My X220 Review (Lots of Information)

X220 Review

I7 2620m
8gb DDR3 Kingston HyperX 1866mghz
Intel X25-E 64gb SSD (OS)
Intel 310 Soda-Creek 80gb Mini-Sata Drive
Intel HD 3000 Graphics
Intel Wireless\WIMAX 6250 2x2 Configuration
720p Webcam
IPS HD Screen
9 Cell Battery
Windows 7 X64 Enterprise

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Pros: Light, Fast, easy to work on, great battery life, best screen in class, extremely robust, solid feeling.

Cons: Speaker performance, click pad.

1. Performance

Reviewing the X220 is something I’ve been looking forward to doing I’ve wanted this laptop since I first saw the teaser photos and couldn’t wait to jump onto Lenovo’s website and start my custom configuration. As a user I find myself on the power level side, I run virtual machines, do heavy gaming and generally demand upmost performance from any piece of equipment I work with. The X220 does not disappoint in this category.
The I7 doesn’t seem to break a sweat with anything I’ve thrown at it yet, it’s snappy and very responsive. Coupled with the 8GB of Kingston Hyper-X 1866 MHz memory and the Intel X25-E 64 GB SLC SSD primary OS drive I have installed this machine performs every bit as strong as my primary machine.

2. Multimedia

I know most won’t be buying this laptop for its multimedia and entertainment value but it has to be said that the X220’s IPS display is one of the best screens I’ve ever seen on a laptop to date. It’s clear from any viewing angle, it’s sharp and crisp and colors are lively but not over exposed. The resolution hasn’t hampered my work at all and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the IPS panel, it will be a must have for me on every laptop moving forwards.

Staying on the topic of multimedia I’ve got to pull a negative out of my hat and just get it out there, the speakers on the X220 are poor; the sound is clear but not loud. I realized this would be the case when purchasing a Ultraportable laptop but I still think it should be said that if you are looking for quality sound while on a long trip a set of ear buds or headphones will be required.

My model came configured with the webcam and while I haven’t used this in a practical sense yet the webcam is of good quality in my opinion. It takes decent quality photos and the video is smooth and clear, the microphone to that extent is excellent and I don’t need to raise my voice noticeably to make sure I am heard.

3. Ergonomics, size and heat

Ergonomics on the X220 are almost perfect, the keyboard is very easy to adjust to, I haven’t hit the click-pad but once when typing and all the keys are laid out in a way that I’m comfortable with. I can transition from my desktops full sized keyboard to the X220 without any noticeable adjustment. The click-pad on the other hand Is good when the laptop is on a stationary object (Desk, tray, table, etc) but when I’m lying in bed or sitting in a chair because of how close it is to the outer shell It can be a hassle to use or to not accidentally activate, this can be resolved simply by disabling it with the function keys.

I was a bit concerned about moving to an ultraportable laptop due to the constraints on size, however I’ve been pleasantly surprised by my ability to adapt, the laptop is small, it’s the size you would expect for this class but my fears over durability and “toughness” were laid to rest. The laptop feels solid and strong, the battery has almost zero wiggle and the screen doesn’t flex. I don’t go poking laptop screens but when pressed the IPS panel has minimal distortion and the screen feels strong.

The other worry I had with this form factor was heat, I haven’t noticed ANY discomfort when using this laptop for extended periods of time, It gets “warm” but it doesn’t get as hot as previous generation ThinkPad’s I’ve worked with. With this in mind I always endorse (but have yet to do so myself) replacing the thermal grease\compound for your laptop, especially if you travel a lot and might keep it on a surface that can retain heat.
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Splitting this into another post.

Legit Reviews 1866mghz Memory Review.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1599/1/

 

Since ordering my X220 a family member took such a liking to it that we quickly had another on order and before we knew it the unit was at our doorstep.

This unit was not configured to be as robust as my X220.

CORE I5-2540M
4GB DDR3 1333 MGHZ
320GB 7,200 RPM HDD
Intel HD 3000 Graphics
Intel Wireless 6205
720p Webcam
IPS HD Screen
6 Cell Battery
Windows 7 X64 Enterprise

I think its important to mention a few things here, the performance difference between my X220 and the above configured I5 unit is minimal under normal usage. Its really hard to see a difference, even the Windows 7 built in benchmark utility (WEI) shows very similar figures. The faster 1866 MGHZ memory does make an impact in 3d graphics applications and due to the SSD drives my unit boots up significantly faster.

