A very late review of the X220

I admit fully this short review is likely to be of little use as I am reviewing something that is about to be discontinued, but perhaps it will be of value to someone so I thought I would write up some thoughts. No photos as there are plenty around.

When the X230 was announced I was very worried about the keyboard change. For all sorts of reasons. I remember back when Lenovo removed the IBM branding as per agreement and people openly wondered if it was the beginning of the end for ThinkPads. It hasn't yet, but we may slowly be on our way there.

I am not much on branding. In fact I really don't care what name is on something, but brands are used to cohesively message about what the items core traits are and the ThinkPad with its old school industrial looks is the anti-thesis of Apple. ThinkPads aren't cool to anyone other than engineers I don't think. As an engineer I think they are pretty cool. Historically even more so they are designed with the idea of maintaining them in mind, for cooperate fleet reasons in nothing else. They are the workhorse. One screw to change the hard drive, power connectors not soldered to the motherboard, it is the little things.

This is why the keyboard switch was so troubling to me. While I suppose I can see why backlighting the keys might be of value to some non-touch typists, I don't really need to be able to see the keys at all, the bumps on the home row are really all that I need. My fingers even know when they have made a typo without seeing it on the screen most of the time. The issue with the new keyboard isn't so much the new keycaps, and by all reports the throw of the keys is still quite nice, but rather the fact that it would seem we have reduced function for form. This is not a typical ThinkPad choice and so it is a troubling one.

I fully understand the need to unify design across the line so I see how releasing an X1 in turn means that the X230 will have to follow with its keyboard but it is still a disappointing turn. The thing is people who like the engineering end of things don't have much place to go even if Lenovo makes quite bad choices in the future.

This preamble to the review is the reason there is a review. I didn't even want to buy a laptop right now. I had better things to do with my money, but here I found myself with the next 200 series released, and while I was glad the IPS screen was carried forward I was not happy about the keyboard.

The big improvement between Ivy and Sandy Bridge was graphics so the change essentially was USB 3 on all models, and the new keyboard; plus faster graphics. Since I don't do really anything that needs GPU performance on my laptop (math, scientific programming, and writing mostly), the only items of note were USB 3 and the keyboard.

The i7 model of the X220 had USB 3 so I waited for the outlet to come up with a reasonable deal for me, even if I didn't get USB 3 that would be okay as long as the price was right, but IPS was required and a 9 cell strongly preferred along with a camera and Bluetooth. I think I let a somewhat better deal slip away but I end up getting a new 4290-35U from the outlet for 810 USD.

This had everything I wanted though slightly more than I wanted to spend:
i7 and thus USB 3
IPS screen
Bluetooth, Camera, and 9 cell battery.
4 GB of RAM, 320 GB HD, Win 7 Pro, no WAN basically filling out the Specs.

After some waiting for a shipment I got my laptop and a 120 GB Mushkin mSATA SSD.

When I got the machine I didn't even turn it on, I just pulled the HD and cloned it for later... Then I gave a quick run through. Everything seemed to work so I made the rescue CDs, turned it off and put in the SSD.

Now I couldn't figure how to do a clean install of just Win 7 from the Lenovo provided software (perhaps someone will say there is a way) but I had a Win 7 disc so I just used that. It seemed to work and activate with OEM code from the sticker so all is well as far as I can tell.

Now on to use... I had an X200 and a T60 before that. But the X200 is the base of my comparison here. First the obvious thing. The X200 had a horrific screen I commented in my X200 review on the static dithering pattern. It was a terrible 6-bit TN panel, really really bad. All my monitors are IPS so finally have IPS on a laptop is a relief. That is really how I feel, soothed. Ahhh, it doesn't look bad...

The other item that is of course at the top of my list is the keyboard. This one is different than both my T60 and my X200. The T60 was clattery, it had a lot of auditory feedback. The X200 was silent in comparison, and I missed the noise actually until I got used to it. Now I don't know if it is just newer but the throw of the X220 keyboard I got is heavier. I like it more than the X200 at least in the current state. It has a nice thunk to it.

With the SSD and a HD I have all that I could wish for in terms of speed and storage. I had put a 120 GB SSD in my X200, but keeping to 120 GB for all my research and programs was a bit like flying coach, very little leg room. While I have never flown anything but coach, this must be at least business class. Any big files I can just toss on the HD. Very nice. I don't foresee having more than 120 GB of program files and current work any time while this laptop will be relevant.

