Category Archives: Win7View

Notes on Windows 7, Win7 compatible software and hardware, reviews, tips and more.

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History

June 11, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As I wrote in yesterday’s blog post X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet, my trusty old ThinkPad X220 Tablet is aging out of useful Windows test machine status. This got me to thinking about my personal 13.3″ ThinkPad history. In fact, all of those PCs are still in the room here with me and I’d like to run through them in today’s disquisition. Let’s tackle the series in chronological order.

My Personal 13.3″ ThinkPad History Begins

It all started in 2012, when Que (Part of Pearson Publishing) asked me to help revise Windows 7 in Depth for the upcoming release of Windows 8. Its beta release occurred in February, and I started looking for a pair of suitable test PCs at that time. Because touch was integral to Windows 8, but still rare and expensive, one of those two units HAD to include a touchscreen. That’s what led me to the ThinkPad X220 Tablet (and a ThinkPad T420 laptop) both with i7-2650M CPUs, 8 GB RAM, and (if memory serves) 500MB 2.5″ spinning disk drives. Read more about the ThinkPad X Series at Wikipedia.

Changes and Upgrades Follow

Over the next few years, I made many changes to those two laptops. SSDs emerged and I endowed each of them with Plextor mSATA 256 drives. This let me take advantage of their empty M.2 slots, which were designed to handle either cellular wireless access or storage. I also upgraded the HDDs to OCZ SATA-III SSDs, doubled up RAM on both machines to 16 GB, and purchased a PCIe card with 2 USB 3 ports to include higher-speed USB access on those PCs (both include only USB 2 ports built-in).

Over the years, these machines served me faithfully and well. I took them on the road for many legal and consulting jobs, not to mention family trips. Last year, the T420 proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to production Windows 10 versions. But the X220 Tablet kept chugging along until about 4 months ago, when a new Intel Management Engine upgrade failed, and left that firmware in a perpetual error state. Since then, it too, has proved increasingly difficult to upgrade to the latest Dev Channel Insider updates and upgrades. That said, the machine was designed in 2011 and purchased in 2012, so I would have to say it’s had a long and productive go here at Chez Tittel.

Phase 2: X380 Yoga Comes Aboard (2018)

In 2018, I actually acquired 2 X380 Yogas, both more or less identically configured. Each includes an i7-8650U Intel 7th generation (codename Kaby Lake) CPU, 16 GB DDR4 soldered RAM, and a 1 TB NVMe OEM SSD. (One has a slower Toshiba, and the other a faster Samsung model.) I use one for the production version of Windows 10 (currently 20H2 awaiting the 21H1 enablement package offer from WU). The other one runs Windows 10 Dev Channel Insider Preview release (currently at Build 21390.1010).

The X380 has proved an excellent bring-along family/entertainment PC, when I’ve also carried a “work machine” on family trips and vacations. It’s got the right combination of size, display, computing capabilities, and battery life to make a great media platform.

Phase 3: X390 Yoga Joins the Party (2019)

As my wife’s ancient Mini-ITX PC (Ivy Bridge i7) started showing signs of age, I decided to buy an X-series ThinkPad for her as a main machine, hooked up to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard using a Belkin USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 dock. That didn’t pan out, so I got her a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro in 2020 instead. I’m using the X390 as a test machine for Insider Preview releases, and have also taken it on the road. It’s pretty much identical to the two X380s except for some minor port differences. (The X390 has two USB-C ports one of which is Thunderbolt 3 capable; the X380s have more USB-A ports and fewer USB-C).

Phase 4: ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 Gets a Look-See (2021)

Because of my long and productive history with this particular ThinkPad series, I contacted Lenovo to see if the might send me the latest 11th Generation (Tiger Lake) version of this PC. They did: it arrived here yesterday. Known as X1 Yoga Gen 6, the unit has an i7-1185G7 CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR4x 4266MHz RAM, and a 500GB Hynix SSD (an OEM model I’ve never come across before). It’s got enough interesting bells and whistles that I’m looking forward to writing up a first look on this nice little laptop. Also, this machine is my first exposure to Lenovo in some color other than black (it’s a mat and muted steel grey all over as you can see in the photo).

It’s too early to tell much about this PC. So far, I’ve turned it on, hooked it up to Wi-Fi, set up my Microsoft account, and installed a few apps (mostly for testing and benchmarking). You can see its publicity photo, however, as the lead-in graphic for this story. I’m planning to write a first look piece about it next week. Stay tuned!

