I have a Pixelbook which Google says I need to stop using, but they’re not the boss of me, and in the process of reflashing it (long story), I needed to get out my trusty USB stick writer, a Zenbook UX305. Well, formerly trusty. After closing the lid, I noticed a small gap in the front. The laptop’s midsection has developed a serious case of the swoles. Okay, let’s get a 3rd gen Carbon X1 Thinkpad from the laptop shelf.

Immediate USB needs met, I decided to keep using it for a while. For a ten year old laptop, it holds up pretty well. Provides some perspective on where and how things have progressed, and not. Thinking back, I can remember how excited I was to get the X1. It really felt like a substantial step forward. From the T60 which was too heavy, to the X200s which was too light, to the T430s, which seemed great but paled in comparison to the X1 in almost every way. The X1 combined the best parts of all of those, and even better.

First of all, the good news is the battery has retained its original size and shape. Since my last experience using the X1, OpenBSD has added the hw.battery sysctl to control charging thresholds. I set it to 90% to maybe maintain things a little longer.

Battery life lasts about five to six hours now. That’s a step down from the seven or maybe eight I could squeeze out when it was new. This is the most immediately noticeable difference from any other laptop I’ve been using recently, which last considerably longer. Some of that improvement comes from improved efficiency, but also larger capacity. The Thinkpad battery capacity is 50 Whr (when new, age has reduced it to 42 Whr), when 75 Whr seems the standard now.

Five hours away from an outlet wouldn’t be so bad, but the trouble comes when I forget the laptop in my bag at night. I’ve gotten kinda careless about this recently, expecting there to be sufficient charge for a second day. Definitely not with this Thinkpad. Also, I’ve forgotten how much laptops of this era drain even while sleeping. Leaving the X1 off charger overnight wouldn’t be recommended even with a full charge.

The CPU is an Intel Broadwell i5-5300U, the dawn of the 14nm era. It’s fast enough for many purposes. I can compile ps in an instant, and there’s nothing to be gained reducing that to half an instant. On the other hand, the radeon driver continues to expand at a rate that outstrips even the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395’s ability to compile it in a reasonable timeframe. Only the already fast enough tasks are getting faster. The slow tasks keep getting slower.

Prior to the X1, Thinkpads had pretty notoriously bad screens. Though I guess nearly all laptops of the time did. The X1 screen is a still relevant 2560x1440. And it’s IPS! I might prefer 16:10 or an OLED, but it hasn’t been problematic in any way. The 1080p screen on the Zenbook was noticeably pixely.

Build quality is quite good, but the case does creak. Every time I lift my right hand off the palm rest, there’s a soft pop. Definitely not a unibody.

So far, so good, getting a day (or half day) of work done, one would hardly know it’s been ten years since this was state of the art. Until it’s time to charge. And then we discover there are no USB-C ports here. I have a small collection of the round Thinkpad chargers, but only a single thin tip charger. I have grown quite accustomed to charging any laptop in any room with whatever USB-C charger happens to be nearby. The great news is that Thinkpads of this era were sufficiently popular that people have made USB-C adapters.

I have this one but there are many seemingly identical models. It’s a little elbow that lets me use any PD charger. The original Thinkpad charger was 65W, and so the X1 expects 65W as well. Slightly concerning, because I’ve already standardized on 35W travel chargers in all my laptop bags and backpacks. What I’ve found is that the 35W charger works fine for running the laptop, or charging the battery, but not both simultaneously. In that case, the little power lights blink as the over current protection or whatever kicks in. This is more for unexpected contingencies, not regular use, so as long as it shuts off without melting down, I’m happy. afresh1 informed that there is also an internal mod that replaces the power port, though I think I’ll stick with the adapter.

I originally replaced this X1 with a 6th gen Carbon X1. That laptop is currently out of service with a broken keycap that I am horrifically lazy about repairing. And then I moved on to a series of chromebooks which have their limitations, but were all thin, light, well built, and rather pleasant to carry around. Battery life, not performance, has been the most prominent change.

I took a look at Thinkpad X1 prices recently out of curiosity, and even accounting for the ever changing Lenovo pricing algorithm, the value is unclear. I was thrilled to get the 3rd gen. I’d take a 13th gen as a gift, sure, but if I were stuck with the 3rd gen as my only laptop for the near future, I’d be pretty content. In 2015, if I’d been forced to continue using the T60, I would have been very unhappy.