The last time I laid eyes on the ThinkPad 7th-generation X1 Carbon laptop from Lenovo was at CES in early January. Exactly eight months later, a fully-spec'd out review unit landed on my doorstep.

Windows Hello Facial Unlock; Improved sound quality; Eye-popping gorgeous 500-nits 4K display with Dolby Vision HDR; Feather-weight with military grade durability

Battery life takes a big hit with 4K display; Lack option for discrete graphics; Low resolution front facing camera

In its 7th generation, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is classier than ever

Solid and attractive ThinkPad build; Gorgeous 4K display with HDR; Excellent keyboard and touchpad; Solid connectivity; Impressive sound quality

No touch support; Display kills battery life

As with some other current ThinkPads, this version of the low-power 1080p display is also able to convince. Although there's the risk of getting one of the two panels with lower response times, it's a big step forward in comparison to last year's standard display.

extremely compact and light; good matte display with no PWM; good system performance; quiet fan; long battery life; very good speakers; WWAN-ready; extensive warranty; still a very good keyboard..

...but worse than with the predecessor; smaller battery and omission of the microSD reader; no Wi-Fi 6; strongly restricted maintenance; LAN only via (included) adapter

The Lenovo ThinkPad succeeds in conventional areas: it's powerful, versatile, has superb ergonomics and great build quality.

Surprise, surprise: the X1 Carbon is a super-capable business machine. There's all kinds of built-in software security, hardware helping hands and the kind of performance that'll feel right at home in the office. What's more impressive is how Lenovo has managed to make this year's model also appeal to people that don't spend their lives in a suit and tie. Sure, it still leans on the serious side, and won't leave gadget fans lusting like a Dell XPS or Apple MacBook might, but it's almost so light you'll want to weigh it down in a breeze. That 4K screen can handle movie streaming and spreadsheets alike. It is mighty pricey in the top-spec configuration, though. If you want similar power for less cash, and even more style points, an XPS 13 is still your best bet.

Light enough to lug anywhere; Genuine all-day battery life; Capable desktop performer;

Design a little too restrained for non-business types; No card reader; Top-spec configurations are big money;

Light enough to lug anywhere; Genuine all-day battery life; Capable desktop performer;

Design a little too restrained for non-business types; No card reader; Top-spec configurations are big money;

A luxury laptop with a high-quality finish and high-quality components, but we’d drop down to a Full HD screen

Great quality screen; Impressive security features; Ultraportable design;

Poor battery life; Pricey;

I really like Lenovo's new Thinkpad Carbon X1 and I think it has it where it counts: the construction, the inputs and the multitude of screens and hardware configurations, among others.

thin and light and well made; excellent typing experience and dual biometrics; beautiful full gamut 4k screen; with other screen options as well; multiple configuration options; runs well; cooly and quietly with daily use; pretty good audio this time around; still decent battery life; especially...

the brightness settings are not spread out evenly; overheats and limits the performance in demaning loads; gets hot with demaning loads; smaller battery than on previous models

I almost feel like there's no much I can say about the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, because it's so good, but it's always been good. When talking about a business clamshell that's thin and light, look no further. And it's even lighter this year at an incredible 2.4 pounds.

(Editors' Note: This review was updated on Sept. 4 to clarify some details surrounding the screen and WWAN options.)

Thin, light, and very sturdy; ThinkPad-typical comfortable keyboard; Long battery life, as configured with 1080p screen; Many screen options; Optional Intel vPro; Full-size HDMI output

Small touchpad; Requires (not-included) Ethernet adapter