Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 Review: Excellent Design And Build Quality

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: At First Glance

The fourth and fifth-generation of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga are Lenovo’s leading 14-inch 2-in-1 convertible laptops for business users. These convertible laptops are related to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which has won several awards.

Furthermore, they have outstanding designs and features, just like their business rivals, the HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 and Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1. Also, just like these competitors, these ThinkPad X1 Yoga laptops are quite expensive.

At the time of this review publication (August 2021), the ThinkPad X1 Yoga fourth-generation starts at a price of $1,399.99. On the other hand, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga fifth-generation, on the other hand, had a starting price of $1,439.99.

Are these two Lenovo laptops worth these price tags? Let’s find out!

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Design, Dimension & Weight

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 both have aluminum chassis, unlike the previous models, which had carbon fiber chassis. These aluminum chassis have a gorgeous Iron Gray finish and are fairly durable.

Furthermore, these chassis passed MIL-STD 810G tests for vibration, shock, sand, and dust penetration, as well as humidity and temperature conditions. MIL-STD-810G is a US military test that certifies a piece of technology’s durability.

Therefore, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 can survive practically any situation, including high temperatures and exposure to sand or dust. Just like the previous models, there is a “ThinkPad” logo on the upper left of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5’s lids.

However, there is a little difference between the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5’s lid. On the lid of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, for example, an “X1” logo is imprinted beneath the “ThinkPad” logo.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4, on the other hand, features the “X1” logo on the lower right of its lid. Moreover, by opening the lids of both the Gen 4 and Gen 5, you’ll find another “ThinkPad” logo on their deck.

The decks of the laptops feature a slightly rough texture for additional grip, and their hinges are sturdy and rotate smoothly. As convertible 2-in-1 laptops, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 can be used as tablets or positioned in tent mode for watching movies.  

Unfortunately, the keys on their keyboard do not retract as they did on prior models (ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 2 and Gen 3). On previous models, their keyboard keys retract when the screen is rotated to 190 degrees or when the laptops are used as a tablet.

Therefore, providing a smooth surface for your hand to grip when using the laptop as a tablet. However, it is so sad that Lenovo had to do away with this feature on the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5.

Fortunately, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 features a ThinkPad pro stylus pen just like the previous models. When you’re done drawing or taking notes, the stylus pen fits into a slot on the right side of the laptop.

For the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 14-inch touchscreen displays, there are three screen resolutions to choose from. The screen resolutions options are FHD (1920 x 1080), WQHD (2560 x 1440), and 4K (3840 x 2160).

All three screen resolutions are extremely brilliant and vibrant. However, if you want the finest picture quality, the 4K (3840 x 2160) screen resolution is highly recommended.

The 4K (3840 x 2160) screen is very bright, has superb contrast, and has lovely white backgrounds. Furthermore, details are incredibly clear, and colors are rich and beautifully saturated (Lenovo claims the screen covers 90% of the DCI-P3 gamut).

Above the display screen on both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 is a 720p webcam. The laptops’ webcams are covered by a tiny sliding shutter, and they capture surprisingly brilliant and colorful photos even in low-light conditions.

ThinkPads have some of the best keyboards, and the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 are no exception. Their backlit keyboards are easy to type on, with arrow keys in the appropriate reversed T.

Furthermore, the keyboard features a good amount of key travel and keys that are large enough for persons with larger hands. The keys are also well-spaced, and there’s an Fn lock for easily enabling and disabling the hotkeys.

There are also dedicated Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys on the keyboards. Also, the keyboard has useful top-row keys for adjusting volume, brightness, and other functions.

Below the X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5’s keyboards are trackpads which are somewhat small. As a result, due to their small sizes, performing Windows 10 gestures such as three-finger swiping on the trackpads may be challenging.

They are, nevertheless, excellent touchpads with a smooth surface and efficient Windows Precision drivers. Furthermore, the embedded click buttons on the touchpads are very quiet when pressed and have exactly the proper amount of key travel.

Moreover, users can also use the red pointing stick located in the center of the keyboards on the X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5. The pointing sticks glide smoothly and allow for easy navigation.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 have a surprising number of ports for such thin laptops. Moreover, they also have similar port selections.

