Hands On Video: The Lenovo Thinkpad X1

Anyone who’s ever had a corporate job has probably used a Lenovo Thinkpad.

These mainstays in the corporate world are renowned for their reliability, durability, and performance. But light and airy they are not.

Well the road warrior’s load is now lighter with the Thinkpad X1. Lenovo claims it is the lightest and thinnest Thinkpad model ever, at 3.7 pounds and 0.67″ thick (0.84″ at its thickest point).

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The X1 has the familiar black rubberized screen lid of all Thinkpads. Its specs are impressive for such a thin device: 4GB RAM (with option to add up to 8GB), an Intel Core i5 or i7 “Sandy Bridge” processor, a 320GB hard drive, a backlit and spill-resistant keyboard, and a 13.3-inch display made of resilient gorilla glass. It comes loaded with Windows 7 Professional.

One shortcoming of the X1 is battery life. It’s an unimpressive four hours. A secondary “slice” battery was included with the X1 sent to me and can be snapped to the bottom of the machine to nearly double battery life. But make note: This will add weight to the machine and in real life the slice battery is not included. It must be purchased separately for $150 – $200 (I incorrectly state in the video below that the second battery is included).

Like many ultra-thin laptops these days, the X1 does not include an internal optical drive, so you won’t be watching DVDs or listening to a CD on this model. But with all the Web-based media these days, who uses discs anymore anyway?

The X1’s price starts at $1199.

For a closer look at the Lenovo Thinkpad X1, click below on our latest episode of “Shiny Happy Hardware.”