Thinkpad X220 Picture

A few things I'd like to know still:

1) How does the IPS display compare to the AFFS+ "option" for the current-gen x-series?
2) Has the noise on the headphone jack been fixed? It is really bad on the X200.
3) Does the new internal mic actually improve sound quality? It is so bad as to be unuseable for VOIP on the X200.
4) How many hours for the smallest (4-cell?) battery?
5) What is the lowest system weight possible?
6) Can a HDD be used in conjunction with the mSATA intel SSD? My guess is YES but I haven't heard anybody else talking about this.
7) Heat and fan noise?
8) A higher resolution camera does not necessarily equal better picture quality, so what's the real-world verdict on the integrated camera?
9) No lid latch? How well does it stay closed and what's the possibility of it opening slightly in a backpack and the screen getting scratched to hell by a loose object?
10) What does the new dock look like/do?
11) Can it be configured without the touchpad (trackpoint only)?

With the AFFS+ upgrade on my X200 I am still extremely satisfied even though it is over 2 years old now. This is the longest I've ever had the same notebook! A few of the new features are making me itch to upgrade, but I still don't feel compelled.

If a HDD + mSATA SSD system is possible, that will be amazing. System image backups without the need for a dock or attached storage? Great! Not to mention the ability of having my complete photo/music archive with me at all times.

 

I say stick with your X200 for a while longer. It's better to have 800 pixel rows than 768.

 

Must ... and it will be very good though RapidDrive with or without

 

Normally when you have monitor with a very high resolution and you would like to zoom in a little without degrading the quality of the screen you zoom in by modified the dpi. One of the problem that we run into when we do that is some program might not pickup that you increase in DPI so you have different size font.

 

Or they do pickup, but the dialog boxes aren't adjusted for that font size so the fonts can go behind the buttons, text on some web pages is shifted around etc. It's all a consequence of the fact that we used to mainly use something like 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768 on 14" or 15" screens and the whole design was tailored around that.

The time for MS to adjust Windows to biggest resolutions on these screen sizes is long overdue, so maybe with the next Win release it will look good. It's not that bad, its just that sometimes can be annoying.

 

NO WAYYYY, what happened to waiting for haswell?! succumb to the temptation of a new laptop like me?

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Yup, sorry Haswell. I already sold my Acer 1830T in order to pay for this and until I get the X220 I am stuck using an Acer 3810T that I gave to my parents for a house computer. But this time I plan to keep this at least 5 years. As long as the cpu is not soldered and I can drop in an Ivy Bridge quad core, I will be set. There is something in me that suddenly became attracted to me with the X200 series.

And also that fan noise in the 1830T was killing me.

 

I think I agree with you. Although there are a number of nice updates on the X220, the resolution is definitely a minor downgrade. I also suspect that the sunlight readability of the AFFS+ (amazingly good!) will be better than the IPS on the X220.

The most taxing thing I typically use my notebook for is watching HD video and the integrated graphics still allow me to play 720p MKV with <10% CPU (DXVA).

The minor annoyances of my X200 (noisy headphone jack, terrible integrated mic) are not enough on their own to make me scramble to upgrade.

But If I *had* to buy a new notebook today, it looks like the X220 is nearly perfect. As it stands, I think my X200 is so adequate that it is essentially no different than upgrading for my usage.

Wow, will I actually pass on two generations of x-series before upgrading?

 

Uh huh...

Historically, the X2xx-series has used only soldered processors, so you probably will not be able to upgrade.

 

If I am not mistaken they were using ULV and LV intel cpu in the past, and those cpus were always soldered on.

 

Awww isn't he cute, right?

 

If I had an x200, I would want the x200 simply for the ips screen. I thought that Lenovo would never care about screen quality. And it's alot cheaper than I had expected.

 

I know that the cpu has always been soldiered, I was just hoping that Lenovo might have changed their ways. I mean, has anyone yet seen any documents or torn apart an X220 to see if this is the case?

 

ULV/LV processors have almost always been BGA soldered onto the motherboard. Of course with an infrared solder station you can remove it if you know what you are doing.

Some ULV/LV processors were available on the mainstream socket (socket P) but are ES/QS CPUs.

