X220 Reviews

Official X220 Webpage

Notebooks.com video:
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Laptop Mag
Mobile Tech Review
Notebooks.com
PC Mag
ZDNet

 

Thanks. Very comprehensive. I am very impressed but the touchpad with embedded button I am not too thrill with it.

 

I must say, I am VERY impressed all the way around with the new X220. I REALLY wished Lenovo would have incorporated some of the cool features (like the optional IPS Display, new button-less touchpad, etc.) in the T and W series as well

 

I found it kind of annoying when watching the notebooks.com review that the guy kept calling the trackpad a mousepad. A mouse pad is the piece of plastic-like material that you put under your mouse to creat a smooth surface for it to move around...

He seemed to have mixed up his 6-cell battery with the 9-cell one too. He repeated a few times saying that the 6-cell battery would last 15 hours, which doesn't.

 

The x2xx series basic didn't get significance update for two year. They might add that option next year to the T series and the W series.

 

It's kind of odd that many reviewers are not mentioning the ips display. If this was apple, they'd be marketing this amazing display, as well they should. IPS is amazing, and the single biggest complaint on this forum regarding thinkpads is the horrible display quality. No longer.
And the battery life seems to have jumped quite a bit as well (thanks to Intel).
The x220 also has a digital out now. This is going to be a good laptop.

 

The Laptopmag review doesn't say much good about the webcam in their review, does this mean the webcam is actually worse than the 2.0MP one we've had on the T40x / T41x and W50x / W51x series for the past years?
Or is it the same thing but now with lots of marketing behind it as last years 2.0MP webcam also supported 720P video only Lenovo never really market it as a HD capable webcam.


EDIT:
I just spotted that Laptopmag actually concluded that the MacBook Air Late 2010 model got better display than the X220 even though their X220 had IPS-panel and the MacBook Air spot a TN-panel so even though the Air got higher resolution I get somewhat sceptical to the entire review if they conclude with the X220 IPS-display being inferior to the Airs TN-display as that sound really unlikely.

 

It is possible that the reviewer forgot to peel off the (transparent) plastic protection sheet that covers the webcam panel.

 

That's weird. Don't get me wrong, I know Macbook's TN panels are traditionally great. But I've read reviews saying the latest panels on the Macbook Airs are not as great as those on Macbook Pro used to be. Perhaps the reviewer was talking about the pixel density? Judging from the contrast ratio and brightness numbers (from notbookreview.com's review) of this IPS display on X220, this is a top of the line laptop LCD panel.

EDIT: Ok, I looked at their review, and the reviewer was talkig about the 13" Macbook Air, which is available in two resolutions 1366 x 768 and 1440 x 900. So his comment definitely has to do with pixel density. If you take a look at Anandtech's Macbook Air's review:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3991/apples-2010-macbook-air-11-13inch-reviewed/5

The contrast ratio of Air's display is basically on par with that of X220, but brightness is higher. Vertical view angle seems pretty bad, but as far as I remember seeing one in person some time ago the horizontal view angle is not bad at all. Same contrast ratio, higher brightness and higher pixel density, I guess I can see why the reviewer likes the Air's display. Narrow vertical view angle, however, is the thing that I cannot stand with TN panels.

Sometimes I just wonder why can't Lenovo source some good TN panels for their Thinkpads across the board? I mean, IPS panels are expensive and hard to come by. But it's rather easy to find TN panels that are of better quality than those on a typical Thinkpad.

 

I seem to find their review unreliable when they review the x120e on the heat part, and this is the same guy who review it.

 

Yeah seems rather fishy if you ask me, and in regards of Lenovo and their TN-panels in their ThinkPad lineup there is no doubt that there are room for some improvement but it seems like 2011 will be the year of the ThinkPad X220 at least for those of us whom try to avoid these disappointing lower quality TN-panels with low-contrast, washed out colours and bad viewing angles.

I'm actually glad Lenovo didn't go all USB3.0 on the X220, was afraid they might do that after they got ringside with NEC earlier. Why this is a good thing is simply because without a optical drive I'll do my Windows installations from USB-sticks and from my experience with NEC USB3.0 controllers you aren't able to install Windows7 from their controller so having a X220 without optical and no USB ports from the Intel chipset would be a real pain in the when it comes to Windows7 installation.

