How many years has it been since I bought a new product? I bought a high-performance and compact "ThinkPad X1 Nano"!

Reason for sticking to ThinkPad

The reason why I keep using ThinkPad is obvious, it is because of the "red point" or "Trackpoint". By lightly touching the red dots embedded in the center of the "G", "H", and "B" on the keyboard, you can perform the same operation as a mouse. Since you can operate the mouse within the keyboard area, you can do it without being conscious of switching operations, so once you get used to it, the efficiency is quite good.

In the past, I used a mouse on my desktop PC, so I enjoyed working with various mouses, but in recent years, I've been able to get by with the trackpoint of the "ThinkPad Trackpoint Keyboard" released by Lenovo even on desktop PCs. So, I touch the mouse once a week or less.

In that sense, there is no need to stick to a ThinkPad, as long as it is equipped with a stick-type pointing device, any notebook PC will do, but none of the manufacturers these days will adopt it.

Also, the trackpoint is attractive, but the good compatibility of the keyboard touch feeling is one of the reasons why I continue to use the ThinkPad. Speaking of ThinkPad keyboards, it is a gem that many people in the same industry use with particular attention, but it is not too soft and yet has a core feel. It's like al dente in pasta.

The reason I use the English keyboard is because it has fewer keys. Fewer keys naturally allows for more flexible layouts and larger key sizes.

For English keyboards, there are few manufacturers that can be selected as an option when purchasing in Japan. Also, in the case of the author who is short of money all year round, it is not the case that all the equipment is new, but it is often introduced to buy second-hand and customize it later. At this time, the parts of the English keyboard are purchased at auctions, Amazon, etc., but the ThinkPad's English keyboard is overwhelmingly easier to purchase than the parts of other companies.

For the above reasons, I currently have no choice but ThinkPad.

Recently, I have been using Lenovo's "ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard" on my desktop. Until now, I've been a wired person no matter what (back), but since the wired connection part is a detachable Micro USB, there was a problem that the connector became loose and unusable, so I chose a wireless model (front) and it works pretty well

I've touched on many ThinkPads, old and new, but the one that left the biggest impression on me was the "ThinkPad s30," which was released 20 years ago. I still have one of this model at hand, but despite its B5 file size, it has a unique and novel design with a full-size keyboard that exceeds the footprint, the beauty of the Mirage Black glossy top plate, and it is compact. The main body that combines both is still one of the attractions.

The "ThinkPad s30", which has a unique design in which only the keyboard part protrudes, is one of my favorites. Well, speaking of greed, the butterfly keyboard "ThinkPad 701" is the best, but this time it is omitted. Actually, I didn't have the English keyboard model that I was using at the time, so this is the Japanese version that I bought later because I wanted to have a model with a glossy top plate with a Mirage Black top. "ThinkPad X201s" released in 2010 is also quite impressive. Equipped with a 12.5-inch / 1,440 x 900 dot wide LCD that was quite high-definition at the time, and the top model has a built-in Arrandale generation Core i7-620LM. The X201s I own has become difficult to return to active duty, such as the death of the wireless LAN device and the malfunction of the built-in SSD, so I gave up on continuing to use it.

Actually, "ThinkPad X201s" has been upgraded to the latest OS as a spare machine. Personally, it is the first ThinkPad with a wide display that I have, and the encounter with a ThinkPad with a resolution of 1,440 x 900 dots and XGA resolution or higher is also impressive.

Since the X201s has become unsatisfactory, I decided to look for the next one, but for the author, who was in the strike zone due to trackpoint circumstances and the compact size of 10 to 12 inches, the base option was the ThinkPad X200 series at that time. I had no choice. However, the functions that appealed to me in the X200 series that have appeared since then are steadily disappearing.

First of all, since the X220, touchpads have been installed. Personally, I liked the design that does not take up much of the palm rest part by installing only the track point, but the touch pad has made the palm rest part considerably larger. It's a very disappointing change due to the trend of the times, but it's easy to use once you get used to it, so I'm not worried about it recently. However, since it often malfunctions, the touch pad is always turned off in the settings.

Next, after the X230, the keyboard type was changed to the isolation type. The key touch and feel will change considerably, but I think it can't be helped. However, ThinkPad's isolation seems to be compatible with the author, and I was able to get used to it in a relatively short period of time, so I'm happy with this.

Because of these circumstances, the author, who had been repeating trial and error on what to use since the X201s, next focused on the latter term "ThinkPad Helix" released in 2015. By installing the "Ultrabook Pro Keyboard", you can use a keyboard with a trackpoint like a ThinkPad, the CPU is Core M-5Y71, the memory capacity can be installed up to 8GB, the display is a compact size of 11.6 type, but full HD with a built-in pen compatible touch panel Since it is a display-based tablet, I liked it so much that I bought it and used it as my main writing tool until just last month.

"ThinkPad Helix" that I was using until last month. Dock the Ultrabook Pro keyboard to a tablet with 8GB of memory and Core M-5Y71. Honestly, it would be nice if this keyboard could be attached to more tablets. The difficulty is that it is a little heavy, so I still initialize it as a spare machine and leave it at hand.

However, with the Core M series with 8GB of memory, daily work gradually becomes painful. The browser operation becomes heavy, and strange errors occur frequently even in image processing. The accumulation of such small errors adversely affects the motivation to work. I've been thinking that it's time to buy a new one. However, there is no sign of a successor model for the 11.6-inch "ThinkPad Helix" series. It was at such a timing that I caught the eye of the "ThinkPad X1 Nano" introduced this time.

I've been interested in the "ThinkPad X1 Carbon" series several times so far, and I've actually bought it second-hand and tried it out. However, the 14-inch is still large and not suitable for my narrow table.

The main reason why I was attracted to the "ThinkPad X1 Nano" this time is its size and built-in parts. Equipped with a 13-inch 2K display, it is a little smaller than the regular Carbon series, and it weighs less than 1 kg, which is a nice point.

In addition, when it comes to small size and light weight, there are many cases where the built-in parts are compromised, but this time, a maximum memory capacity of 16 GB can be selected and it conforms to the EVO platform. The processor is the latest 11th generation Core i7-1160G7, and the built-in graphics have been greatly enhanced, so you can play games! To be frank, I haven't bought many new parts with my own money for the last five years, so I wanted to touch the latest CPU for the first time in a while.

So, I bought a brand new ThinkPad for the first time in a long time, so I would like to introduce the situation. The review of the product itself is posted by Mr. Hirasawa, so please see that for benchmarks and product details.