Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 6 Review: This Two-Pound Traveler’s a Real Trooper

The ThinkPad X13 will become an inseparable travel companion. I never hesitated to take this light and nimble machine with me during my review period. Its exemplary quality inspires confidence, and I loved that its lid opens quickly one-handed.

(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)

The keyboard is about 90% full-size, and while the keys look slightly small, my fingers had no trouble hitting my peak speed in the Monkeytype online typing test on the first try. Instinctive key spacing, ample key travel, and precise tactile snap make long typing sessions melt away. The white key backlighting is clean and functional, too.

Lenovo also nails the touchpad. Though top-hinged and mechanical rather than haptic, it feels natural and clicks confidently. ThinkPad loyalists will appreciate the classic TrackPoint “red nub” pointer and its dedicated buttons, and Lenovo’s Vantage app also enables traditionalists to swap the Fn and Ctrl keys back to their time-honored positions.

The 1,920-by-1,200-pixel IPS screen delivers ample workspace, the option for touch input, and an effective antiglare coating. It offers brightness sufficient for everything short of direct sunlight and enough color to make your PowerPoints and the occasional movie come to life. For entertainment, the speakers flanking the keyboard work well—unlike downward-firing speakers, this setup’s sound projection doesn’t rely on a desk surface, which is quite useful for a laptop that will spend plenty of time on your lap. Heat and noise were non-issues in everyday use; the fan rarely made itself known outside of heavy, stress-testing benchmarks.

The ThinkPad X13 faces in-house competition from Lenovo’s own ThinkPad X1 Carbon Aura Edition. Though half an inch wider and just under half an inch deeper, it weighs nearly the same and offers faster processors and an OLED panel, neither of which the X13 can match. But the X1 Carbon remains much more expensive, several hundred bucks above the X13’s entry point. For travel-first buyers, the X13 can be the better-balanced option.