Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon 14" Gen 6 Silver 2018

The CPU is a real letdown, sitting in the 11th percentile, so this is strictly for light work. But at 1.52kg with 16GB of RAM, it's one of the most portable and well-built typing machines you can grab for a low price. Just make sure you find it at the $265 end of the price range, not the $730 end.

Let's be real about what this chip can and can't do. The quad-core i5-8350U with its 1.7GHz base clock is fine for Office apps, web browsing with a dozen tabs, and streaming video. It's not going to win any races. Our benchmarks put its CPU performance near the bottom of the pack, so don't expect to edit 4K video or compile large projects without a lot of patience. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 is a middle-of-the-road performer for an iGPU, but that still translates to a gaming score of just 14 out of 100. This is strictly a work machine. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM is a bright spot, giving you enough headroom for heavy multitasking that the older processor can actually handle. The 256GB SSD is on the small side, ranking in the 19th percentile for storage, so you'll likely need cloud storage or an external drive.

Stacked against something like the Apple MacBook Pro MWP72LL/A, the ThinkPad gets absolutely crushed in raw performance and screen quality, but it's also a fraction of the price. The HP OmniBook X Flip and Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro are in a different league with their modern processors and OLED displays, making the X1 Carbon feel like a relic for anything beyond basic tasks. Where this Lenovo still makes a case for itself is against other budget refurbs. Its build quality, keyboard, and port selection are better than most cheap plastic laptops you'd find at this price. You're trading speed for durability and typing comfort.

Pricing on this refurb is all over the map, with a spread from $265 to $730 across vendors. At the low end, you're getting a lot of portable, well-built laptop for the money, especially with that 16GB of RAM. But as you creep toward the $700 mark, the value proposition falls apart fast. For that kind of cash, you can find newer machines with much stronger CPU performance and modern Wi-Fi. If you can snag one at the lower end of that range, it's a fair deal for a secondary machine or a student on a tight budget.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 6 is a refurbished ultrabook that still holds its own in a few key areas, but the numbers don't lie about its age. It scores a solid 63.5 out of 100 for compactness in our database, landing in the 74th percentile, which means it's still more portable than most laptops we test. The 14-inch 1080p IPS display and 1.52kg weight make it a genuinely easy carry for a workday. But that portability comes with some serious performance trade-offs you need to know about. The 8th Gen Intel Core i5-8350U sits in the 11th percentile for CPU power, so it's well behind modern chips for anything demanding.

Anyone who needs to run demanding software or modern games should look elsewhere. The CPU is in the 11th percentile, and the integrated graphics score a dismal 14 out of 100 for gaming. If you edit video, compile code, or work with large datasets, this machine will frustrate you daily. Also, if you rely on fast wireless, the Wi-Fi 4 card is a dealbreaker. You'd be much better off with a newer budget laptop or a refurb with at least an 11th Gen Intel chip.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 6 is a one-trick pony, but it's a good trick if you need it. Buy this if your top priority is a lightweight, well-built Windows laptop for writing, email, and web apps, and you can find it for under $400. The 16GB of RAM and excellent keyboard make it a pleasant machine for focused work. Just don't expect it to do anything heavy, and budget for cloud storage to work around that small SSD. It's a purpose-built tool that's aged out of being a primary computer for most people.