Lenovo's Think Pad X220; Rugged Construction, Unprecedented battery life Combine to Make it "My Best Ultracompact"

 

Lenovo’s ThinkPad X220 makes good on the saying: “good things come in small packages.”

ThinkPad X220 is an ultra compact notebook (12.0 “ wide by 8.3” deep with a height of only 1.4 “ at its tallest point) that’s weighs only 3.3 pounds that’s surprisingly rugged and has enough battery life (about seven hours running my graphics’ intensive run-down benchmarks) to safely leave its charger at home or back in an office. Right up front, let me say X220 is the best ultracompact I've reviewed in years.

The basic config of the X220 supplied to me by Lenovo for this review is 4GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 system memory, a lightening fast 2.5 GHz Intel Corei5-2320 multicore processors, zippy 320 GB hard disk drive, Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics controller, a 12.5-inch screen, Windows7 Professional, a full set of USB ports, LAN connector, external video and audio ports, plus memory card port and a connector for an optional $299 external battery that ups the unplugged battery life to a whopping 20 hours with only moderate power savings settings. The cost of the system as configured is $1,299.

The X220 is a logical extension of the ThinkPad line. The 12.5 screen size is somewhat unusual in an ultra compact portable but it makes sense in this lightweight notebook. I like Lenovo’s decision to stay with its time tested keyboard and cursor controller pointstick while adding a trackpad.

Right up front, I freely admit to preferring trackpoint cursor controllers. I really don’t want to haul a mouse in my back pack or struggle with new trackpad technologies that invariably result in my accidentally altering my on-screen font size as I’m struggling to write something in a dim lighting.

The 2.5 GHz i5 processor in the X220 provides incredible performance, making short shrift of database sorts and spreadsheet recalcs. Lenovo’s decision to support the same graphics resolution on the X220’s 12,5-inch screen is one of the best design decisions I’ve seen from a notebook maker in years. The 1,366 by 768 pixel resolution creates displays that can’t be overlooked. This portable’s display is something anyone with middle aged eyes will absolutely love. It’s bright, glare free and incredibly crisp. And you don’t have to be right on top of this portable’s matte display to read it.

Connectivity is well above average for this Think Pad. It can connect with all current incarnations of 802.11 WiFi networks and Intel WiMax-- which I have yet to see outside of a small geographic neighborhood in Silicon Valley and on Intel’s campuses in Folsom and Santa Clara, CA.

While other portable makers are trying to force their way into the small business market, Lenovo remains true to its roots with the X220, which sports the sturdy rubberized case and same rock solid construction that’s found on most other ThinkPads.

From a usability standpoint the X220 is a stand out winner in the ultra compact category. Lenovo has positioned this diminutive Goliath killer for small business and the corporate markets and its battery life, rapid boot up and the rock solid durability of ThinkPad portables combine to make the X220 a safe buy for any mobile professional who wants a compact notebook that can run all day without worrying about the need to recharge.--Jim Forbes on 08/20/2011

 

Comments

[Jordan Elderkin]

Lenovo seem to produce nothing but great all round laptops just as you can see from the one in question.

[Jordan Elderkin]

I have never seen a laptop that offers the option of have the battery life increased to 20 hours with an additional battery that you can connect. It's surprising that laptop and notebook companies havn't jumped on this idea sooner as batterys for devices such as laptops, notebooks, netbooks etc are very expensive. I do however look forward to this idea becoming more widespread because we all known how annoying having your battery die with no way to recharge this is the perfect solution.

[jim forbes]

the first laptop I reviewed with a "slice" battery was a Toshiba Portage from the late 1990's.I wrote all the way on that machine from Narita to Dublin. It was along flight. Other portable makrs offered clip-on extended batteries that attached to the back of the systems but they only provided two to thre hours of additional batterylife.--jmf