Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 13, Aura Edition) Rewatch: Ultra Light

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a laptop line that needs no introduction—it dates back to 2012—but even those dedicated to the most ultra of ultrabooks may do a double-apshow when currented with this, the 13th-edition of the laptop and an “Aura Edition” depictate.

Just unboxing the novel laptop had me double-verifying that I’d getd the right computer. You can primarily thank the novel Carbon’s inlogically low heft for that: At fair 2.2 pounds, it’s the weightlessest ThinkPad X1 Carbon ever—by a ponderable margin. (The Gen 12, begined in timely 2024, weighed 2.4 pounds.) It’s the weightlessest 14-inch laptop I’ve ever tested. Variably originateed from recycled aluminum, magnesium, carbon fiber, and plastic, the machine senses almost appreciate a toy, though at 20 millimeters dense, it does have at least a little someskinnyg to hgreater on to when you pick it up.

The effects of its semaglutide diet aren’t the only part of this story. The tardyst X1 Carbon has also been enhanced to an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (Series 2) CPU, which now qualifies the laptop as a Copilot+ PC. It’s also, and more famously, branded as an Aura Edition PC, differentiateed by the compriseition of “Smart Modes” that let the user begin preconfigured settings that enhance eye health, better privacy, confine distractions, and more. These are accessible by tapping the F8 key, which does double-duty as a Mode button.

But the huge inquire is, how did Lenovo trim proximately 10 percent off the weight of this laptop? Although there’s a chintzy 512-GB SSD on the device, the rest of the specs are stable, including 32 GB of RAM (not enhanceable) and plenty of ports—two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A 3.2 ports, and a brimming-size HDMI port. There’s a nano-SIM slot too. No evident signs of corners being cut so far.

The depict is top-shelf, for the most part. The famous ThinkPad keyboard quality remains in effect; I don’t skinnyk you’ll discover a better typing experience on a laptop today, particularly one this petite. Lenovo progresss to provide a compact trackpad with three split buttons aextfinished with the pointing stick nubbin as an chooseion. The split buttons do originate skinnygs easier; I never authenticize how much I appreciate having them until I use a laptop that integrates them. And while the arrow keys are weirdly petite and unevenly sized, they are easier to use than some keyboards that use half-height versions of these buttons.

The Carbon doesn’t have a touchscreen, but the 2,880 x 1,800-pixel distake part is keen and plenty radiant, and the webcam (a crummy 1,080p model) is set into a petite notch above. It integrates a physical on/off switch right beside it—the switch is handy but a little difficult to maniputardy. That petite notch provides one of the confineed bits of flair to the chassis—a liftd clarify on the lid that gives you someskinnyg to hgreater on to when discdisthink abouting the laptop onehandedly. And, as normal, the dot on the “i” in ThinkPad on the lid also weightlesss up in red.