Business laptops – such as Lenovo’s ThinkPads – are known for a few things. They often have more conservative designs to fit into an office environment, they have processors with vPro technology, more ports, and many times, cellular connectivity. These are all good reasons to choose a business laptop over something else, but not every laptop is the same. If you’re wondering whether the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 has 4G LTE or 5G cellular support, you’ll be glad to know that yes, it does have a cellular option.
Specifically, you can configure the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with 5G support powered by a Fibocom FM350-GL modem. There isn’t an option for 4G LTE alone, which makes some sense considering the Extreme branding. However, things are a bit more complicated than that and there are some limitations.
Getting the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 with 5G
The thing about the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme is that it offers a wide range of configuration options, which can sometimes affect the ability to get other upgrade options. This is mostly true of the GPU. After all, the space inside the laptop is limited, and if you opt for a beefy GPU like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 or above, that’s going to require a lot of space for the GPU itself and for the cooling system.
The modem that powers cellular connectivity on the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 uses an M.2 form factor, similar to an SSD. However, in this case, the slot where the module would go is not available when you opt for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU or higher. The Gen 4 model was similar, as you can see below – the WWAN module would have been where the plate with the number 4.
Internal components of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (Gen 4) with a WWAN module slot unavailable
That means you can’t get cellular connectivity if you choose one of the more powerful GPU options, and it also means you can’t configure the laptop with an Intel Core i9 processor. Doing this automatically upgrades to the GPU to a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, so you have to stick with a Core i7 model and choose the GeForce RTX 3050 Ti if you want 5G support.
In fact, that’s not the only limitation caused by the GPU. There’s also a second SSD slot, used for storage, that’s only available with the lower-end Nvidia GPU. Without it, you can only get up to 4TB of storage, instead of 8TB.
Do you need 5G?
As to why you might want 5G support in the first place, it’s all about staying connected and secure. Unlike Wi-Fi, cellular networks are available almost anywhere you go, so if you’re traveling and you can’t afford to be away from work, having cellular connectivity helps you stay caught up during a train ride or while you’re out and about.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5
But it’s also about security. Even if you’re away from home and you stop at a coffee shop, you might be able to get access to Wi-Fi, but those networks are often unprotected and they’re shared with lots of random people. An ill-intended person could potentially find a way to look at your internet traffic while you’re there, and intercept sensitive data that compromises your security. For business users, that can be a huge risk. With cellular data, you don’t need to rely on unsafe Wi-Fi networks, so not only do you stay connected, but you can fend off potential security risks.
Those benefits apply to any cellular network, so even if the laptop only supported 4G LTE, that would still hold up. The benefit with 5G compared to 4G LTE is that it’s meant to be ready for an ever-increasing number of connected devices, with more bandwidth so that everyone can stay connected at any time. The benefits of 5G haven’t become completely apparent for consumers just yet, but over time, it should develop into a more robust network, and it will likely be around for a longer than 4G LTE, too.
Regardless of whether you want 5G or not, you can buy the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 5 using the link below. This isn’t the only laptop around to support 5G, though, and you can check out the best 5G laptops if you want a few more options. And if you don’t care about 5G at all, we have a list of the best laptops in general, too. You’re bound to find something you love there.
- The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 is a powerful business laptop with Intel H-series processors and Nvidia RTX graphics, but it also comes with optional 5G support.
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source https://www.xda-developers.com/does-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-extreme-gen-5-4g-lte-5g/