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Lenovo ThinkPad X9-14 review: an iconic laptop continues to evolveMSRP$1,659.00 Score Details The Lenovo ThinkPad X9-14 is a well-made ThinkPad that doesn't really look like one.ProsSolid build qualityThin and lightGood productivity performanceGreat OLED displayExcellent keyboard and touchpadRange of consumer and business featuresConsBattery life isn't greatExpensiveThinness a bit of a gimmickTable of ContentsTable of ContentsSpecs and configurationDesignKeyboard and touchpadWebcam and connectivityPerformanceBattery lifeDisplay and audioA business laptop with more than just business appealFor years, the ThinkPad lineup was easy to spot. Every ThinkPad featured the same iconic design, from the red-on-black color scheme to the keyboard design to the TrackPoint nubbin. Then, Lenovo introduced the ThinkPad Z series that altered the design a bit, and now theres a new model that takes the lineup even further away from tradition.Recommended VideosThe ThinkPad X9-14 is a brand-new design that looks and feels even less like the ThinkPad of yesterday. Thats not a bad thing, because the new laptop has a lot going for it although it doesnt quite make it onto our list of the best business laptops. But its a sure sign that Lenovo isnt holding onto the past.RelatedLenovo ThinkPad X9-14Dimensions12.28 x 8.36 x 0.26-0.68 inchesWeight2.8 poundsDisplay14.0-inch 16:10 FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS, 120Hz14.0-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) AMOLED, 60HzCPUIntel Core Ultra 5 226VIntel Core Ultra 5 228VIntel Core Ultra 5 238V vProIntel Core Ultra 7 258VIntel Core Ultra 7 268V vProGPUIntel Arc 130VIntel Arc 140VMemory16GB32GBStorage256GB SSD512GB SSD1TB SSD2TB SSDPorts2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 41 x HDMI 2.11 x 3.5mm headphone jackCamera8MP with infrared camera for Windows 11 HelloWi-FiWi-Fi 7 and Bluetoth 5.4Battery55 watt-hourOperating systemWindows 11Price$1,239+The ThinkPad X9-14 is a business laptop that most likely will be purchased by companies on contract that will have customized pricing. But, if you were to go to the Lenovo Web store and purchase the laptop yourself, youll pay $1,239 for the bast configuration with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and 14.0-inch FHD+ IPS display. I reviewed the laptop with a 14.0-inch 2.8K OLED panel ($100) and a 512GB SSD ($100). You can upgrade up to a Core Ultra 7 268V chipset with vPro for $360, which also ups the RAM to 32GB. Upgrading to a 2TB SSD costs $240. The most expensive configuration runs $2,289.Those are all expensive prices, but not unusually so for business-focused laptops. Some premium laptops with similar configurations cost around the same or more, such as those from HP and Dell. Even some consumer premium laptops cost the same. So, the bottom line is youre not paying a huge premium for those business-centric features.Mark Coppock / Digital TrendsThe first thing youll notice when you handle the ThinkPad X9-14 is that its incredibly thin at least outside of what Lenovo calls the Engine Hub that houses the critical components and the thermal system to keep them cool. The laptop is the thinnest ever at 0.26 inches in that front portion, even thinner than the Apple MacBook Air 13 at 0.44 inches. But, it bloats up to 0.68 inches at the hub. So, its both extremely thin and just very thin at the same time. Its reasonably light at 2.8 pounds, but not the lightest 14-inch laptop youll find. Ultimately, Id rate the design as just a little bit of a gimmick.The laptop feels very robust, as do all ThinkPads. Its subjected to a host of MIL-STD 810H tests, meaning its guaranteed to last. Thats thanks to an all-aluminum construction that feels quite solid. Its as good as any other similar laptop in this regard, and better than most. Thats important for a laptop thats aimed at business users, who are as likely as any users to be traveling extensively with a laptop in tow.Aesthetically, the ThinkPad X9-14 doesnt look much like a ThinkPad of old. Its all-black and features the iconic red dots over the i on the lid and the palm rest logos, but the similarity ends there. ThinkPads have historically sported more red throughout the design, even the ThinkPad Z13 that eschewed the all-black aesthetic. The ThinkPad X9-14 cuts a slim figure thanks to the thin front portion of the chassis, but the Engine Hub kind of sticks out a little more