But one port should have been USB3.0 by the default though, only having it as an optional thing is a little disappointing considering how Lenovo and NEC are playing together these days.

 

Well if you do some calculations you will see that the 720p resolution is actually just 1.0MP. (1366x768 = 1049088, or roughtly 1.0Mp).

So if you compare that to a 2Mp camera, it will have half the pixels.

It doesn't mean that the camera is also worse, but just looking at the pixel count a 720p camera will have half the pixels of the 2.0Mp camera.

 

That's not really the case now is it? As there is no mentioning whatsoever in regards of whether the 2.0MP from the previous T and W-series takes pictures at 2.0MP or if it actually manages to capture at 2.0MP.

If you take a look at most 720P webcams (that's standalone as well as those integrated in many of the newer notebooks) you'll see they capture video in 720P but has a picture resolution of 5.0MP.


So we have no idea if this new webcam (if it's new and not the same as the one we've had for almost two years already) is 2.0MP, 5.0MP or even higher as all we really know is thus far is that it's captures video in 720P and nothing else.

And the resolution itself is not that important in the long run, it's better optics we need on notebook webcams because the major problem is normally poor colours, bad drivers not allowing you to tweak anything and horrible behaviour and capturing in non-ideal light conditions.

 

I'm really looking forward to reviews featuring the I7 variant. LaptopMag's numbers place the I5 X201 and I5 X220 fairly close on performance, with the obvious exceptions of graphics performance and battery life being won overwhelmingly by the X220. Still not enough to convince me that my X201 was a bad choice. At the very least, I'll be waiting for the X221, or whatever revision brings quad core CPU's to the X series, to upgrade.

 

2.0Mp camera can be either Full HD progressive (1080p) or interlaced (1080i).
The latter is considered as inferior (quality-wise) to 720p (especially when the object at the scene are fast moving).

 

LaptopMag Video:
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Not a fan of the resolution, but I still would own this if I was in the market and could afford it.

 

no eSata port ? ... well at least it's got ExpressCard slot.

what would that score for the video performance (3DMarks) ?

 

7:50 min real-world battery life from the 6 cell is crazy.

 

Screen in that LaptopMag video looked rather glossy compared to other matte displays Ive seen.

 

Techspot Review

 

lol @ that review.... he is actually complaining about the keyboard ^^ Also so many pics of the laptop with an IPS screen and none with the screen on... fail?

 

Look like he has been drinking the Apple cool-aid.

 

Did that person actually used the machine before he wrote the review, because from the sound of his writing the laptop was not even switched on. Note how the author wrote:

Highly unusual.

 

Looks like he reviews pictures of laptop or simply unboxed it and commented on first rather biased impressions.
Not the way pro should deal with reviewing stuff. Place holder.

 

Unboxed it and then... took pictures of other websites? For example...

Lenovo Launches New ThinkPad X220 Notebook | Geeky Gadgets

 

Im gonna order one- going from T400s + Viao Z to this X220. Anyhone know when I will be able to order???

 

They should be available in April.

 

Cnet Review

 

I just ordered one (the 4290-33U) from Cost Central.
Cost Central states: "Allow approximately 2-3 weeks for delivery." We'll see how accurate that statement is.
I ordered with Free FedEx Ground shipping, so add maybe another week.
FTR, I have ordered a ThinkPad from Cost Central in the past and it went smoothly.

Rumor is: the X220 won't be available from Lenovo until April 19, 2011.

I am upgrading from a T42 with a SGXA+ display. If there was a T4xx with a 4:3 display I would have ordered that instead, but the new T420s ThinkPad with the 16:9 display is nearly 1-1/2" wider (13-1/2") than my current T42 (12-3/16"). Too big for me.

 

Heh... he never mentioned the IPS panel option, which is by far the coolest and most unique feature on a business laptop.

 

I asked Lenovo Australia, there will be no X220s variants.

 

You actually expected them to confirm a yet to be announced product?
I'm not saying there'll be a X220s, but you have to consider no one in their right mind would go out and say there'll be a X220s soon as there's been no announcement from Lenovo yet.

 

Lucky folks, X220, unless loud and of comparably low build quality, is going to be beast

 

Lenovo ANZ (Lenovo_ANZ) on Twitter

check the last tweet from Lenovo_ANZ. Well, maybe Lenovo is a customer oriented company that shares information as openly as possible. I don't see the harm in that and it also tells me why my dollars should still go to that company in the future, rather than say Dell or HP or Acer.