 

Isn't the C2D SP cpu one of them?

 

Yes SP have smaller die and are BGA soldered onto the motherboard.

 

yes.. fan noise is very important to me as well

i have my laptop set on "silent mode" (vaio program), battery saver setting, and using the integrated gpu all the time

and the fan STILL comes on

next laptop i get, i think i'll make sure that the fan doesnt spin up constantly

 

I have an AFFS modded X200 (and I sold a few of these screens here and there). Color-wise, it's very nice and it has extremely wide view angle. But the contrast can be better (iPad's contrast is much better, for example), and it is dimmer than modern day LED backlit panels (my CR-48 screen is much brighter).

But worry not, I'm definitely getting a X220 with the IPS screen. I will post some detailed comparison between the two when it arrives.

 

Yes! Would be looking forward to this!

 

X220 or Sony Vaio Z hmmm...

 

A ThinkPad over a Sony for sure. Sony's part availability is woeful at best and they are terrible to service/support. Plus I don't think Sony has the IPS screen...?

 

The current Z is a high gamut 8-bit, anti-glare TN display. IT is one of the best TN displays I have see(the TT has a similar screen). It something like 95% color gamut, and viewing angles are up there, and imho the screen is even better than what comes on a MBP.

I would have to disagree with their part availability being woeful. I had to have my optical drive on my Vaio replaced and I got tech support person somewhere in Florida, and they were fairly helpful. I am also lucky to live in an city with a Sony Store, & all I had to do was to drop my comp off to the tech person(like you would at the apple store), & they send it if they didn't have the part in store. I got my computer back after 5 days(about the same turn around time as Apple in my experience). This was right after the TT was discontinued.

 

I'm an ASP for Sony, and their part availability is awful. No repair shop in America can order Sony parts, their SPA/SPAN part ordering system has been non-functional for nearly 6 months. All warranty Sony must be RMA'd to Sony and their repair times are always very very slow (3-4 weeks). Whenever there is a Sony in the queue...it is always last to be pulled lol.

 

For those who want to have 1600x900 or 1920x1080 on a 13" screen, the Sony Z is the only choice. For some people, another obvious advantage that the Sony Z has over the X220 is the internal optical drive.

 

I guess this has changed since late 2009 when I had my Vaio sent in.

 

Does the Sony screen outright beat the RGBLED found on the SXPS? I found the RGBLED from Dell is one of the best screens on the market without breaking the bank.

 

I could not say as I have never seen that screen, or full researched it. I just know that most TN screens are 6-bit and the Vaio Z and TT have something like an 8-bit 95% gamut TN screen that is anti-glare coated. It really surprising how much the 11-13in market lacks an acceptable screen at a fair price and going with one is like moving from a heated pool to a luke warm broken pool on a cold spring night not really acceptable. Which is why I am looking at the X220(was looking at the tablet until spec'd revealed the IPS screen), but the lack of the optical drive(or USB 3.0 on the i3 and i5 models) is what is keeping me from being 100% sold. But, I digress.

 

I was dead-set on getting a T420s but the X220 has made me waffle.

X220:
Slightly smaller/lighter (~3.3lbs with 6-cell vs 3.7lbs for the T420s)
IPS
Better battery life with 6-cell (66Wh vs 46Wh)

T420s:
Much higher resolution display
Bigger touchpad
Touhpad buttons (I hate clickpads)
Optical drive, or better battery life with bay battery

Without the IPS option I think the T420s has the clear advantage unless the weight/size of the T420s were huge issues. Now I'm not so sure - 1366x768 isn't a fantastic resolution, but IPS sure is nice.

 

I have been extremely happy with my T410s and plan on upgrading to the T420s once it is released. If Lenovo offers a 1600x900 IPS display for the T420s, it would pretty much be a 100% perfect laptop.

 

The ips screen on the T410s would cost alot more than the one on the x220, I don't think Lenovo would give us that upgrade option if it cost alot.

 

Yeah, seems unlikely but sure would be nice and I'd be willing to pay a premium for an IPS screen with those specs. 768px vertical resolution is just too unproductive for me, too much swimming up and down to get stuff done. I need at least, 900px vertical resolution.

