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(Image credit: Future/Sean Cameron)
Intro
The laptop as a form factor has been bound by two dreams: one for power, the other for portability. Neither of them is mutually exclusive, but typically a machine can’t be one and also the other.
As a designer, one’s job isn’t to pursue philosophical ideals, however, but to render into reality what will best sell to a certain audience. And if we consider the audience as a busy, on-the-go business professional, portability will be the possibility that becomes a priority.
There are plenty of examples of machines which achieve a light weight, but that isn’t enough to be premium. Vision is needed, and more, a certain je ne sais quoi, without getting too arty farty. Enter the Thinkpad X9 Aura edition, the latest entry by Lenovo in the venerable line of business machines, which looks to make productivity sexy.
It comes with an all-metal build, a fancy OLED display, advanced biometrics, a new Intel processor, a touted keyboard and more. Perhaps most importantly, distressingly for some, there’s no trackpad nub, no hallmark to laptops from 30 years ago, a sign of a machine with its eyes firmly on the future.
But as ever, the competition in this space is tight, does the X9 Aura do enough to stand out among, say, laptops for photo editing?
Read on for our full review.
Swipe to scroll horizontallySpecs
CPU:
Intel Core Ultra 7 258V vPro
NPU:
Intel NPU
Graphics:
Intel Arc 140V GPU
Memory:
32GB
Storage:
1TB SSD
Screen size:
14 inch
Screen type:
OLED
Resolution:
2880 x 1800
Refresh rate:
120Hz
Colour gamut (measured):
100% DCI-P3
Brightness (measured):
500 nits
Ports:
2x Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, 1x HDMI 2.1, Audio Combo Jack
Wireless connectivity:
Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Dimensions:
311.2 × 216.7 × 17.95 mm
Weight:
1.141kg
(Image credit: Future/Sean Cameron)
Design, build and display
• Thin and light
• Brilliant 3K display
With editing, the old maxim is that you know you’re done when there’s nothing left to take away. When it comes to design, things aren’t so straightforward; weight needs to be kept to a minimum, but that can’t come at too much of a sacrifice to power or function.
That mission in mind, the engineers at Lenovo have clearly been busy, as the X9 Aura makes for a great first impression. The grey colourway might not be designed to set pulses racing, but it catches the eye and is definitely office appropriate; this is one meant to be wielded by executives.
At 17mm, it is thin, and weighing 1.1kg, it can easily be lifted with one hand. In a backpack, it feels as though it is barely there at all. If you are a student or someone who commutes with their laptop regularly, this should definitely be on your list.
That’s not least because it also sports MIL standard protection, as has become common for the ThinkPad line. This isn’t to say that it can survive a nuclear explosion, but at a time when most laptops come without sturdiness certifications, the fact that this one can handle a little rough-housing is a differentiating factor.
The screen can be raised one-handed, and when you do, you’ll see there’s a notch, but not the kind you’ll find on a MacBook. Where those eat up screen space, this one extends into the air above the display, housing the necessary infrared sensors for Windows Hello. It also holds a slightly above-average quality webcam, in all, a sensible use of space.
Continuing to the keyboard, here we find the typical ThinkPad brilliance. Though there’s no trackpad nub in the centre, this is a supremely well-considered option. There’s a nice amount of travel, the keys are well-sized and spaced, and it was easy to build up to a comfortable, fast typing speed with relatively little lead-in time. Truly, it’s a class act of a keyboard.
Thankfully, the display is just the same. At over 3K in resolution, everything is pin-sharp given the relatively dinky dimensions of the panel, and it supports full HDR and is Dolby Vision certified. It’s a very nice option for watching video, and the 120Hz refresh rate keeps the interface feeling smooth and fresh.
Peak brightness was also just about enough to battle sunlight, high praise for a laptop, though the slightly glossy nature of the panel means that reflections were sometimes an issue.
With 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, it will also suffice for photo work for some, though as ever, if you have specific needs in this area, you’ll be best with a calibrated external monitor.
One slight sore point, though to be expected on a thin and light, there’s not the best port selection. There are two USB-C slots with support for Thunderbolt 4, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an HDMI port. If you have specific needs, a dongle will be a necessity.
Design score: 5/5
Features
• Bluetooth 5.4 and WiFi 7
• AI inclusions of questionable utility
As it is 2025, and AI is a mandatory inclusion with every product release, here we can see that it is a headlining ‘feature’ of the X9.
So there’s a host of inclusions to burnish the ‘AI’ credentials of the ThinkPad. You’ll find camera enhancements to blur your background, intelligent noise suppression for video calls and more. These are typically built into the likes of Teams, but having them more widely across the system could prove to be useful for some.
There are security optimisations too, which may prove to be useful in a pinch but will be ignored by most. And that sums up the inclusion of AI features on this device. Occasionally, you’ll find something that will prove to be momentarily useful, then the novelty wears off, and its existence is forgotten.
Beyond that, we can see a bevvy of future-proof connectivity options included, such as WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which is always a positive. And lastly, there are two speakers tucked into the hinge of the screen, producing a sound which isn’t quite room-filling but certainly good enough for jamming out to while typing up a storm.
