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Lenovo's second-generation ThinkPad X1 Fold is bigger, and frankly, it's way better. Not only is the screen big enough to be useful when used as a laptop, but it has a proper keyboard with a haptic touchpad too.

Moreover, the CPU has a much-needed upgrade to Intel's 12th-gen U9 lineup, a massive improvement from the first-gen model's Lakefield chips. Obviously, this thing is no performance powerhouse, but you wouldn't expect it to be.

It's not perfect, as I've yet to find a foldable-screen laptop that nails the core experiences. The webcam placement makes it unusable for calls when the product is on a stand. When you're using it as a laptop, the screen is still really small.

This product is made for people frequently on the go, but it feels more like it's aimed at people with disposable income that want to use a laptop that looks cool.

Lenovo sent us the ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 for review. It had no input on the content of this article.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2
6 / 10

The ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 is a much better foldable PC from Lenovo when compared to the original. it sports a faster CPU, a bigger screen, a better keyboard, and so much more.

Pros
  • Foldables are cool!
  • The keyboard is excellent
  • It's the best value on a foldable laptop right now
Cons
  • Webcam placement is a problem that still needs to be solved
  • There's no perfect use case
  • Keyboard storage is messy

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2: Price, availability, and specs

While the product was at IFA 2022, it finally went on sale in November 2023, starting at $2,499. That's half the price of HP's competing Spectre Foldable, albeit they compete in different markets (Think is a business brand, Spectre is for consumers).

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You really shouldn't buy it though

However, the entry-level specs aren't quite as high-end as HP's one configuration. For $2,499, you'll get a ThinkPad X1 Fold with a Core i5-1230U, 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, and the keyboard is not included.

The unit Lenovo sent us for review comes in at $3,899, and included a Core i7-1260U, 32GB RAM, a 1TB SSD, and the keyboard is included, so the price still comes in well under its main competitor.

Specs

CPU
12th Gen Intel Core i5-1230U, i5-1240U vPro, i7-1250U, i7-1260U vPro
GPU
Intel Iris Xe (integrated)
RAM
8GB, 16GB, 32GB LPDDR5-5200 (soldered)
Storage
256GB, 512GB, 1TB M.2 2242 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
Battery
48Wh or 64Wh
Display (Size, Resolution)
16.3 inches, 2560x2024, folding OLED, touch, 600 nits (HDR), 100% DCI-P3, DisplayHDR True Black 600, Dolby Vision
Camera
5MP, discrete IR, optional Computer Vision
Speakers
Three 2W speakers, Dolby Atmos
Colors
Performance black
Ports
Two Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 (Gen 2)
Dimensions
Folded: 10.87 x 6.9 x 0.68 inches; Unfolded: 10.87 x 13.61 x 0.34 inches
Weight
From 2.78 pounds (1.26kg); 1.38 pounds (627g) keyboard
Connectivity
Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, 5G WWAN (limited regions)

Design and display

It's a million times better than the original

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 is a totally overhauled product. Gone are the thick bezels, leather cover, and the screen that's too small to be useful. In fact, we should note that the screen size increased from 13.3 to 16.3 inches without increasing the price.

It still has flat sides, with two USB Type-C ports, both of which are Thunderbolt 4. Also on the sides, you'll find a power button and a volume rocker, but curiously, no headphone jack.

One thing that's changed about the design is that it folds flat, and that's not necessarily a good thing. The stand and the keyboard magnetically attach to the outside, rather than the keyboard being stored inside of the folded display.

The benefit to this is that you can carry it without the keyboard much more easily, but the downside is that it makes the whole package a bit cumbersome. There are too many pieces, similar to the Yoga Book 9i.

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It's like having a dual-monitor setup, but portable

Now, let's talk about actually using it. There are four modes you can use it in, so we'll go over each one.

Clamshell mode

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold in laptop mode

By folding the display up into a traditional laptop, you can use it as one. The keyboard magnetically attaches to the bottom half, pretty much making it a 12-inch laptop. Alternatively, you can use the on-screen keyboard for a bit more screen real estate.

Obviously, this makes for a really compact laptop. You'd have a tough time doing any kind of work with side-by-side windows.

This is also the main orientation where the webcam is placed at the top of the screen, so if you're on a call, this is likely what you'll be using. I found it to be a bit buggy though, as it didn't always rotate correctly.

