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The ThinkPad Goes Ultrabook — ThinkPad X1 Carbon Tested
MojoKid writes "The venerable Lenovo ThinkPad, with its little red TrackPoint nub, has gone the way of the Ultrabook. If there's one small dig ThinkPads have taken with regularity over the years, it's that though there's a ton of quality and substance built into these machines, style was not a hallmark of the brand. The all new ThinkPad X1 Carbon could very well change the utilitarian stereotype of Lenovo's business-backed line-up, however. As the name suggests, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is built from carbon fiber material throughout its chassis and internal rollcage. Its 14-inch display drives a native resolution of 1600x900, and its keyboard, arguably one of the nicest features of the ThinkPad line, is backlit and even more refined with contoured key caps. Battery life hits a max of about six hours on a full charge, and the machine weighs in at 3lbs and .31-inches at it thinnest dimension."
I kinda wish it had an LED backlit screen for that kind of money...
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
Many customers, self included, prefer it.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
They changed the keyboard layout.
It's terrible now, they moved page up/page down to the bottom right, and messed up the others that go in the top right corner.
For a laptop who's main appeal is the keyboard, I don't understand why they changed it into something worse.
With apologies: No 7-row keyboard. No docking connector. Lame. :)
still do, though its a bit pricey, smaller screen same cpu, half the ram and over twice the price of my shiny new dell that work bought me .... dunno
IBM has offered quite a few thin-and-light optical-drive-removed models over the years, albeit generally at a somewhat uncomfortable premium.
I have very fond memories of my Thinkpad 570 (stolen, alas) and the X series has more recently occupied the niche.
The really tragic thing is that Lenovo has been churning out assorted thin-and-lights without trackpoints! If you have to use a touchpad, you might as well just not bother.
I never got on with Thinkpad keyboards. The "Trackpoint" (I always called it the GHB Clitoris) got in the way.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
But is this the first time a Thinkpad keyboard featured the Windows logo? Wonder how much *that* product placement must have cost...
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
OP said " If there's one small dig ThinkPads have taken with regularity over the years, it's that though there's a ton of quality and substance built into these machines". Which is why when it was my turn to upgrade got a top of the line w530. Yes it is super fast. But the Thinkpad substance is on a decline. First of all the new chicklet keyboard design make me hit the wrong keys all the time. Especially the delete key! And this after two months of trying to get used to it. The old keyboard I could use without looking. But now they have removed all the physical clues. No more gaps between F-key-groups so I have no idea if I hit F5 or F4. Then they have removed the status lights for such things as caps lock and battery vs charging. And then the screen is 1 cm lower than my old T61 - which was 1 or 2 cm lower than my older 4:3 laptop. Each new machine give me fever lines of code to work with. I am not a happy customer any more. My productivity has taken a hit and my boss won't like that. But what can a girl do? Make my own?
ThinkPad has always been a respected contender and this is a fine example. The main questions for buyers would be 1- how well does it handle OS X? and 2- can it fully implement BSD Unix? and the important issue for those who actually produce with their computers 3- Can it adroitly handle the entire Adobe suite of software?
It's to be assumed that some readers are more interested in hacking than actually producing, and may have quite different interests.
...omphaloskepsis often...
That was long ago, when IBM owned the brand. Lenovo kept the quality up to par for a while, but many people who've bought Thinkpads in the past couple years will attest that the quality isn't the best any longer. That they're going for styling now, just further suggests they're completely changing the brand, and it will no longer stand for quality and durability.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Can they make it look more like a MacBook Air and then I'll buy one?
They could, but that would mean, yet another lawsuit, which we certainly already have enough of . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
:) It's a shame though that Lenovo stopped selling no-OS or systems without Linux.
It looks like this laptop rests on the protruding lid edge when the lid is open instead of lying flat on the base. Not sure I like that design.
For the price of an ultrabook with a non-user-replaceable battery, I can buy a slightly thicker laptop and a tablet for ultraportability. But then again, I am not the target demographic for a $1,000+ laptop with no dedicated Ethernet port.
I like my 4:3-aspect, 1400x1050 pixel, 12.1" display on my X61 tablet. It seems that Lenovo is not capable of producing ThinkPads with a decent screen resolution anymore, so I'm switching to the Macbook Pro Retina, although I don't like Apple.
