Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 Gen 8: No boundaries were pushed in the making of this laptop – and that's OK Last month, Lenovo sent El Reg a loaner of its latest ThinkPad Carbon X1 ultrabook. This series is now in its eighth generation, showing that "innovation" doesn't always mean better. There's value in tried-and-tested designs, and this machine faithfully treads the steps of its forebears. Lenovo got the fundamentals right with …
Heh. You've never seen the BBC Designs Department built modules from the seventies and eighties... them you could use as wrecking balls to knock down any number of brick shit houses. Hell, the standing instruction on how to design cases probably weighed a couple of pounds.
I am doing due diligence for my next laptop purchase and if it doesn't have at least 10 cores, forget it. I don't give a sh*t in the least how thin the damn thing is even though I need to take it places & so a desktop isn't an option. I want some computational power. I also don't care about battery life as even on planes you have a plug these days. I want cores, a GPU I can use for computation and at least 64GB of RAM
Are there any laptop chips with 10 cores? The fastest from Intel is the 10980HK which has 8 cores. I have the previous generation 9980HK, and it is pretty fast.
AMD fastest offering appears to be the 4900HS, which is faster in multi-core but slower in single thread, and has a lower TDP. but still only 8 cores.
"Are there any laptop chips with 10 cores?"
No.
Desktop CPU powered DTR laptops have been available all the time. The fastest models have the i9-10900K (Intel 10 cores) or Ryzen 3950X (AMD 16 cores). They sip power like there's no tomorrow and just the power supplies are probably bigger and heavier than the Carbon X1 reviewed here.
The T14s AMD weighs 1.28kg versus the 1.09gb in the X1. That's a difference of only 0.19kb and the T14s is still lighter than the Macbook Air. The difference would only be noticeable if you are holding both in each hand. I doubt you would notice it otherwise. But the T14s is *significantly* faster and has twice the cores.
The X1 Carbon does have a slightly more premium feel with the use of the glass trackpad and I think the battery life is very slightly better. It also has Thunderbolt which the AMD laptops lack. But realistically there isn't much that Thunderbolt can do which you can't do with USBC apart from an eGPU. Lenovo's AMD laptops are also quite hard to get in Europe because as soon as they are restocked they sell out again. I'm not sure whether that's a supply issue or huge demand. It's probably a little bit of both but the Intel versions never seem to run out so I suspect there is a big demand for AMD.
The T14s is much faster and cheaper than the X1 Carbon. It's the sensible choice.
Except, as you say it's over 17% heavier and takes up less space.
My main PC at home is a self built desktop PC with a Ryzen CPU and 32 GB of RAM. I use my laptop for web browsing, writing docs etc and occasionally building a bit of code.
If I needed to give the CPU and RAM a regular workout I'd probably have to get something different but the X1 is easily powerful enough for my needs. It's also very small and light, which is a big deal if you travel with work as I do. If I'm flying somewhere for a meeting and only need to stay for a night or two my spare clothes go into my laptop bag. Every cubic centimetre and every gram counts.
People have different needs which is why different options exist. Most of my colleagues use Macs which cost twice as much, because for some reason they feel they need one.
I'm really pleased to see that touch is an option again, on a 400 nit IPS display too. a 1080p screen. I think 1080p is probably good for a 14" display.
I'm still on my gen 3 with an i5-5200u. This has a 2.5k touch display (2560 × 1440 or thereabouts), which is nice and dandy in Windows, but has caused me all sorts of hi-dpi grief in Gnome, and similarly in many win32 gkt based apps (inkscape, gimp.. although both much better in recent releases).
I have avoided newer models of the X1 Carbon, partly due to not feeling like spunking such dosh, but mostly because I really like the touch screen, and they have not included the option in recent models. I find mixing touch + keyboard + trackpoint to be very good. Just the odd webpage scroll and touch of a button or icon here and there. You can also do some rapid "touch-keypress, touch-keypress, touch-keypress" working through lists and stuff that you just couldn't otherwise do, to workaround UX deficiencies in some programs/systems.
Also the non-touch doesn't have a stuck-on bezel to collect dust. Same with the XPS 13 - I much prefer the touch models and hate the dust collection of the bezel edge on the non-touch models.
el reg: I think you have the model name wrong though. It's an X1 Carbon, not a Carbon X1, AFAIK.