 

No plans for X2xx was answer to your X1 question?
Otherwise I cant find your question regarding X220s.

 

From his twitter account,
@Lenovo_ANZ is the s sub model of the X series laptop gone the way of the dodo? 11:17 PM Mar 9th via web

I believe this is his question? Not a twitter fan, so not sure if that was his question.

 

X1 question was a subsequent question i asked after the X220s answer from Lenovo, you need some better softwares to track tweets. The question was from a while ago, probably one or two weeks ago.

P.S. k2001 that was the question that i asked. Thanks for digging up the question.

 

fwiw, the answer is correct.   no X220s model at this time.   the PSREF sheets do show an i3-based X220i so there will be "variants" to some degree.

 

yes the i variant. Have you tried the new X220, how does the hinge feel. Many of the latchless laptops have a certain amount of play in their hinges, is that a problem with the X220?

 

CDW is selling one, but does not say it has the IPS option for the price listed.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220 4287 - Core i5 2520M 2.5 GHz - 12.5" TFT - with UltraB - 42872WU - Notebook Computers - CDW.com

 

That model, the 4287-2WU, does not have IPS according to the tabook.

EDIT: The following X220 models are listed to have IPS in tabook.
4290-2WU
4290-35U
4290-34U
4290-33U
4291-2ZU
4291-2WU
4291-2VU
4291-2UU

 

so why is it so expensive? 1400$ without IPS? i thought i5 + ips is supposed to cost 1299$? (according to reviews)

 

Sometimes price fluctuate relating to the parts cost and exchange rate. Also, in USA there is a minimal price law, which prevents the supplier of products setting a maximum price for a product sold through a third party retailer. Basically, a retailer can set any price they want, as long as they can sell the product.

 

I've been wondering about the prices quoted in the reviews as well. They don't seem to jive with the prices listed from several sources offering the X220 at this time. I wonder if (A) they did not actually receive an IPS display, or (B) were misled (perhaps unintentionally) as to the pricing of their review unit.

Cost Central lists the MSRP of the 4290-34U as being $1,989.00 with their selling price being $1,683.59. The 4290-34U matches pretty close the *supposed* review models with IPS.

Cost Central lists the MSRP of the 4290-2ZU as being $1,699.00 with their selling price being $1,438.12. The 4290-2ZU matches pretty close the *supposed* review models without IPS.

Of note, Cost Central lists the MSRP of the "TopSeller" 4287-2WU as being $1,479.00 with their selling price being $1,342.61. The 4287-2WU is similar to the above 4290-2ZU, but adds the Web Cam, Ultrabase, and DVD writer!

 

How about wait for it to actually come out on Lenovo website?! This speculation (especially the ones from 3rd party website) leads only to wasting time.

I mean what do you want - people here to rub their magic ball and summon the future prices for you?

 

Now that I think about it, I suppose Lenovo could add some model(s) to the tabook by the official release date in April. They could add a model that matches the $1,300 review models feature-wise and price-wise (probably "street price" not MSRP).

 

Don't worry about what the listed price is, since they are different from the different sources they quote from. Wait till they come out and check Lenovo official pricing, and then check what they should cost and how much you want to pay for one (with the right spec that is).

 

the reviews quote starting prices with 1-year warranties and bare-minimum configurations.   the preconfigured models listed in the PSREF sheets have 3-year warranties, faster drives, etc.   these differences can add a considerable amount to the price, especially when looking at models with 3-year on-site warranty, ultrabase, 9-cell battery, etc.

 

Most of the reviews did state the starting prices with minimum configurations, however as I understood it; some of them also stated a price for the unit they were reviewing at around $1,300 (usually with the IPS option). I admit I did not read each review slowly and carefully. I may have missed something.

I also haven't been taking into consideration the CTO option. Who knows what prices one would end up with there? Offhand I would think that CTO would be more expensive than preconfigured models. Admittedly, I have only purchased one ThinkPad from Lenovo directly, and that was a few years ago. Can't say I am really up to date with the ins and outs of ordering new models from Lenovo these days. I will be a little surprised if the X220 I ordered from Cost Central proves to significantly more expensive than if I had waited and ordered from Lenovo directly. I guess we'll see.