Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Review: The OLED Display Update

OLED Display Update: 9/14/2016

Lenovo showed us the ThinkPad X1 Yoga line back at CES 2016 in January, and at that time they were showcasing the machine strapped with a gorgeous 14-inch OLED display. However, it took a while to bring the OLED version to market. In fact, it only went for sale a couple of weeks ago. We originally tested the ThinkPad X1 Yoga in April with its standard 2560x1440 IPS display option, but without question, the OLED panel transforms this machine into something special.


Quite literally, these pictures do not do the ThinkPad X1 Yoga with OLED display justice. It’s hard to reproduce with a camera, the kind of pop an OLED display delivers – the deeper blacks, significantly better contrast, brightness and vibrance – over a standard IPS panel. The contrast (no pun intended) is that stark. However, a couple of side-by-side comparisons to Lenovo’s 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon with standard 2560X1440 IPS display may give you a sense of what we’re looking at here…


As you can see more clearly here, not only does the ThinkPad X1 Yoga’s OLED display offer significantly more punch, with far better saturation, contrast and brightness, but it also offers dramatically wider viewing angles as well. Viewing both panels straight-on, the difference is less pronounced, at least in these camera shots. However, in the flesh, with the naked eye and natural ambient lighting, it’s like night and day; OLED is king, by a long shot.


The ThinkPad X1 Yoga’s OLED panel also offers 100 percent color gamut coverage, which will prove valuable for graphics professionals and the like. Lenovo also offers some OLED-specific controls in their Settings app for Windows that gives users the ability to dial-in the display’s color settings for various use cases, as well as control dynamic contrast and power consumption. The Native or Photo Pro settings were our preference, though it’s nice to have the Blue Light cut option for especially long days or night time use, to keep your circadian rhythms in check.


Again though, the real gain with the OLED panel option (other than battery life, which you can see here) for the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, is overall image quality and what is best described as “pop.” A laptop’s display is arguably one of its most important features experientially. When you flip the lid open of the ThinkPad X1 Yoga and its OLED panel hits your corneas, you realize what a pleasure it is to work with such a high quality display. When you factor in Lenovo’s excellent keyboards in the ThinkPad line, the X1 Yoga’s potent processor/platform configuration, the machine’s featherweight 2.8 pound carbon fiber-infused frame, and now its OLED display option, it all culminates into a really impressive total package.