The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga, now in its eighth generation for 2023, can be viewed as the convertible counterpart to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. It's one of the most premium laptops that Lenovo has to offer, with an eye-watering starter price that doesn't get any more reasonable as you add performance and features.

Pricing aside, investing in a ThinkPad X1 Yoga will land you one of the best business laptops available today. The latest X1 Yoga (Gen 8) is a gorgeous device that's reliable and durable, with new 13th-generation Intel Core CPUs for improved performance and efficiency. It has a built-in stylus for inking, and it has some new software upgrades for the webcam.

Let's take a look at whether the areas of improvement for this generation are worth the upgrade, and let's ultimately see if it's the right laptop to be your next business partner.

About this review: Lenovo supplied XDA with a review unit of its ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 8). It did not have any input on the content of this article.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) Pricing and availability

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) was announced in late 2022 and is now available to purchase. Looking at the official Lenovo website, prices start at about $2,649 before any discounts. Luckily, Lenovo almost always has some sort of sale running. Prices are often cut by 50% or more, which leads to huge fluctuations. If you're buying from the official site — where there are many configuration options — I recommend waiting for a sale.

The unit that I'm reviewing, with a Core i7-1355U processor, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), and 14-inch FHD+ touch display costs about $3,187 before any discounts at Lenovo. With the sale at the time of writing, it's down to about $1,913. You can also find this model at B&H for about $2,127.

If you choose to go all-in with a Core i7-1370P vPro CPU, 64GB of LPDDR5x-7500MHz RAM, 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, UHD+ OLED display, and 5G wireless connectivity, you're looking at a price of about $5,546 without any discounts. This puts it beyond many of the best laptops out there today, but as we'll see, this is a laptop without any real compromises.

Design and features

Unchanged look, new camera features

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga has been refined for generations, and Lenovo has landed on a design that remains essentially unchanged for Gen 8. The dimensions are identical, the laptop is still made entirely of aluminum, and despite its sturdy construction, it weighs in at only about 3.04 pounds (1.38kg).

As with most major PC manufacturers, Lenovo is focusing more than ever on sustainability. I appreciate the complete lack of plastic in the laptop’s packaging, and the PC itself is made from recycled aluminum. Even some of the plastic components — like the speaker and battery enclosures — are using recycled materials.

ThinkPad diehards might dislike the Storm Grey color, but I appreciate how it hides fingerprints and smudges better than the soft-touch Black finish on the X1 Carbon. It also helps set the laptop apart from other X1 models.

Convertible laptops need to be structurally sound, and that’s no issue here. The hinges hold tight but allow for a smooth transition between tent, stand, and tablet modes, and the lid has minimal flex when handled. Being a ThinkPad, it has undergone the usual MIL-STD 810H durability certification process to ensure it can withstand a harsh life outside of usual office conditions.

Native port selection is good enough that you won’t immediately turn to a high-end Thunderbolt docking station. For general office use, the HDMI port and dual Thunderbolt 4 ports can handle three separate external displays while still running the built-in screen. Then you also have two USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) for accessories, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a Kensington lock slot to keep your laptop in place in a busy office. Like the X1 Carbon (Gen 11), the X1 Yoga comes with optional 4G LTE/5G connectivity. Opting for this feature at checkout adds a Nano-SIM slot to the side of the laptop. Otherwise, you’re working with speedy and reliable Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.1.

Lenovo didn’t change any camera options at a hardware level for the Gen 8 models, but it did upgrade the supporting software. You can stick with a basic (though still relatively high-resolution) 1080p camera with a privacy shutter, or you can add an IR hybrid portion for facial recognition through Windows Hello.

The X1 Yoga (Gen 8)’s camera and supporting software add so much convenience and security.

There’s also an option that adds a MIPI sensor and Computer Vision, which is Lenovo’s name for human presence detection (HPD). This feature locks and unlocks your laptop automatically as you depart or approach, which is a feature I hate losing whenever I switch to a different laptop.

