Lenovo has regularly updated the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, its flagship thin and light business-class laptop, since its debut in 2012. Usually that means a processor refresh and maybe some modest changes to the physical design.
But it looks like the 12th-generation X1 Carbon may bring some small, but significant changes to the keyboard and trackpad, among other things, if a handful of freshly-leaked images on Reddit prove to be a reliable indicator.
The most noticeable change might be the webcam bump at the top of the display. Lenovo has gone this route with several other laptops, including the Yoga 7i and numerous Legion Slim and Legion Pro models, but it is would be new for the ThinkPad X1 Carbon.
Next there’s the massive trackpad situated on the Carbon X1 G12’s wrist rest. It’s rumored to be a haptic clickpad and it’s different in more ways than just being much larger than the one on the Carbon X1 G11.
Lenovo made room for the larger trackpad by ditching the buttons that have traditionally been found between it and the space bar.
Fans of the classic ThinkPad keyboard (as you can see by browsing the comments in the Reddit thread) aren’t going to be thrilled by the change. Yes, the TrackPoint is still nestled among the G, H and B keys, but there’s no obvious buttons to right or left click with if you choose to use it as your pointing device.
It’s possible that the top edge of the newly-enlarged trackpad will provide that functionality, just as the bottom edge does. That would make much more sense than having to reach all the way across the trackpad to click while using the TrackPoint.
Another possibility is that the buttonless trackpad will be an option, as a Reddit commenter who appeared to have inside information has claimed.
The same user had previously correctly (at least going by the leaked images) predicted the disappearance of the buttons.
Another change? The Fn and Ctrl keys appear to have been swapped, making the ThinkPad X1 Gen 12 keyboard a little more like most other Windows laptops in that the left Ctrl keys is all the way on the end of the bottom row, while the Fn key is to its right. Most earlier models of the laptop (and many Lenovo laptops, for that matter), had the Fn key on the outside and the Ctrl key to its right… which can make life difficult for anyone who regularly switches between a Lenovo keyboard and just about any other keyboard.
Lenovo hasn’t officially announced the new ThinkPad X1 Carbon yet, but with CES 2024 less than two months away, we probably won’t have to wait very long to learn more about the upcoming laptop.
via Notebook Check
Hard pass on any Thinkpad without the traditional trackpoint and buttons. That’s the main selling point of Thinkpads!
Lenovo alienating hard ThinkPad customers again – removal of track point buttons didn’t work in the past and will not this time.
Nice, the bottom right has gone from
alt, printscreen (why?), ctrl,
to
Alt, ctrl, smudge. What does the smudge key do? /shrug
does it run the MicroPoop Os? Bill gates is jerking it while you poo.
Boo! I only use ThinkPads, and the first thing I do with them is always to disable the touchpad.
The T440 and X240 from 2014ish came without buttons above the touchpad and were much reviled for it. Maybe this implementation will be better than that generation’s clickpad, but there’s no way it works as well as the buttons.
Same.
For me this is worse and worse. A trackpoint without buttons? Next time they could design a trackpoint without trackpoint.
Physical buttons below spacebar is the optimal method for using a physical trackpoint. If you don’t have buttons and you must do that function with trackpoint double tap, why do I want a trackpoint?
The same for Fn/Ctrl keys: outsiders don’t like normal Thinkpad order for that keys, but users used to Thinkpad can think differently, as letast I do because I have been using Thinkpad since my first model a Thinkpad 760CD with an original Pentium at 90 MHz (and no fan inside).
I had model with no physical buttons for track point… And I got refund.
For me they could make them without track pad at all.