Me - Diary - Projects - Resume

Is this ThinkPad X13 Gen 3 Better Than My X1 Nano? #ThinkPad #Shorts

This article is a transcript of a video that you can watch by clicking the thumbnail below. Hence, certain statements may not make sense in this text form, and watching the video instead is recommended.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bt-BSLouHCA/hq720.jpg

Transcript

As soon as I got an opportunity to pick up this X13 Gen 3 (for a friend, BTW), I couldn’t stop comparing it with my X1 Nano, even though they are from two very different ThinkPad lineups, created for two very different kinds of users.

Pros

There are a lot of advantages here:

  • The X13 Gen 3 has way more ports than the X1 Nano, minus only the SD card reader, and that’s great!
  • I find the keyboard on the X13 Gen 3 to be much better than my X1 Nano. It almost reminds me of the X280 I had back before I stepped into the X1 Carbons.
  • The fingerprint sensor has been moved into the power button, making it convenient. The placement of the sensor is different across all seven of my ThinkPads, so I almost envy the user here.
  • This machine is much more capable in terms of computing power with not only the newer CPU generation, but also a higher TDP. Let’s not talk about why that’s a bad thing. I leave it to the internet people to educate you on that, just in case you haven’t heard.

Cons

Now for the shortcomings, and yes there are a few:

  • The X13 Gen 3 is noticeably larger and heavier than the X1 Nano.
  • It doesn’t carry the X1 Carbon trackpad, though it’s better than many ThinkPads I’ve experienced, and definitely way better than my T15g Gen 2.
  • The X13 Gen 3 also doesn’t feel as premium as the X1 Nano, and that, I guess, is due to the two belonging to two different lineups.

A Few Things I Found

While performing a quick thermal repaste, I found that the service panel on this machine still has some tabs holding it in place, but nothing as bad as the ThinkPads from 2018, like the T480. And, this is the first ThinkPad in all these years where I had to connect it to ethernet (via an adapter, of course) while re-installing Windows 11 as the WiFi drivers weren’t available during the setup.