Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 review – this is precisely why it costs this much

Today, we have another member of the ThinkPad X1 family of premium business devices from Lenovo. It is a convertible and bears the name ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6. Usually, the business world is taken over by the more conventional “clamshell” devices. Recently, however, manufacturers release a large portion of their commercial devices in both a classic and a 2-in-1 variant. This lets the users take notes, and even produce some design-related work.

To do so, you don’t only need a good amount of horsepower, but an adequate display as well. Here, you can rely on a 16:10 IPS panel with either a 1200p or a 2400p resolution. The latter also supports HDR 400.

Since this laptop was released in 2021, it bears a Tiger Lake CPU. You can go all the way up to the Core i7-1185G7, with only integrated graphics being available. As you know, this setup is pretty potent, but can’t get near the computational performance of the AMD counterparts. Nevertheless, the ThinkPad X1 series has been pretty loyal to Intel, ever since it was released.

Additionally, this device is part of Intel’s Evo platform, which promises better performance, stability, and security than laptops that don’t come with it.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-6th-gen-2021/

Contents


Specs Sheet

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) - Specs

  • AUO B140UAN02.1
  • Color accuracy  5.7  1.4
  • HDD/SSD
  • up to 2000GB SSD
  • RAM
  • up to 32GB
  • OS
  • Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home, Windows 10 Home
  • Battery
  • 57Wh, 3-cell, 57Wh
  • Body material
  • Aluminum
  • Dimensions
  • 314.4 x 223 x 15.0 mm (12.38" x 8.78" x 0.59")
  • Weight
  • 1.40 kg (3.1 lbs)
  • Ports and connectivity
  • 2x USB Type-A
  • 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps)
  • 2x USB Type-C
  • Thunderbolt 4, Power Delivery (PD), DisplayPort
  • HDMI
  • 2.0
  • Card reader
  • Ethernet LAN
  • Wi-Fi
  • 802.11ax
  • Bluetooth
  • 5.2
  • Audio jack
  • 3.5mm Combo Jack
  • Features
  • Fingerprint reader
  • Web camera
  • HD
  • Backlit keyboard
  • optional
  • Microphone
  • Four Array Microphones, 360° Far Field
  • Speakers
  • 2x 2W, Dolby Atmos
  • Optical drive
  • Security Lock slot
  • Kensington Lock Slot

All Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) configurations

#CommissionsEarned

What’s in the box?

Inside the package, you will find some paper manuals and a 65W USB Type-C power adapter.


Design and construction

Undoubtedly, the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 is a well-built device. It is made out of aluminum and has a rigid structure of both the base and the lid. This is impressive, given the 15mm thickness of the laptop. Although the 1.40 kg weight is not very light for a 14-inch convertible, this gives it a really solid feel, while the aluminum panels are cool to the touch.

Thankfully, this device’s lid can be opened with a single hand. As we mentioned, it is pretty tough. The bezels here are thin, while the display has an anti-reflective coating, which does a good job of blocking most of the reflections. We found that the integrated stylus works pretty well with the touchscreen.

Above, there is a 720p Web camera with a privacy shutter, and an optional IR face recognition sensor.

Moving to the keyboard, we see a typically good unit with a backlight, long key travel, and clicky feedback. After all, this is a ThinkPad, right? Another good feature of the laptop is the big Arrow keys. While we’re here, you can see the two grills surrounding the keyboard. They are part of the quad-speaker setup, which includes two 0.8W and two 2W units.

Above the keyboard, there is a separated Power button with an embedded fingerprint reader. And below it, you will find a glass-surfaced touchpad. It offers a smooth gliding experience. On the other hand, the clicking mechanism works for only the bottom half of the surface. On the bright side, there are three dedicated buttons above it, which work with the TrackPoint.

Now, if we turn the laptop upside down, we will find a couple more speaker grills, as well as a vent, where it draws the cool air from. Respectively, it exhausts the hot air from a slit in the back of the device.

Ports

On the left side of the laptop, you will find two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, a USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, and an HDMI 2.0 connector. Then, on the right, there is a Kensington Nano security slot, another USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) port, an audio jack, and a slot for the dedicated Pen.


Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance

This laptop’s bottom panel is held in place by 5 captive Phillips-head screws. After you undo them, remove the dedicated stylus from its garage, and pry the panel with a plastic tool.

Here, the battery has a capacity of 57Wh. It lasted us for 15 hours of Web browsing, or more than 11 hours of video playback. If you need to remove the battery, you first have to undo 6 Phillips-head screws.

Unsurprisingly, this laptop’s memory is soldered to its motherboard. On the bright side, you can choose from 8, 16, or 32GB of LPDDR4x RAM, working in quad-channel mode. Storage-wise, there is one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which supports Gen 4 drives.

In terms of cooling, you get a pretty simple setup with one heat pipe and two very small fans. Thankfully, the VRMs are cooled by metal plates.


Display quality

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 uses a WUXGA IPS touchscreen panel, model number AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A). Its diagonal is 14″ (35.6 cm), and the resolution – 1920 x 1200. Additionally, the screen ratio is 16:10, the pixel density – 162 ppi, their pitch – 0.16 x 0.16 mm. The screen can be considered Retina when viewed from at least 53 cm (from this distance, the average human eye can’t see the individual pixels).

Viewing angles are comfortable. We have provided images at 45 degrees to evaluate quality.

Also, a video with locked focus and exposure.

The maximum measured brightness is 360 nits (cd/m2) in the middle of the screen and 338 nits (cd/m2) average across the surface with a maximum deviation of 12%. The Correlated Color Temperature on a white screen and at maximum brightness is 6380K (average) – slightly warmer than the 6500K optimum for sRGB.
In the illustration below you can see how the display performs from a uniformity perspective. The illustration below shows how matters are for operational brightness levels (approximately 140 nits) – in this particular case at 70% Brightness (White level = 138 cd/m2, Black level = 0.08 cd/m2).
Values of dE2000 over 4.0 should not occur, and this parameter is one of the first you should check if you intend to use the laptop for color-sensitive work (a maximum tolerance of 2.0 ). The contrast ratio is very good – 1800:1.

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction to the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. To start, there’s the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye, giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy.

Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that is being used by millions of people on HDTV and on the web. As for Adobe RGB, this is used in professional cameras, monitors, etc for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy of a mainstream notebook.

Still, we’ve included other color spaces like the famous DCI-P3 standard used by movie studios, as well as the digital UHD Rec.2020 standard. Rec.2020, however, is still a thing of the future and it’s difficult for today’s displays to cover that well. We’ve also included the so-called Michael Pointer gamut, or Pointer’s gamut, which represents the colors that naturally occur around us every day.

The yellow dotted line shows Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6’s color gamut coverage.

Its display covers 98% of the sRGB/ITU-R BT.709 (web/HDTV standard) in CIE1976.

Our “Design and Gaming” profile delivers optimal color temperature (6500K) at 140 cd/m2 luminance and sRGB gamma mode.

We tested the accuracy of the display with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange, etc. You can check out the results at factory condition and also, with the “Design and Gaming” profile.

Below you can compare the scores of Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 with the default settings (left), and with the “Gaming and Web design” profile (right).

The next figure shows how well the display is able to reproduce really dark parts of an image, which is essential when watching movies or playing games in low ambient light.

The left side of the image represents the display with stock settings, while the right one is with the “Gaming and Web Design” profile activated. On the horizontal axis, you will find the grayscale, and on the vertical axis – the luminance of the display. On the two graphs below you can easily check for yourself how your display handles the darkest nuances but keep in mind that this also depends on the settings of your current display, the calibration, the viewing angle, and the surrounding light conditions.

Response time (Gaming capabilities)

We test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “black-to-white” and “white-to-black” method from 10% to 90% and vice versa.

We recorded Fall Time + Rise Time = 37 ms.

After that, we test the reaction time of the pixels with the usual “Gray-to-Gray” method from 50% White to 80% White and vice versa between 10% and 90% of the amplitude.


