Replacing my X200 - X280 or older model?

My X200 is currently retiring slowly and I've started thinking about retiring it and replacing it with a newer model.
I've got no budget problem but the new x280 scares me a bit - no Ethernet port, the lack of 2nd battery (you have to remember to carry a powerbank with you) and the soldered ram which disables upgrades and forces you to Lenovo's prices and also might make the laptop unusable in the future if the ram will broke.
My options are as follows:

1 - Buy a new x280 and try to live with the limitations - if anyone has a discount code to share would love to check the prices with that.

2 - Buy a later model x260/x270 that will last a couple of years.

3 - buy an eariler model like x230/x240 that are on the cheap and wait for the newer x290 to arrive.

Will love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

 

Much has changed in the world of notebooks since the X200 was released a decade ago. One of the changes is few notebooks have swapable batteries. I don't know what kind of battery life you need, but most ultraportables should offer at least a full day of battery life, which is more than the six or so hours I recall getting the six-celled X200. Manufactures overcharge for upgrades, which has not changed since 2008. I think Lenovo's rebuttal to the lack of an Ethernet port is is few people use Ethernet, particularly on a notebook and there's likely a USB dongle available too, though as always, it's a pain when not integrated into the planar. Same for the memory, not many upgrade the memory.

Much of what you ask is a value judgment, but I think the argument for going with the X280 would be it gets you the option of a 15w Coffee Lake quad core CPU, which will make it relevant longer. If you want an Ethernet port and one open memory slot, the slightly heavier T480s might be worth a look. There's other choices as well like the Dell Latitude 7290 gets you Ethernet and an upgradeable memory slot, but you lose the stick and now have a less versatile three pronged AC adapter.

You can wait for the X290, but I doubt it gets you Ethernet or swapable memory/battery.

 

Owning an X220, X240 and X280, I would definetely recommend the X280. The X240 case (used until X270) is just outdated. I am still nostalgic about the X220, which appears nearly indistructable, but time moves on.

If budget allows I would definetely buy a Coffee Lake Quad Core, and the X280 is a very nice machine which offers good value for money and a good perfomance-to-battery-life ratio.

 

What did you end up doing?

 

I switched to the t450s that I found new on ebay few months ago before I had x220 for 6 years.