Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 Fits More OLED Into A Sleeker Foldable
At the height of the foldable smartphone boom in late 2020, Lenovo surprised everyone by launching a new laptop called the ThinkPad X1 Fold. Touted as the world's first foldable PC, the ThinkPad X1's claim to fame was its 13.3-inch foldable OLED panel that offered users multiple modes to use the notebook. In addition, the ThinkPad X1 also came with the Bluetooth Mini Fold Keyboard that attached itself to the bottom half of the display, transforming it into a normal-looking laptop complete with a keyboard and a trackpad.
While receiving wide acclaim for being a well-engineered, durable product, the ThinkPad X1 Fold did come with its share of issues. People found the software experience on the device to be clunky and riddled with bugs. The product was also infamous for typing errors while using the supplied Bluetooth keyboard, as highlighted in a video by MrMobile. Then there were problems like display orientation issues and a general delay in waking up from sleep.
Most of these problems were rooted in the fact that the X1 Fold was running Windows 10 instead of the Windows 10x for which the device was originally designed. Despite these issues, Lenovo's first attempt at making a foldable PC was generally seen as a step in the right direction, with people expecting the company to come up with a successor in the near future. That is precisely what happened today, September 1, 2022, when Lenovo announced the launch of the ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 only a few months after first teasing the product in July.
Larger display, improved keyboard
A combination of user feedback and user insights has allowed Lenovo to make several changes to the ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022, according to the company. The most significant change to the product is the increased size. Instead of the 13.3-inch panel found in the previous generation, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 gets a 16.3-inch folding OLED pane boasting a max resolution of 2024x2560 pixels. The panel is housed within a 25% thinner chassis with much thinner bezels. At 600 nits, the new display is also much brighter than the 300-nit display on the older model.
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The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 can be configured with Intel's 12th Gen Core i9, i7, and i5 chips — all with Intel vPro features. In addition, the machine supports up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. Along with the 5MP front-facing camera, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 has a 48Whr battery that supports 65W rapid charging. Connectivity options include support for twin Thunderbolt 4 ports, a single USB-C port, and a nano SIM card tray. Lenovo has also thrown in sub-6 5G support and Bluetooth 5.2.
In addition to improvements to the hardware and software aspects of the device, the ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 also gets an improved Bluetooth keyboard that is now backlit and is (hopefully) free of bugs. Lenovo says it intends to make the ThinkPad X1 Fold 2022 available for purchase by November 2022 with a starting price of $2,499.