Please, no. If I wanted a MacBook Air, I would get a MacBook Air; but I hate that style and love the more macho Thinkpad style.
I'm so glad it doesn't have a shiny screen too.
Max.
I think the Samsung series 9 does the same...or maybe it was a Sony
Just when I thought someone finally made a decent Air-alike, they saved the day by making it butt-ugly by way of ThinkPad-branding. Red ugly buttons and dots, horrible and prominent brand names (inside and out), useless clitoris-stick, and don't forget the trackpad buttons on the wrong side of the track pad, so you can't actually use it with just one hand.
Looks is not everything, but it's the only thing you can actually be different from everyone else, since the innards are all but identical to begin with. Why should I buy an ugly Lenovo when I can buy a pretty (but otherwise identical) Air for the same money instead?
What the heck is wrong with these companies? Are they really getting so much revenue in replacement power supplies that they have to screw everybody and their dog in the process?
Not only you can't change the (non-removable) battery but you also can't easily use any existent "power pack" (like powergorilla, not that I recommend that one but it's easy to google for and see what I mean). You can't just grab a "generic" laptop power supply (the one that comes with multiple voltages and a bunch of rounded tips) from any shop if you forgot/lost yours.
Also you can't consolidate on chargers/use your existent one, you can't efficiently charge it from an appropriate DC power supply without going via the inefficient route inverter->original power supply.
It seems these devices are designed more for executives with more money than sense than for people who actually travel and need the advertised portability.
And it doesn't?!
Even netbooks from 2008 have LED backlit screen, possibly by now it isn't even worth mentioning.
It has an LED backlit screen....
source: lenovo's press release
I work in the janitorial field. We clean banks, IBM itself, and many software and commercial institutions that use laptops as work stations.
I can tell you that just about everyone has thinkpad lenovo docking stations. I think that removing the incredibly versatile docking feature would be suicide.
The 2008 thinkpads with core 2 duo procs run hackintosh like a dream and you can buy one dirt cheap used. Whereas a used 2008 MacBook will set you back 500-700 bucks and you can expect to spend another 120-150 on a new battery. So I have seen many software guys running multiboots on thinkpads as they are still the best bang for the buck by far.
I personally use an old T42 at home for writing music in complex notation with MuseScore and Mint Linux. Many people that see me easily doing things that normally are done only on a Mac Book pro are blown away with how robust and quick this old T42 is. Sure I rammed it up to 1.5 gig and put in a larger drive than the stock 40 gig. But removing all trace of windows software has made this laptop into something really special. So thinkpads are by far the best choice especially in the used market. I bought this one as government surplus for 75 bucks 3 years ago, and it has never let me down. You can still get a 9 cell after market as the t42 battery is compatible all the way up to the dual core releases which came 2 years later, so getting new batteries is easy and cheap...unlike many other brands like Apple!
Removing the docking feature will turn one hell of a lot of people off, and not being compatible with older docking stations is a serious mistake as most software people run multiple screens and run an intranet to the dock without internal wifi for security reasons. The new thinkpads look like a huge step in the wrong direction for Lenovo...either that or by including a windows key are instead bending over and taking it from behind for the sake of Microsoft. You can bet that their business sales will tank.
If Lenovo offered a computer equal to IBM's old Thinkpad build quality, I'd happily pay 3-500 USD extra. If the extra cost saves me two day's productivity 2 years from now, it is worth every cent.
Second, what is with the ultra wide screens? I use my computer for work, not watching movies. 900 pixels up and down is what you get on a cell phone. I'd like to be able to see more than 5 lines of code at one time thank you.
I have a T420s. When I run computationally intensive tasks with the CPU at 100%, it over heats and blue screens. Usually takes about 10 minutes. The thermal management sucks. It has a good CPU, Intel i5-2540M, but I can't use it for more than surfing the web. To do actual work I have to set the system clock down @ 60% to prevent overheating. The USB ports are flaky. Especially the USB 3.0 port. It doesn't work. It doesn't always go to sleep when you close the lid. If you put in a back pack without noticing sleep failed to kick in, it overheats in minutes. Another issue is that it randomly refuses to start. This isn't all bad. Each time it has this problem it scares me into doing a backup. Pulling the battery out, unplugging it and letting it sit for 2-5 minutes has always resolved the start-up problem.
