ThinkPad X1 Extreme
Shares rank 58 of 63 laptops by recommenders
Recommended for running Linux and Windows dual boot, with few hardware issues reported. Critics report coil whine and backlight bleed.
Recommended for running Linux and Windows dual boot, with few hardware issues reported. Critics report coil whine and backlight bleed.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 45%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Dual boots Linux and Windows
“I love my x1 extreme, I dual boot Linux (i3wm) and windows.”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “I'm returning my Framework 16” Works great on 2017 model
“Works great on my 2017 X1 Extreme”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5” Zero hardware issues reported
“have had zero hardware issues so far”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5” USB display and Thunderbolt support
“the X1 Extreme seems to have USB display and thunderbolt support”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “Same-day upstream Linux support for Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Coil whine and backlight bleed
“had annoying coil whine and screen backlight bleed”
Comment from 20 Jan 2026 in “Spirit of ThinkPad” “annoying coil whine and screen backlight bleed”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “Spirit of ThinkPad”
Other laptops people recommend
The four most recommended other laptops, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro | 928 | 688 | 57% | 13 | 5 yrs248 owners | — |
| Apple MacBook Neo | 707 | 355 | 66% | 9 | 1 mo8 owners | — |
| MacBook Air | 633 | 209 | 75% | 12 | 5 yrs130 owners | Approved |
| Apple MacBook | 499 | 348 | 59% | 12 | 9 yrs77 owners | — |
| ThinkPad X1 ExtremeThis page | 5 | 6 | 45% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“have had zero hardware issues so far”
“Works great on my 2017 X1 Extreme”
“It had that bug out of the box, new original battery.”
“I've had it on my 2018 X1 Extreme”
“had annoying coil whine and screen backlight bleed”
“annoying coil whine and screen backlight bleed”
“The USB port regularly craps out not sending the display signal to the monitor”
“I love my x1 extreme, I dual boot Linux (i3wm) and windows.”
“I've never gotten it to last over 2h on Windows.”
“the X1 Extreme seems to have USB display and thunderbolt support”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.