I similarly have the Gen 3, but the 1440p non-touch matte screen. It's been a real trooper and the newer models just haven't been that much of a huge jump to convince me to upgrade. Its 8GB is getting long in the tooth. It's picked up a freeze-up and non-booting issue recently. I hope it's just thermal paste.
For my work machine I got a T490 last year. Marginally larger/heavier, slighty beefier CPU and discrete GPU, wired Ethernet, even more ports, and, more importantly, user-upgradable RAM. Like yourself, I've had to navigate some HiDPI issues. It's a real solid workhorse machine. Highly recommended if you want something a bit beefier and more expandable than the X1 Carbon.
I think I am waiting for an AMD based thing that's similar to the X1 Carbon. I do like the light weight. I used to always have a T series, had most of the T4x series up until the T43, then I had an X301 or two, prior to the X1 Carbon. I recommended the X1 to a customer, a gen 1 I think, then I was on a train with her a year or so later and used it and realised I had to get one. Thankfully skipped the gen2 and its keyboard.
The 8gb is still enough for me, and I changed out the SSD for a 512gb one a little while back. Battery's getting tired now though!
I've supplied/recommended a lot of the E580/585 and E590/595 and now the E15 to customers. While quite a bit chunkier than a T series ThinkPad, they're still very good. Just about to recommend a couple of Ryzen 4500U E15s to someone actually..
I do like the ThinkPads!
I always choose a laptop with the TrackPoint and I can't understand why anyone would use one of those atrocious touchpad things. With the TrackPoint, I can move the pointer almost instantly to any point on the screen with just the right amount of pressure in the right direction, without having to remove either hand from the keyboard.
Does anyone actually use those things?
Yes. Never got on with Touchpads - causes an odd sensation on my fingertips, and the first thing I disable as accidental finger touches cause the pointer to move in unexpected ways.
If Lenovo gave the option to order without the Touchpad...
It was you couching the word "properly", it reads really odd.
Like, Oh, if you "properly" type then that explains it!
It's weird. Like you're reaching into some reason, some explanation. And here you are, instead of reasoning other, professional people who have used the device think it is superior, you're merely writing all that off to take it down some weird corridor of "ohh, pfft, I only got down votes because I type differently!"
It's nonsense. You're allowed to like the clitmouse or not. You don't like it, and questioned it's worth, and got - rightly, IMO - down voted for being wrong.
Oh but it's those "proper" typers!
O...kay. Yes, I was looking for an explanation for why some people seem to like them when personally I find them unusable. I'm curious. I like to understand things. The downvotes are data indicating that people have a different opinion from me. The people that like it seemed to be people who were implying they touch type, therefore a correlation was observed, which I considered may imply a causation,* so I presented a hypothesis. This is how the understanding of the world progresses. My latest hypothesis is that you have a fear of "scare quotes".
*Yes, I know this ain't necessarily so (see: mean sea temperature vs no. of pirates).
PS: Ironically, the phrase "reads really odd" reads really odd to me.
I'm a heavy touchpad user, to the point where I feel I can do more, quicker, with a touchpad than a regular mouse. It does need setting up correctly though.
Never got on with the nipple, the pointer seemed to go everywhere except where I actually wanted it to.
I have a friend that hates all of that and uses a roller ball.
I guess pointing devices are like pens. Different types to suit different people. As long as the nipple/touchpad can be disabled as appropriate, then at least here you have a choice...
Yes, the "clit mouse" has kept me from getting carpal tunnel problems after years of mouse usage and I type faster since my hands never leave the keyboard. I turn the trackpads off, I can't stand them. I even have ThinkPad Trackpad external keyboards for my desktop boxes. That said, they are an acquired taste. Several other laptop manufacturers used to use them in their business laptop lines but they seem to be going the way of manual transmissions in cars (i.e. disappearing rapidly).
I have to say that it's probably only in the US that manual transmissions (we call them "gearboxes") are disappearing (see, for example, this [admittedly four-year-old] article). Here in the UK (and most of the rest of Europe*) they're still all the rage.
*Yes, we are still a part of Europe. Geography has not changed.
what's with the clit mouse
The touchpoint (for that is what it's called) is simply the most essential thing for a laptop[*] after the keyboard itself. For my personal machines it is an absolute must - so it's ThinkPads, basically, just for the keyboard and for that, although they are pretty nice otherwise, too - see the review. The touchpoint is by far the best way to manipulate the mouse cursor without taking your hand off the keyboard.
