A light laptop opens up new opportunities.
One is the opportunity to not hurt your back when you use one all day, lugging it around in a laptop bag, and even commuting on a bike with one in tow.
At just two pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is one of the lightest models I’ve tested and what Lenovo calls the lightest ThinkPad ever made. I’ve tested lightweight laptops many times over the last two decades, but this is one of my favorites because it just seems extra portable.
As I mentioned, I’m an avid bike commuter. I stashed the X1 in a durable and rain-resistant messenger bag, and off I went to my local coffee shop. At that two-pound weight, I barely noticed I had anything in my bag, and because the X1 tended to last all day on a charge, I left my charger at home on most of these trips. Only once did I stay at the coffee shop so long, especially now that things have started opening up in my area post-pandemic, that I brought the charger along and had to power up the divide, but that was rare during my test period.
The laptop is more than just light. It is also powerful. The X1 uses the new Intel Evo vPro platform for exceptional power and battery management. I sometimes test laptops and run apps like Adobe Photoshop or even Microsoft Excel with multiple tabs and calculations and wish I had a different computer. The X1 kept pace just fine. The 13-inch screen looked bright and readable, even on the patio of a local restaurant. Lenovo uses the term “always-on responsiveness” to describe the X1, and I agree. With a tap of the keyboard, the laptop would resume quickly.
I have to say, this is a bit unusual for me. I sometimes test laptops that are powerful enough for Photoshop but don’t last that long or have a vibrant and massive screen but seem to get hot and are too heavy to lug around. I like the balance of the X1 in that it is powerful enough thanks to that Evo chipset and has the battery management to keep you going, but the X1 didn’t stall out or slow down when I had multiple apps running at the same time. Granted, it is not a gaming machine, but I wanted something for extreme productivity anyway.
I also like how the ThinkPad keyboard is so responsive but not so springy that it feels like you are typing on a trampoline. I was blazing through my Word documents and even did some editing on my new book coming out soon, and I never felt like I wanted to be at home with my full-sized keyboard. The X1 allowed me to type fast and accurately.
I’d compare this model against the MacBook 13-inch anytime, especially with the balance between speed and battery power, the fast typing on a capable keyboard that is not too springy, and also the bright and clear screen that looked great on that patio.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is easily one of my favorite laptops of the year.