On the right side of both laptops are a USB 3.1 port and a Kensington lock just next to the stylus pen slot. On the left side, there are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, another USB 3.1 port, a headphone/mic jack, and an HDMI port.

A dTPM 2.0 protects the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 from the inside. It’s a microchip that protects unencrypted passwords and provides hardware-based security.

Speaking of security, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 features a fingerprint sensor. The fingerprint sensor protects the laptops from intruders and can also be used to log into the laptops via Windows Hello.

Moreover, you can also log into the laptops with the webcam if you prefer facial recognition login.

In terms of dimension and weight, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 have the same weight. However, their dimension/size differs a little bit.

Both laptops weigh 1350 g but the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 measures 323 x 218 x 15.5 mm. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, on the other hand, measures 323 x 218 x 15.2 mm.

Comparatively, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 are slightly lighter than the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1. Specifically, the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1 weighs 1360 g.

Overall, I have nothing to complain about the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 designs. Moreover, they are extremely portable and have a good selection of ports.

Therefore, I will rate both laptops a nine out of ten for their excellent design and build quality.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Processor (CPU) Performance

Despite having an almost identical design, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 comes with different processors. The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 uses an Intel Core i7-8665U processor with a cache of 8 MB.

Furthermore, the Intel Core i7-8665U is a power-efficient quad-core processor based on the Whiskey Lake generation for laptops and Ultrabooks. Additionally, this processor was announced in April 2019 and has a 1.90 GHz base frequency and 4.80 GHz maximum frequency.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, on the other hand, features an Intel Core i7-10610U with also an 8 MB cache. In addition to its 8 MB cache, this processor has a base frequency of 1.80 GHz and a maximum frequency of 4.90 GHz.

Moreover, the Intel Core i7-10610U is also a quad-core processor for laptops but is based on the Comet Lake generation. Additionally, the processor was announced four months after the announcement of the Intel Core i7-8665U – August 2019.

To figure out the processing performance of both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5, I conducted series of tests. The first test I performed was a video transcoding test, which involves transcoding 4K video to FHD (1080p) using a Handbrake app – smaller transcoding time means better performance.

On the test, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 transcoded a 4K video to FHD in 19 minutes and 7 seconds. Surprisingly, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 underperformed, taking 9 minutes and 22 seconds to transcode the 4K video to FHD.

Moving on, the second test I performed to further determine the processor performance of the laptops was a Geekbench 4.1 test. Geekbench 4.1 is a cross-platform benchmarking tool for measuring computers’ processing performance.

Based on the Geekbench 4.1 test results, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 scored 15,002 points. Thankfully, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 performed better – scoring 16,988 points.

Comparatively, the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 outperformed the X1 Yoga Gen 4 but underperformed when compared to the X1 Yoga Gen 5. On the Geekbench 4.1 test, the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 which uses an Intel Core i7-10610U scored 16,248 points.

Finally, I will rate the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 an eight for their decent processor performance.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Memory (RAM) Performance

Both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 come with a single LPDDR3 RAM slot. The maximum RAM supported on both laptops is 16 GB.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 laptops I reviewed came with the maximum memory of 16 GB. With 16 GB RAM, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 was able to multitask with ease.

Take for example, on the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, I was able to open about 25 Chrome tabs simultaneously. Also, on one of the Chrome tabs, I was streaming a live video on Instagram.

Opening the Chrome tabs was very swift and besides that, I didn’t notice any slowness despite the 25 tabs running simultaneously.

Moving on, I conducted a PCMark 10 test on both laptops to determine their productivity capabilities. According to the PCMark 10 test results, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 scored 4095 points.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, on the other hand, performed better scoring 4195 points. Comparatively, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 achieved a better score than the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1.

Based on the PCMark 10 results, the Dell Latitude 9410 2-in-1 scored 3925 points.

In conclusion, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 are excellent multitaskers with their 16 GB RAM. Additionally, they performed better than their closest competitor on a benchmark test.

As a result, I believe they deserve a nine out of ten ratings for their exceptional performance.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Storage Options & Performance

For storage, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 comes with a PCIe SSD. Additionally, their SSD storage supports a maximum storage capacity of 2 TB.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 laptops I reviewed came with 256 GB SSD each. I conducted a CrystalDiskMark test on both laptops to determine the speed of their SSD storage.