On the other hand, touchpads are worth than useless (they sit, uselessly, between you and the keyboard) and are ruthlessly disabled if present. Sue me.
[*] Or, indeed, for any keyboard, but you are out of luck there. IBM used to have a standalone TP keyboard that you couldn't buy but you could get if you bought a rack full of servers.
Not sure the design of the Thinkpad has changed much since IBM designed them in the 90s.
But, (I am told, never having used one myself), they are generally well designed.
While I personally am not in the market for a new laptop (my current 2015 MacBook Pro fits my needs well enough), generally in both laptop and tablet/phone design, I'd like to see a little less focus on size and thickness, and a little more focus on usability, expandability and battery size.
If I am stuck in the middle of nowhere with no battery life left in my phone, tablet or laptop, the device is useless to me regardless of how big it is, or how much it weighs.
Regarding size/weight, I probably wouldn't notice the extra few pounds of weight added by a larger battery, or grams for a mobile/tablet battery when walking or standing around, and if need to travel anywhere, I generally walk, use public transport, or get in a car. In any case, the extra weight would not bother me as much as losing the use of the device due to bad battery life.
Then there is expandability. I needed a Macbook when I bought mine. I could only afford one with 8 Gig of RAM, which is generally fine, but from time to time I really need more RAM, so it's annoying that I can't expand the RAM in the laptop.
I use both. There are some things that are better for one and other things that are better for the other. It's odd- you just get used to it. I must admit I always get ThinkPads, partly because of this, but also because they still include the utterly essential home and end keys. Why other manufacturers make you use a fn combo is beyond me. I made that mistake once; never again.
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There's literally nothing frustrating about this machine.
Yes, there is.
More so if you consider the £1,820.00 you have to spend to get one it.
1. RAM soldered to the logic board
2. Proprietary Ethernet adaptor
3. No Ethernet port
4. No SD / MicroSD slots
And then the unforgivable unknowns:
1. User replaceable storage?
2. User upgradeable WiFi card?
3. User replaceable battery?
Sorry, but I'll pass.
Have a great New Year's Eve and a 2021 that is (at least) better than what 2020 has been.
Just couldn't be worse.
O.
Thank you! I was going to post the same thing but you beat me to it. Enjoy a pint with my gratitude.
DDR3 RAM? In a 2020 machine? How is that even tolerable in a time where they're talking about DDR6 VRAM?
The RAM is soldered on? I know it's the nature of thin & lights to make it impossible to get at anything, but when has that been considered NOT a quibble-worthy thing? If I buy it with X, want to upgrade it to Y, and can't because they've prevented me from improving it after the fact, how is THAT not something to growl & shake an angry fist over?
No proper ethernet jack on a business machine? That's just "assinine" taken to new heights.
A *proprietary* ethernet dongle port? That's the very DEFINITION of something to complain about. How much does the dongle cost? How durable is it? How likely to get lost? How difficult to replace? Are there third party alternatives to the Lenovo branded ones, or are we locked in to whatever price they pull out of their ass?
I'll stop there before I get so disgusted with the reviewer that I throw my pint at his head. Nothing to quibble over indeed.
I'll stop there before I get so disgusted with the reviewer that I throw my pint at his head. Nothing to quibble over indeed.
I have to agree with you. On the other hand, Lenovo did loan them a machine - and they would be keen to not repeat the case with Apple, who probably wouldn't give the time of day to a reporter from The Register
Just UEFI boot your favourite distro and it installs without issues. You can even, as of recently, order the machines from Lenovo with Ubuntu pre-installed. Additionally, all firmware, i.e. BIOS etc updates come through Software centre and/or "fwupdmgr". I believe they, and Dell, promised fingerprint reader support in 2021.
while I agree with all the "fail!" points listed above, it'd be really helpful if people looked further than their own nose / usage. The x-line is not a workhorse, not a workstation, it's just a new version (on and on and on) of an exec shiny-shiny, and this breed doesn't give a fuck about upgrading ram, battery or plugging an ethernet cable. Thin / light / yet means Business (you get it, I use REAL computers, aka lenovo, not this apple coffee-table toy junk!), and, naturally, CARBON (oh, I feel TOUGH & stiff already!). The specs tick all the boxes for the particular clientele, including the omissions, so it's like complaining that a 2-seater can't fit a family of five...