So it looks like a complete victory for the X220 then? Well not quite. The one issue with mine is heat. I'd be happy to hear reports from others but mine is a lot hotter than my X200. Now I don't think it is hot but it is hotter. The TPD of the X200's P8400 was only 25W, the i7 2620M is 35W. There are more vents on the X220 than the X200 implying to me there is simply more heat to dissipate.

The idle temperature of the CPU for the 2620M using HWmonitor is over 40C; for the P8400 it was only 30 C. The X200 contrasted with the T60 in being much cooler and I got used to that. This X220 reminds me of my T60.

I'd be interested what the idle temperatures other have for the same model are but I suspect nothing is wrong. Perhaps it is simply a consequence of having on board graphics on top of everything else in a single place, though I am skeptical about that hypothesis actually. Used on a desk this is no issue but used on your lap it does make it less pleasant to use than its older brother. But that really is the only strike against it.

So in conclusion if you like the old keyboard you might want to get an X220 now particularly if you can find a nice deal as they are discontinued on the outlet or otherwise. The combination of SSD + HD and the IPS screen, combined with the best Thinkpad keyboard I have owned make this laptop a winner, but you probably already knew that.

 

I am going to add one other slight negative to the review which I should have mentioned before. Specifically the removal of status LEDs. Although the move of the caps lock to the key LED is okay I guess I don't, they use a persistent num-lock overlay on the screen. In addition the plug indicator was removed. It is true you can see in windows if it is plugged in but still it is a regression in function like the X230 keyboard for a very marginal cost savings. (The cost savings per unit couldn't be more than 5 cents per LED and that is being very generous.)

I will update again if I find any further annoying traits as I go along. My conclusion stands but would reiterate my fear for the direction of these notebooks.

 

I still think the x220 is still a good buy. A few weeks ago I nearly bought one with an i5 and IPS for $678. (New) I ended up going with the x230 since I like the chiclet keyboard more than the traditional style ones. I don't know what my malfunction is, but my fingers always seems to get "lost" on my T61. I don't know if it's the key spacing or how the keys are shaped. (Maybe a combination of the two?)

 

I love the row of indicator lights on my T500, and was sad to see them go on the Tx10 generation. With the Tx30 generation, we've strangely lost the CapsLk key LED as well, I think, which is a notable usability compromise. Doesn't affect me (I remap CapsLk to Shift in the registry), but bothersome nevertheless.

 

If there's one LED that would be useful, it's the "mute sound". It's really annoying during meetings trying to guess whether the laptop will start making sounds (entering Windows, Skype, etc.) as I turn on the laptop.

 

The i7 is rated at about 28W TDP if you don't include the Graphics. (perhaps even 25W??) On the other Hand the P8400 has a TDP of around 33W (35W??) with the Graphics. So to make it fair you have to either compare 28W vs. 25W or 35W vs. 33W.

So why does the X220 run hotter? Well that's easy. Just look at that massive heatsink in the X200. The X220 additionally is much thinner and has a really crappy heatsink. I wouldn't be surprised if the Fan itself is worse on the X220 as well.

Since I own a T60 too (T2500, X1400), I can tell you they are both light years apart in terms of heat, at least in my point of view. While my X220 stays really cool under light load my T60 could operate as my heater and keep me warm during winter.

Sure my X220 gets hot under heavy load, there's no denying that, but in power saving mode (798MHz) I can operate my X220 completely passive without a Fan, even under maximum load.

In the same mode, my T60 doesn't even survive idle without a Fan.

 

Take TDP with a grain of salt, Core i series CPU's can easily surpass rated TDP with Turbo Boost. My X220t on extreme load cannot even control the fan manually with tpfancontrol.

 

Yes, that is true. On battery Power however, Sandy's are (usually) by default locked to 800MHz. But on the other hand you wouldn't buy an X220 if you didn't want or need the Full Core-i Power.

I guess I don't have all of these Problems since I've got an i3-2310m with a very low clock of only 2,1GHz and no Turbo.

 

The TPDs I posted came right from Intel's data, I'm sure with the graphics they are not far off though as noted. Also as noted TPD and actual are different, normally actual is less than TPD. Heatsink size could be the issue but the plastic is a good insulator and so the only convection output on the X200 is smaller than the X220 so I conclude no matter the copper size that the power dissipated is probably higher on the processor in my X220 than my X200.