Landscape mode

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold in landscape mode

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 comes with both a stand and a keyboard, so you can open it up, stand up the screen, and have a full 16.3-inch 4:3 display to use. This is where I really take issue with the webcam.

When using the product in a home office setting, this is presumably how you'd use it. In fact, that's the main benefit of a foldable laptop. You can fold it into a laptop and have a big display for real work when you're not on the go.

Close-up of webcam on side of display

But now, the webcam is located all the way to the left, and you're stuck in portrait orientation. You can't attend a meeting like this. I don't know the solution either, as HP's Spectre Foldable had the same problem. Perhaps a second webcam is necessary, or one with a large enough field of view to crop it so that you look centered.

The other issue that I had was that the magnets really aren't strong enough to hold it in place. I tried using the X1 Fold like this on a train and it kept falling flat.

Here's how it works. The stand magnetically attaches to the keyboard and the tablet just sort of fits in there. It really doesn't stay in place at all without the keyboard on one side of it, and it's OK at best even with the keyboard attached.

Also, don't even think about trying to move this thing. It'll almost certainly fall flat.

Portrait mode

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 in portrait mode

Portrait mode is just like landscape mode, except the screen is placed vertically. If your work flow fits this orientation, it's great. The webcam is at the top, so that's nice.

As a writer, I'm a fan of big vertical displays. It's not for everyone though.

Book or tablet mode

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 in book mode

Tablet mode is exactly what it sounds like. You're using the giant 16.3-inch display as a tablet, which I barely did while using it. I took some handwritten notes here and there, but frankly, it's just too big.

Keyboard

A proper keyboard on a foldable

The keyboard is fantastic, like you'd expect from something called a ThinkPad. Obviously, it's bigger than its predecessor, so it now has a TrackPoint and a haptic touchpad. Like we've seen from other ThinkPads, the top part of the touchpad can be used as buttons with the TrackPoint.

It's a Bluetooth keyboard, which is fine. It makes it easy to set up the ThinkPad X1 Fold from further away and still have the keyboard close by. However, you do have the option for a wired connection. The keyboard has a USB Type-C port for that, and of course, for charging.

Performance

12th-gen U9 is fine for this type of product

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 in clamshell mode

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 uses Intel's 12th-gen 9W processors, and if you understand what that means, then it's all you need to know. It's the same as the chips found in the HP Spectre Foldable and the reason for that is that Intel never actually announced a low-powered 13th-gen CPU. Interestingly, LG actually has a foldable with a 13th-gen 15W chip, but that's not sold in the US so I can't say how it handles the thermals.

So basically, you have a two-generation-old CPU that was low-power when it was new. It's fine for productivity tasks, but that's about it. You probably weren't planning to game or edit videos on a foldable-screen laptop anyway.

I'm not going to get into my standard benchmarks table because it's mostly irrelevant, but the PCMark 10 score was 4,722, while the score on a ThinkPad Z13 (AMD Ryzen PRO 7840U) is 6,728, so there's a big difference in performance between a foldable with an old 9W processor and a brand-new traditional laptop.

One other thing I'll say is that 12th-gen U9 is a massive improvement over Lakefield, the chip that was in the original ThinkPad X1 Fold. That was the first chip that had Intel's hybrid architecture, combining performance cores and efficiency cores, but there was only one P-core. The chip felt like a prototype, so it wasn't very good.

As far as battery life goes, it's pretty good. I regularly got between six and seven hours out of it, with the power slider set to best performance (I'd normally use balanced for testing on a full-powered laptop). The lowest was 371 minutes and the highest was 405 minutes, so it was pretty consistent.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2?

You should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 if:

  • You want to look cool when you take out your laptop
  • You're comfortable with a small laptop display
  • You're comfortable with a large, vertical display

You should NOT buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 if:

  • You plan to use it in landscape mode
  • You need a lot of power

A foldable-screen laptop isn't for everyone. That much is clear, and this form factor still isn't fully-matured. This product is good, with similar shortcomings to other foldable-screen laptops on the market. For most people, you should really just get a traditional laptop like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 12.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2

The ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 is a much better foldable PC from Lenovo when compared to the original. it sports a faster CPU, a bigger screen, a better keyboard, and so much more.