Features score: 3/5
(Image credit: Future/Sean Cameron)
Benchmark scoring
We test every one of our laptops using the same benchmarking software suite to give you a thorough overview of its suitability for creatives of all disciplines and levels. This includes:
• Geekbench: Tests the CPU for single-core and multi-core power, and the GPU for the system’s potential for gaming, image processing, or video editing. Geekbench AI tests the CPU and GPU on a variety of AI-powered and AI-boosted tasks.
• Cinebench: Tests the CPU and GPU’s ability to run 3D software such as Cinema 4D and Redshift.
• UL Procyon: Uses UL Solutions’ Procyon software suite to test the system’s ability for AI image generation in Stable Diffusion, its Microsoft Office performance and its battery life in a looping video test.
• Topaz Video AI: We use Topaz Video AI to test the system’s ability to upscale video and convert video to slow-motion.
• PugetBench for Creators: We use the PugetBench for Creators benchmarking suite to test the system’s ability to run several key tasks in Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as its performance when encoding/transcoding video.
• ON1 Resize AI: Tests the system’s ability to resize 5 photos to 200% in a batch process. We take the total time taken to resize the images and divide by 5.
Performance
If the main benefit of a lighter laptop is portability, the main drawback is power. The smaller the chipset, the smaller the power draw, and the less the power, is the usual calculation applied. But some, especially from the ARM side, have tried hard to counter that narrative, and now Intel has joined the bandwagon. The X9 Aura comes running the latest Core 7 Ultra chip, which promises power efficiency, near instant wake-up and enough oomph to run powerful and demanding programmes. It comes with 32GB of RAM by default and a 1TB SSD to boot, so how does it fare in practice?
As you might expect, basic tasks like navigating through the slightly infuriating Windows 11 are carried out without a hitch. As is everything from word processing to browsing. There’s not quite the blazing single-core performance of Apple chips, but you’ll certainly not notice any slowdowns.
The picture then begins to turn when switching to more demanding applications.
Starting with a game, on the Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark, with medium presets, the machine achieved a stable 18fps framerate. As might be expected, this means that if you want to play the latest games, you would be best to look elsewhere.
It handled lower to medium intensity games and older titles with aplomb, however. And a benefit of the Intel chip is the X86 architecture, meaning that over the Snapdragon competition, there were no compatibility issues.
In the likes of Geekbench 6, this is borne out, with a single-core score of 2684, keeping up with the likes of more powerful, and power-hungry, H series chips from Intel, though definitely not coming close in multi-core configurations.
With a score of 6015 overall in Pugetbench Photoshop, we can see that for more CPU-intensive work, the Aura copes well. It’s when the work relies on the GPU, an integrated effort, that things become more complex. While the Aura is capable of tasks such as video editing, it takes a while to do so and gets hot in the process. Lastly, coming to AI workloads, it works surprisingly well, but again, it won’t match a device running a dedicated GPU.
Performance score: 4/5
Price
The X9 Aura is priced starting at £1,300, which gets you a 3K display and all the mod cons, including 32GB of RAM. That puts it right up against several options from Apple and stands it in relatively good stead.
(Image credit: Future/Sean Cameron)
Who is it for?
If you travel regularly, or have the general need to be mobile, the Lenovo Thinkpad X9 Aura Edition will be of great interest to you. With brilliant ergonomics, a nice display, a great keyboard and plenty of power, it will be able to meet the needs of most professionals. If you want a potent blend of power and portability, this is your bag.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Attributes
Comment
Rating
Design
Svelte, comfortable and stylish
5/5
Features
Lacks ports but good wireless connectivity options
4/5
Performance
Surprisingly powerful
4/5
Value
Well priced against MacBook competition
4/5
Also consider
(Image credit: Apple)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 2024)
The MacBook Pro 14 has a few advantages over the Lenovo. It has a longer period of support, an OS that some prefer, better battery life and improved GPU performance. However the Aura holds its own with a pleasant display, still good battery life and a more robust design.
(Image credit: Apple)
The MacBook Air presents an interesting option. In its cheapest configuration it costs nearly £300 less than the Aura, and offers a lot of the same features, along with a competitive RAM allocation. Whether it appeals to you will largely be a matter of whether you need to complete video work, in which case the Mac might be more competitive, and of course where you sit on MacOS vs Windows.
(Image credit: Future)
Maybe you need power and mobility, should that be the case then maybe the Asus ProArt PX13 is the machine for you. At 13 inches it may be small, but that also means it is easy to lug around. It’s also possessed of a GeForce RTX 4070 so can game, and make short work of many creative tasks. It can bend too, boasting a tent mode, and with prices on sale starting at £1,899.99, it is at least worth a look in. It is a lot more expensive, but with that spend comes extra flexibility.
Full verdict
The Lenovo Thinkpad X9 14 Aura Edition is a well-honed laptop clearly targeted at the business professional. It has a great display, a wonderful keyboard, is eminently portable and will fit into almost any workflow, provided said workflow doesn’t also require a GPU. It’s about as close an answer Windows has to the MacBook Air, which is no small praise.
Lenovo ThinkPad X9-14 Aura Edition: Price Comparison