56 PCWorld JULY 2019REVIEWS LENOVO THINKPAD X390
fluorescent-lit office. Lenovo notes that matte
displays are lighter, because they don’t have a
sheet of glass running across them.
To me, the benefits of glossy displays—
vibrant colors, smoother touch input—outweigh
the drawbacks. Either way, it’s something to
be aware of before spending upwards of
$1,000 on this laptop, especially because
Lenovo is planning to release a glossy-display
version of the X390 later this year.KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD
Typing is supposed to be best part of owning
a ThinkPad. Even as other laptop makers slim
down to unbearable levels of travel, Lenovo
has been steadfast in supplying its business
notebooks with luxuriously thick keyboards.
Typing on the ThinkPad L390 Yoga spoiledEven as other laptop makers
slim down to unbearable levels
of travel, Lenovo has been
steadfast in supplying its
business notebooks with
luxuriously thick keyboards.me for most other laptop keyboards.
The X390’s keyboard, however, is a
surprising letdown. While it still offers lots of
travel, it’s also about a quarter-inch narrower
than the L390 between the A and apostrophe
keys. Something about that shrunken layout
makes it feel stiffer. While my typing speed
remained steady—I averaged 101 words per
minute, versus 105 on my
desktop keyboard—
typing felt less
comfortable. The
keyboard also seemed to
produce more mistakes in non-ideal
environments (such as on my lap).
Perhaps in pursuit of thinness, Lenovo also
compromised on the X390’s touchpad.
About halfway up, the click mechanism starts
putting up a lot of resistance. Clicking down
becomes almost impossible with about a
quarter of the pad to spare. As with other
ThinkPads, the X390 still provides dedicated
left- and right-click buttons below the keyboard,
and you can always just tap on the touchpad
to select things, but this is not an ideal
touchpad for folks who prefer to click down.The matte
display is not
for everyone.