Dilemma - T431s or X230

Folks, after waiting for a long time for the T440s, I decided to give up on this machine and go for either an older x230 or a T431s. The T440s is really expensive and is not yet available in Canada. Also, I have been seeing reports of it not playing well with the Samsung 840 pro SSDs

So, please help me decide between the X230 and the T431s. They both are really good and have their own pros/cons

X230 pros:
- Awesome IPS display
- Small footprint
- Full mobile CPU (not the ULV ones)
- Easily upgradable hard drive and RAM

X230 cons:
- Thicker than the T431
- Low rez 1366 x 768 display

T431s pros:
- Really thin and light for a 14" laptop
- Newer design with carbon fibre materials
- Higher rez 1600 x 900 display
- Quick charge feature with new square power adapter

T431s cons:
- Crappy TN display. Crappy contrast ratio
- Built-in 3 cell 47Whr battery (X230 comes with 6 cell 63 Whr battery)

After the IBM EPP discount, I am paying pretty much the same price for both of them:

T431s: $786
(Core i5 3337U, 4GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, Bluetooth, Intel 6235 wifi, fingerprint reader, webcam)

X230: $794
(Core i5 3230M, 4GB RAM, 500 GB HDD, Bluetooth, Intel 6205 wifi, fingerprint reader, webcam)

I plan on upgrading the RAM and SSD on my own after I get the machine so I am not factoring that cost since it would be the same cost for either machine.

Would really appreciate some advice from you knowledgable folks. Thanks.

 

I bought an X220 (IPS, 1366x768) for me, and I bought 6 T420s (TN, 1600 x 900) for my team at work.

So each night, I had my own X220 and my work T420, and I always preferred to work on the X220. Lower resolution was trumped by the IPS display, which is just amazing. Just autohide the taskbar.

 

Ask yourself, do you need more battery life or higher resolution display? If you really need both, then better save the money for the best thing to come.

I myself will not compromize, I will definitely get T440s or T440 if I really need high res. display, if not then X230 ftw

 

Thanks tpdi and andrick. Does anybody have any specific experience with the T431s screen (or does it have the same one as T420) ? Is it really that bad?

Can anybody comment on the battery life of the T431s v/s X230 with 6 cell battery?

Lenovo would have had a winner if it put a 1080p screen in the X230/X240/T431s instead of wasting its resources on gimmicks like the Thinkpad Helix.

 

I would get the T440s instead the T431s, since it has better chassis materials, better cooling, a brilliant FHD IPS screen and a removeable battery. And on top of course Haswell, which means a longer battery life.

 

The T431s screen is the same ordinary and liveable screen that is on the T420 & T430. I saw it and it was alright but I have never used an IPS screen so it was good to me.

The T431s does not have an extended battery and real world battery life ranged from 4-5.5 hours. So if battery life is important to you I would get the X230.

THe T440s with the is the T431s with a 1080p IPS screen with the option to have an extended battery, an extra USB and that's about it. I felt that for 4 years I would beat myself if I did not get an IPS screen so I chose the T440s over the T431s. The x230 is too small for my needs so I could not comment.

 

Presuming you can't wait and/or afford T440s, my vote would go to X230.

Yes, the LCD on T431s *is* that horrible in my opinion.

 

X230 is lower resolution, but it's also 12.5 vs 14". I was never fond of 14" ThinkPads, kinda heavy and bulky.

 

Very true.

That's about the largest screen size where 1366x768 can be considered usable.

 

Thanks folks.

@ibmthink , I have been waiting very patiently for the T440s but its still not available in Canada and its prices seem to be ridiculous for the value it provides. For $794 + $135 Samsung 840 Pro SSD + $84 Crucial 8GB RAM =$1013 I get a very nice machine (edit:X230) with a full mobile CPU (and not a ULV cpu). The lowest T440s with the minimal specifications wont even come close to this price. The only real thing I am missing out is a gorgeous 1080p IPS screen. Oh well.

 

It's all dependent on what you are doing with the laptop. Just browsing the net, the difference between a SV and LV Core series processor is minimal, because an i5/i7 will turbo itself. Also LV processor will mean better battery life on more load, while not really sacrificing performance. Now if you are doing CAD or rendering, then a LV processor isn't the best choice, but remember T440s is a slim machine. All T4xxs series have not had ULV/LV processors since T400s. And the slim variants were never a good value, they were aimed for professionals who need 80% the computational power of the normal T series, but want a slimmer chassis and a higher resolution screen to boot.

And you can't really compared a X230 to a T440s directly.