Health impact – PWM / Blue Light

PWM (Screen flickering)

Pulse-width modulation (PWM) is an easy way to control monitor brightness. When you lower the brightness, the light intensity of the backlight is not lowered, but instead turned off and on by the electronics with a frequency indistinguishable to the human eye. In these light impulses, the light/no-light time ratio varies, while brightness remains unchanged, which is harmful to your eyes. You can read more about that in our dedicated article on PWM.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6’s backlight doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. This makes it comfortable for long periods of use.

Blue light emissions

Installing our Health-Guard profile not only eliminates PWM but also reduces the harmful Blue Light emissions while keeping the colors of the screen perceptually accurate. If you’re not familiar with the Blue light, the TL;DR version is – emissions that negatively affect your eyes, skin, and your whole body. You can find more information about that in our dedicated article on Blue Light.

Buy our profiles

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 configurations with 14.0″ AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A) (FHD, 1920 × 1080) IPS.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Read more about the profiles HERE.

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount


Sound

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6’s quad-speaker setup produces a crisp sound with very good quality and loud maximum volume. Additionally, it supports Dolby Atmos, while its tones have no deviations across the entire frequency spectrum.


Drivers

All of the drivers and utilities for this notebook can be found here: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-x1-yoga-6th-gen-type-20xy-20y0/downloads/driver-list

Battery

Now, we conduct the battery tests with Windows Better performance setting turned on, screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits, and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. This laptop’s 57Wh battery delivers 15 hours of Web browsing, or 11 hours and 20 minutes of video playback.

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.


CPU options

When it comes to the CPU choice, you can get this machine with the Core i5-1135G7, Core i5-1145G7, Core i7-1165G7, or Core i7-1185G7.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) CPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the CPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different CPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / CPU.


GPU options

And for graphics, you are “stuck” with the integrated Iris Xe Graphics G7.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) GPU variants

Here you can see an approximate comparison between the GPUs that can be found in the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) models on the market. This way you can decide for yourself which Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga (6th Gen, 2021) model is the best bang for your buck.

Note: The chart shows the cheapest different GPU configurations so you should check what the other specifications of these laptops are by clicking on the laptop’s name / GPU.


Gaming tests

cs-go-benchmarks

CS:GOHD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Medium (Check settings)HD 1080p, MAX (Check settings)
Average FPS168 fps115 fps72 fps

DOTA 2HD 1080p, Low (Check settings)HD 1080p, Normal (Check settings)HD 1080p, High (Check settings)
Average FPS137 fps81 fps60 fps

Temperatures and comfort

Max CPU load

In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.

Average core frequency (base frequency + X); CPU temp.

Intel Core i5-1135G7 (15W TDP)0:02 – 0:10 sec0:15 – 0:30 sec10:00 – 15:00 min
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 63.51 GHz (B+46%) @ 97°C @ 45W3.10 GHz (B+29%) @ 97°C @ 34W2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 90°C @ 25W
HP ProBook 430 G83.32 GHz (B+38%) @ 97°C @ 35W2.74 GHz (B+14%) @ 89°C @ 24W2.29 GHz (B-5%) @ 75°C @ 17W
Acer Swift 3 (SF314-511)3.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 91°C @ 34W2.89 GHz (B+20%) @ 91°C @ 28W2.69 GHz (B+12%) @ 91°C @ 25W
Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (13.5)3.80 GHz (B+58%) @ 80°C @ 46W3.62 GHz (B+51%) @ 89°C @ 43W1.99 GHz (B-17%) @ 60°C @ 13W
ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED K5133.39 GHz (B+41%) @ 83°C @ 40W3.28 GHz (B+34%) @ 91°C @ 37W2.96 GHz (B+23%) @ 85°C @ 28W
MSI Summit E13 Flip Evo3.65 GHz (B+52%) @ 96°C @ 45W3.31 GHz (B+38%) @ 96°C @ 47W3.03 GHz (B+25%) @ 96°C @ 29W
Dell XPS 13 9310 (2-in-1)3.36 GHz (B+40%) @ 99°C @ 41W3.16 GHz (B+32%) @ 99°C @ 37W1.92 GHz @ 72°C @ 16W
Dell XPS 13 93103.15 GHz (B+31%) @ 100°C @ 40W2.73 GHz (B+14%) @ 100°C @ 30W1.65 GHz @ 73°C @ 15W
Dell Vostro 14 54023.02 GHz (B+26%) @ 99°C @ 29W2.61 GHz (B+9%) @ 99°C @ 25W2.00 GHz @ 76°C @ 15W
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)3.59 GHz (B+50%) @ 94°C @ 44W3.45 GHz (B+44%) @ 95°C @ 40W3.18 GHz (B+33%) @ 91°C @ 34W
Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga3.52 GHz (B+47%) @ 94°C3.24 GHz (B+35%) @ 94°C2.63 GHz (B+10%) @ 75°C
Lenovo Yoga 7 (14)3.34 GHz (B+39%) @ 94°C2.97 GHz (B+24%) @ 94°C2.39 GHz @ 75°C
Acer Aspire 5 (A514-54)3.54 GHz (B+48%) @ 87°C2.01 GHz @ 66°C2.03 GHz @ 67°C