than I like. Its a good looking laptop, but nothing that really stands out to me.As a laptop aimed at business users, the ThinkPad X9-14 has several features aimed at better security and manageability. You can get Intel vPro capabilities that support enterprise management solutions, along with enhanced security and access to a higher level of support.Its also a member of Lenovos Aura Edition laptops, with a variety of extra functionality. They include additional privacy guard and alerts, timers for extra distraction-free work, collaboration features, wellness, and power modes to optimize performance. Those arent unique to the Thinkpad X9-14, but theyre available to any users who want them.Mark Coppock / Digital TrendsThinkPad keyboards were once indistinguishable. They had highly sculpted keycaps, tight spacing with seven levels of keys, and deep switches that required a bit of force to depress. Really, they werent my favorite, because I prefer more key spacing and lighter, more precise switches. Thats exactly why Apples Magic Keyboard is my favorite, and the ThinkPad X9-14s version is very similar. The switches are a little deeper, but theyre still snappy with a bounce in the bottoming action. And there the layout is more traditional (i.e., non-ThinkPad) and spacious, with Ctrl and Alt keys that arent annoyingly reversed from the usual. Id rate it very high on my list in terms of comfortable long-term typing, and an improvement over the old-school ThinkPad keyboard.Similarly, the touchpad is larger than usual for ThinkPads. First, theres no red TrackPoint nubbin in the middle of the keyboard and therefore some of the touchpad space isnt taken for an extra set of buttons. Thats huge departure, dropping on of the most iconic ThinkPad features. I suspect, though, that not too many users will be upset at the omission. The touchpad itself is an excellent haptic version thats almost as good as Apples Force Touch version. Apples has the advantage of a Force Click feature where clicking a little harder invokes extra functionality. But, the ThinkPad touchpad arguably has more customization options.The display is also touch-enabled, which I like. Overall, this is probably my favorite ThinkPad Ive reviewed in terms of controlling things and entering information.Connectivity is light for a 14-inch machine. There are two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 and an HDMI 2.1 connection, along with a 3.5mm audio jack. Thats one of the prices you pay for that ultra thin section. Each port is located at the Engine Hub. Wireless connectivity is fully up-to-date with Wi-Fi 7.Mark Coppock / Digital TrendsThe ThinkPad X9-14 has an optional 8MP webcam, which was on my review unit, and it provided a clear image in my testing. It supports the Aura Edition collaboration features mentioned above, including low light enhancement, better background blur, virtual presenter, and more. In addition, the Intel Lunar Lake chipset has a fast Neural Processing Unit (NPU) supporting Microsofts Copilot+ PC initiative for more efficient on-device AI processing.Mark Coppock / Digital TrendsThere are several 8-core/8-thread Intel Lunar Lake (Core Ultra Series 2) chipsets available with the ThinkPad X9-14, from the Core Ultra 5 226V up to the Core Ultra 7 268V chipsets. All run at a base of 17 watts, with various clock speeds. Lunar Lake is primarily focused on efficiency, and its performance falls somewhere between the older 15-watt U-series and 28-watt H-series Meteor Lake chipsets. You can also get versions with Intels vPro functionality.As you can see in our benchmarks, theres not a huge difference between Lunar Lake versions in performance in CPU-intensive tasks. Its considerably slower than the other Windows efficiency option, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipsets, and the AMD Ryzen AI 9 and Apple M4 chipsets are a lot faster.. The Core Ultra 5 226V also uses the slower Intel Arc 130V integrated graphics, and that shows up in the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark.The ThinkPad X9-14 is fast enough for productivity work, but gamers and creators wont be too excited.Cinebench R24(single/multi)Geekbench 6(single/multi)Handbrake(seconds)3DMarkWild Life ExtremeSamsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360(Core Ultra 5 226V / Intel Arc 130V)114 / 5732587 / 10260924740HP EliteBook X G1a(Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 / Radeon 890M)109 / 10952769 / 