Friday, October 1, 2021

Thinkpad X13 Gen 2 AMD review

I purchased a Thinkpad X13 Gen 2 laptop with AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 5650U CPU and 16 GB RAM. The part number is 20XH002MUS. Here is a short review.

Good

  • 16:10 screen
  • 6 core CPU provides decent power
  • user replaceable SSD
  • user replaceable WiFi card
  • Fingerprint sensor has Linux driver
  • Preloaded with Windows 10 Pro (not home). Although I would immediately install Linux.

Bad

  • The screen is dim (300 nit brightness) 
  • Key travel is even shorter than X1 carbon 8th gen.
  • The two USB-C ports do not support Thunderbolt.
  • RT8852AE WiFi card has no mainline Linux support. Fortunately it is not soldered. So I replaced it with a AX210.
  • The heat sink exhaust is on the right side, which is inconvenient for right handed people.