphics chip, which means that none fared well on the Heaven and Valley benchmarks, our video game graphics tests that simulate GPU-intensive gaming.
Thirty frames per second (fps) is the minimum here for smooth gameplay, and the X1 Yoga barely achieved that with medium quality settings.
At full HD resolution and ultra quality, it recorded just 6fps on the Heaven test and 7fps on the Valley test.
See How We Test Laptops
At just less than 10 hours on our rundown test, battery life is good, especially considering the demanding HDR display and powerful processor.
The HP EliteBook 1030 G2 lasted far longer at 14 hours, but it has a less-bright full HD display.
One thing to note about the X1 Yoga: It charges quite fast.
The battery went from less than 5 percent capacity to fully charged in a little more than one hour in my testing.
Cutting-Edge, but a Worthy Splurge?
The X1 Yoga is a cutting-edge 2-in-1 stuffed into a tried-and-true but very premium chassis.
If you must have a laptop with an HDR screen, it's worth the considerable expense.
If not, there are other high-end business 2-in-1s with similar computing performance, better battery life, and cheaper prices that you should consider instead, including the HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (2018)
Pros
Copious memory and storage as configured.
Bright, vivid HDR display.
Built-in active stylus.
Keyboard automatically retracts in tablet mode.
Quick charging.
View More
The Bottom Line
With its combination of a staid black appearance and a 4K HDR screen, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga convertible laptop straddles the line between sublime business machine and movie lover's dream.