Lenovo’s View app — which lives apart from the Lenovo Vantage app — is part of the upgrade for Gen 8 models. It holds features like a video enhancer, a virtual presenter that displays a cropped version of you on top of a presentation (much like game streamers do), and privacy alerts that can black out your screen when the laptop senses someone is looking over your shoulder. Furthermore, the X1 Yoga has a fingerprint reader tied to the power button, a discrete TPM 2.0 chip, and the usual array of BIOS safeguards that come with most ThinkPads. This is a secure laptop, but the security won't get in the way.

Two of the laptop's four speakers flank the keyboard, with dual 0.8W tweeters under a pinhole grille. These are joined by dual 2W woofers on the underside, providing some bass that you can feel on your desk. Even at 50% volume, there’s more than enough sound to hear colleagues clearly in voice calls and video conferences. Dolby Atmos is on board if you’d like to take things to the next level, but I felt like the speakers were good enough standing on their own.

Four microphones are drilled into the front/top edge of the display lid, and their far-field capabilities can pick up sound from around the laptop. AI tuning cuts out background noise, and Dolby Voice support is included if you need to boost your sound.

Keyboard and touchpad

Still one of the best for writers

It’s no secret that Lenovo makes some of the best keyboards around, and that remains true here. Slim laptops frequently cut corners on the keyboard to save space, but Lenovo has managed to hold onto 1.5mm of key travel. The keycaps are slightly cupped, they’re spaced perfectly, and the backlight is easy to see when engaged.

Those who type thousands of words each day will appreciate the dedicated navigation keys that don’t require an Fn shortcut. I used this laptop to write a handful of articles during the testing period, and it’s a big change moving back to something like the MacBook Air M2.

The X1 Yoga (Gen 8)'s keyboard makes it easy to type thousands of words a day.

The touchpad is plenty wide, measuring about 4.33 inches (110mm). However, the inclusion of the TrackPoint system’s physical buttons subtracts from the vertical space. I understand that ThinkPad purists never want to see the little red nub and physical buttons disappear, but I just wish it didn’t eat up so much touchpad space. The glass surface tracks smoothly and accurately.

Display

Your choice of FHD+ IPS or UHD+ OLED

My ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) review unit is equipped with one of the more basic touch displays on offer. It has a 1920x1200 (FHD+) resolution to match the 16:10 aspect ratio, it has an anti-glare finish, a low power designation, and it’s Eyesafe certified.

For a business laptop, there’s not much to complain about. I tested color and brightness with my SpyderX Pro colorimeter, getting back 100% sRGB, 78% AdobeRGB, and 80% DCI-P3 color. As for brightness, it was able to hit 418 nits at the peak. I’ve enjoyed using the display, and the fact that I can pull out the garaged pen at any time for a quality inking experience boosts the appeal. It has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and it receives a charge whenever it’s stored away.

Lenovo offers a couple of other FHD+ screen options as well. One is identical save for an anti-reflective and anti-smudge coating, while the other hits 500 nits brightness and features the ThinkPad Privacy Guard.

You can step all the way up to a 3840x2400 (UHD+) resolution with OLED panel, anti-reflection coating, 100% DCI-P3 color, Dolby Vision, DisplayHDR 400, low power designation, and Eyesafe certification. This makes sense if you’re often working with color-sensitive content like photo editing, but otherwise, the FHD+ screens look sharp and will be enough for productivity work.

Performance and battery

13th Gen Intel U-series CPUs are a better fit for the X1 Yoga

The Gen 7 ThinkPad X1 Yoga was equipped with 12th-generation Intel P-series CPUs running at 28W. In his ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 7) review, Editor-in-Chief Rich Woods explained the issue with having this much power in a slim laptop:

"Intel really billed P-series as a way of putting more performance into the same laptops, but that's just not the case. These processors run hotter and use more battery life. Performance is better than 11th Gen, but it doesn't really benchmark well because it starts to heat up and throttle."

I also tested last year's X1 Yoga (Gen 7) and came to the exact same conclusion. The extra cost for the P-series chips wasn't really worth it when a huge chunk of the available performance was being throttled out due to thermal issues. For the Gen 8 model that I'm reviewing, Lenovo went with a Core i7-1355U chip that creates less heat and draws less power. I immediately ran a stress test to see the difference in cooling abilities with the new CPU.

