My review of X1 Carbon - Not very good...

Question

Well, I just got my X1 Carbon yesterday.  So far, not so good.
I have i7 with 8GB of RAM, 256 SSD and WWAN.  Pretty much maxed out on the upgrades.
1. The computer is litterally crooked.  When I place it on a hard flat surface (my kitchen counter), it doesn't lay flat.  There is about 1 mm gap below the front right rubber foot and the counter.  So every time I touch the trackpad, I get a click from the laptop tapping on the counter. Lovely.  This is annoying as hell.  Poor workmanship by Lenovo.
2. USB 3.0 Dock is an absolute joke.  I am using the Targus ACP71USZ.  They are all the same, regardless of which model you buy, since they all use Displaylink technology.  On the m,onitors connected to the dock, the mouse responds with tiny delays, so it is very annoying and difficult to accurately point the mouse. Its bad with both HDMI and DVI.  HDMI is worse.  Ethernet, is pathetic.  I don't even get a 1mb download speed at speedtest.net.  Other computers on the same copnnection get over 20mb.  Ping was 800ms vs 5ms for other computers.  Absolutely pathetic.  Wifi gave me 7mb with 100ms ping.  Then I tried connecting the ethernet cable to the dongle that comes with the X1, directly to the X1, and not the dock.  I got 18mb and 5ms ping.  Much better, but this adds to the fact that the dock is a $200 peice of garbage. The only good way to use an external monitor is via the mini displayport on the X1 itself.  So basically here is my setup.  I have 2 external monitors.  One goes to the DVI on the dock.  Other to displayport on the X1.  Ethernet dongle on the USB of the X1, power cable on the X1, USB to connect the X1 to the dock.  I have to plug in 4 cables to the X1 just to dock it.  Kind of defeats the purpose of the dock, and its worse since the dock works like crap anyway.
If I were to just use the X1 as a laptop, then it would be fine.  But this machine absolutely stinks when used with a dock.
I am alrerady considering putting it on ebay.

Answer 1

As for the T430s and the Series 3 dock I have, keep in mind it's the 135W dock I bought when I received the ThinkPad W510 for work.  The problem I see with my dock and the T430s is that the T430s doesn't remember the configuration and state.  So when I dock the notebook and boot it, it doesn't always display on the attached monitors.  Or it changes which monitor is the primary.  Or it displays only on one monitor at 800x600 resolution.
In short, it is unpredictable and very frustrating. 
I have seen enough reports from other ThinkPad Optimus based models in this generation to know it isn't just me.  There seems to be some issues with the chipset, drivers, and hardware integration.
There were no such issues with the T420 or T420s.
It is sad to see products take a step backward.  You always think and expect continual improvement from generation to generation but it simply isn't true.  You roll the dice each time.