Lenovo X1 Carbon

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This article outlines the various anti-consumer measures used in the Lenovo X1 Carbon series of laptops. Some concepts may overlap with Lenovo's general practices, a Chinese-American multinational technology company.

Hardware-vendor lockout (BIOS whitelist)

Most models of the Lenovo X1 Carbon will fail to post if the user changes their WWAN broadband card to a WWAN card that is not on the Lenovo Vendor Whitelist. If a user intends to use a WWAN card manufactured by another company, which are typically cheaper than the Lenovo factory-installed WWAN cards, the computer will not boot until the user removes the card. Evasion of these whitelists has been outlined in the Arch Linux wiki, but success is very limited.

Resulting cost for the consumer

Lenovo currently charges $298 USD to install a Quectel RM520N-GL 5G Sub6 from the factory.

Pricing options for WWAN card (Lenovo X1 Carbon gen2)

Some used options of similar modems can, at the time of writing, be purchased for $150 USD. 4G modems can be purchased for less.

Thinkpad x1 carbon sub series

Hinge problems

Contrary to the company's reputation, the laptop has a number of hinge issues that are generally not found elsewhere in the company. source: salem techsperts, ifixit

Hinge problem - Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga

https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/x380yoga_hmm_en.pdf see page 94 - Removal steps of the LCD hinges

https://laptopmedia.com/highlights/inside-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-carbon-10th-gen-disassembly-and-upgrade-options/

Glued lid and LCD durability on 10th gen Thinkpad x1 laptops

There are reports of the display panel being held to the lid by glue.

Repairability

Sadly the x1 carbon has soldered ram which means it cannot be replaced by the user

Fan noise

being a thin and light laptop it suffers from fan noise, this also leads to fans kicking in when you are just watching a video or doing stuff that are not resource intensive

Performance

if you are looking for performance this laptop is not it, basic games barely run (20 - 30 fps),

Heat

laptop fails to cool itself properly, in basic games the laptop can get pretty hot