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows Update

X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

June 10, 2021 Ed Tittel 1 Comment

With the 2012 vintage Lenovo X220 Tablet going into a well-earned retirement, I need a replacement Dev Channel test machine. I’ve decided to call upon my 2019 vintage Lenovo X390 Yoga to fill that role. As the X390 Yoga replaces X220 Tablet, I’m sure I’ll be learning a lot more about this machine, even though it’s been around for 16 months or so.

More About X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet

Originally, I purchased this laptop to replace my wife’s aging Ivy Bridge mini-ITX PC. I ended up going for a Dell Optiplex 7080 Micro instead. Since I bought the machine in December 2019, I’ve been using it to test the current GA version of Windows 10. Now, it’ll switch over to following the latest bleeding-edge Dev Channel releases.

Here’s how that PC is equipped:

8th Generation (Whiskey Lake) i7-8565U CPU
16 GB RAM (2×8 GB, soldered, DDR4 2400 MHz)
Intel UHD Graphics 620
SSDPEKKF512G8L Intel 1TB NVMe SSD
Intel Wireless-AC 9560 160Mhz Wi-Fi adapter
13.3″ FHD (1920×1080) touchscreen
Fingerprint reader, Windows Hello camera
2xUSB 3.1 Gen 1; 1xUSB-C; 1xUSB-C/Thunderbolt 3
MicroSD card slot
ThinkPad Pen Pro stylus included
Dimensions: 12.2″ x 8.6″ x 0.63″ / 310.4 x 219 x 15.95 (mm)
Weight: 2.85 lbs (1.29 kg)

Lenovo’s port map graphic that follows shows where everything is, on the unit’s right and left sides. It’s been a treat to work with and use.

X390 Yoga Replaces X220 Tablet.portmap (click image for full-sized view).

Backup and Restore

Any test machine has to have backup/restore capability. That’s because there’s always the chance that updates, upgrades, or fiddling about will cause trouble. That’s what beta testing is about. I’m also prone to occasional “what-ifs” that have landed my PCs in trouble. Thus, it pays to be prepared.

I’ve got a speedy SATA-III SSD (Sabrent enclosure, Samsung EVO 500 nominal/465 GB actual) plugged into the USB-A port for backup. It takes about 6.5 minutes to do a complete image backup of the boot/system (and only current) drive. I’ll need to pop for a microSD card for this machine, now that’s it’s moving into a more active test role. I’ve also got a Macrium Reflect bootable Rescue Media USB Flash device ready to run restore as and when I need it.

How I Work with Test Machines

I don’t work directly on my test PCs, unless there’s some activity or utility that won’t work remotely. Frankly, I use RDP from my primary desktop for most interactions. That’s because I can do everything from my comfortable desk chair working on 2 Dell 2717 monitors. Almost everything works well that way. And if I do need to access the X390, I need only rotate my office chair to the left to access the unit. It’s situated atop a rolling file cabinet right next to my desktop case.

As time goes by, I’ll be writing about this nifty little laptop more and more in dealing with Windows 10 Dev Channel releases and related topics. Keep an eye out, and you’ll soon see evidence to support this prediction. Cheers!

Benchmarking, Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

Living with the Lenovo ThinkPad X12

June 4, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It’s been nearly a month since the brand-new ThinkPad X12 showed up at my front door. Since then, I’ve used it for a variety of everyday computing tasks, including writing stories, conducting research, tuning and tweaking, and more. As I’ve gotten to know it better, I’ve come to like it better as well. It’s not exactly perfect, but it’s not bad, either. In fact, living with the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 has been a mostly positive experience.

It’s Good, Living with the Lenovo ThinkPad X12

Here’s what this machine brings to its users:

CPU: 11th Gen i7-1180G7 (formerly Tiger Lake; 4 cores/8 threads; 12 MB Intel Smart Cache; max frequency: 4.6 GHz)
RAM: 16 GB (neither Speccy nor CPU-Z will tell me anything about the soldered-in RAM in this unit: interesting! The product page shows it as LPDDR4X 4266MHz.)
Graphics: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Display: 12.3″ FHD 1920×1280 anti-reflective touchscreen 400 nits: bright and readable enough for me
SSD: Western Digital SN530 SDBPMPZ-1T00-1001 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 interface 1TB capacity (nominal: 953 actual)
Wi-Fi: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX-201 160MHz adapter
Keyboard deck with fingerprint reader, pen/stylus included in purchase

Right now, the purchase price for an identically configured unit at the Lenovo website is US$1,570.00 (Memorial Day sale price). There is one kicker though: the site says “ships in 4+ months…delay due to COVID-19 global pandemic.” Ouch!

