My favorite laptop, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, now starts at $999 ($1600 for 64GB)

I’ve been reviewing laptops for 17 years now and my favorite laptop — the one I buy for myself — is Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Carbon. I just recently replaced my X1 Carbon from 2018 with the current-generation X1 Carbon (12th Gen). This 2.4-pound laptop packs plenty of performance, an industry-leading keyboard, all the ports I could want and an excellent navigation system. 

Now, today, you can get the base model ThinkPad X1 Carbon (12th Gen) which comes with a Core Ultra 5 125U CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and the base-model, 1920 x 1200 non-touch display for just $999. This is an all-time low by several hundred dollars and the best non-gaming laptop deal you’ll find today.

The Core Ultra 5 processor should be fine for productivity work and the 1920 x 1200 display is the most power efficient choice — Lenovo also sells the laptop with a 2880 x 1800 OLED screen that has a 120 Hz refresh rate, but you don’t need that. However, 512GB is a little skimpy for an SSD and 16GB is the bare minimum of RAM you need. You can upgrade the SSD yourself after you buy, but the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard so you can never add more.

When I bought my own ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) a few weeks ago, I used Lenovo’s Build Your PC configure to order option to increase the amount of RAM in my unit to 64GB and to up the CPU to the a Core Ultra 7 165U (which is required if you want the 64GB RAM option).  

To save money, I configured my unit with Ubuntu Linux (saves $140 over Windows) and a measly 256GB SSD. After I got my laptop in the mail (just a few days later), I replaced the default SSD with a 2TB model I got myself and I got Windows 11 for cheap ($12) and installed that. I could have bought the laptop with a 1TB or 2TB SSD and WIndows preloaded, but I saved some big money by adding the OS and boot drive myself.

Today, you can get the same config I bought — with 64GB, a Core Ultra 7 165U, a 1920 x 1200 non-touch display, Ubuntu Linux and a 256GB SSD for $1,611.50. If you want a 1TB SSD and Windows 11 Home preloaded, the price goes to  $1,935.

Now, some have asked me why I chose 64GB instead of a more typical amount of 32GB, which is cheaper. I like to run virtual machines using VirtualBox and each of those needs its own, dedicated 16GB. 

However, for people not doing that, 32GB should be fine. The best 32GB configuration option is the $1,571 option which has a Core Ultra 7 165U, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, a 1920 x 1200 touch screen and Windows 11 Pro. Or, if you plan to upgrade your own storage, get the $1,391 config which has a Core Ultra 7 155U CPU, a non-touch screen and 512GB SSD.

Whatever configuration of the X1 Carbon you choose, you can’t lose. These laptops have an incredible keyboard that makes it feel like your fingers are one with the machine has you tap away. 

You don’t even have to move your fingers off of the home row, because the TrackPoint pointing stick allows you to navigate around the desktop just by moving your index finger. If you don’t like nubs (and you should), there’s also a large, glass touchpad.

Unlike most thin-and-light laptops, the X1 Carbon has plenty of ports. It has two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, along with two USB Type-A ports and full-size HDMI out. There’s also both a fingerprint reader and a facial recognition camera. 

These laptops are made to last a long time. My previous model lasted for 6 years and I only replaced it because its 8th gen processor was feeling a little sluggish with modern software and I wanted more RAM. They go through MIL-SPEC testing and are designed to survive some abuse.

Battery life on these is solid. In our ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 12) review, we noted that the review unit lasted more than 9 hours on our test (web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness). If you don’t pump the brightness up on yours, you can probably expect to get through the day on a charge. The Core Ultra processors give great performance and, in terms of build quality and typing  / navigation experience, they can’t be beaten.