X-220 - How bad is the quality and the support?

I have been reading more disconcerting comments about the quality of recent Thinkpads - especially the X220, which I am ready to pull the trigger on - than I ever remember hearing about Thinkpads in the past. I have always thought of Lenovo as both a quality product and a company that backed its product well and took care of customers. I know NBR and similar forums disproportionately represent problem situations because people write in when they have problems, not to say they love the machine and the company, but the number and apparent frequency of problems with the X220 (screen bleed, ghosting, problems with mSata slot/SSD, generally poor build quality, etc) seem excessive - more like HP/Dell than Lenovo - and even more troubling are the reports of Lenovo not doing right by customers with problems - even when they acknowledge making mistakes, like shipping the wrong configuration, etc. Finally, Lenovo already has by far the worst return/support policies in the industry, charging a "restocking fee" even if you want to downgrade your warranty choice as quickly as several hours after ordering your unit and charging about 30% more to upgrade a warranty - again even a few hours after purchasing it - than you would have paid had you ordered it with the better warranty originally.

Nothing feels worse than getting a "lemon" and finding the mfr is trying to avoid incurring any cost to cure it, or using fine print policies - or large print ones that just sock! - to get out of their obligations.

Thanks much for the feedback. I think the new models have been out long enough that it's time for a general review of the latest breed, particularly the outrageously popular X220. Is this "your father's Thinkpad," or is this a new Lenovo/IBM?

 

Kinda think this thread is unnecessary... there are plenty of threads to help you out.

Mine is built like a tank and I love it.

 

These user-forums can be both helpful and unhelpful. Helpful because there's so much you can learn about your chosen product, and related matters.

Unhelpful, because you can end up finding fault with your purchase when previously you were satisfied.

That's been my experience anyway. I returned an X220 after reading about backlight bleed and then regretted it.

People tend to get rather hysterical over issues, me more than most , and the combined effect can really distort the overall picture.

I agree with Mr Del Brat, the X220 is a seriously good notebook. My biggest complaint is that I'm in danger of putting on weight, such is my pleasure in using it. I do have some minor criticisms (mainly the speakers) but, essentially, I think Lenovo have done really well with the X220.

 

mines built like a tank... love it.

 

I love my X220. It's a great machine.

Take what you see on the forums with a grain of salt. You only hear about the negative stories and the really nitpicky problems, that's why they're posted on the forums. Forums are for help, so just because you see a few negative threads don't assume that all of the thousands of X220's are flawed.

 

FYI, Lenovo has officially acknowledged the problems with cpu throttling on x220, and they are working on the fix. Whether they can deliver it is yet to be seen.

So you can't frame this as yet another case of some random guy complaining about something in the forums. It is a legitimate technical problem that x220 currently has, and I for one fully agree with the concerns expressed by the original poster of this thread.

 

There is also the mSATA SSD issue.

 

The only issue I have with mine is that my mSATA drive isn't working. Other than that, I absolutely 100% love it! It's solid, it's everything I want out of a computer, I have had no issues with it so far. I hope they get the mSATA problem worked out soon, but if not, I'm sure I can sell my 310 to some lucky person on here for what I paid. It's not the best, but I still consider SSD's to be a luxury, not a requirement.

 

hum, the OP's two posts about quality problems about two problems do seem to be quite similar in content.

 

Yes, asked in the same way, for the same reasons. I've now bought one of the models I asked about and am planning to buy the other, thanks to the extremely helpful and candid responses I got on both forums.