What I Like About the ThinkPad X12

This four-core/eight-thread mobile CPU is surprisingly fast and capable. Hooked up to a Thunderbolt 3 dock, I get access to added storage, wired GbE (if I want it), and more than enough wattage to charge its battery nicely. The Wi-Fi 6 adapter is amazingly peppy: I just got 640-plus Mbps from Ookla Speedtest to my nominal GbE Spectrum connection. It’s almost as fast as GbE, and sometimes I don’t even notice it’s connected wirelessly.

Battery life is great, too. I routinely got 10 hours or better when using the device untethered. Such use involved mostly reading Kindle eBooks, light-duty e-mail checks and web surfing, and watching an occasional video. It’s much better than my old (2014 vintage) Surface Pro 3, on which I’m lucky to get 4 hours of battery life.

It’s especially cool that Lenovo includes the keyboard cover (with fingerprint reader) and a pen/stylus as part of the purchase package. MS still charges separately for those, to the tune of US$150-200, depending on deals and options.

What Don’t I Like About the ThinkPad X12?

Not a whole lot actually. That said, I was surprised at the relatively slower speeds from its Western Digital SSD. Check out the CrystalDiskMark results from the X12 (left) vs. my 2018 vintage X1 Extreme, with a Samsung OEM 1 TB SSD. Makes me wish Lenovo had picked a bit more expensive SSD for the X12 .

X12 CrystalDiskMark 8 left, X1 Extreme right.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Other negatives are mostly minor. There’s no microSD or SD card slot for flash media. The unit sports 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports, but no USB-A (or other ports, except an RCA mini-jack for audio). The built-in speakers are fairly flat and lacking in power and the front and rear cameras relatively low in resolution and visual fidelity. For me, none of this is a big issue, nor a deal-breaker.

I wanted something more affordable, a bit faster, and with better battery life to replace my aging Surface Pro 3. For my needs, especially for reading eBooks in bed, the ThinkPad X12 is a winner. It’s as close to an iPad with real PC capabilities as I’ve ever come. IMO, it’s worth taking seriously. If it fits your needs like it does mine, it’s worth buying, too.

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Identifying Windows 10 Mystery Startup Items

June 3, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s something new and helpful about working with Task Manager. Take a look at this story’s lead-in graphic. It shows you can right-click any column header in Task Manager’s Startup tab, to see a pick list of columns (checked items). Add the “Startup type” and “Command line” items, and learn more about the startup entries they describe. In fact, they helped me with identifying Windows 10 mystery startup items on my production PC.

When a generic “Program” entry showed up in Startup items, adding fields let me see where it was coming from.
[Click item for full-sized view: see top table entry.]

How-to: Identifying Windows 10 Mystery Startup Items

The “Startup type” tells you where the directive comes from. For “Program” it came from the Registry. Better still, Command line data tells you what Startup executes as Windows 10 gets up and running. The particular instruction is malformed and can’t work:

"C:\Program" Files\Teams Installer\Teams.exe --checkinstall --source=default

The closing double quote is misplaced (it should be at the end of the line). Also the directory path referenced in the command does not actually exist on the PC in which this Registry entry resides.

What did I do about this spurious startup item? I cheerfully disabled it. Indeed, that means there’s an orphaned key-value pair in my registry. I can live with that. I do intend to report it via the Feedback Hub, because it definitely includes a syntax error (the misplaced closing double quote). Otherwise, though, it’s no big deal and I’m satisfied to disable it.

[NOTE} Here’s a shout-out to WinHelpOnline, whose story What is “Program” in Task Manager Startup Tab helped me understand my mystery item. It’s worth reading in its entirety for those who want to learn further details about what’s going on, and how to remove related orphaned registry items.