14786607236HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)116 / 5982483 / 10725997573HP Spectre x360 14(Core Ultra 7 155H / Intel Arc)102 / 4852176 / 1198093N/ALenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)109 / 6302485 / 10569885217Asus Zenbook S 14(Core Ultra 7 258V / Intel Arc 140V)112 / 4522738 / 107341137514HP OmniBook X(Snapdragon X Elite / Adreno)101 / 7492377 / 13490N/A6165MacBook Air(M4 10/8)172 / 8543751 / 14801877827Mark Coppock / Digital TrendsTheres just a 55 watt-hour battery in the ThinkPad X9-14, likely a result of the incredibly thin chassis in all but the engine hub. Frankly, thats not a lot of battery capacity for a 14-inch laptop with a power-hungry high-res OLED display. The Lunar Lake chipsets are efficient, but I wasnt expecting great battery life.And, I didnt get it. Compared to the other laptops in the comparison group using todays more efficient chipsets for Windows, including also Qualcomms Snapdragon X, the ThinkPad X9-14 wasnt even close. Some of those also have OLED displays, although they also have larger batteries. Interestingly, the HP EliteBook X G1a with the AMD Ryzen AI 9 chipset also didnt get the same kind of battery life as Intels and Qualcomms latest chipsets. As has been the case for several years, Apple Silicon is overall the most efficient.The bottom line is that battery life is not a strength here.Web browsingVideoCinebench R24Lenovo Thinkpad X9-14(Core Ultra 226V)7 hours, 39 minutes6 hours, 27 minutes1 hour, 33 minutesHP EliteBook X G1a(Ryzen AI 9 HX 375)N/A7 hours, 27 minutes1 hour, 27 minutesSamsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360(Core Ultra 5 226V)12 hours, 50 minutes19 hours, 30 minutes2 hours, 18 minutesHP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14(Core Ultra 7 258V)11 hours, 5 minutes15 hours, 46 minutes2 hours, 14 minutesLenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition(Core Ultra 7 258V)14 hours, 16 minutes17 hours, 31 minutes2 hours, 15 minutesAsus Zenbook S 14(Core Ultra 7 258V)16 hours, 47 minutes18 hours, 35 minutes3 hours, 33 minutesMicrosoft Surface Laptop(Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100)14 hours, 21 minutes22 hours, 39 minutesN/AHP Omnibook X(Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100)13 hours, 37 minutes22 hours, 4 minutes1 hour, 52 minutesApple MacBook Air(Apple M4 10/8)16 hours, 30 minutes20 hours, 31 minutes3 hours, 47 minutesMark Coppock / Digital TrendsThere are two display options with the ThinkPad X9-14, both 14-inch panels at a 16:10 aspect ratio. One is a 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED panel running at 60Hz, the other is an FHD+ (1920 x 1200) IPS panel with a variable 120Hz refresh rate. Thats a mixed bag, with the sharper display offering up brighter colors and OLEDs usual inky blacks and the IPS panel offering a smoother user interface and better battery life.I tested the OLED display, and my colorimeter found it a little different than most other OLED panels Ive tested. It was very at 511 nits, brighter than most OLED displays and well above our older 300-nit threshold. My colorimeter couldnt measure the contrast ratio, something I havent seen from an OLED display for a while, but blacks were perfect. Coloers werent quite as wide at 100% sRGB, 93% AdobeRGB (most are 97% or higher), and 100% DCI-P3, and accuracy wasnt nearly as good as usual at a DeltaE of 1.62. Almost every OLED panel is below the cutoff for excellent displays of 1.0.The display is still great for every user, and its support for Dolby Vision bodes well for media consumption. The IPS panel is for anyone who doesnt care as much about colors and blacks and wants better battery life than I saw in my testing.Theres a lot to like about the ThinkPad X9-14, and not just for ThinkPad fans. In fact, anyone who came here looking for a traditional ThinkPad design will be disappointed. The ThinkPad X9-14 is much more like other thin-and-light laptops today than that iconic brand, and thats not actually a bad thing.While the thin design is a bit of a gimmick, because you still need to contend with an Engine Hub that makes it a more typical thickness, its still light enough and well-built enough to be comfortably portable. Its fast enough for productivity users and has a very good OLED display option although that has an outsized impact on battery life. Business users will like it a lot, but consumers should consider it as well.Editors Recommendations