Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (2018) Review: 6th Gen Workhorse, HDR Brilliance
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th Gen: Gaming And Graphics Testing
Futuremark’s well-known 3DMark benchmark suite features tests that target different types of computing devices.
Furturemark 3DMark
We opted for the Cloud Gate and Sky Diver tests, for which we have plenty of comparison data, but also as light-duty 3D graphics and gaming benchmarks that are well-suited to thin and light laptops. Sky Diver is a bit more strenuous, but still well within the limits of our test group.
Though the 2018 ThinkPad X1 Carbon does post up strong scores for integrated Intel UHD 620 graphics here, it doesn't stand out among the group of Intel 8th Gen Core machines, and of course trails versus discrete mobile GPUs or AMD's Ryzen Mobile offering in the HP machine. It does, however, post a respectable score for its class of processor and essentially again in a virtual tie with other quad-core Kaby Lake R powered Intel ultrabook models.
GRID Autosport Benchmark
GRID Autosport is a cross-platform racing simulation developed by Codemasters. After the luke-warm reception of GRID 2, due to its less than realistic racing model, the Codemasters team set out to improve GRID Autosport's handling and environment rendering to make it feel like more of a true racing simulator. The game is based on Codemasters' EGO engine that has an amped-up physics and damage system that adds to the immersion and realism Codemasters also tuned its graphics engine to perform well over a wide variety of mainstream systems, so it makes for a good watermark in a medium-duty graphics workload. It also actually happens to be billed as "optimized for integrated Intel HD Graphics."
We see quite a spread here between discrete NVIDIA graphics and AMD's Ryzen 5 Mobile chip with integrated Vega 8 graphics, but don't be fooled. In terms of business class ultrabook performance, the Thinkpad X1 Carbon 6th Gen machine is once again in a virtual tie with other Kaby Lake R 8th Gen Intel Core machines in its weight class. In fact, scores here among the 8th Gen Core i7 and Core i5 quad-core machines with integrated graphics are all well within this benchmark's margin of variability. However, we will note that the above X1 Carbon scores are taken at the machine's out-of-the-box settings. Again, when we slid the Windows Performance/Battery Life slider up a notch, we gained a few more FPS, and landed in the 28 range.
