Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga 3rd Gen Review (2018): Full-Featured Convertible

When it comes to 2-in-1 ultrabooks, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga is one of the best options on the market. Lenovo's Wave keyboard is among the best we have tested on in laptop and the 360-degree hinge mechanism made switching between laptop and tablet modes a breeze. These features alone make the X1 Yoga a good option for any business professional that needs more flexibility than a standard ultrabook can offer. A 2-in-1 can offer extra productivity and features, with exceptional mobility as long as it doesn't sacrifice too much performance, and that wasn't the case here.

Of course these are standard features across the X1 Yoga series, so lets dive deeper into what makes Gen 3 tick; namely Kaby Lake R. Employing Intel's latest 8th Gen architecture, Lenovo was able to pack a stout 4-core/8-threaded processor with 6MB SmartCache into a 3lb ultrabook and those additional cores shined through in our testing. In some benchmarks, we saw an improvement in performance that was upward of 30% over the previous gen machine's Intel Core i7-7600U dual-core processor. In addition, the new X1 Carbon's included Samsung NVMe SSD was extremely snappy, in both real world and synthetic testing. At higher queue depths, it blew away the similarly configured Dell Latitude 7390 2-in-1, in both read and write performance. With a quad-core processor and a fast SSD this machine really packs a punch in the performance department. Not bad for an ultrabook config that costs well under $2K. That said, to paraphrase Notorious B.I.G though "mo cores, mo problems." While 2 additional cores did increase the performance over last gen's outing, in our testing we found the thermal solution used in the X1 Yoga wasn't fully up to the challenge in spots. During our testing the processors core temperature would routinely scale higher, causing the clock speeds to throttle. To be fair, this didn't happen in all of our testing however. In fact, gaming performance was right where it should be and when under a standard load the processor hummed right along at 3.4GHz without issue. It was just when putting the processor under a sustained, heavy load that we saw throttling. Benchmarks don't always represent real world usage, so most users should be okay, but if you're using this product for 3D rendering, or large format video editing your X1 Yoga could be feeling more like the X1 Hot Yoga.


One aspect where a 2-in-1 should really standout is the display and the X1 Yoga didn't disappoint in this regard. The included FHD 1080p display had excellent color reproduction and brightness seemed better than the previous gen machine. In addition, the ThinkPad Pen Pro makes this machine a good option for digital artists. Of course, if you're looking for even better image fidelity, Lenovo offers an HDR display option with the X1 Yoga, as the do in the new X1 Carbon for an additional premium, that is truly a fantastic panel.