ThinkPad X12 Detachable Review: Lenovo’s latest Surface Pro

You can line up most of the ThinkPad models of the last few years and the average laptop buyer may have difficulty in distinguishing between them. Lenovo has the look, feel and features down of its premium business line, and has attracted a dedicated base of fans in doing so.

Over the past year, Lenovo has made several efforts to move the ThinkPad package to less traditional, more portable form factors, ranging in price from the Razor-thin X1 Nano but up to 1 times the groundbreaking X1. With the ThinkPad X12 detachable, the company is once again taking direct aim at Microsoft’s Surface Pro line. As you probably understand from its name, the X12 detachable is a ThinkPad-branded and think-looking 12.3-inch Windows tablet with a detachable keyboard deck.

Once you are aware of that information, there is not much about the X12 Detachable that will surprise you. It has many strengths that its ThinkPad siblings do, including a camera shutter, discrete clicker, keyboard nub, and a black-and-red color scheme that ThinkPad fans will know and love. It also comes with some unique drawbacks that are inherent in its form factor – small screen, shallow keyboard, limited ports, and so on. But if you’re in the market for a detachable PC with business features and strong specs, there’s no reason the X12 shouldn’t be detachable on your list.

Sometimes buying a portable, detachable machine means compromising on specs and performance, but it is definitely not here. The X12 Detachable comes with Intel’s latest 11th gen processor and runs Windows 10 Pro. The base model has an MSRP of $ 1,819 but is currently listed at $ 1,091. (That’s how Lenovo makes their pricing – don’t think too hard about it.) It comes with a Core i3-1110G4, 8GB of RAM (solder), and 256GB of storage. I am testing a more expensive Core i5 model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, currently listed at $ 1,331.40.

The most comparable Surface Pro 7 Plus models are currently listed $ 849.99 And $ 1,399.99 Respectively. However, these prices are misleading, as all X12 detachable models currently listed on Lenovo’s site include a stylus and keyboard cover in the box; You will have to buy them separately for the Surface Pro 7 Plus, and they will add at least $ 99.99 and $ 97.49 to the price. This means that my X12 model is actually a couple hundred bucks less expensive than the most comparable Surface Pro (which also has less storage).

The Core i5-1130G7 in my test unit offers various features of the 11th gen line, including Intel’s powerful Xe integrated graphics and support for Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi. Using it was a nice, smooth experience: I can’t imagine anyone using X12 standard business work with Chrome tabs, streaming, zoom calls, and standard performance would encounter performance issues. The fan of the ThinkPad ran continuously during my use, but it didn’t bother loudly, and the device never overheated.

This is not a laptop you want to use for any kind of heavy gaming, but the Iris X graphics can lend a hand with lighter creative work. I used the device to process and lightly edit a batch of photos, and until I had the greatest experience, it was practical for my amateur needs. Anyone who does professional graphic work should consider a system with a GPU.

Both the X12’s keyboard and pen are fine, and with better accessories I’ve used with detachable PCs. The stylus, which rests in an easy loop to the right of the keyboard deck, gave me no problems and there are two buttons you can map to your taste in Lenovo’s Pen Settings software. The keys are a bit tight and flat, as is often the case with folio keyboards, but typing was a comfortable experience overall. They are also backlit, which you don’t see on every detachable keyboard.

The touchpad is slightly smaller (I often hit the clickers while scrolling) and not the smoothest around, but is par for the course with a device like this. If the touchpad is not your thing, you can use TrackPoint in the center of the keyboard.

Another part worth calling outside the chassis is the 1920 x 1280 display. Like the Surface Pro line, the X12 has a 3: 2 aspect ratio, which is my favorite aspect ratio (yes, a favorite of mine). This is much clearer than a traditional 16: 9 display, which provides more vertical space. The top and side bezels are chunky, which can turn some people off, but it makes sense because the device is also meant to function regularly as a tablet (and you’ll have to grab some).

The panel itself is also quite good. It gets decently bright, maxing out at 380 nits in my test, which should be enough for use outside and in other bright settings (provided you’re not doing creative work). It has 73 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum, which is equivalent to what we have seen. Surface Pro 7 Plus. The videos and webpages all looked great, with bright colors and not too bright.

The X12 has many modern security features, which will be of interest to most business customers. There is a match-on-chip fingerprint reader, which enables all enrollment, storage, and authentication to occur within the sensor, as well as a DTPM 2.0 chip and Lenovo’s self-healing BIOS, which Lenovo guarantees “and Self-heal when corrupted or maliciously attacked. ”Like previous ThinkPads, the X12 also has an IR camera that supports Windows Hello Facial Recognition and includes a physical shutter to block for privacy. I will note that the shutter is a bit short and hard to swap back and forth even with my little fingers. (There is not even a shutter for the rear-facing camera.)

One area where Lenovo is lagging behind Microsoft is upgradeability. The Surface Pro 7 Plus comes with a removable SSD that is easy to access. The X12’s SSD is very difficult to obtain, and doing so will void its warranty, according to experts’ analysis Tom’s Hardware. This possibility will not be a deciding factor for most consumers, but may be an important consideration for some business users.

The X12 detachable has a much smaller 42Wh battery. So I was pleasantly surprised to see how long it lasted – especially after the X1 fold, the last ThinkPad-branded tablet I reviewed averaged for five hours under one charge. Using the X12 as my daily driver for the Chrome tab, with a screen of 200 nits of brightness, Spotify streaming, zoom calls and the like, I averaged around seven hours and 50 minutes on one charge. It is fitting that my colleague Tom Warren exited the Surface Pro 7 Plus, and that means you will get one full day of X12 if your workload is the same as mine.

I think what Lenovo did is what to do with the ThinkPad X12 detachable. The device makes a clear case for itself as a system with the performance, quality, construction and business features of the ThinkPad in a uniquely portable and versatile form factor. Its areas of weakness are not disasters, and they are not areas where other troops do better. And it comes with some unique benefits, including Lenovo’s suite of business features and bundled keyboards and stylus.

When comparing the X12 to the Surface Pro 7 Plus, the latter factor is the one that really seals the deal for me. The merits of the respective laptop features and upgradeability benefits of the two laptops will vary between companies. But for a consumer like me, the fact that the accessories you need are tied to the X12 price makes it a much better deal than its Microsoft competitor without too many drawbacks. And if you are a ThinkPad fan, hoping for a capable detachable with all your favorite features, then your wish has certainly come true.

Photography by Monica Chin / The Reporter Door