X240 vs T440s

Hi. I am a longtime Lenovo/IBM laptop user. I do music and video production. My X220 has served me well, but is cracking now on the palmrest and showing age. A few questions:

∙ Do the X240 and T440s support m-SATA? I have an mSATA SSD (256GB) in my X220 in addition to main drive which is also 256GB
∙ Do the X240 and T440s support Expresscard? I have an expresscard which I use to add 2 more USB ports
∙ Are the X240 andd T440s good with graphics? I do video rendering on my X220. It's slow, but it works.
∙ Do the X240 and T440s support SDHC?. I own a 256GB SD Card.

I understand the X240 tops out at 8GB (Bummer). I already have 16GB in my X220, but I love the X240's form factor. I'm willing to part w/8GB. Does it use the same RAM as the X220?

I appreciate any help with this. My X220 has 3 USB ports, but it seems like the X240 only has two.

 

No.

No.

They are much better than the X220 GPU wise - T440s is better than the X240, because of the Dual-Channel RAM.

Yes, it has only 2 - T440s has 3 like the X220.

 

So then technically, my X220 is still a way better bargain than the X240 and T440? What a shame. I'm better off getting a newer condition X220 off eBay it seems.

 

Performance wise, the T440s will beat the X220 - when it comes to mobility, the X240 is better. I would not say the X220 is a better bargin.

 

But in terms of expandibility, the X220 wins hands down it seems.

The X220 can house 16GB, 3 USB Slots, mSATA SSDs in addition to the Main Drive, Exprescard 2.0 and SDHC.

According to you, the X240/T440 excels at graphics and maybe has a faster processor, but that's about it correct? For Video and Audio, it seems as if the newer models are no good unless you get into T440 (non S) territory.

 

CPU wise - T440s and X240 should be almost the same as the X220.

GPU wise: T440s is much faster, X240 is also faster, but not as much as the T440s.

In terms on expandibility, the X220 is much better than the X240 - the X240 has a maximum of 8 GB RAM, 2 USB ports, and no expresscard. It has M.2 instead of mSATA. T440s is really close to the X220, with 12 GB RAM, 3 USB ports, M.2 SSD and SDHC - expresscard is missing as well. There are two points where X240 and T440s are better than the X220 in terms of expandibility: They both can be equiped with 9.5mm or 7mm HDDs/SSDs (X220 only 7mm), and for both its possible to have LTE and an M.2 SSD at the same time (if you have the 3rd M.2 slot option).

One area where T440s and X240 are clearly better than the X220: Battery performance.

Hope that helps!

 

Thanks IBMThink! I'm going to stick with my X220 and see what happens when an X250 rolls along! I may just get the cracks in my chassis repaired instead.

 

The palm rest is about the easiest thing to replace on your X220. Keeping it seems like the prudent thing. The X240 or T440 don't offer you much unless you want the FHD on the T440.

 

Is the KEYBOARD BEZEL also easy to replace? I have a few cracks on it as well.

 

Yes it is. It's all in the HMM.

 

I think the sandy bridge cpus will go down as a great cpu who were ahead of their time, kind of like the tualatin cpu. I still run a w520, and I've owned ivy bridges and haswells, and the clarksfield which was the one before the sandy bridge. Sandy's were huge jump in energy efficiency, heat generation, performance etc. Got nearly double the battery life from a w510, much better performance, lots less heat, great ram support and very decent video. Ivy bridge gave me an extra hour battery life, little bit less heat, did not support more ram. Haswelll performs the same as ivy and battery life is almost the same. I would think for music production you might need more ram and the ability to use 16gb vs 8gb has to be huge. Plus being old school the keyboard will fit you better, save the money.

 

Thanks for chiming in Jedisurfer! I definitely plan on saving my money now I'll try to hang onto the X220 for another year or two.

 

I just got a prettty good used X220 myself, and the overall build quality still feels better than the X240 personally. I'll look into a 'rebuild', just get the cracked bezels replaced, and maybe a IPS screen upgrade while you're at it, if budget allows?

 

Great thread - thanks, Epu. I was just contemplating the same: buy a new X240, but I think I'll just max out my current X220 in upgrades and hang onto it for another year. Now to use my Squaretrade warranty to fix all my case cracks, too.

Is there a 1Tb or larger HD for the X220? Any instructions somewhere on swapping out to that?

 

The Hardware Reference Manual has instructions for this. See: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60739.pdf

Alternatively, there should be plenty of YouTube guides.

 

WD makes a 1TB 7mm 5400RPM drive. I have it in my E7440.