You can get several other similarly configured laptops for closer to $1,500, such as the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 and the Acer Swift 14 AI. You really need to be a ThinkPad fan to spend $1,000 more.

Sure enough, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition slows down, lagging far behind even the Acer Swift 14 AI, which features the same processor. AMD processors also zip ahead and even the ...