Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold

Hands-on: Lenovo’s second foldable PC addresses the first’s biggest problems

A bigger screen, better specs, and more fitting OS could finally make foldable PCs a thing.

Scharon Harding – Sep 1, 2022 12:00 am | 83

The prototype of the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold we saw had a notable crease. Credit: Scharon Harding

Lenovo is giving the foldable PC a second shot. The upcoming Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold announced today attempts to improve on 2020's ThinkPad X1 Fold, with a bigger screen, more powerful specs, and an operating system better suited for multitasking across the bendable OLED touchscreen.

I tried out the Windows 11 PC ahead of its expected November launch, and it has improved upon the weaknesses of the original 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold.

The new Fold folds up more securely than before, its OS is more accommodating to dual screens, and enhanced specs give it greater potential for business use. Lenovo may finally have the pieces needed for a desirable, natural-feeling foldable Windows experience.

Bigger foldable screen

Lenovo's next foldable PC has a screen measuring 16.3 inches diagonally when fully open, with 2024×2560 pixels. The original ThinkPad X1 Fold used a 13.3-inch, 2048×1536 OLED screen.

The new ThinkPad X1 Fold has greater pixel density than its predecessor (200.2 pixels per inch versus 192.4 ppi). Credit: Scharon Harding

Compared to the 13.3-inch screen, the 16.3-inch display immediately gave me more flexibility when displaying multiple windows. The extra screen space was also nice for watching videos, though the 4:3 aspect ratio meant decently thick black bars with most modern video content.

Using magnets, the foldable's optional, but sometimes necessary, stand seemed like it had a secure connection to the PC, whether the system was fully open in landscape or portrait mode.

Lenovo will sell the keyboard and stand together but separate from the PC. Credit: Scharon Harding

When I set the 16.3-inch device in a vertical position, it provided a uniquely long view that was perfect for ongoing news or a social media feed. It fit an impressive amount of on-screen text when I viewed a newspaper-like document on it.

Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold — The 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold in one of its unique forms. Credit: Scharon Harding

Despite having a 22 percent larger screen than its predecessor, Lenovo's 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold didn't feel much more cumbersome to carry. In fact, it felt much less clunky than carrying around the typical clamshell laptop in this size class.

The new PC has a 25 percent thinner chassis than the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold. It's 0.34 inches (8.6 mm) thick when open and 0.69 inches (17.4 mm) thick when folded, compared to 0.5 inches (11.5 mm) and 1.1 inches (27.8 mm), respectively, with the first Fold.

The 16.3-inch screen also allows for a 12-inch clamshell experience, where the foldable is bent in half, and the lower half is covered with Lenovo's magnetically attached ThinkPad keyboard.

Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold with keyboard attached. — You can use the keyboard like a regular wireless keyboard or docked onto the bottom half of the display. Credit: Scharon Harding

Use of a larger foldable screen required a redesign of the hinge and the panel, which is now attached to the spine, allowing it to flatten underneath the chassis when unfolded.

Lenovo's announcement described a bell-shaped hinge system that "allows the foldable OLED panel to be folded flat in both open and closed scenarios resulting in a thinner system." More than 200 parts reportedly move simultaneously when folding and unfolding the PC.

In action, the hinge felt sturdy and required a healthy amount of force to shift the PC's positioning. It didn't seem like it would budge unless I wanted it to. How well that hinge can withstand heavy use will, of course, be a large factor in how successful this foldable is. Lenovo said it uses MIL-STD-810H testing standards for the PC.

"A new display interface was developed, which folds the non-active area, enhancing durability and enabling thinner bezels," Lenovo said in its announcement. The display's bezels are "no more than" 0.39 inches (10 mm), according to the vendor.

"The hybrid shutter frame was also redesigned with the multiple benefits of thinness, more room for antennas, and simplifying field servicing," the announcement also said.

Early thoughts on image quality

I used the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold for a limited time in a sunny room with many large, tall windows. Despite the sun, it was easy for me to see details in various types of content, from white text on black backgrounds, to black text on white backgrounds, and high-resolution images and videos.