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

WinGet 1.0 Updates Most Win10 Applications

June 1, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

A production version of the Windows Package Manager “WinGet” made its debut on or about May 26. You can grab it from GitHub as version v1.0.11451. It offers the remarkable ability to update any Windows 10 applications for which update packages are defined. Running the tool as a test of this capability, I was able to update 7 of 9 applications the tool flagged as outdated. The 8th item was Firefox, which didn’t get updated within WinGet, but was easily handle through its own update facility. The 9th item was the UWP app for Zoom, which I quickly updated from within its own GUI as well. Thus I confirmed for myself that WinGet 1.0 updates most Win10 applications, if not all of them.

What Does WinGet 1.0 Updates Most Win10 Applications Mean?

In the past, I’ve turned to 3rd party tools such as SuMO or PatchMyPC to keep my Windows PCs up-to-date. The most usable version of SuMO costs €20 and up. PatchMyPC is free but somewhat limited in the programs it can recognize and update. So far, WinGet finds — and updates — programs that not even SuMO recognizes (e.g. Strawberry Perl and SpaceDesk). And of course, it’s free for the download from Microsoft’s GitHub repository.

If you look at the lead-in graphic for this story, you’ll see the command syntax to ask WinGet to list programs for which it knows upgrades are available. That syntax is simple:

WinGet upgrade

does the trick. If you want to actually run those upgrades, you need only add --all to the preceding command to fire it off (note the double dashes that precede the word all). You can see the tool at work in this oversized screencap:

WinGet skipped Firefox and Zoom (a UWP app) and owing to my mistake hung up on updating the final item: spacedesk Windows DRIVER.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

The tool hung while trying to update SpaceDesk. This was probably a self-inflicted wound, though, because an earlier Macrium Reflect update did leave a reboot pending to complete its own installation. I had to kill the PowerShell process tree to terminate that apparently never-ending update, thanks to my oversight.

After Restart, All’s Well That Ends Well

And sure enough, after a restart, another round of WinGet upgrade -all took care of the SpaceDesk item. It ran through to completion (and even reset the graphic driver automatically to “make room” for itself). This capability is worth getting to know. I predict some admins will find it eminently capable of keeping up with (most) upgrades on Windows 10 PCs, especially reference image machines for deployment use. Check it out!

What Did WinGet Miss?

To give the Devil his due, I just ran SuMO to see what WinGet’s update check missed. Here’s a list of what it didn’t find (and for which apps, therefore, update packages are presumably needed):
1. CPU-Z
2. SuMO itself
3. Snagit
It just goes to show that none of these tools is absolutely complete, though some are more complete than others. I still like what WinGet does and how it works just fine!

Networking, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 10

Power Options VM Surprise

May 28, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It’s been a painful last few days here in Windows World. I’ve been working on a loaner, locked-down machine in connection with a code analysis project. Because that code is protected and valuable intellectual property (IP), I’m able to access its GitHub repository only through a VM running on a hardened and isolated system. Essentially, I have to access the VM through a browser tab set up inside a VPN-accessible secure store. It hasn’t been going too well, either: each time I tried to use the VM and left the machine alone for a while, it would drop its connection. And then, to make things worse, I couldn’t get back in without asking an IT admin to reset the server side of the remote access environment. That’s where an unwanted and unexepected Power Options VM surprise came into play.

What Is a Power Options VM Surprise?

If you look at the lead-in graphic, you’ll see that one change I make on my Windows PCs post-upgrade or install is to change the sleep interval to “Never.” The default is 30 minutes. Accessing the VM used a commercial VPN into a host server. Then, a remote access client (first RDP, then VNC) connected to the VM itself. For a long time, the firm’s IT guy kept fiddling with RDP settings and such. Eventually he switched to VNC for remote access, thinking it might be an RDP protocol issue at work (or not).

But the disconnect issues kept popping up, where the VM connection would drop when the machine was idle for 30 minutes or more. This finally caused him to investigate the Power Options, where it was immediately obvious the default “sleep after 30 minutes” was the culprit. Resetting the value to my usual preference — that is “Never” — has since fixed things, hopefully for good.

Troubleshooting 101: Don’t Overlook the Obvious

As an outsider with only a regular user account, it wasn’t up to me to mess with default settings on the locked-down machine furnished to me for this project. Ditto for default settings for the VM I was accessing to get into the target code base. But gosh: I have to believe we were looking for complex solutions to a seemingly complex problem. Instead, we should have been looking for simple solutions for a straightforward default settings check.