Neither unit has "terrible" backlight bleed, or noisy fans. Perhaps im lucky or perhaps the issues that are reported are more over-blown then they are made out to be.

I did want to touch on the memory that im using in my unit. Much information has been posted saying the X220s processor wont take advantage of anything faster then 1333 or 1600 mghz memory which simply isnt true, the JEDEC timings for 1866mghz memory do infact work. I have screen-shots of such to back up this claim, I am aware of what the Intel ARK website indicates.

I have also uploaded pictures of my X220's WEI score.

Pictures of the two X220s and my X220 compared to a T500 are incoming as well.









Below are two pictures from the Legit Review of the Kingston 1866 MGHZ memory. The first is of memory at 1333mghz, the second of the Kingston memory operating at 1866 configuration.






As you can see it appears that the X220 can support memory faster then 1333mghz DDR3



More Photos incoming as soon as I upload them.

 

Photos of my X220 vs the T500 previously mentioned.







The two X220s (Sorry about the poor quality and darkness)



(The X220 on the right has a media dock under it)

 

These are the CPU-Z Screenshots and WEI off the other X220 with the Core I5

 

I see almost 60 views on this thread already, I had been changing some stuff in the above posts, some information was inaccurate (Legit Reviews memory was at 1333mghz not 1600mghz).

I can also put the two X220s under similar stress tests if anyone wants to see some comparisons. Although I won’t have the I5 unit for too much longer before I deploy it.

 

I've found CPU-Z incorrectly recognises the i7 on my x220 as running at 800mhz even when it isn't. Try using HWinfo32 which I've found to be more accurate. That being said, I have noticed forced throttling on my i7 when using intensive gaming or benchmarking (eg 3dmark 06), which oddl, doesnt go back to 3ghz after app completion...

Petrov.

 

Uh.... Sure it does.

 

^ The laptop was at idle when those CPU-Z shots were taken. I have seen the laptop throttle up and down according to workload needs.

 

When using Solid Edge ST3 yes, yes it does.

 

Are you *sure* it's running at 1866? Because Lenovo seems to think that the chipset's not capable of anything above 1333. (Higher freq. modules will work -- they just won't run above that.)

 

I have no reason or way to disprove CPU-Z.

If you know of another way to determine system memory speed I will be happy to test that method out.

CPU-Z indicates the system memory is operating at the correct JEDEC timings.

 

I haven't used Windows intensively in nearly a decade, so I'm unfamiliar with the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of CPU-Z. I guess if it's reasonably accurate... well... this wouldn't be the first time that Lenovo's understated various specs...

 

Am I the only one who is very happy with X220 speakers? They are at least twice as loud as my Z61t speakers and have better sound. Since Z61t is bigger I expected X220 to have worse speakers but opposite is true and I was very pleasantly surprised.

I understand that older Thinkpads used to have very bad performance and this is only getting on par with other brands, but it's still good.

BTW, if I want quality sound, no laptop speakers are IMHO good enough (I'm no audiophile).

 

^ While I agree this is my FIRST ultraportable. Previous to this i've used T400, T500, T61P and a ton of Dell and HP units.

The X220 is on the weaker side of internal speakers. Just an observation and definitely not a deal breaker.

 

See this thread regarding low sound.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...s-volume-issues-lenovo-notebook-computer.html

 

Very nice, the T500-X220 side-by-side picture is useful. I had imagined the X220 to be a bit smaller, although I suppose the larger footprint of the 12.5" 16:9 plays a role.

 

Great stuff! I am actually planning on possibly producing a pro written/video review for our website (digitalchumps.com) in spite of the fact that I didn't receive one for review.

 

Can you tell us if the expresscard is really 5GT/s?

I contacted lenovo and anybody can told me...

 

My speakers are loud and clear. I only have them on 30-40% and I can hear them fine. I wish they weren't on the underside of the computer, but they work great. Maybe we just got lucky or something? I really don't have any of the problems people most complain about on this thing. Except of course for the damn fan noise. Hopefully I can swap that thing out.

