T420/X220 Info requirements

I'm interested in either the T420 or the X220.

I want to know the following:

1. weight of T420 with 6 cell battery and without dvd drive

2. weight of T420 with 9 cell battery and without dvd drive

I'm still deciding between the T420 and the X220. I'm in my final year CS degree.

My primary needs are:

1. Portability (should be light enough to be able to bring my laptop with me to show my progress to my dissertation supervisor and carry around)

2. Battery life (i dont want to lug my power adapter with me 1 whole day)

3. screen real esate (I want to be able to use ide's such as VS & Dreamweaver without any problems)

4. graphics for future very rare gaming

I looked at the X220 and with the IPS display, core i3, 4gb ram, fingerprint, 6 cell battery, web cam etc, i can get it at around £850

The T420 with optimus is available at around £1170. I can get around 25% staff discount as a relative of mine works at an office which is a partner of lenovo.

so i can get the X220 final priced at around £650 and T420 at around £850.

I've never seen a 12.5" screen before and i don't know if i'll be able to code with it. I've used a friend's macbook air 11" and it was straining my eyes.

If i removed the dvd drive of the T420, would it become around 1.8kg in weight? i dont know if i'll be able to go from my 15.4" mac to a 12.5". I used a friend's 13.3" before and it was fine.. How is the x220 compared to it? portability is a key factor for me because though i'm well built, the mac was a pain to carry around one whole day. my main issues is being able to carry around and code with it.Btw , has the dimensions changed with the transition from 16:10 to 16:9?

Note: I have a 24" desktop.

 

Since the T420 meets all your criteria and especially the screen real estate (1600x900), I voted for the T420.

I think the 12.5" will be too small and it'll get annoying after a while. Its like buying a bit bigger/more powerful version of a netbook imo.

 

T420, screen res on x220 is horrible and since the size is small and lots of reports of x220 users temps going high and fans going crazy, throttling because of the x220 smaller chassis.

 

Seconded..

 

1. Portability == X220, show progress == T420
2. Battery == X220 (T420 with 9cell would make it a tie)
3. Real estate == T420
4. Graphics == T420 (with optimus)

So i voted T420, but.. If portability is your main concern and you can use an external screen while doing serious stuff, X220 is probably a better train/bus/plane option.

 

The pixel density on a WXGA+ T420 will be a bit higher than the 12.5" WXGA X220, meaning text will be slightly smaller on the T420. That might merit consideration if you think the 12.5" is too small. Perhaps the best thing you can do is go to a store and look at some notebook to see if you like a 12" notebook. The X220 is the best portable notebook being sold right now in my opinion unless you need some serious GPU or CPU power.

Yes, the X220 is shorter and wider, though not hugely so in my opinion.

 

Thanks for your inputs. I'm still feeling confused. i was not sure about the x220 because of the screen size but after reading about the pixel density thing, i'm feeling more confused. my friend had a dell inspiron 11.6" 1366x768 screen and it was glossy. I felt it was quite small. The 12.5" screen format is quite wide.

As mentioned above, i'm not sure about spending money on the x220 (seems like a netbook) but performance wise, the almost the same as the T420. It finally comes to the screen size and portability. With the 6cell battery, the x220 is at 1.6kg while the t420 is at 1.96kg(from what i read at notebookcheck.net). If i removed the dvd drive from the t420, it would become lighter i believe.

I don't know of any retailer having the x220 atm. I've used my friend's 14" laptop on 1366x768. It was ok. netbeans was fine. If that resolution is on the 12.5" x220, then i guess the same amount of windows would appear except that they would appear smaller.

Can some one upload a picture of an ide (VS, dreamweaver or netbeans) running on the x220? also is the 1.5" from the t420 significant? there's not that much of a difference between a 13.3" and a 14".

How is

1) 12.5" vs 13.3"
12.5" vs 14"

also how heavy are these when compared to my mac? The 15.4" mbp is 2.4kg. It was quite heavy to lug around a whole day. I know the x220 would appear like a feather as compared to the mac but what about the t420?

 

You might want to look at the T420s. It about four pounds, which is about a pound and half lighter than your MBP. It's got a WXGA+ screen.

Resolution is really a personal preference. It's tough to answer for someone else. What I like can differ from what you like. The difference between 12.5" and 13.3" is subtle, but can make a large difference to a single individual.

I personally would say most people are comfortable with a pixel density of around 125. As you start to go higher, the number of people who favor it declines. At some point you're probably going to have to decide what's more important, resolution or portability.

I would also point out the HD Premium LCD on the X220 is better than you'll find on most notebooks, which does help with usability.

 

I might be able to help you out with some information here, looking to buy a lenovo thinkpad t420 myself and I've did some calculations.

Thinkpad T420 is 1.96 kg which translates to 4.32 lbs without AC adapter
The ultra bay dvd drive is 0.42 lbs so according to my calculations a T420 without the dvd drive in the ultra bay should be 3.9 lbs total.

 

I've coded quite a bit on the x220.. trust me when I say its pretty difficult. The trackpad/button combo is flawed and inaccurate, and the screen is a tad small. For your purposes, I'd recommend the T420. You wouldn't need an IPS for programming anyways.

 

I find the x220's screen pretty tight for coding. I could show you a picture but that wouldn't really help. The DPI is fine on the screen, only becomes too small when I try to sit really far back. They could make it even more dense and I wouldn't have a problem with it, since laptops are used at closer distances. However you should try opening up an IDE on your current computer, and then shrinking the window to 1366x768. Actually you'd have to account for the taskbar, which I put on the side to save precious vertical space.

That said it's a reasonable compromise for portability. Compared to my friend's Macbook Pro 15" or another friend's Dell XPS 15", I can barely even feel this thing with the 9 cell battery. You can easily hold it in one hand just like a paper notebook or binder/folder. I find with even the 13" macs my hand starts slipping and feeling uncomfortable, not with this. Getting the T420 would add weight but it'd still be a great deal lighter. I use an external monitor so I might have a bit of bias from not actually being confined to the 12.5" screen. I feel like I'd notice it more if I were stuck on the small screen 100% of the time.

Oh and, congrats on deciding on a T/X Thinkpad