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Review: Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 is a powerful laptop with heat problems

Lenovo's Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 4.

Enlarge / Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 4. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

The term “desktop replacement” is a bit out of fashion as a descriptor for laptops these days, if only because fewer people have desktop computers they’re trying to replace. But I struggle to think of a better term for something like Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Extreme , currently in its 4th generation.

Where other workstation-y laptops like Dell’s XPS 15 have dropped ports and offer only limited GPU options in an effort to slim down and become more mobile, the X1 Extreme still comes with a healthy selection of ports (both in number and variety) and offers GPUs all the way up to Nvidia’s RTX 3080. Its 16-inch screen is also subtly but noticeably larger than the 15. 6-inch panels you’ll find in other laptops with similar speeds and weights.

(If you’re buying an X1 Extreme Gen 4, you could also check out the Lenovo P1 Gen 4 , which is a workstation-branded version of an essentially identical laptop with Nvidia A- and T-series workstation GPUs in most models rather than RTX-series consumer GPUs. If you can get a P1 for cheaper than a comparable X1 Extreme, it’s a safe trade to make. )

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