The moral of this story is not lost on me. I hope it will likewise inspire you to make a checklist when working with VMs, and to put “check default settings” (especially in Power Options) right near the head of that list. Sleep may “knit up the raveled sleeve of care,” as the Immortal Bard put it. But sleep causes all kinds of interesting problems for Windows PC — and now I know, for Windows VMs, too. Funny thing, I’ve learned to make this tweak because I use RDP extensively here at Chez Tittel to get from my production desktop to the 10-plus other PCs usually running around here. I shoulda known…

Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Troubleshooting, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

Blinking Monitor Gets Easy Fix

May 26, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

When it comes to Windows, it’s always something. When I logged in this morning, it was my number two (right-hand) monitor, blinking on and off at about 3 second intervals. From long experience, I know the most likely cause for such misbehavior is the graphics driver. Thus, I immediately fire up the GeForce Experience app, see a new driver is available, download and install same. And that, dear Readers, is how my blinking monitor gets easy fix. If only all of my problems were so easily solved!

Driver Update Means Blinking Monitor
Gets Easy Fix

Graphics drivers are notoriously finicky beasts. They can cause all kinds of interesting problems, especially when new drivers cause hijinks on older graphics cards (or circuitry). My production desktop incorporates a GeForce GTX 1070, which is now about 5 years old. Because of the scarcity of newer generation (2xxx and 3xxx) GPUs right now — coin miners are snatching them up in droves — this model is still in extremely wide use. Hence, I’m inclined to trust new drivers. That’s because Nvidia would aggravate a sizable population if they let a substandard GTX 1070 driver out the door.

Luckily for me, my inclinations proved justified. After installing v466.47, I see no further blinking from the right-hand monitor (#2 in the lead-in graphic). It’s nice when the most obvious fix turns out to be the only one that’s required. Again, I know from experience that troubleshooting issues further would get more interesting and probably end up costing money.

My next move would have been to swap the DisplayPort cables that tie monitors 1 and 2 to the GeForce card. If the blinking had switched positions, that would indicate a cable replacement. If not, card troubleshooting would begin in earnest. And with GPUs so expensive and hard to find right now, that could have been a real problem.

Sometimes, here in Windows-World, you get away with an occasionally easy fix for your problems. Today, I’m celebrating my simple and painless escape!

Recent Activity, Software Reviews, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10

Macrium Reflect 8 Drops Commercial-only Versions

May 25, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As I was perusing my usual Windows 10 news sources yesterday, I noticed that version 8 of the excellent Macrium Reflect backup tool made its debut. My excitement deflated quickly, as I figured out that Macrium Reflect 8 drops commercial-only versions.

Fortunately, I have a 4-license package of Macrium Reflect Home. This I upgraded to version 8 for a “mere” US$75.72 (US$69 plus tax). This got me to v8 on those PCs that run a commercial version. That means my production desktop, my road/travelling PC, and my wife’s and son’s PCs. But what about Macrium 8 Free?

This terse statement about MR V8 Free popped up on TenForums yesterday (Thanks, Kari!).

Macrium Reflect 8 Drops Commercial-only Versions: Free Comes Later

A mainstay in the Windows 10 toolbox is the no-cost version of Macrium Reflect (MR). Known as Reflect Free it offers about 85% of the functionality of the commercial version. I’ve used it for 6-plus years on my test PCs and have yet to find a situation the free version couldn’t handle, backup and restore wise. I bought a 4-license pack to do my bit to support a company whose products I like and endorse.

Word on the street is that the v8 Free version is coming, but won’t be out until the end of the summer (see preceding graphic). That item was dated May 20. Doing that calendar math puts the date on or around August 18. For the time being, users have no choice but to wait for the v8 version of Macrium Reflect Free to makes its appearance.

What’s New in Reflect Home v8?

The software’s maker — Paramount Software UK Ltd — has helpfully put together such a list in handy graphic form. I copy it here verbatim from their “Reflect 8” web page:

Some of these features won’t be included in the Free version when it appears, but many/most of them will.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Of these features, intra daily backups (repeated, frequent copies of specific data files) are quite interesting plus well-informed and -intentioned. I need to spend some time with the new version to really understand what it can do. Alas, that must wait for the press of paying work to abate a bit (I’m kinda busy these days, which has its good and bad points).

Networking, Recent Activity, Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, WED Blog, Windows 10

NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool

May 24, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Anybody who’s been reading my stuff for a while knows I like the work of Israeli developer Nir Sofer. His company, NirSoft adds winning ManageWirelessNetworks tool to its lineup. If you take a look at the lead-in graphic above, you can see some of my traveling history enshrined in the profile names in the left-hand column. There, you’ll see names for hotels, law firms, and more amidst that list.