According to the CrystalDiskMark test, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 has a 3399 MB/s sequential read speed. In addition to its sequential read speed, the laptop also has a 2713 MB/s sequential write speed.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5, on the other hand, has a sequential read speed of 3555.7 MB/s. Also, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 has a sequential write speed of 2983.8 MB/s.

For readers who don’t know what read and write speed means, let me explain. The time it takes to open a file on a computer is what we know as “read” speed.

A “write” speed, on the other hand, is the amount of time it takes to store data on a computer’s storage.

Moving on, I also conducted a file transfer test on both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5. This test is to further determine their storage speed.

On the file transfer test, it took the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4’s SSD 12 seconds to copy 4.97GB of mix-media files. This was achieved at a transfer rate of 424.1 megabytes per second.

ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4, however, took only 7 seconds to copy 4.97GB of mix-media files. Moreover, this was done at an impressive transfer rate of 759.6 megabytes per second.

In comparison, despite having such impressive transfer rates, the X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 was outperformed by the Latitude 9410 2-in-1. On the file transfer test, the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 achieved an outstanding transfer rate of 1,017.8 MBps.

Finally, I will rate the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 an eight out of ten.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Graphics Card Performance

Everything regarding the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5’s graphics cards is absolutely the same. They both feature an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 with a 300 MHz base GPU frequency and 1150 MHz boost frequency.  

It is important to note that compared to a discrete graphics card, an integrated graphics card provides poor gaming performance.

This is because an integrated graphics card lacks dedicated VRAM. Therefore, it shares memory with the processor.

A discrete graphics card, on the other hand, has dedicated VRAM.

As a result, the tasks that an integrated graphics card can accomplish are limited. It is, nevertheless, adequate for most applications and casual gaming.

However, if you plan on playing graphically demanding games or editing photographs in Photoshop, a laptop with a discrete GPU is recommended. Given that the Yoga Gen 4 and 5 features the same graphics card, I assessed only the Yoga Gen 4’s graphics performance.

First, I conducted a 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited graphics benchmark test. 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited test is a popular and competent benchmark test for testing the 3D gaming ability of a PC.

According to the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited test, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 scored 80,170 points. Sadly, this score isn’t even enough to beat the category average of 93,725 points.

Also, it wasn’t able to outperform the score achieved by the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 – 84,763 points.  

Moving on, I put the Yoga Gen 4 through a gaming test to see how well it handles graphics. On the gaming test, the Yoga Gen 4 managed to achieve a frame rate of 31 fps while playing Dirt 3.

Comparatively, the ThinkPad L390 Yoga achieved a frame rate of 49 fps. Hence, the ThinkPad L390 Yoga performed better than the Yoga Gen 4.

In conclusion, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 are no-go areas if you are a gamer. Therefore, I will rate their graphics performance a seven out of ten in this section.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5: Battery Life & Performance

Just like their graphics card, both the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and 5 come with the same battery – a 51 Wh Li-Polymer battery. As advertised by Lenovo, these laptops batteries should last about 18 hours.

Due to the fact that both laptops have the same battery, I only tested the Yoga Gen 5’s battery. Hence, I conducted a battery test by setting the laptop’s brightness to 150nits and consistently browsing the internet via WIFI.

On this battery test, the Yoga Gen 5 lasted an impressive 11 hours and 30 minutes. Unfortunately, even with its impressive battery runtime, the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 and the Spectre x360 13 performed better.

On the battery test, the Latitude 9410 2-in-1 lasted a stellar 16 hours and 54 minutes. The Spectre x360 13, on the other hand, lasted 13 hours and 20 minutes.

Finally, I will rate ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 and Gen 5 an eight out of ten. This rating is based on the battery performance of the Yoga Gen 5.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

I’d want to own either the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 4 or the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 5 laptop. This is because they have all of the features that a user could expect in a laptop.

The aluminum chassis of the laptops is both stylish and robust. Furthermore, their displays are stunning, their performance is also excellent, and their battery life is just amazing.

If you’re a gamer, however, stay away from these laptops. This is due to the fact that they have an integrated graphics card that is incapable of running most games.

Overall, these laptops are among the best business laptops available.

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