X220 -> X240

What about this possible replacement ?

X240 (with IPS panel, i5 4300U, ram 8 Gb, SSD 180 Gb) would cost to me about 400 euro.

Internal + external batteries, less than 150 cycles for each.

 

I have both in operation, the X240 is my main machine. I like it more, the X220 now definetly shows it's age and is considerably heavier and louder. My X240 has a Full-HD IPS Screen which is great to work with. I have also updated the horrid button-less touchpad with the one from the X250. So keep in mind that your X240 touchpad won't have any buttons.

The X240 is not exactly up-to-date either, and I am planning to get an X280 soon. I would probably try and get a X270 in your position.

 

Do You however consider the X240 a concrete update if compared to X220, in terms of usability, performance, battery life and display quality (my x220 is not the IPS version) ?

 

For me the X240 is a concrete update only with Full-HD IPS and a button-touchpad (i.e. effectively making it a X250). I found the button-less touchpad not usable at all.

The biggest update in productivity comes from the higher schreen resolution. Performance is a little better but not much, battery is better when you have the larger battery in the X240.

So in short: I wouldn't update to an X240 with HD display only. Better safe/wait for offers on X270.

 

I'd suggest X250. X240 has unremovable WLAN whitelist, which is very sad if you're going to keep it for years. Also, the trouble of replacing buttonless touchpad.

 

X230 with 3632QE BGA replacement and 51nb kk FHD + usb + msata mod.

Contact jacky on lcdfans facebook and he can probably do it for you. Not sure about the BGA replacement though.

 

For what concern a comparable laptop what do You think of 2170p, if compared with x220 and x230.
I'm particularly interested in display quality and keyboard typing responsiveness.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-8703F

 

You should probably look at 2570P as it is more comparable to X220.

It has socketed CPU so you can easily upgrade to a 35w quad (45w can, not recommended due to heat).

 

X250 is almost strictly better (you lose the VGA port though) than the X240.

 

The X250 still has VGA. I would guess that you were thinking about the X260, which indeed drops VGA in favor of HDMI.

 

I searched a little for an X250 but unfortunately it is still too expensive for my budget, considering I haven't many expetations for such a budget.

An interesting option I've found could be an HP Probook 430 G1 (a grade) for 160 euro.
Configured with i5-4300u, (only) 4 Gb of ram and a 128 Gb SSD internal storage.

Could it be a (little) upgrade compared to my x220 or rather... a downgrade ?

 

Is your X220 broken, or why do you want to update? I am not sure such an incremental update is worth it.

 

You're throwing away a lot of the advantages that make a ThinkPad. Keyboard, trackpoint are the two that comes to mind.

Raw horsepower wise, it's going to be faster but I don't think it's going to be worth the tradeoff.

Newer CPU arch, better power consumption, better iGPU that supports DX11, native USB3 port.