The newest version of Lenovo's top-shelf ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch is a very thin and light business ultrabook, with a large 14-inch touch screen and a large price tag to match. It weighs just about three pounds, yet features a fully capable, fifth-generation Core i5 CPU, a good selection of I/O ports, very good battery life, and premium materials.

That 14-inch In-Plane Switching (IPS) display is beautiful, with a 2,560-by-1,440 (WQHD+) resolution. Text and graphics are quite clear, though you will catch the odd reflection off of the glass. The screen has 10-point touch capability that's fairly responsive, but there is a moderate amount of screen bounce that occurs when you use it.

The speakers are loud, with enough volume to fill a midsize room. They lack bass and sound like they're tuned for voice communication, which is fine in a business laptop that will mostly be used for video conferencing.