Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Overview
Taking a first look at the ThinkPad X13s it has the typical ThinkPad all black design, although this laptop is a little less blocky than what we saw on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, this is due to the section at the top of the lid that houses the camera and microphone array. The chassis itself is made of magnesium alloy and has a sort of soft coating on it, which makes it easier to pick up. This finish also appear to not be such a fingerprint magnet, which is a good thing! For those wondering ThinkPad laptops are tested against 12 military-grade requirements and more than 200 quality checks to ensure they run in extreme conditions. In the top corner of the lid you’ll find the ThinkPad logo with the “i” that lights up when you have your system on and a small Lenovo logo towards the bottom. This is a fanless laptop so you are not going to find and ventilation on the bottom of the laptop.
The official dimensions of the X13s is 13.4mm x 298.7mm x 206.4mm and it weighs in at 2.35lbs. That makes it one of the lightest laptops out there! There really are not a lot of ports, on the left side there are two USB 3.2 gen 2 ports (one is used for charging), and on the other side there is combination audio port, and your SIM card slot. Yes, certain models of this laptop are 5G capable! Our shipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G modem with a Verizon SIM installed.
Opening the laptop up is easy enough as you can use the bump at the top of the screen to pull it open with a single hand. The hinge design seems sturdy and you can angle the screen back pretty far, but unlike their Yoga laptops you cannot flip this screen around and turn the laptop into a tablet.
When it comes to the display we have a 13.3-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, Anti-Glare, 300 nits, 60hz, touch screen. Over the past year or so Lenovo was switched from the normal 1920 x 1080 displays to 1920 x 1200 displays, which give you more vertical room, which is great for productivity. On this model you can get the same display without touch, or a non-touch version that is 400 nits and has low blue light. At the center of the display is a notch that houses the microphone array and 5MP RGB webcam.
Moving down to the keyboard and trackpad area we have standard ThinkPad layout with the red trackpoint (hate it or love it!) right at the center. If you’ve used a ThinkPad in the past you know hey keys just feel amazing, in my opinion they are the best laptop keyboard to type on. They give such a satisfying feeling when doing your daily tasks. On top of feeling great the keyboard is still resistant.
The trackpad is decently large and has a glass finish. You have your standard left, right, and center buttons and the trackpad itself can be pressed (with tactile feedback).
Above the keyboard towards the right side is a small power button, which also doubles as a fingerprint reader. It is pretty impressive just how small it is and how well it works. For the security people out there the laptop does feature a discrete TPM 2.0 module.