That said, if you can place it on top of an A/C vent, when it's running, it's great. If you couldn't have guessed already, I also like Jaguars.
So this new Thinkpad weighs the same as my X200, but has no Ethernet port (with a stupid adapter instead), no swappable/replaceable battery, soldered-on RAM, and a weird keyboard layout which puts the Home/End keys far away from the Page Up/Down keys.
If that's the new trend for Thinkpads, I'm afraid that after all these years with various X* models, I will I will have to look at other brands.
From the article:
It might not be the brightest LCD in the lab at 300 nits but it's bright enough [...]
Actually, 300 nits is damn bright. They probably couldn't crank the brightness high enough or for some reason had a unit with a lower spec screen. Most current laptops at max brightness are in the 200 nits (cd/m^2) ballpark. Notebookcheck.net even has the lab and they indeed confirmed the manufacturer rating in their Lenovo X1 review:
Information
Gossen Mavo-Monitor
Maximum: 367 cd/m^2
Average: 330.9 cd/m^2
Brightness Distribution: 81 %
Center on Battery: 348 cd/m^2
Black: 2.8 cd/m^2
Contrast: 124:1
The year 2000 called, it wants it 128gb hardrive back.
... macho ...
Disarming honesty.
It is TOO shiny, please for the love of god, make one with a proper matte screen.
From TFA
> Big love for the backlight, Lenovo. Big love.
Really, so there are still people born in the computer age who actually need to look at the keyboard? People who have been using a computer with a keyboard in there professional life? Why? /rant
Comparing as close as possible specs, the 1.8GHz i5 with 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM costs $1,199 for the MacBook Air and $1,499 for the ThinkPad. For the 2GHz i7, the MBA is $1,499, the ThinkPad is $1,849. However, the ThinkPad has a 14" screen instead of 13" (not sure if this is a pro or con in a portability-at-all-costs Ultrabook), integrated 3G (need a USB dongle for the MBA). The ThinkPad lacks Thunderbolt, so USB is the fastest peripheral interface. The ThinkPad is marginally larger in one dimension, marginally smaller in two more, so about the same volume and the weight difference between the two is under 0.1%. The ThinkPad comes with a 3-year warranty, but this costs extra for the MBA (unless you buy from the education store), which brings the cost quite a bit closer. The cost of upgrading to 8GB of RAM for the ThinkPad is not listed - it's not even clear that it's an option, which is a shame because that's something I'd be pretty sure to want.
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I have a ThinkPad, they are very nice to use, and I'd buy the new one, but it comes with Windows....
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One of my best friends is drooling over this, but I think the opposite direction makes a lot more sense--try 1.2" thick (really not that bad), in order to get ethernet, removable battery, optical drive (swappable for an extra hard drive, battery, etc), docking connector, etc. Oh, and latches to keep the darn thing shut, thanks. The whole thin==better thing really doesn't lend itself to longevity.
Apart from being wedge-shaped (so they'll get their ass sued by Apple), the moment I looked at the video and saw the huge block of a power charger, it was clear that this isn't the portable Air-slayer that it might have been. I want something I can take away without having to lug half a ton of support equipment with me.
But the show-stopper is that vertical resolution. 900px is strictly for the brain-dead. Manufacturers think all anyone ever does is watch videos. Some of us need portable computers to do (gasp) work, and that means being able to see a whole-page document at readable resolution without having to use a microscope and without having to scroll the page vertically. Even my old Dell 4:3 Inspiron has a 1400×1050 display, and the only competitor to that at the moment is Apple's Retina display, which I tested last week and find I can read perfectly. Yes, I know you can get screens up to 1080px high, but the quality is crap and the prices ludicrous.
So snooze on, Lenovo, you've got a lot of research to do yet. Have a Google for laptop vertical resolution...
The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is so thin actually, that a standard RJ45 port couldn't be squeezed into its side edge, so Lenovo includes a USB Ethernet dongle with the machine.
