Thinkpad X220 specs revealed!

A 11.6" Alienware m11x has dedicated graphics. Have you see how much extra cooling, weight and thickness it adds? I believe Lenovo want a nimble system so can't see them adding dedicated graphics with the associated bulk.

So consider a DIY ViDock via the expresscard slot for gaming on the X220. Now if Lenovo added a Thunderbolt port to the X220 is would make it the perfect portable + gaming notebook. Sony have announced Thunderbolt equipped products.

I'm waiting to see what HP's 12" 2560P will bring to the table. Looks like they've ditched the optical drive. If they've added IPS panel, msata, dropped weight and have their gorgeous new appearance, then the X220 will have a serious competitor. If they add a Thunderbolt port then there would be many defectors leaving the Lenovo X220 camp.

 

HP has some sharp looking machines and a good mix of features. I smell competition for Lenovo.

 

I currently own an X200 and wanted to upgrade to the X220 but seriously why can't Lenovo make the X220 THINNER??? They can make the T420S thinner and it is a 14" laptop. If the X series can be at minimum 1" thick, I would be all over this. Now I am debating if I should go with the T420s or the X220.

Both have a similar weight with a 6 cell battery but the batter life with the X220 is better. I'll definately want the Nvidia graphics card if I get the T420s.

 

The thing is, volumetrically speak, you cannot fit components into less thickness, if area is less.

 

That "sharp" look is one of the main reasons why I've decided not to choose it. Despite its advantages, the aluminum surface is a magnet for fingerprints and coffee stains. When you are in an airport it "helpfully" reflects light onto your screen. And judging by lukewarm reception of the new design on HP board, I believe I am not the only one who dislikes this Compaq style.

 

i don't understand these requests for even more thinner machines. the thinner you make the laptop, the greater you limit the HD choices. not to mention that you have to factor structural rigidity and overall durability (protecting the display) as you make it thinner.

the X220 is already quite thin and at the cost of not being able to use >7mm drives.

make it thinner and you'll have to go entirely to SSD drives and SSDs are expensive, have limited size capacity, and are not well suited for certain types of use.

what's with the obsession for a 1" laptop? are you trying to play the Jones'es with the MBP crowd?!

 

Yea, but managers like them. Personally, I don't really care what it looks like on the outside. I want a low weight high performance machine preferably in a chassis at or below 1" thick.

 

I feel the same way with tallshorty. If I had my way I would make it 0.75" with SSD and/or mSATA. There is no excuse for X220 to be thicker than T420s or X301 when it doesn't have an optical drive. I would also get rid of ExpressCard slot. If more room is need for bigger battery, etc. I would make it 13 or even 14" display. Thinner is easier to carry.

 

*weight* is the bigger factor in how easy it is to carry. i don't see how shaving a 1/2" off the x201 or x220 is going to make it signifcantly easier to carry.

i've never had to use the expresscard slot before but am now glad that it's there as i need to add another NIC to my x200 and x201.

 

Yeah no, thinner is definitely not easier to carry. If anything, it makes it harder to grip.

Making a laptop too thin means reduced structural integrity (T410s bezel and palmrest issue, anyone?), poor thermal properties (MacBook and T410s overheating issues, anyone?), and shallower keyboards (X100e and probably every other laptop keyboard out there).

Really, who gives a rat's behind if your laptop is a quarter inch thinner than it is already. Lighter is good, as long as it doesn't compromise your build quality. You can't satisfy contradicting ideals: affordability, lightweight, and structural integrity.

 

I have had many ThinkPad models since 1992 and X300, X301 suits me the best. I was hoping they would release X400 but now I have to decide between X220 and T420s which just is coming out with i7. X220 is too fat and small.

 

Too small? It's not too much different from X300. On the other hand, T420s is considerably larger (in terms of surface).

 

I haven't seen a T420anything yet, but I just held my brother-in-law's new T410s up to my X301. Holding one and then the other, they felt very similar in size and weight even though the T is a little larger than the X. The T felt very solid.

 

It may depend on which 3DMark you are looking for, but I was shocked to find here that the Intel HD Graphics 3000 on-die GPU on Sandy-Bridge processors is actually faster than the discreet nVidia GPU in my T410s!!

It scored a 3DMark2005 of 8000+ and a 3DMark2006 of 5000+. Both are faster than my (comparatively weak) NVS 3100M. Shocker!

If I find some corroboration of that from someone with an X200 (the tests were run on other systems), it will be enough to push me over the edge to try out the X220. I miss FlexView/IPS and I'll take it in whatever form I can get it!

-darren

 

does the x220 come with ExpressCard 2.0 or 1?

 

It has a pci-e 2.0 (5GT/s) mPCIe and expresscard slots, as do all systems using a Intel Series-6 chipset.

 

Yes, but does the BIOS set them to 2.5GT/s and not provide the option to change them?

 

DIY ViDock Setup 1.0f+ will let you change it if the bios has set it to 2.5GT/s. Though all the Series-6 chipset systems I'v probed so far all had the link default to 5GT/s. The systems had mini pci-e cards running on these links but they negotiated the link down to 2.5GT/s since they aren't pci-e 2.0 capable.