Well, if it's like other ThinkPads, there will be a service manual for it from their web site, which has instructions to replace the storage, wifi card, and battery if you are moderately handy with tiny screwdrivers, a spudger, and the usual shenanigans with working inside a laptop. They are built to be serviced and have field replaceable parts like the three unknowns you mentioned. Unlike the Fruity competition, they aren't glued together and designed/built in such a way that makes them damn near impossible to service.
Re: service
Our reviewer notes
"That said, previous ThinkPad machines have been straightforward to service so it'd be surprising if Lenovo diverged here."
Now I certainly wouldn't go *that* far: I need to dive into my P71 Xeon again to refresh the thermal paste. To do so requires the entire chassis be disassembled - the motherboard is at the BOTTOM of the chassis with all other subassemblies added on top. Even the display must come off.
Figure 40 minutes each way, in and out, the first time, about 25 minutes each way after some experience. And I've got plenty now, this will be the 4th time.
FYI in the gen 7 which I have the storage is very easily replaceable. Just be sure to get a single sided SSD.
The battery is also presumably user replaceable as it is held in with screws. Of course you would have to source the proper part.
And for the price, I have always been able to get Lenovo laptops for roughly 50% of the sticker price due to huge sales always occurring. So take the retail price as more of a guideline the gospel.
Lenovo also do the X series which has all those things that you need, although they did get rid of Ethernet a couple of years back. That was what made me go from an X to a T. But when I changed jobs I realised that I had never used the damn Ethernet, so I went for an X1. It's smaller which means you can use it more easily on trains and planes (not that I do that much more).
The Ethernet dongle is just an extended btw, not an adapter. The adapter is built in, which contrasts with some laptops where you get a USB Ethernet adapter.
While I agree with most of your points, the storage can be user upgraded (just take the bottom off and swap it - it's not soldered), and the battery can be replaced in a similar way. If you're referring to being able to hot swap an external battery like the T480 then it's not needed nowadays due to being able to charge it from a USBC powerbank.
Agreed. I have an older X1 Carbon as a personal machine. It's quite a nice laptop, but the 16:9 screen aspect ratio is a pity and leaves it feeling quite cramped compared with modern 3:2 laptops I've used. There's a thicker top and bottom bezel, so no reason a 16:10 screen can't fit without having to redesign the chassis.
Was surprised to see cooling reported as really good for the gen 8. We’ve had a bunch of cooling issues with the gen 7, caused enough throttling to make dev work quite frustrating. First bit of load is fine, anything even slightly sustained and it seems to have trouble dissipating the heat
Not a huge surprise for an ultra portable, just not something that I’ve seen reported by others much.
What I don't like about X1s is the keyboard. It's plastic welded to the top cover so the item most likely to need replacing is the most difficult to replace, ie an almost total strip down to replace a keyboard that would take 5 minutes on most of the L or T models because the keyboard is, in effect, part of the top cover, which is in turn the primary chassis.
I just looked at the service manual for this X1. No RAM expansion, but SSD and battery are easily replaceable (the battery connector is one of those fiddly ones though). The WiFi card is part of the system board but the WWAN card can be replaced. On a brighter note, in keeping with previous X1 models, the aerial wiring is all in the base unit so replacing a screen is dead easy, the unit separating from the base without having to feed aerial leads through hinge assembles. (and despite what the manual says, the bezel can be re-used if you are careful and patient with the removal)
For anything it's worth, my thoughts regarding extended use of a 2018 (Gen 6) follow. Although from what I read, which may more same than different, at least in the aspects which I'll talk about.
I've found the build quality to be resilient enough, with exceptions.
The matt top case surface of the palm rest is resilient, but can be marked or even just 'smoothed' over time, where palms rest. This won't show quickly, but it's not aluminium.
The most concerning thing I've found, In normal use, with clean hands - inexplicable smudging onto the trackpad, anytime I touched it. It even seemed to accumulate, and peel - this can be cleaned safely with IPA (after some consternation this may in fact, ruin the trackpad) - but always came back. This was bemusing - my best idea being it's like the pad itself soaked oil from fingers. With any other laptop trackpad, even terrible ones (i.e most of them) - I've never known this to occur before. An aliexpress plastic cover more or less mitigated this and day to day I forget it - but is not perfect.