This is starting to be a wider issue, so perhaps a more robust solution is in order. Some tablets apparently have proprietary connectors, where RJ45 can be plugged with a passive adapter. Could we agree on a smaller standard for such an electrically identical Ethernet connector? Maybe while we are starting over, we could avoid earlier design mistakes, like the plastic tongue that breaks off easily.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
I will just note that it depends on the design of the hinge. There is no "must" about it. But then, anybody whose view of economics is a simplistic as your sig presumably isn't too good at systems design.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I cannot think of a single occasion when I'm mobile that I would need more than 128G in a laptop. I would rather have the extra capacity in a USB HDD (actually I have mine in a 1Gbyte Firewire drive, but I digress). I can backup the laptop to the FW drive, replace it cheaply every year (called "insurance"). This is a more reliable and easy to understand solution for people who use computers for business.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
A wedge shape tilts the keyboard to a convenient angle and ensures the weight distribution makes carrying easier. Therefore, a generic wedge shape can never be a design patent. Apple must design patent a very specific shape with sufficient non-functional decoration to make it a "design".
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Who can get by with 4 GB these days? Firefox almost uses so much. Fire up a VM and you're done. There should be a 4 GB optioo for people who only ever use a browser and MS Word, because lots of RAM has disadvantages: more power use and longer hibernate times (the latter only if the RAM is actually used). For me this would be just as bad as my two year old thinkpad -- I unly use it for email and music because it can't do much else.
Maybe what he really means is retina display.
I want 2560x1600+!
so how old is it?
I'm not sure if the accessories for this model were announced, but DC-DC power adapters for virtually all previous Thinkpad models were made and sold by Lenovo. No inverter needed.
Thinkpads in particular need a proprietary adapter because the system senses the available wattage and reconfigures itself accordingly. For example, the T420s disables its discrete graphics when used in a docking station with a 60W adapter, because the total power consumption rises above 60W. It re-enables it when you plug in the 90W adapter. You can't sense this on a generic power adapter.
Of course it has an LED backlit screen - CCFL backlit screens haven't been sold in laptops for years.
Did you miss the part about where the damn thing charges in 35 minutes to 85%?
Damn that's sexy. Proprietary adaptor or not.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
The clunkyness of the thinkpad remains.
The thinkpad seems to continue to want to push the eraser-head-joystick-stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-keyboard idea. I guess some people like that ...
Previously, the thinkpad buttons above and below the touchpad, to support the eraser-head and the more common touchpad use.
Now, it looks like they got rid of the more common touchpad buttons.
I'm sure, you now use soft buttons. Those are really useful if you like to edit documents, and have the cursor accidentally moving around, inserting text in random places or deleting unintended text... but why not have soft buttons at the top too, I'm sure that would be just as useful.
The screen looks to be the glare type. I guess shininess outweighs usefulness.
The design uses the hinge behind design, which is also unfortunate. While the level of the display for your eyes, is already limited for a thin laptop, hinging behind lowers it even more, and I think is only done to copy apple.
I was surprised about the battery because the EU now mandates that they are recyclable, but it seems to be an unfortunately growing trend. Apparently if you can remove the battery for disposal, even destroying the laptop in the process, that is okay under the current rules.
Hopefully the EU will go a bit further and require user replaceable batteries. It's bad enough having to throw away a perfectly good electric toothbrush after two years because the battery is dead.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I for one welcome our new carbon fiber reinforced universal computing machines!
I want this....I have a mac AIR now but I don't care for OSX much and also not crazy about the aluminum also not having mouse buttons sucks too. and apple didnt give me no ethernet dongle!! fuckers
ThinkPads and Apple has two different target audience.
Apple targets consumers, while the ThinkPad is business oriented.
Apple changes it's style every few years. ThinkPads still haral back to its initial style about 20 years ago.
In many ways it is a testimate of the think pad style.
Matted black. When it isn't shiny you don't notice the scrapes and bangs over the years. Sharper angles allows for more technology to fit in a particular space. Tough material that allows it to stay together well without babying it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
No. A nicely proportioned beautiful woman is "sexy". Electronic gear is most certainly not and never will be.
I'd rather have page up/page down there than the back/forward buttons that were there before - I've hit the back key and lost everything that I was typing into a webpage far too many times with those damn things.
I've done that a couple of times, including losing lengthy Slashdot response posts. I've been dealing with it by using the Lazarus plugin (for Firefox, Chrome, and Safari), which allows me to retrieve lost form submissions.