There were times, however, when the screen's two creases were noticeable and somewhat distracting. The creases were visible, for example, when viewing the screen in landscape mode from a side angle. And sometimes, creases in the display would catch so much glare that they looked nearly white. It's possible that the final product will address some of these concerns.

The screen was decently reflective overall, with that characteristic being particularly striking when I read white text on a mostly black screen. But even in that scenario, the small white text was still quite legible.

Lenovo claims the OLED screen can hit 400 nits with SDR content, 600 nits with HDR, and cover 100 percent of DCI-P3. It also supports Dolby Vision.

I didn't have the chance to try this feature, but Lenovo's announcement of the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold pointed to the PC's optional use of the Intel Visual Sensing Controller (VSC) chip. It can use AI to automatically adjust the screen's refresh rate according to content type and brightness level, depending on how the display is being used.

A more foldable-friendly OS

While sizing and moving multiple windows from 16.3-inch tablet mode to 12-inch clamshell mode, what really helped was having an OS that was made to make multi-window and multi-screen setups easier.

When I saw a prototype of the first ThinkPad X1 Fold in 2020, Lenovo execs shared excitement over the partnering technologies that it felt made the idea of a foldable PC ready for consumers. One of them was Microsoft's Windows 10X OS built for PCs with foldable screens and dual screens. The only problem was, that OS never came out.

Microsoft Windows 10X — A pre-release preview of Windows 10X that Microsoft shared in 2019. Credit: Microsoft

Windows 10X was supposed to support non-Universal Windows Platform apps, according to Tom's Hardware, and target Microsoft's dual-screen Surface Neo and computers using Intel's 3D-stacking Lakefield processors (more on this later), including the first Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold. However, Lenovo's first foldable ultimately launched with Windows 10 Pro before Microsoft canceled Windows 10X in May 2021.

In use, Windows 11 quickly became one of the biggest and most obvious first improvements to the user experience compared to the last-gen Fold. Specifically, Windows 11's Snap Layouts made managing windows via touch feel simple rather than a chore. Non-fluid windows management could hinder the usefulness of a foldable, discouraging frequent use of its various forms, like dual-screen Book Mode. Hovering over the maximize button in a Windows 11 window brought up layouts I could use, and I could then tap windows to populate my selected layout, making four-square or three-column views, as examples, quick and easy to set up.

A more foldable foldable

While the OS is somewhat out of Lenovo's hands, the company made some obvious improvements to its foldable design.

Beyond having a larger bendy screen, the new ThinkPad X1 Fold doesn't have a visible gap when folded shut like the prior version does. The new model folds flat thanks to the redesigned hinge. You can also store the wireless keyboard inside the folded PC.

The PC has a decent grip to it, thanks to a woven plastic (made from four recycled water bottles) sitting atop CNC-milled aluminum and that provides a strong, fabric-like feel. It won't quite make your leather journal envious, but it has a sophisticated texture that won't clash with your business suit.

Lenovo's foldable is 13.6×10.87×0.34 inches when open and 10.87×6.9×0.68 inches when folded. It weighs 2.82 pounds on its own or 4.19 pounds with the keyboard and stand.

Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold closed — The woven texture is made using four recycled water bottles. Credit: Scharon Harding

That's pretty portable, considering you can use the Fold as a 16.3-inch display with a wireless keyboard or use it as a 12-inch clamshell. For a loose comparison, the 14.6-inch Dell XPS 15 is 13.56×9.06×0.73 inches when folded, of course, and starts at 4.31 pounds with an OLED touchscreen. Lenovo is calling its upcoming foldable the "world's lightest 16-inch commercial laptop."

Wireless keyboard

Lenovo will sell the device without a keyboard, but for serious productivity, you'll want something other than its touchscreen.

The Bluetooth keyboard Lenovo made for the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold felt like a mixed bag in my short time with it. It has the comfortably shaped keys that Lenovo's clamshell ThinkPads are known for but not nearly as much travel.