I wonder if people are expecting their laptop speaker to project across an amphitheater or something?

 

CPU-Z is reading the specs of the RAM. Whether or not the system BIOS is actually using them is another matter.
I doubt whether the RAM is being clocked any faster, just because it is capable of being clocked faster, because that would require other parts of the chipset to follow suit. The tighter timings might be used but that alone would not make a very great difference to performance.
You could use Everest to compare memory performance and I would be interested to see the results.

 

I proved in the owners thread that the USB3 port was powered by a PCIe v2 x1 port, which is the higher speed.

Maybe the Reviewer can do the same thing to check the express card?

Use this post as a reference:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...ad-x220-i-t-owners-thread-75.html#post7513940

 

Thats not exactly how CPU-Z Works. It can do what you said, specifically on the "SPD" tab. That tab lists the available timings and maximum bandwidth that the memory supports.

The "Memory" tab lists the current memory bandwidth and configuration (hence why I posted up both tabs)

The memory tab lists the current DRAM Frequency, clocks and command rate that the Bios is reporting.

That doesnt mean that CPU-Z might not be reporting these clocks wrong, but its important to mention that CPU-Z lists both the potential capabilities of memory modules installed and its current configuration.

Also Everest has been discontinued apparently and replaced with "AIDA64" which sadly isnt freeware.

 

That is odd for some on this thread getting speakers that are loud and clear and many others (Including me) are not. Wonder if those with weak speakers are defective or not. Or does this have to do with the newest BIOS ? I doubt that however.

 

People hear differently.

 

Maybe the same goes for the high frequency whine the fan makes. Most people who say they have no whine, also have bad speakers lol. In my case, I have good speakers and a fan whine.

 

how many hours of battery life do you get with the i7 and 9 cell under normal use (web browsing, video editing every now and then, youtube videos, and other usual things)?

 

To be honest its been hard to get an accurate feeling.

I'll describe the battery this way.

When I first turn the machine on it registers with 3:50 minutes on average of battery life on the Lenovo Power Manager taskbar utility.

After the system boots and my power manager settings kick in I get on idle 10 to 13 hours registered.

With regular internet browisng and my brightness set to 7 or 8 I get roughly 8 to 9 hours.

I haven't taken the battery lower then 30% capacity and i've used the laptop pretty constantly during that time for roughly 7 and ahalf hours (a full work day) and it still had 3 hours and some change on the clock.

I am extremely happy with the 9 cell battery life.

 

Regarding the RAM debate, I've heard that the WEI index for RAM is based purely on the amount of RAM. Therefore, your 8GB system will have a much higher WEI score whether or not it's running quicker.

In other news, as a self-proclaimed gamer, I'd be curious to hear your opinion of gaming on the X220 (particularly the i5 with 4gb since that's the config I'm looking at.)

 

You guys trying to game on a intel graphics? Come on guys, what are you expecting? Even if their 3dmark score increased so much, their drivers suck to make any 3D game worth playing. I'm not even going to try playing TF2 on my X220.

Stick with your desktops or your other bigger laptops with much better graphics card for gaming.

 

For an i7 why are your WEI scores so low?

 

yup, agreed.

 

Nobody is forcing you to play games on your X220 and my playing games on it won't hurt you so let's just let him answer the question, eh?

 

Regardless on whether you think the x220 should be vaguely competent at low level gaming (and all the reviews said it was), I'd take it with a grain of salt, at least with the i7 version:

Uncontrollable CPU Throttling (e.g. Civ 5) - Lenovo Community

For me, functionally useless at gaming it seems like - even though it shouldn't be!

Petrov.

 

I'd like you to clarify what you mean here my WEI score for my X220 is on par, and in some areas, higher then other X220's ive seen. (Primarly in memory)

 

The ram debate is less about the WEI score and more about what CPU-Z is reporting.

 

As for games, the i5 version was released to the family member who ordered it yesterday, so I can't do any additional testing with it.

My I7 version I just installed steam and the following titles but have yet to play any...

Team Fortress Classic
Portal
Counter-Strike Source
Half-life Source
Unreal Tournament Game of the Year Edition.
EDIT: Forgot L4D2 Need to get this title downloaded as well.