Although I like the keyboard, and if being reductionist, is probably the main feature - there are many good keyboards now, though here it's perfectly uninnnovative with respect to layout (unlike the Gen 3). In particular, however, the keys aren't completely reliable - the down cursor can physically stick, in part of the mechanism. This will probably cover under warranty - but I don't think I'll get a single key to replace by myself, only a whole top case and a 2 week service. (* key replacements can be bought third party).
The Lenovo ethernet adapter is a bit of a confounder - a generic USB 3 -> RJ45 I speed tested, actually ran faster than the custom jack one, though - the lenovo ethernet can boot from it with bios support (which, if i'm to presume, just rewires rj45,into a smaller connector).
What's more perplexing - is that the Lenovo RJ45 cannot be physically fit into the connector _at the same time as almost any USB C connector_. Though it's not pictured, it's a dock connector, so I can't imagine it's changed. Count on not using both of those slots.
As far as internals replacing the NVME was practically a joy, compared to every other laptop on which I've done so.
Finally, in more esoteric minutiae -
On the Gen 6 - fingerprint scanner hasn't worked under Linux though progress has been made, and Gen 8 - according to https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Lenovo_ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_(Gen_8) appears to exist now (YMMV). Linux support has been more seriously taken by Lenovo than most.
As far as the Gen 6 goes, WWAN doesn't work in Linux, but is on a card. Even if the Gen 8 also is on card (i'd be surprised if not), the cards are on the much maligned vendor white lists, so good luck replacing it with something that doesn't block in BIOS and refuse to boot.
The battery is disappointing, less in life as such, but more in 78% health - after 2y. Yes, they degrade. I've had better. It's user replaceable in the same sense as the NVME. I guess that's next.
I'm mostly happy, and maybe should have higher expectations but a reasonable outcome, for a device like this /is/ to have no major shortcoming. They're not always clear, from the outside.
"The battery is disappointing...It's user replaceable...I guess that's next."
If you've not seen the battery connector used before, I'd strongly recommend watching a video on how to disconnect and reconnect that battery. It's a strange lockable connector that most people will not have seen before and if not careful can result in broken lugs on either or both of the battery end and/or the motherboard end of the connectors, especially when trying to plug it in. The static drawing in the service manual doesn't really tell the whole story of how to remove/replace.
On the other hand, it's a robust connector with about zero percent chance of it working loose during use, so that's probably when they spent a few extra pennies there. It's high end kit after all :--)
A bit surprised that the article failed to mention that in the US, this model can come pre-installed with Fedora or Ubuntu Linux. Lenovo have said they are planning a worldwide rollout of Linux laptops, so the option may appear on the UK Lenovo site sometime in 2021. This is pretty big news because up until now, the well-hidden-on-their-site Dell XPS 13 has been the only major international OEM laptop to pre-install Linux. Example URL:
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x1/X1-Carbon-Gen-8-/p/20U9CTO1WWENUS2/customize
Thing is, do they charge any less for it? I use my laptop for work and occasionally need to go into Windows - usually for a spreadsheet that won't work on anything other than the desktop version of Word (we use one such spreadsheet in my current job).
As a result I get laptops with a Windows licence. First thing I do is trash the SSD (and the crapware), install a clean Windows and Manjaro. Doesn't take too long to set everything up, plus I enjoy it :-)
It has a small problem common to all high end intel ultrabooks at the moment: The late 2020 MacBook Air. It make these expensive laptops look, erm, expensive.
That said, the Carbon is not without its own advantages and, bearing in mind power consumption, Lenovo have managed impressive battery life (and I still slightly prefer the typing experience of my 2015 Carbon to that of the much improved Apple keyboard). Oh, and per the comment above, well done Lenovo for supporting Linux! It's going to make this laptop very desirable for developers looking for something light to carry.
- Formidable specs? Bang average if you ask me.
- Dated design - but some like it so why change it, I agree. But those bezels don’t look “ultra thin” to me.
- Nipple mouse - some comments here slating track pads - clearly never used a good one. Palm rejection is essential but some companies have nailed it. Nipple mouse can be slow and lack precision.
- 16:9 is tough for productivity
Ultimately it’s clear the reviewer is a ThinkPad fan. That’s perfectly fine, I know they exist in droves and I’ve used them in the past and enjoyed the experience in a “they’re reliable in business settings” kind of way. But sometimes I sense those fans haven’t tried another premium laptop in some time and don’t know what they’re missing. This is a lot of money to drop on a machine and some solid research would be advised before just going the “same but upgraded” path.
