Is Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 6 Sufficient for Yr 7 BYOD?

I am looking for a refurbished Windows laptop for my daughter who is starting Yr 7 high school next year.

I found a Lenovo X1 Carbon Gen 6 (in Very Good refurbished condition) for $380 and was wondering if it has enough grunt to last at least the next 2-3 yrs, as well as handle some knocks/drops along the way. I don't know how well/poorly my daughter will treat the laptop so don't want to buy a new one to start with. I imagine that the laptop will mostly be used to do web browsing, Teams, Google Classroom, MS Office, perhaps some light graphics editing (?)

I haven't looked into Windows laptops for a while, so not sure whether this laptop is reasonable value or not. Any feedback welcome!

Specifications
Brand Lenovo
Model ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th Gen
Processor Intel Core i7 8650u 1.90Ghz
Storage 256GB SSD
Memory 16GB
Display 14.0" (355mm) FHD (1920x1080), anti-glare, LED backlight, WVA, 300 nits, 16:9 aspect ratio, 700:1 contrast ratio, 72% gamut, 170° viewing angle
Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 620
Webcam Yes
Video output USB Type-C + HDMI
Connectivity WiFi Wireless, Bluetooth, Ethernet
I/O ports 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0, one Always On), 2 x USB 3.1 Type-C Gen 2 / Thunderbolt 3 (with the function of Power Delivery and DisplayPort), HDMI 1.4b, Ethernet extension connector
Operating System Windows 11
Dimensions 323.5mm x 217.1mm x 15.95mm
Weight 1.13 kg

Comments

  • +3

    Yes. that's a great choice. 8th gen intel, plenty of RAM and SSD. Full-HD, lightweight.

    Just check the battery is good.

  • Added bonus: If any of her classmates give her crap she can whack then with a Thinkpad and it will survive with flying colours :D

  • have a gen 4 that i picked up for $300 during covid

    Best in class keyboard,
    Terrific battery life - 5 hours + (from a refurbished laptop).
    Indestructible - flew off my car at 60kph and barely had a scratch on it.

    Would by another in a heartbeat.

    • +3

      Indestructible - flew off my car at 60kph and barely had a scratch on it.

      That demands more than a single line of explanation :)

      • +1

        This is copilots interpretation of what happened

        demands more than a single line

        A picture tells a thousand words

        • +2

          Pretty much that.

      • +1

        Had a brain fade and put the laptop on my roof, lasted 1km down the road until it slid off, saw it tumble a few times and hit the kerb,

        Went back to grab it, was slightly scuffed but otherwise works fine some 2 years later.

        • Had a brain fade and put the laptop on my roof

          Is this you too?

        • +1

          Must use Nokia technology.

  • +1

    100% fine, pretty much perfect.

  • +1

    Great choice. X1 carbons are bulletproof and the 6th gen is recent enough to last the next few years

  • +1

    I don't know how well/poorly my daughter will treat the laptop so don't want to buy a new one to start with.

    Get her one of these, and it will look like new

  • Okay, here's my take on it.

    1. It's a balance between size and weight… and I would say a 15-16 inch screen would be a minimum. If you could find a 17.3 inch that's light, go for it.

    (When I walk around the classroom and see the kids desperately panning left and right on Canva on a tiny little screen looking right up to it… it hurts me alittle bit inside everytime. Either that or it's zoomed out so far… I can't even see the damn words.)

    (Also remember that we are going away from the days of lugging around textbooks. Maths and science usually provide digital textbooks now… so that's some weight saved already).

    [I'm rocking a 17.3 inch laptop and am going to an 18 for my next one. Go big or go home lol.]

    1. A decently sized SSD is all that's needed. Everything is on the cloud nowadays. (Stile, Google Classroom, MS Teams, Google Docs/Sheets, etc).

    2. Go for a laptop that quick charges via USB C / PD. (I've seen it all before… big bulky slow propriertary charger that takes up half their bag VS a small GAN 140W charger that does 20-60% in like ~25 minutes (also charges the phone too!).

    3. Get your child a light and small wireless mouse.

    • +2

      I think you mean 15" maximum, I would hate to be dragging along a huge laptop for school regardless of the weight. 14" screen is a great size.

  • Inb4 @AustriaBargain suggests an M1 Air?

    • +1

      How about an M2 for $650 of FB Marketplace?

      • Hi HairyChickens, is this still available?

    • +1

      graphics editing

      OP said the magic words.

  • Yes, in general these X1s are sturdy.
    I've found that with the A-tier laptop brands (Lenovo, HP, Dell, Toshiba), their business-line laptops are all hardy (at least at the time I had them).
    Be mindful of weight though… your daughter will whinge when it gets closer to 2kg, so this one fits the bill nicely.
    Screensize, CPU generation, SSD and RAM are perfectly fine, the CPU is even a bit overkill, for what the kids do on their laptops an i5 suffices… but hey, if you can get an i7 for a good price, why not.

    One thing to be mindful of: not all high schools will allow just any BYOD laptop (yes I know, goes against the grain of what BYOD actually means); I had to choose from a list of 3 from one particular brand, as once the laptops come in, their IT department has to prep it with a preconfigured image.

    • their IT department has to prep it with a preconfigured image.

      why 😭

      public or private school?

      • It's a public school.
        As for the why, my guess is that it makes for a much more streamlined support model for when things go wrong, and makes it a lot easier when school-wide functions/applications need to be rolled out.

  • Got the same one for my daughter in Y7 and she loves it. It is lightweight, and does all the required tasks easily. Only crib is about the lack of a touchscreen which her other classmates have, and so I got another refurb HP Elitebook, but she keeps going back to the X1.

  • Thanks all for your comments. The laptop arrived yesterday and although there were signs of wear (around the edges of the side ports and sides of the laptop) it seems like it's in good nick. It matched the stated specs, came with a new generic 65W USB-C charger, and I was able to set it up with Office and do updates via Lenovo Vantage in about 30 mins.

    One thing I am unsure of is the battery. The battery specs from Vantage is this: https://imgur.com/a/s0ILHVO

    Is this reasonable for a battery that is over 5 yrs old? Or do I need to start looking for a replacement battery?

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