X220 i3 version worth it?

Hey!

so since Lenovo don't give Student Discounts in the UK I cannot afford to buy the i5 version, was wondering if it would be worth buying the i3 version with 4GB RAM or waiting for a e coupon to show up.

My other choice would be the Samsung Series 7 slate but that has quite a few QC issues and I really don't want to take the chance.

Also thought of buying the normal X220 with a Wacom Bamboo but I would prefer a touch screen to write on, feels weird to write on one place and look somewhere else lol so not leaning towards that.

Main things I would be doing on the Laptop is note taking, programming and perhaps brushing up on my Photoshop skills as well as the normal general web surfing, email etc.


Really appreciate some advice.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

The current generation of Core i3 processors are more than ample to cope with the tasks you mentioned GamerzRealm. For the RAMs it's a lot cheaper getting it yourself, seeing the configurations it cost an additional £32.40 for just 1x 4GB RAM. Elsewhere you can easily get two of those for around the same money. Generally with the X220 it's recommended to get the "Premium HD" IPS screen which offers much higher viewing angles and visual contrast over the standard screens, plus its actually not that expensive as it costs roughly the same as to upgrading that 4GB RAM thus making this a far more better option.

However if you're not in a hurry then its generally worth waiting for coupon codes to come as it's quite expensive at the moment. It's not unusual to get 10% off with these special coupon deals, you can also stack it up with extra 3% cashback if you use Quidco, effectively making it 13% off overall.

 

Thanks for the reply, I guess I can wait a couple of weeks and see if a coupon shows up. If not then I'll buy the i3 version.

About the display, the tablet version doesn't give me the option to choose the Premium HD display.

 

The tablet version comes with the "Premium" IPS display default.

 

Yes all X220 Tablets are IPS and Multi-touch.

The Sandy Bridge i3 is more than sufficient for the tasks listed, but keep in mind X series laptops have soldered CPU's so there is no upgrading later on but changing out the entire motherboard.

 

No complaints about my i3 yet. If you think about it, how often do would I have the opportunity to use the better processing power of the i5 or i7? Not very often, so in that sense the i3 offers better value because it's less expensive.

 

The i5 and i7's processing power isn't that great, Intel market it as such to fool the consumer into paying more for them, but i3 is more than adequate for most stuffs. If the i3 isn't adequate then i7 won't be that much better.

 

One thing you should keep in mind is that the Intel Core i3 2310M does not support Turbo Boost, which means it can not automatically overclock itself. Especially if you use software that is not yet optimized to use both cores, the i3 will be considerably slower than the i5/7 (2100 MHz compared to 2500 - 3200 MHz for the i5 2520M).

 

For most people's uses, an i3 is sufficient. Yes an i5/i7 will run over an i3 for only single threaded use (because of Turbo Boost), but is it worth extra? That depends on the user.

 

That is of course true. The thread starter should be informed of the i3 limitations though.

 

You could just buy it from campusdiscount.de where they have a student discount. I did that and I'm from Sweden and it worked without a hitch. You just have to specify another keyboard (unless you're fine with the german one) which costs about 35€.

All in all I got my x220 with i5 and IPS for under a 1000€, about two-thirds of the cost if I would have bought it from a swedish retailer.

To verify that you are indeed a student you need to send them a picture of you student ID and your regular ID.

 

Would it work for UK Citizens? I don't have a regular ID do they accept passport pictures?

 

Yes, I think so. I don't even think you need more than the Student ID.

 

I don't think the lack of turbo or lower graphics clock is all that bad. If you don't use it you're just saving yourself money anyways. I think an important feature loss to know about though is the vt-d or built in AES instructions. If you don't need/use those, then the i3 is a great processor.