Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Black)3444CUU

The first thing I did was wipe the SSD and install Archlinux. This went fairly smooth as all the Intel drivers work out of the box.POST still takes about 10 seconds, but the OS boots in like 2 seconds, so I get a login screen very quickly. It will also shut down in about 2 seconds, or wake up from sleep in about a second which is nice.After a few days I did become annoyed with the touch screen protector though which I (correctly) thought was causing a bit of a blur and I decided to try and remove it after reading about that online.This was successful but quite risky (there is a ton of glue and I nervously used a blow dryer and goo-gone get it done). Therefor I would HIGHLY recommend buying it without the protector if possible.A few things I really like are:1) It's very lightweight and rugged, the carbon fiber frame is stiff indeed and I believe the SSD was a good choice for the jostling of a daily bicycle commute.2) It's wicked fast and especially when running a minimalist distro of Linux. It will launch a browser pretty much instantly, and same with all applications like Libre office, Mendeley, etc.3) Installing and compiling software is much faster than other computers I've used like a 2012 Mac-book pro with 8GB ram and HDD for example; python libraries install into a python-virtualenv much faster, simulations run noticeably faster, etc.4) The battery can literally do a full charge in about 1/2 an hour, which is amazing.5) The keyboard is nice and the touch-pad has a smooth touch with great response. I configure the touch-pad to only register two finger scrolling and mouse movement though b/c the Lenovo left/center/right mouse click buttons are more convenient and I don't accidentally bump them while typing.6) As a developer having the touch screen to debug touch events is handy, otherwise I don't really use it.A couple things I would consider as tradeoffs are:1) The battery only lasts about 3-4 hours under straight use, though with super quick re-charging it barely matters unless you're on a long trip with no power source for example.2) There are cooling holes on the bottom and two little round bumps underneath (screen corners) which raise the bottom off a flat surface for proper venting. Therefore I keep a 14" Airbake cookie sheet with me:  T-fal 84802 Airbake Nonstick Cookie Sheet, 16-inch x 14-inch, Gray  for use on my lap. I wouldn't let this bother you too much though, it's still the lightest and most comfortable machine I've ever used on my lap and runs perfectly cool on the cookie sheet.I'm hopeful that the battery, charging system, and everything else will prove to be robust over the long haul and if this computer lasts me the next three years without trouble I'd say it was worth the extra money. I'll try to remember to post back if I run into trouble.

Yet more updates:It's been a MONTH and my laptop is still in repair. After the last update, I had to send the laptop in again. They did not fully repair the loose touchpad - it came back still wobbly. It wasn't me being picky, I asked several friends and they all said I should send it back in, while the warranty is still valid. Lenovo promise to do repairs within a week, but it turns out they ran out of keyboards (I wonder why.. maybe everyone's keyboard is malfunctioning). So the parts will only ship in a week and a half after I send it in for repair. Since that's a Friday, I'll have to wait two weeks before I MIGHT get it back.I tried asking for replacement because it's not like I keep damaging my laptop. The fact is they sent me a faulty replacement and kept trying to repair that at the expense of my time and effort. One officer told me "warranty is for repairs, not replacement". Another told me I didn't have enough parts failing (at that point in time, three repair requests in two weeks wasn't enough) or a single parts failing often enough (twice is apparently not sufficient). The last person I spoke to said the repair was only a wk beyond the promised 1 wk repair period. She completely ignored my repeated clarification that my laptop has been in repair for a month. In the end, she said the replacement will take 2 weeks and I'm better off waiting for repair. Either I've gone insane or Lenovo's logic is beyond comprehension.Updates:died again. It arrived back to me two days after I shipped it back, which was great. But the first thing I noticed was the wobbly touchpad. Apparently, they changed almost the whole thing, even the casing and touchscreen, except my SSD. But the touchpad was wobbly. I thought, well, at least it could work. Technically it did, but just for a day. The next day, just before I packed it in for the touchpad repair, the laptop could not start properly. So, to summarize, I had THREE repair cases within TWO weeks. Thanks, I really thought this was supposed to be one of the most durable and good quality laptop to buy. Very disappointing.Suggestion to Lenovo: if you have to have repairs, you might want to pressure UPS into doing a better job with the delivery. UPS went to my apartment even though I specified that I left the package in the mailroom for pickup and so they "missed" it and I have to hold on to my laptop over the weekend. That's minor, I could live with that, but when it got sent back, it was without an apt number (not sure who's fault this is) and UPS, needing a signature for the delivery, called a random person in my apartment to sign AND KEEP the package. NOTE: THEY DID NOT SAY THIS PACKAGE WAS NOT FOR HIM/HER, BUT PASSED IT OVER TO HIS/HER CARE, AND THEY DID NOT CALL ME AT ALL even though my number is on the mailing label. Please tell me, because I cannot comprehend at all, how is this safer than, or even as safe as, just leaving it at the mailroom or building door???Original post:it just suddenly refuse to boot no matter what I do. I have to wait for the box from lenovo to arrive and send it over to repair.Sucks also that the non-touchscreen ones come more expensive than touchscreen ones because you can't easily find that configuration and buying from the website is more expensive. The touchscreen makes the lid way heavier than the keyboard. It doesn't fall on its head when you leave it open, but when you first try to open the laptop, the keyboard side will always get lifted so you have to push that back down. Unless you pay extra attention, you could hit it pretty loud against the table and I doubt that can be good for any hardware.

I looked at a lot of laptop reviews before I ended up with this one. My experience seems to be basically average - it's nice and fast for what I do (I don't play games on it but I do use some reasonably processor-intensive engineering software). It's thin and (relatively) light but feels solid and reliable. The fingerprint reader works very well, except that every once in a while it decides to not work at all and then the laptop has to be rebooted (I assume this will get fixed eventually). Battery life is 3-5 hours depending on how I'm using it, and it doesn't tend to get uncomfortably hot anywhere. The touchscreen is nice and the trackpad works very well, though the brightness and contrast of the display is subpar. Wireless range (Bluetooth and wi-fi) is excellent. I'd recommend this for a working laptop.

After I turned the computer on for the first time, i realized the touchscreen was not working. I tried to apply the fix that was released by Lenovo and that didn't work either. Contacted the store (17th Street) requesting the item to be replaced (a few hours after i received my notebook), and received the following message from them:"Unfortunately we cannot take back opened computers, as stated on our Amazon page at this time we are not able to issue a return authorization for your order; you do have a manufacturer’s warranty."How would I know that the touchscreen was defective, had i not opened the box and turned the computer on?Avoid buying anything from this seller. If the item is defective, you are on your own.