While there was some throttling during Intel's Turbo boost period while under Windows 11's Performance mode, things evened out and the chips sat at about 90 degrees Celsius (down from 100 degrees at peak) without throttling. I then changed over to Windows 11's Balanced mode and repeated the full system stress test. This time there was no evident thermal throttling. Temperatures sat at around 60 degrees Celsius while under full load. The bottom of the laptop got quite hot in Performance mode, enough so that you wouldn't want it resting on your lap. In Balanced mode, there were no issues, and idle cores sat at about 40 degrees Celsius

The U-series chips are much better suited for a laptop this thin, and with Intel's Raptor Lake improvements, you're really not missing out on any performance compared to last year's P-series CPUs. You can see below how the Core i7-1355U in the X1 Yoga (Gen 8) bests the Core i7-1260P in the X1 Yoga (Gen 7) in PCMark 10 and Cinebench R23.

Sure, you can go with 13th-generation P-series chips in the latest X1 Yoga, but I wouldn't recommend it. The Core i7-1355U has more than enough power for my daily needs that include Photoshop, Word, heavy web browsing, Spotify, and more. When I reviewed the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) with the identical Core i7-1355U CPU it was easy to come to the same conclusion.

The 57Wh battery is a great match, at least for U-series processors. I was able to use the X1 Yoga (Gen 8) intermittently for about two days, with no more than 20 or 30 minutes of charging while plugged into a docking station. Woods saw about six hours of real-world life from the Gen 7 model and P-series CPU, and that should be easy to match or best with the Gen 8 model using a U-series CPU.

I ran PCMark 10's Modern Office battery benchmark to get an idea of how the latest X1 Yoga and X1 Carbon models compare. The former laptop hit 13 hours and 44 minutes running on the Balanced power plan with screen brightness at about 50%. Under the same conditions, the latter laptop lasted 11 hours and 24 minutes. These aren't quite indicative of real-world battery life, but it seems like the X1 Yoga has just a bit more runtime than the Carbon.

As expected, I had no issues with the M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD. The read side hit 6,902MB/s and the write side hit 4,494MB/s in CrystalDiskMark testing. This drive is upgradeable by removing the bottom panel, though RAM is soldered to the board. Lenovo offers up to 64GB of memory from the factory, so you should be able to get what you need.

Should you buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8)?

You should buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) if:

• You want the versatility of a convertible with garaged pen and UHD+ display
• You need a thin and durable laptop for the road (especially with 5G)
• You can utilize a proper 1080p camera with plenty of extra features

You should not buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) if:

• You can't see yourself employing the convertible abilities (why pay more for a feature you won't use?)
• You can't justify spending thousands on a new laptop
• You're coming from the X1 Yoga (Gen 7). The new CPUs don't provide enough change to warrant spending thousands again.

Like its ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) sibling, there really aren't any compromises to make when buying the X1 Yoga (Gen 8). It's relatively slim, its aluminum build is solid, and it has a decent selection of ports. The keyboard and touchpad are perfect for writers, the camera features many software improvements, and performance and battery work together to deliver a long-lasting and powerful system. The biggest drawback is certainly the price, but that can be alleviated by waiting for one of Lenovo's frequent sales. My main gripe from the last generation was the laptop's inability to keep itself cool with P-series chips, so I'm glad to see Lenovo focusing more on the U-series processors this time around.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga (Gen 8) is undeniably one of the best Lenovo laptops you can buy today, but I wouldn't rush out to pick one up if you're already working with a seventh-gen model. Not enough has changed to warrant an upgrade just a year later, especially at the asking price. On the flip side, those working with an older X1 Yoga model from before Intel switched to its hybrid-architecture 12th-generation CPUs should see a huge difference.

If you're having a hard time deciding between Yoga and Carbon models, our comparison of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 11) and X1 Yoga (Gen 8) should give you the information you need to pick the right laptop. And if you do pick up the convertible model, our list of the best X1 Yoga (Gen 8) accessories can get you set up right from the start.