Note: the plugin encrypts saved form data, but it might still be a problem for users with high security requirements.
If they're attempting to compete with Apple, or other decent laptops, shouldn' they have at least a 1920 x 1080 display?
I'm typing this on a W500 with 1920x1080, so I know they have the technology. It's a high-end laptop, so the price difference isn't that significant. At least offer a good display as a $100 option.
Comparing as close as possible specs, the 1.8GHz i5 with 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM costs $1,199 for the MacBook Air and $1,499 for the ThinkPad. For the 2GHz i7, the MBA is $1,499, the ThinkPad is $1,849. However, the ThinkPad has a 14" screen instead of 13" (not sure if this is a pro or con in a portability-at-all-costs Ultrabook), integrated 3G (need a USB dongle for the MBA). The ThinkPad lacks Thunderbolt, so USB is the fastest peripheral interface. The ThinkPad is marginally larger in one dimension, marginally smaller in two more, so about the same volume and the weight difference between the two is under 0.1%. The ThinkPad comes with a 3-year warranty, but this costs extra for the MBA (unless you buy from the education store), which brings the cost quite a bit closer. The cost of upgrading to 8GB of RAM for the ThinkPad is not listed - it's not even clear that it's an option, which is a shame because that's something I'd be pretty sure to want.
You can look at the Lenovo site for upgrade pricing. Anyway, the real price for a ThinkPad is much lower than the list price - Lenovo usually has enormous coupons stackable with sales that are always running. I think the need for coupons is annoying, but if you're willing to jump through the hoops, the price for an X1C today is about $1100-1200. Also, the cost of an 8 GB RAM upgrade on the X1C is the cost of buying that RAM on Amazon (about $40) - the machine is meant to be user upgradeable. The same is true of the hard drive.
"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Why fixate on Apple products?
If anything, all of this "Ultrabook" nonsense just reminds me of Sony products from the turn of the century.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
The FA refers to the ram being soldered on to the mobo, and says that you're stuck with whatever configuration you buy. Though some might be able to upgrade this configuration I would not call it user upgrade able.
FFS, I am only 0.3 inches at my thinnest dimension. And no, it's not where you're thinking.
> Why fixate on Apple products?
I wasn't. I was replying to someone who, perhaps, was.
Max.
According to the review, the X1 RAM is soldered onto the motherboard and is not user-modifiable. Do you have a reference somewhere?
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
... macho ...
Disarming honesty.
Or just hopeless optimism.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I know it looks cool and all, but does it offer an advantage over your typical injection-moulded plastic case? I've had a couple of Dell laptops, and they all twist noticeably when you pick them up by one corner. If you drop them, the frame flexes and transmits the stress on the motherboard. I broke one by having it drop from 30 cm.
The alternative is Apple's milled-from-a-block-of-aluminium case. It feels more solid, and I expect it does a better job of protecting the internals.
Carbon fiber is strong in both compression and tension, but is much weaker in bending. It's also brittle. So how well would this material work as a laptop case?
In my opinion ASUS UX32VD is much better choice, except for apple air like design. 1080p S-IPS and GT620M graphics are major advantages. And it's cheaper.
No. A nicely proportioned beautiful woman is "sexy". Electronic gear is most certainly not and never will be.
I'm very sorry, but you are clearly new here.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Hopefully the EU will go a bit further and require user replaceable batteries. It's bad enough having to throw away a perfectly good electric toothbrush after two years because the battery is dead.
No, I hope they don't. I think manufacturers should be allowed to make battery access any way they like. You might prefer a user replaceable battery - fine, that's a perfectly reasonable design feature, but it needn't be mandated. I personally feel that the current MacBook Pro approach is fine. I can replace the battery with 10 minutes of time and a screwdriver, certain mechanically declined folks will want to send it to someone that isn't scared of screwdrivers, but it should be left to the manufacturer's discretion.
16:9 screens, OTOH, should be banned forever....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The super-thin fad is just that. A silly fad. Form over function. Portability is governed by weight, and by max dimensions - NOT thickness, which is an inconsequential factor by itself. It's completely irrelevant in any REAL sense how thick a notebook is, given that they are all huge in length and width.
It has taken under 90 minutes to fully charge (97% or better) every laptop I have ever owned.
