Submission + - Lenovo's Revamped ThinkPad X1 Carbon With Haswell And Adaptive F-Key Row Tested (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon series cuts through the traditional ThinkPad's stuffy corporate facade, offering something for the conference room or coffee shop with a sleeker physique. The original ThinkPad X1 Carbon was initially released back in 2012 and at the time, its carbon fiber-infused chassis offered a combination of build quality and light-weight durability that Lenovo could still call a "ThinkPad," though the original X1 Carbon felt a little bit flimsy in spots. New for 2014, Lenovo has completely revamped the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, from the 4th generation Intel Haswell Core series processor under its hood, to its higher density carbon fiber-filled polymer skins, a higher resolution 2560X1440 display and some major upgrades to the keyboard area. One of the hallmark features of the new X1 Carbon design is Lenovo's adaptive function row display strip above the keyboard. This is actually a liquid crystal display that allows for various icon patterns to be displayed even in bright lighting conditions. Lenovo achieves this with an electroluminescent layer behind the display. Though some of the functions offered are more of a novelty, other functions like Brightness, Volume, Screen Snip, Search and some of the browser functions, are valuable additions for accessibility and usability with Windows 8.