Thanks to the performance preset, the laptop can maintain a solid 25W for long periods of time. However, the cooling seems to be sweating, as the two tiny fans barely maintain 90°C at 2.61 GHz.

Comfort during full load

Yep, the fans can definitely be heard of. Interestingly, there is a slight vibration coming from the chassis, when the fans are spinning at high rpm. It’s nothing to worry about, but it is annoying nonetheless.


Verdict

Let’s put it straight – this is an expensive, premium business laptop, that is poised to offer a ton of features. And it quite does. Most of them are aimed at security and privacy. This is achieved by the integrated TPM 2.0 module. In addition to that, there is a fingerprint reader, a camera privacy shutter, and an optional IR face recognition scanner.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to upgrade the memory, as it is soldered to the motherboard. Thankfully, Lenovo offers consolation in the form of quad-channel LPDDR4x RAM. Also, you can configure your device with up to 32GB out of the box. And for storage, there is one M.2 PCIe x4 slot, which can fit Gen 4 drives.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 features a touchscreen IPS panel (AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A)) with a 1200p resolution, comfortable viewing angles, and a very good contrast ratio. Thankfully, it doesn’t use PWM for brightness adjustment. Also, it covers 98% of the sRGB color gamut and achieves good color accuracy with our Gaming and Web design profile. This makes it appropriate for professional use.

Not only that, but the included stylus enables designers to do work without the need for additional hardware. However, we have to say that the Pen is a bit too thin to be considered comfortable for day-to-day use. On the other hand, it has its own garage inside the chassis, which wildly reduces the chances to lose it. Also, you don’t need to worry about running out of juice, as its tiny battery charges when it’s inside the laptop.

Speaking of which, the battery here lasts for 15 hours of Web browsing, or 11 hours and 20 minutes of video playback. This is a pretty good score for a 57Wh unit. And if your machine is paired with a 65W charger, you can take advantage of the Rapid Charge technology. This means that the device can be charged from 0-80% for just an hour.

Another perk of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 6 is the keyboard. Usually, we expect a lot when we test a ThinkPad device, and this one happens to live up to the expectations. Then, there is the optional 5G support, and the pretty wide I/O, which includes two Thunderbolt 4 connectors, and an HDMI 2.0 port for up to three dedicated displays (four with the integrated one). Moreover, there are two USB Type-A 3.2 (Gen. 1) ports, which pretty much removes the need for dongles.

So, if you are in a search of a business laptop with great built quality, display with a ton of potential, and hardware that allows you to do a professional job, this is a pretty solid offering. However, you should be prepared to break your piggy bank or prepare one of your kidneys for a brief transaction.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-yoga-6th-gen-2021/

Pros

  • 15 hours of Web browsing on a single charge
  • Great input devices
  • 98% sRGB coverage and accurate color representation with our profile (AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A))
  • Included stylus
  • Supports PCIe x4 Gen 4 drives
  • Two Thunderbolt 4 connectors (both can be used for charging)
  • Wi-Fi 6 support plus optional IR face recognition, fingerprint reader, and 5G support
  • Quad-channel memory
  • No PWM (AUO B140UAN02.1 (LEN403A))
  • Great build quality


Cons

  • Lacks an SD card reader
  • Memory is soldered to the motherboard

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