A Touch version of the Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon has Now Arrived

Thinkpad X1 Carbon Ultrabook is getting a healthy dose of touch, it seems. The new X1 Carbon Touch will go on sale starting today for $1,399. So is $150 more for touch capability worth it? Honestly, it depends on what you want to do with the device. For those that truly want touch for gaming, entertainment and other purposes– sure. If it is only there as a novelty you will never use? You might want to save your money. The X1 is a 14-inch laptop with a 1600×900 screen, a carbon fiber chassis, and an Ivy Bridge Chipset. Other features include built-in 3G, a backlit keyboard and the old-school red pointing stick alongside a modern touchpad. The touchscreen model does add a little bit of weight and thickness to the package, but at 3.4-pounds, it is still far from a heavy device. As for battery power? Expect around 8.2 hours of life. Touchscreen laptops are still quite new, but I suspect their marketshare will only continue to grow going forward. Windows 8 works perfectly fine without touch, but it is truly easier to use certain Start UI gestures with touch versus the keyboard and mouse. Additionally, casual gaming and entertainment seems to work quite well with touch. For now, we are seeing a healthy mix of both touch and non-touch laptops, but this will change. As touchscreen technology continues to drop, this will become a defacto feature in every laptop under the sun. This is similar to how CD and DVD burners were once only for premium devices. Now only the most ultra-budget devices out there are lacking a burner— unless they are slim-line and have no optical drive at all, of course. So what do you think of Lenovo’s latest offering, interested or not? Would you pay extra just for touch capability? [ source ]]]>