Lenovo's latest laptop is lighter than the MacBook Air, all while sporting a larger screen
- Lenovo's latest X1 Carbon laptop announced during CES 2019 is lighter than the MacBook Air, Apple's lightest and most portable laptop.
- The new X1 Carbon also has a number of useful ports, including regular USB ports, USB-C ports, and HDMI.
- It's one of the best alternatives to Apple's MacBook Air, but it's also estimated to cost around $1,700, which could be a dealbreaker for some.
Lenovo unveiled its latest X1 Carbon laptop model at CES 2019, and it's absurdly light.
The new 7th-generation X1 Carbon weighs in at 2.4 pounds, which is 0.35 pounds lighter than the 2018 MacBook Air's 2.75 pounds. On paper, the weight difference isn't especially exciting, but that's because you haven't held this thing in your hands yet. 0.35 pounds is almost the weight of three large eggs, which is pretty significant.
Lenovo's latest X1 Carbon laptop is also thinner at its thickest point (0.58-inches) compared to the MacBook Air's 0.61-inch thickness. To be fair, the MacBook Air does taper down to 0.16 inches at its thinnest point, whereas the X1 Carbon has a more consistent thickness.
Other than its weight and dimensions, you're getting Lenovo's tried-and-true sleek rubbery matte-black finish that coats a carbon fiber body. Other Lenovo stalwarts like the red mouse nubbin and fantastic keyboard are present.
The 14-inch display is also larger than the MacBook Air's 13-incher. You'll have the choice between full-HD (1080p), quad-HD (1440p), and 4K displays.
Spec-wise, the X1 Carbon will come with an 8th-generation Intel processor, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 2 terabytes of SSD storage, a 15-hour battery life claim, a fingerprint sensor, and all the ports that the MacBook Air should have but doesn't. That includes two regular USB 3.1 ports, two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, and an HDMI port.
Lenovo also added a Dolby Atmos speaker system, but I couldn't tell if it was any good in the noisy room where Lenovo was showing it off. It'll be interesting to see if the X1 can sound as good as the MacBook Air, as Apple graces its laptops with spectacular speakers. The new X1 Carbon is absolutely a device I want to spend some good, quality time with for a review.
Lenovo estimates a starting price of $1,710 when the 7th-generation X1 Carbon goes on sale in June 2019. That's an oddly high estimated starting price considering the previous X1 Carbon starts at around $1,300. If that price estimation remains the same, it's one area where the $1,200 MacBook Air has the new X1 Carbon beat.