Every time I am replacing my laptop I check out the competition. I always end up with a ThinkPad though.
I've mentioned my reasons in the other comments but I'll summarise and add to them:
- Trackpoint and touch pad. I use both and like using both. There are three distinct buttons, which are left, middle and right mouse buttons. If you're a *nix user and are used to the two clipboards, as I am, it's essential to have a middle mouse. The touchpad is also a good size and not too big. I never find my palms resting on it.
- Dedicated home and end keys. Some other manufacturers also do this but Lenovo do this on their smallest laptops, like the X1. I rarely use the mouse to select text as it's many times faster to use the keyboard. Not being able to use shift-end or ctrl-shift-end etc. without having to add in a function key makes a laptop not worth having. It's a simple productivity thing.
- Backlit keyboard. I'm pretty quick at typing but I can't touch type so I do need to look at the keyboard occasionally, unfortunately. I've had laptops without backlit keys and it's done my head in. Of course, these aren't uncommon but there are manufacturers / models without so they get ruled out.
- Power cable. No longer relevant fortunately as everything's USB-C now, but this was a thing in the past, as my wife gets ThinkPads from work and we have a collection of the old power supplies, which are unused now of course......
As for the 16:9 screen, yeah I'd prefer it if the screen went a bit lower down (the top bezel has the camera). I use a 16:10 screen at home and prefer it, but it's not a dealbreaker.
I got my X1 a few months back and went for the previous generation. The specs were a bit lower in general but they did offer a 2560x1440 screen which I wanted. With the latest you could only get 1080 or a power munching 4K. I don't like touchscreens on laptops.
The only thing that annoys me about the X1 is the lack of an SD card reader, which would be nice to have.
But there you have it. I can't say I'm a fan, as their support is utterly appalling. I'd rather get something else. But they come up with the goods.
Genuine question - which premium laptops are you thinking of?
I've only had experience with Dell XPS, Thinkpads and some of the early Acers and VAIOs.
Thinkpads have been way better than the alternatives in my opinion although I did love the Sony VAIO in it's time.
It's always been difficult to get hands on experience with laptops even more so now.
I must admit I've always avoided Apple but they're the only other one that seems to garner more praise than Thinkpads. I guess HP might be an option but they always seemed more style than substance?
+1 the last 'thinkpad' that a proper keyboard. Still miss it.
I now have a dell that is ... ok but mostly by virtue of being attached to a docking station with proper KVM.
Of course after 9 months of being plugged into the mains 24/7 the battery is not what it was. And it is not removable without disassembly.
I expect this will be a common issue. And this is why no user-replaceable battery should be an automatic deal-breaker for any business.
sd/micro sd slot has been, in my view, one of the most useful laptop add-ons, and while I don't use it as much as keyboard, and screen, I use it regularly. Which means, this machine is useless to me. Yeah, I can use a usb port for a card reader, sure, but that' not the f... polint. So, what next, remove line-in jack?
I'm typing this on a Gen 8 X1 right now, having picked one up in November with a mid-range i5 CPU, 1080i non-touchscreen, and 16GB of RAM for only $1000. And it is an absolutely brilliant and lovely machine to monkey around with in your living room -- for not much money at all. My heavy lifting happens on the big box upstairs, and I'm getting the same ridiculously-good build quality for dirt cheap -- with the best battery life of any laptop I've ever owned.
Yeah you can go broke buying the very highest specs Lenovo has to offer...but as a second computer this is just the best.
Until they sort out the function and control key positions it's still a no from me. Hopefully they've sorted out the screen vs laptop weight too as the previous gen one I had was extremely top heavy and felt like they'd used double glazing on the screen. I am a fan of most of what they do with these, but there are a couple of niggles that really make them unusable for me. Thankfully these days there are other good options for Windows laptops!
Having had plenty of ThinkPads over the years I was used to them being the other way round and I never had a problem switching to a desktop keyboard. Then I got an Asus laptop as a personal laptop which had them the normal way around. As that one couldn't be configured I swapped the buttons in the ThinkPad as I didn't find it so easy swapping between the laptops.
It's very easy to do in the bios and it probably shouldn't be something to stop you getting one.
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