Does X230 use Roll-Cage Technology?

Can anyone tell me if X230 use Roll-Cage Technology? And what's the material of it? I found X220 use something made by plastic but not metal under its keyboard. Is X230 the same with it?
And the same question with T430S.
Can anyone give me some advice on which one I should buy, T430S or X230?
Thanks a lot to you.

 

The T430s sales literature does show that it has a ThinkPad Roll Cage (one-piece magnesium frame). The lid/display back material is Hybrid-Carbon-Fiber-reinforced plastic and the bottom/base is Magnesium Alloy.

I don't see any mention of the Roll Cage for the X230. The display cover material is shown as Magnesium + PCABS and the base is Magnesium Alloy.

Personally, I chose the T430s for the high-res 1600x900 display and I love it! Hope this helps!

 

My vote if this were a democracy would be for the X230. While the T430s does give you a bump in resolution, there's also a drop in image quality. As screens have become more squat, bumping up in resolution isn't as big a deal as most of the extra space comes on the sides, which has less value. Going from HD to HD+ nets you about three extra lines on a typical internet page for example. That's not enough for me to give up the better quality the X230 LCD offers. Plus, the X230 is more portable and gets better battery life.

 

Magnesium is metal.

 

Just chatted with two Lenovo Rep. They confirmed that the X230 does use Roll-Cage Technology. Also one said it was made of aluminum and the other 'aluminum materials'.

Some reviews online say that they don't have roll-cage and others do. I do not know what to believe anymore. The only way to resolve this is to kick it down the stairs ...

 

Unless its radically different design from X200/X201 series, it does not have a roll cage. It does feel relatively sturdy regardless, but the T series does feel sturdier (I used T410 briefly). Roll-cage designs are AFAIK implemented only on T and W series currently.

The sales reps (if you haven't figured that out already) are full of bs.

I would go for X series due to the IPS screen.

 

The X200s/X201s both had the Roll Cage. The original X1 series, introduced last year, also had the Roll Cage. No word on whether the brand new X1 Carbon will have it or not?

 

Why is the roll cage important again? I mean I get it - durability and strength...but if you can't even tell if it has it (hence the debate) what does it matter? Or is a case of deciphering a spec to feel better?

 

I don't see where is the roll cage on X200s: https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150118796795571 (at the bottom?)

This is what I was referring to: Quick Look At The ThinkPad T410s Roll Cage and SSD - YouTube

It probably doesn't matter, even without a rollcage the laptop feels quite nice.

 

X230 has a roll cage, the bottom frame is magnesium alloy, so is the screen backing.

btw, the X220 is the same. Not sure what you are referring to as plastic.

 

The X220/X230 does have a roll cage. It's just constructed differently. Whereas something like T420 has a cage and then a separate plastic cover, it's one piece in the X2x30 for the front and rear sections of the chassis. The keyboard bezel (also magnesium) is the upper part of the cage in the center section.

 

I don't think X220/230 series has the roll cage. Bottom plate and lid being magnesium doesn't equate to roll cage. There are lot of business laptop made with magnesium.
The red part I marked in a x230t is made of pure cheap plastic.

 

They doesn´t have a roll-cage, as all former X-series. They are to small and to thin for a roll-cage - there is not enough room.

 

That's what I thought. Doesn't matter really. It's already sturdy enough because they are smaller too.

 

That depends what you define roll cage as. That plastic part looks like it's solely used to keep the keyboard from flexing.

 

It is more of an exoskeleton design, but that bottom magnesium cover does have some very thick spots that are more like an internal frame. So if you consider the roll cage to be a strictly internal frame that's not the same piece of material as the outside, no, it doesn't really have a roll cage (though I'm pretty sure there's still one behind the screen, I'm not taking my X220's screen apart to find out). But that bottom plate does share a lot in common to the more traditional cage, and there's not a bit of chassis flex that would lead to motherboard flex, not that I can see anyway. Overall I feel my X220 is built better than my old X61, annoying click pad and latchless design aside.

 

Well if anyone feels compelled to sue Lenovo for false advertising...

ThinkPad X230 laptop / X230t tablet tour - YouTube

It says here at 46 seconds... Magnesium Roll Cages

 

Thats not false. It has maybe not same frame as the T-series, but it as a frame made of magnesium, which you can call "roll-cage". They have never said that it is exactly the same frame as T-series.

 

OK, but by that definition there are MANY other laptops that also have a "roll cage", as in meaning metal construction behind the screen and below the keyboard. X200T does have it this way -- I opened the screen since the LCD cable wore out, but I would not recommend doing that unless something is wrong. To get the screen open on X200T you literally have to tear apart part few pieces of the plastic bezel that has screw heads molded in plastic so that you cannot unscrew them (I've never seen such a bad design). On top of that the screen bezel was literally glued to the screen itself. So you can trust me that it does have metal support.