 

IPS is the only reason why I like the x220. The x320 or T420s with 1600*900 ips and i5 would be the prefect laptop.

 

I haven't found any references to a 4-cell (slim) battery for the X220. I wonder if they aren't going to even offer one?

 

the 4-cell will be 28.8 Wh rated at ~4:30.   system weight with this battery will be slightly less than 3 lbs (1.36 kg).

 

If there was a X320 (as a follow up for the X301), I'd have gone to extraordinary lengths to get one...but the build quality would have to be at par with or better than what I have heard the X301 was.

I think the 13" screen is really the best size for me. But alas! It looks like I'll pass up on the X220 and stick with the X201.

 

given that the x220 have the 12.5 inch LCD, the x3xx series would seem to be a product duplication, which lenovo tries very hard to get rid of in order to realize a greater ROI.

 

Besides, it's very hard for Lenovo to compete with the Macbook Air, the Sony Z Series, and the Toshiba Portege R700/R705.

 

Any news regarding X220s or is it going to be replaced with mythical X1 ?

 

i can't be too specific but you can glean some good info off of the official press release: Lenovo Newsroom | New Lenovo ThinkPad Ultraportable Laptops Recharged, Reenergized and Renewed

whether there will be an official "X220s" model i can't say.   that would currently fall under the category of unannounced products.

 

Got an iPad 2 on launch day. The screen is almost identical to the screen on the original iPad, but I feel it's a tiny bit brighter. Perhaps that's just an visual illusion. It's definitely very bright and contrast-sy nonetheless.

iSuppli's tear down reported that the IPS screen on the iPad 2 is also made by LG. I hope the LG screen on the X220 is of the same quality!

EDIT:

Just a random thought. Old school Thinkpad fans keep saying that they want 4:3 screen back. Would people be happy if the X1 turns out to be a 10" Thinkpad with the same IPS display used on the iPad? It's a 4:3, super high quality LED-backlit IPS LCD screen. Although resolution is only 1024x768, the X60/61 has the same resolution on a 12" screen. So relatively speaking, 1024x768 on a 9.7" Thinkpad isn't too bad in terms of pixel density. Did I mention that the quality of the LCD is top of the class?

 

I think you don't have to... X1 or X220s? Who cares about the name?

:wink:

 

Because they're most likely completely separate models. A X220s would be a ULV version of what the X220, maybe or not thinner, likely no higher res based what's been indicated. X1 is a Macbook Air competitor.

 

why would someone who's using 1024x768 on a 12" display be happy running the same resolution on a screen that 2" smaller?!

i know that i wouldn't be interested, IPS screen be damned.

 

Can anyone please leak/share more information on X220 tablet screen. I am totally confused by the marketing fluff. Is X220t going to have a screen that's both multitouch AND outdoor? Or is it a choice between (a) pen+outdoor and (b) multitouch+indoor. And what's the difference between an indoor and outdoor screen?

Also, the rumor mill has it that Lenovo is considering whether it is worth putting USB3 on X220t. Does anyone know what tradeoff they are facing? Any engineers from Lenovo who can give us a hint or say how probable it is to have USB3 on X220t?

 

wyrm - everything is in the X220T datasheet.   if you don't see it there, it probably won't be there in production.

http://shop.lenovo.com/ISS_Static/ww/wci/us/ww/pdf/x220_tablet_datasheet.pdf

the multitouch panel can be used outdoors but isn't optimized for outdoor use like the outdoor-viewable panel.   both panels offer pen input but only the multitouch works with touch input (obviously).

 

A X220s would be worth the wait

 

There might not be a x220s, even if there will be one how do we know if it come with an IPS panel.

 

In the last two generations of the X2**, the "s" version had a higher resolution than the regular version, 1440x900 versus 1280x800. If there's going to be an X220s and if it has 1600x900, even if it's just a TN panel I would still prefer that over the 1366x768 IPS of the X220. But that's just me.

 

I think I found my laptop! Can't wait to get one soon.

 

I know, this exact issue is causing me some grief too. Currently the new Sony vaio SB has a 13.3" 1366x768 screen, but the vaio SA will have a 1600x900 option. The SA is still at least 2 months off...