What is the value play for a used X1 Carbon right now?

[Hans Gruber]

Which generation of the X1 Carbon is the one to get for value alone? I do not need much power. 16GB of ram 1920x1080 is all I need, I have bad eyes. An i5 processor does it for me. I want something that doesn't need a whitelist for batteries or NVMe drives. It looks like Gen 7 or Gen 8 is the sweet spot right now. If I go Gen 9 or newer, the price goes up significantly.

Is the X1 Carbon superior to a T490s at this point in 2025?

[dr_st]

Superior or not, but the X1 Carbon has traditionally been a higher end model than a T490s, in terms of materials and construction.

[Hans Gruber]

I know the Carbon is a step above the T490s. The search feature on this forum is not the greatest. So I use google and find that I am asking the same question again 2 years later.
viewtopic.php?t=135677

This forum is all things thinkpads. The Carbon Gen 9 is still a little pricey. I am thinking Gen 7 or Gen 8 at this point would offer the best value. I use desktops primarily. I still use my T430 for my laptop and an X201.

[ZaZ]

The X1 Carbon will be lighter, have better quality screen options and use higher grade materials to build it, but all that cost money, so the value play would be a low/mid tier ThinkPad with an AMD Zen2 core like the E or L series. A Zen2 AMD processor is a superior CPU compared to its Intel counterparts of the era, which is the only option on the X1C. You can get the L series with the low power LCD, which is pretty good, so unless you need the weight savings or durability(a E or L series is still well built in my opinion), those would make more sense from a financial perspective. Of course that's only my 2¢.

[TPFanatic]

i paid $50 for a T500 that i read casemine and write pseudolegal babble on Google Docs with, then around $10 for a screwdriver kit and $6 for thermal paste to actually refurb it. i can charge it in the car and it seems to get good battery life. it plays YouTube, social media, news sites, and online chess quite nicely. the business product lifecycle pretty much guarantees any product is simultaneously obsolete and perfectly usable. just like my brand new Honda Rebel that I paid $9,000 for 8 months ago is now worth $3,000. or my $300 car which I paid $1,600 for in 2019 is still only worth $300 since it still has four catalytic converters. see also Operation Crossroads, wherein Congressmen were upset about us nuking $450 million worth of ships, that were actually only worth $3.7 million in scrap. Source: https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro0000weis Note: none of these numbers are adjusted for inflation.

looks to me like the good 'ol ebay has plenty of X1 Carbons in the $100-200 price range with 16GB RAM. i think they virtually all have 1080p at least. for better value i would say look for at least X1 Carbon 6th gen, as it is the first generation with Intel 8th gen processors which, compared to previous generation Intel processors, are quad cores. quad core is nice but not actually necessary to use a PC, see my T500 anecdote above. i truly believe that outside of B2B, specifically in our hands, ThinkPads are toys.

[Hans Gruber]

i paid $50 for a T500 that i read casemine and write pseudolegal babble on Google Docs with, then around $10 for a screwdriver kit and $6 for thermal paste to actually refurb it. i can charge it in the car and it seems to get good battery life. it plays YouTube, social media, news sites, and online chess quite nicely. the business product lifecycle pretty much guarantees any product is simultaneously obsolete and perfectly usable. just like my brand new Honda Rebel that I paid $9,000 for 8 months ago is now worth $3,000. or my $300 car which I paid $1,600 for in 2019 is still only worth $300 since it still has four catalytic converters. see also Operation Crossroads, wherein Congressmen were upset about us nuking $450 million worth of ships, that were actually only worth $3.7 million in scrap. Source: https://archive.org/details/operationcrossro0000weis Note: none of these numbers are adjusted for inflation.

looks to me like the good 'ol ebay has plenty of X1 Carbons in the $100-200 price range with 16GB RAM. i think they virtually all have 1080p at least. for better value i would say look for at least X1 Carbon 6th gen, as it is the first generation with Intel 8th gen processors which, compared to previous generation Intel processors, are quad cores. quad core is nice but not actually necessary to use a PC, see my T500 anecdote above. i truly believe that outside of B2B, specifically in our hands, ThinkPads are toys.

I have two T500's. One is a top spec unit. I have stacks of thinkpads. My collecting days are over. I have been eying the X1 Carbon for a few years. That's pretty much all I want right now. I am in no hurry. I appreciate the feedback. If the price is right, I could even go for a 8GB model.

[independent]

The gen 6 is *cough* reddit approved as the pinnacle of thinkpad x1 carbons. Longest keyboard type-depth. I'm typing on one now. The keyboard is amazing. But as you know, keyboards are bit of luck-of-the-draw. It sure is a lightweight computer. The screen is ok. My battery is stable at %92. In NZ these are relatively cheap. Not really too much to think about. Good simple computers with good build quality. Dont forget to update the thunderbolt firmware mind you..

[Scorpion8]

I wouldn't say that a X1 Carbon is a "step above" the T490's, as I have several of each. The T490 is eminently more upgradeable, and only slightly heavier/thicker. Performance is about on a similar step if the processors are the same. T490 has more ports and options. T495 with AMD processor is even a bit faster. An E14 is also a good option in a similar class.