Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (4th Gen) review: Thinner, lighter and still the best 2-in-1 for business

The 2018 edition of Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga earned the title of “best two-in-one for business” from CNET last year.  For 2019, Lenovo slimmed the machine’s profile by a few millimeters and reduced its weight by a few ounces and outfitted it with a new CNC aluminum chassis, slimmer bezels and Intel’s updated eighth-gen processors and a couple of cool privacy options. It’s still our favorite premium business two-in-one. 

That said, while battery life has improved for some configurations, it’s noticeably short if you opt for the 14-inch 4K UHD-resolution display with Dolby Vision HDR400. It’s a beautiful display, but probably not worth the power penalty for most users, and Lenovo thankfully offers three other options including a low-power 380-nit full-HD display that should deliver much better battery life.

And options are the name of the game here. The base price is around $1,200, but the X1 Yoga can be configured to more than $2,500. However, unless your needs are specific, you’re better off going with a preconfigured model like my review sample. It was loaded with all the high-end components offered and didn’t break the $1,900 mark. 

The X1 Yoga is essentially the business version of Lenovo’s premium Yoga C940. With dual 360-degree hinges and the included active pen, it’s not only great as a laptop, but also for giving presentations, marking up documents or collaborating on projects without someone having to awkwardly hover over you.

If privacy is a concern, you can shut down the mics entirely, and built into the thin display is a webcam fitted with a physical shutter that slides to block the camera. Lenovo offers two newer privacy features on this model as well: PrivacyGuard and PrivacyAlert. The former makes it difficult for people to the sides of your display to see what you’re looking at it from head on. The latter will actually pop up a notification on your screen if someone is shoulder surfing while you’re working. PrivacyGuard is unfortunately only available on one of the four display options and PrivacyAlert requires an optional IR camera in the laptop. 

A fingerprint reader comes standard and it stores and processes your print on its own system-on-a-chip (SoC) for better protection of your system and print from hacks or malware. Other security features include self-encrypting SSDs and Intel vPro processors, discrete TPM 2.0 and FIDO authentication. 

Regardless of the configuration, you get the same durable build quality that Lenovo says meets 12 military-grade requirements and goes through more than 200 quality checks. You also get the same great keyboard. It’s spill-resistant and has a two-level backlight. It’s without a doubt one of the most comfortable keyboards you’ll find on a laptop this thin and you likely won’t have to adjust to using it.