If NirSoft Adds Winning ManageWirelessNetworks Tool, Use It!

Many — nay, most — of the names in that list I will never need or use again. If you choose “Run as Administrator…” when you launch this tool, you can select obsolete or unneeded profiles in the UI. (Ctrl-click works to select multiple individual items; Shift-click works for ranges.) If you then click the red X in the icon bar above, they’ll all be deleted.

Here’s what my current list of active, valid Profile Names looks like after pruning, in fact:

After clean-up, the item count in the list drops from 26 to 6. Easily done, too!

Sure, you can remove stale entries for Wi-Fi networks at the command line. I wrote a post about this for the TechTarget incarnation of this blog back in 2017 “Clean Up Old Wireless Profiles in Windows 10.” But the NirSoft tool beats that method cold: it’s visual, lets you handle all stale entries in one go, and works like a champ. I’d long wondered why the NirSoft collection didn’t have such a tool already. Well now it does: and I’m glad!

As the old advertisement said: “Try it, you’ll like it!” I did, and I do. You can do likewise.

Hardware Reviews, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10

First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

May 12, 2021 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’ve owned a Surface Pro 3 since 2014. Before that I owned a Fujitsu Q704. Both were small, powerful, somewhat loaded i7 tablets. I also had a Dell Venue Pro 11 with an i5 CPU. I liked all of those machines. Indeed, I appreciate a moderately powerful tablet PC that’s compact and can handle office/productivity work. That’s why I requested “something similar” from Lenovo. They sent me their latest detachable 11th Gen (Tiger Lake) ThinkPad X12 last week. This is my first look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC introduction and overview.

Speccy lists basic componentry: 4-core 11th-gen i7, 16 GB RAM, Iris Xe graphics, 1 TB WD SSD, Intel AX201 Wi-Fi.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

Taking a First Look: Lenovo X12 Tablet PC

Lenovo also sent me a full-sized wired keyboard and a ThinkPad Thunderbolt 3 Dock Gen 2 (PN: 40AN0135US). I wouldn’t recommend attempting serious use of this device without a USB3 or Thunderbolt 3/4 dock, because it needs backup storage at a minimum. The ability to add one or two monitors via HDMI or DisplayPort is nice, as is wired GbE and a bunch of USB3 ports (4 on the back, 1 on the front). The unit I received MSRP is over US$2,500 but you won’t pay Lenovo more than US$1,700 to actually take it home (not including wired keyboard and Thunderbolt dock).

In the connectivity vein, the X12 features a Thunderbolt 4 controller for its USB-C ports. AFAIK, this is the first time I’ve worked with a PC that has Thunderbolt 4 support, rather than the preceding version. It picked up my Belkin dock immediately (though it’s a Tbolt 3 version device). It just happened to be sitting on the same desk, and immediately brought up the Seagate 5TB and a 16 GB Mushkin USB3 UFD, as you can see in the Speccy screencap above.

My first time to see Thunderbolt 4 come up in the eponymous control center app.

Basics Stats, Look and Feel

The tablet is thin and light (1.67 lbs sans keyboard; 2.4 lbs with). Dimensions are petite at 11.15 x 8.01 x 0.34″ (sans keyboard) or 0.57″ (with keyboard) (in mm that’s 283 x 204 x 8.6 or 14.5). Nevertheless, it feels pretty sturdy in the hand and on the lap (though I don’t much care for the lapabilty of this kind of PC ). If I’m not at a desk or table, I prefer to use the tablet by itself sans keyboard.

It’s got a full HD panel (1920×1280 pixels) that’s rated at around 400 nits of brightness. So far, I’ve found it fine for reading, surfing and handling email (but I really haven’t put it through too many of its paces just yet). I’m not quite familiar enough to rate its battery life yet, either. That said, it’s never flagged while I’ve used it, though I’ve yet to use it for longer than 4 hours.

More to Come … Soon

That’s it for today’s first look. I am impressed enough with the X12 to be considering a purchase of my own such unit. I will take more time to play, measure, and experiment. Then, I’ll know better if my desire to own this beast is merely a passing case of techno-lust, or a genuine desire to own another tablet to replace my aging Surface Pro 3. Stay tuned!