I see nothing special here.
I guess it depends on how you define portability. As someone who stuffs a ~1.2" thick Thinkpad T400 into a carry-on-sized backpack, one of the requirements of my next notebook is that it is thin - at least under an inch. Sure, a pound heavier or lighter will make some difference on my back when carrying it, but regardless of that, if it's thin I'll have an easier time stuffing into an already stuffed carry-on bag.
www.gaiageek.com
I'm sure if you need the battery replaced they'll sort it out for you and take care of the old one just like Apple or anyone else.
Everyone bitched when Apple was supposedly making their system proprietary to lock people in but this is the thing, it's hard to make something that small and still get all the benefits of a big ass laptop. You can still buy a big thinkpad. Do that instead if you want.
You mean similar to this, but with more sane options?
While I appreciate that many people like the look and feel of Thinkpads, I admit that I find it to be very.....retro looking. It looks like something out of the 90's. Monotone with faded colour highlights, sharp hard angular edges, and a low resolution screen ( 900 vertical pixels? for a high-end laptop? really? )
Not to mention that nipple pointer thingy. meh.
In many ways it is a testimate of the think pad style.
What is a testimate? A grumpy friend?
I'm serious, these things don't even get close to the usability/ accuracy of a mouse or trackpoint with three buttons and only cause your cursor to jump when typing.
With the useless trackpad out of the way we could have had a proper keyboard layout with full size PgUp/PgDn Home and End buttons.
Yes shiny screens are an insult to the user.
I do like the hinge system where the opened screen raises the computer off the desk giving an improved ventilation.
--
Teun
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Just show your woman Slashdot... Works every time.
A friend who talks bollocks?
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
On the other hand, a slightly thicker machine allows for adequate cooling for powerful internals. My quad i7/FirePro-equipped machine isn't tiny, granted, but unlike a Macbook Air I had (briefly), it doesn't throttle the processor to keep from overheating for simple stuff like a bit of MATLAB or Flash video. Or randomly overheat and shut down. That part was fun, too... The footprint of the machine matters far more than the thickness, within reason. Hence why the efficient 14" 4:3 designs are mourned by so many who travel...
You can't just grab a "generic" laptop power supply (the one that comes with multiple voltages and a bunch of rounded tips) from any shop if you forgot/lost yours
Isn't it just a matter of time before the generic laptop power supplies include a new tip?
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It is much more expensive than a Macbook Air (I thought apple was supposed to be the expensive option?) and it STILL has that horrible looking ancient logo bottom right. By the looks of it it isn't even a sticker that you can pull off.
I really want to like it, but no thanks.
The one thing that all these Ultrabooks (Air Clones) lack is a built in optical drive. The slot loading kind are thin enough to fit into all but the thinnest notebooks (the 13" MacBooks are reasonably sized though not true Ultrabooks). I like to use my laptop for in-flight entertainment on trips, and the built in optical drive is requred for this (unless you have downloaded digital copies of DVD's). Replaceable batteries are also nice to extend your up time (keep a spare, charged pack with you). True I'm talking about a larger, heavier solution (but not by THAT much).
I've found a lot of laptops like that actually - from Apples, to Dells and Lenovos. They all tend to use the same connector across multiple lines (hint, hint), but different laptops have different requirements. Sometimes it results in a "this system cannot charge" message if the adapter is just barely enough, to modulating power consumption.
Not enabling discrete graphics is pretty unique - it's usually a case where it runs off a mix of battery and AC power - too small an adapter and it doesn't charge the battery (and if necessary, will pull power from the battery.
This is usually more an issue on aircraft sockets which usually only provide between 50-75W of power, and if it doesn't work, sometimes you have ot pull the battery to get it to work as the laptop's tripping the inverter trying to run itself and charge the battery. Though proper adapters can communicate that fact back so it works without having to do any tricks.
Thinkpad X1 Carbon starts at $1250 in reality not $1400 (Just check lenovo.com). Not identical obviously, MBA is 1.8ghz as you mention, Thinkpad has higher res display & bigger, etc.
No, not unless the device sells better than the iphone; they concentrate on round generic connectors.
This "usb-like" power connector will be most likely patented to hell and back and even if you might find some adapter on ebay for sure you won't find it in any brick and mortar store.