I plan to buy and install Portal 2 and download Team Fortress 2 yet. I would be surprised if I can't play these games smoothy with the performance i've seen from this machine thus far.

 

The overall score you posted was 5.4 (Graphics being the low).
My i5 is pretty much the same set up as yours and all my scores are just 1 point less except the HDD since I don't have SSD, but my WEI is 5.9 due to the HDD, my graphics is 5.9, how is that possible?

 

Engmus, I will be interested to see if, after an hour or so of gaming, you get the semi-permanent CPU throttling issue down to 800mhz (from 3ghz+!!) - it has a huge impact on the user experience in gaming. No chance you're a Civ 5 player, are you..?

Petrov.

 

Unknown, what intel graphics driver are you running?

Im sporting the latest from Intel, not the Lenovo provided driver. While I doubt it makes a difference my OS is Windows 7 Enterprise X64

(The WEI on the other X220 (The I5) also had a 7.1 under CPU performance.)

(Also the I5 machine posted a WEI of Windows Aero graphics 5.2)

 

Sorry Petrov i've never played Civ 5 but i'll look into some youtube gameplay and if It seems like something i'd be into im never down for buying another game!

(yes I buy the majority of my software)

 

Nice review, the touchpad DOES take some getting used to, but thank goodness the trackpoint is still there.
th speakers dont bother me but TY to he poster who gave the link to improve it I may have to read it.

 

Running the Lenovo provided driver.
win 7 Pro.

 

^Thats probably the difference im not at my X220 currently to try the Lenovo provided driver to see if its any different. But both X220's I had I deployed the driver directly from Intel.

 

It would make a difference, the latest Intel drivers provided a general 15-20% boost in performance.


Straight from Intel:

(Improvement over old drivers)
Game Title - Percent Improvement
Batman: Arkham Asylum* v1.1 - Built in Test 18%
BattleForge* 14%
Call of Duty*: Black Ops 37%
Call of Duty*: Modern Warfare 2 11%
Crysis Warhead* v1.00 - benchmark_cargo test 39%
Enemy Territories Quake Wars* 1.5 19%
Far Cry* 2 v 1.03 43%
H.A.W.X.* 2 38%
H.A.W.X.* v1.02 - Built-in Test 28%
Resident Evil* 5 Benchmark – Variable 29%
Starcraft* 2: Wings of Liberty - Devil's Playground 17%
Starcraft* 2: Wings of Liberty – Outlaws 18%

 

I had read the release note for the newer driver, what we are seeing is that 3d performance has claimed to increase in certain titles yet WEI has decreased for Windows Graphics.

Curious.

 

With 1333mhz ram I am getting 31fps at the start of a 1v1 match with the updated intel driver (medium setting, high texture) in Starcraft 2. Before it was like 27fps. But can still feel the mouse/video lag a bit. So hoping the 1866mhz ram will give it another 10%.

Starcraft 2 runs great on low setting but that would contradict with the ips exprience. Egmus would u happen to play starcraft 2 as well? If yes, can u tell me the fps u get at the start of a 1v1 match with the 1866mhz ram.

Thanks.

 

I'm pretty sure it is simply your RAM. I have the identical setup as you, but only 4 gb of ram. My graphics are 4.8. Originally it was 4.7 until I updated the drivers from Intel, stock was 4.7.

If I upgraded my ram to 8gb, I can almost guarantee my graphics would jump to 5.9.

 

"I love my bank" (ooops, meant my x220) I have had x41, then x201. Haven't had any problems with x220 others are having. Very light nimble machine. I purchased an i7 and subsequently increased to 128 SSD and 8 GB rarm. No bleed, system is close to perfect. Heat with TPFC is non-issue. That is all.

 

Did some gaming for about an hour tonight.

Unreal Tournament Game of the Year Edition.
While this is an older title I ramped up the players and maxed the graphics, game was beautiful and smooth no noticeable lag.

Portal
Settings on "Medium to High"
Definitely saw a bit of edgyness at first, but once loaded into the level it seemed to go pretty smooth, I had my portal depth up to 9 without any real issue.

CounterStrike Source
Settings on High, ran the ingame video stress test and got 58.08 FPS. Played a few rounds and enjoyed myself. Noteworthy to say the physical audio up and down buttons opened up ingame communications.

 

Good info, thanks!