Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon floats into 2017

The Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon isn't the most avant-garde-looking laptop, but it has the clean, classic lines of a traditional business notebook, making a great travel companion.

From left to right, the X1 has a USB-C Thunderbolt/charging connector, USB-C/Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 Type A, full-size HDMI port and a mini Ethernet connector.

In addition to the vent, the X1 has a headphone jack and always-on USB 3.0 Type A connector.

Lenovo has moved the fingerprint reader from last year; it used to be between the arrow keys and the logo. The X1 didn't like my fingerprint, though; it took a while before it would register, and it never recognized me on the first try, and freqently not even on the second.

My left forefinger naturally rests on the lower left corner of the trackpad -- ready to click-drag, captain! -- but the Carbon interprets that resting position as a click. As a result, I get weird cursor jumpage when I'm trying to navigate with the touchpad. I've had to train myself to rest over and use the left Touchpoint button instead.

It feels light enough that I occasionally had to visually check my bag to confirm it was in there.

I never liked it, but some people are addicted. Different strokes, folks.

For those who aren't familiar with Lenovo's input devices, the center button here can work in conjunction with the Trackpoint Stick for scrolling.

The laptop runs very cool and quiet.

I think my favorite design detail on the ThinkPad is the red dot over the "i" which illuminates when it's powered on or charging.

This Home-End-Insert-Delete configuration was controversial when Lenovo first changed the layout -- it's impossible to distinguish them from each other without looking. I hate it, too.

As it's a business-focused device, the X1 uses the vPro version of the Intel Core i processors, which provide more administrative features.

The keyboard is a little updated from last year. For instance the Enter key is smaller (but still big enough) and the keys are labeled with text rather than icons. I like the FnLock button, but it's a little counter-intuitive that it lights up when it's not engaged.

It's pretty comfortable to work on in your lap.

It runs cool, so I didn't worry about lap-burn.