Lenovo 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold keyboard — The foldable's optional Bluetooth keyboard. Credit: Scharon Harding

The keyboard felt flatter than some of Lenovo's best ThinkPad keyboards, but some will appreciate the famous red ThinkPad nub and smooth, haptic touchpad.

The keyboard is also decently sized. It's the same size as the keyboard on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano 13-inch ultralight clamshell. In fact, the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold was built to be as small as possible while accommodating a keyboard this size.

It was also easy to attach or detach the keyboard and, in the case of the latter, use separated a distance from the computer. I only did this once but didn't endure immediate technical issues.

According to Lenovo's announcement, the keyboard will have a key for launching Lenovo's recently released TrackPoint Communications Quick Menu App for quick access to camera and microphone functions, as Lenovo positions the PC as something you'll want to use for videoconferencing.

The PC is also designed so that two of its four mics, three Dolby Atmos speakers, and three USB-C ports always face the user.

Repairability

New tech innovations, like foldables, have the potential to introduce complex designs that make it hard for users to perform self-repairs or upgrades.

I appreciate that Lenovo designed the PC so it could be opened by anyone. You can use a heat gun to release the adhesive securing the woven-plastic plates and pop them off.

Once the system is open, you can make repairs, like swapping the battery or Wi-Fi chip or adding a 5G chip. The SSD isn't soldered down, so upgrading should be simple enough; however, the RAM is soldered.

More power

In addition to a larger screen, a more fitting OS, and an improved, professional-looking fold, the 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold also brings more power than the 13.3-inch Fold.

Lenovo's first foldable maxed out at 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, and an Intel Core i5-L16G7. Now, Lenovo is offering up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 1TB of PCIe 4.0 SSD storage, and an Intel 12th Gen U9-series i7 CPU with vPro at up to 13 W.

The i5-L16G7 had one more powerful "Sunny Cove" core, four lower-power "Tremont" cores, and five threads. The first mass-produced processor with 3D packaging claimed a base clock speed of 1.4 GHz and a boost of up to 3 GHz.

Intel's Lakefield CPUs were short-lived, with minimal adoption, but Intel's 12th Gen CPUs bring Lenovo's foldable efforts up to two Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 12 threads, a base speed of 1.2–1.3 GHz, and a turbo of 4.7–4.8 GHz, (depending on the CPU SKU finally used).

Intel's U-series processors target fanless designs, like Lenovo's foldable, but aren't as powerful as Intel's 12th Gen H or P-series mobile chips. Still, the chips should bring a power boost compared to the i5 Lakefield chip Lenovo's foldable was limited to before.

Lenovo's upcoming foldable manages to stay fanless through Lenovo's patent-pending folding graphite sheets that work with copper plating for heat dissipation.

Price and release date

The 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold is supposed to start at $2,500 for the lowest configuration of the device only (no keyboard or stand).

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED in four different setups — Competition awaits in the form of the Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, pictured. Credit: Asus/YouTube

It'll meet the Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED, a 17.3-inch foldable OLED PC with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of RAM, up to a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and 2560×1920 resolution.

Last thoughts

Lenovo's first foldable PC was an exciting product that didn't live up to expectations. It takes more than a good, bendy OLED panel and a reliable hinge to make a desirable foldable PC: The first ThinkPad X1 Fold arrived with limited specs, an OS it wasn't made for, and an unsightly gap when folded that made the PC susceptible to damage.

Lenovo seems better equipped now. During my hands-on, Windows 11 seemed much more accommodating to the ThinkPad X1 Fold's wild designs. The PC has more powerful components, giving it greater potential to be taken seriously as a computing tool rather than an overpriced tablet with a flashy gimmick. And, critically, Lenovo was willing to make redesigns that make the computer feel more like a completed, polished foldable device.

The 16-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold's performance, price, heat, durability, and how well its foldable design works with apps long-term will be key to Lenovo's foldable efforts. So time will tell if the second time is the charm for Lenovo foldable PCs.

But at least Lenovo's heading in the right direction.

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Listing image: Scharon Harding

Scharon Harding Senior Technology Reporter

Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.

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