I’ve had a thing for ThinkPads over the last few weeks and the reason for my infatuation is Lenovo’s X1 Carbon line. This 14-inch notebook rocks a carbon fiber body, 15+ hour battery life,¹ the best notebook keyboard in the business, an LTE-ready modem for always-on internet, and honest-to-goodness I/O that people use on a daily basis.

This year’s iteration brings with it faster 8th generation Kaby Lake processors, Alexa voice control features, and an impressive HDR-ready display on BTO models. The only option this notebook appears to be missing is a UHD display akin to the 4K display available on the 15-inch T570/T580.

The only thing holding me back from adopting one of these X1 Carbons full-time is the poor third party software selection for Windows 10. This is a huge factor and a huge competitive advantage in Apple’s favour. Apps like Things, Ulysses, Bear, and a range of others are nowhere to be found on Windows 10.

It’s not in their nature, but I’d sure be appreciative if Apple decided to adopt some of its competitor’s competitive advantages. I’d do just about anything to actually use my MacBook Pro’s keyboard without worrying that I’ll break it.

This may or may not be the case, as it has been reported in a few different instances that it’s nearly impossible to achieve this battery life under a normal workload. ↩