Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14" G13 2025, Core Ultra 7 255U, 32GB, 512GB SSD, Black

The X1 Carbon Gen 13 is featherlight with a legendary keyboard and all-day battery, but Lenovo skimped on storage and the display. It's the best ultraportable for typists who travel, and a tough sell for everyone else.

The Core Ultra 7-255U with 32GB of LPDDR5X chews through office work, browser tabs, and dev tasks without breaking a sweat. Our database puts the RAM at the 91st percentile, which means this thing multitasks like a champ. The integrated Intel graphics are fine for everything except gaming, which lands at a sad 20.1 out of 100. That's not a surprise for a business ultraportable, but don't expect to do anything more demanding than light photo editing. The 512GB SSD is the real letdown, sitting in the 36th percentile. For this price, 1TB should be the floor.

The obvious rival is the MacBook Pro M4 Max, which destroys this thing on raw performance and display quality but costs even more and weighs more. If you want a Windows machine with actual gaming chops, the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or HP OMEN Transcend 14 will run circles around the X1 Carbon's integrated graphics, though they're heavier and less business-focused. The X1 Carbon wins on portability and keyboard feel, but it's not the performance pick. For pure office work and travel, it's hard to beat. For anything else, look elsewhere.

This is where it gets painful. US pricing swings from USD 2,070 to USD 2,699 depending on the vendor, and the cheapest listing is the one to hunt down. In Canada you're looking at CAD 2,374 to CAD 2,900. For that money you're getting a phenomenal ultraportable, but the 512GB SSD and 60Hz screen make it feel like Lenovo is charging MacBook Pro money for a machine that cuts corners on storage and display. If you can find it at the low end of that range, it's defensible. At the high end, you're overpaying.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 is the laptop you buy when you're done messing around. It's absurdly light, the keyboard is still the best in the business, and the battery actually lasts. But Lenovo made some weird choices here, like a 512GB SSD in a machine this expensive and a 60Hz panel when competitors are shipping 120Hz OLEDs. The core experience is fantastic. The spec sheet just has a few head-scratchers.

If you need serious graphics performance or a high-refresh display, this isn't your laptop. Go get an ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or a MacBook Pro instead. And if you're on a budget, the X1 Carbon's pricing will make you wince. This is a premium travel machine for people who type all day, not a do-everything powerhouse.

The X1 Carbon Gen 13 is a fantastic ultraportable with a few frustrating compromises. If you live in Excel, Slack, and a browser, and you travel constantly, this is one of the best machines you can buy. The keyboard alone is worth the price of admission for heavy typists. But the 512GB SSD and 60Hz screen are hard to swallow at this price point. Buy it for the weight and the keyboard. Just know you're paying a premium for portability, not for specs.