Is the X220 a stand alone computer?

I am contemplating buying a decked out x220 (my brother gets something like a 25% off discount thru work) but I am a little worried about the size. I am switching off of an old 16 inch vaio and have been looking primarily at 13" like the Sony SA or toshiba r830, but is 12.5" too small to be my only computer? I know it is a personal choice, but I am curious about how other people use their x220, in conjunction with another computer or by itself. I will mostly be using the computer for law school, internet research, email and internet, HD video playback and hooking it into my HDTV to play movies and tv shows. Also, is the i7 the only model that gets USB 3? It seems that way when customizing the machine.

thanks for the advice and help.

 

Only the i7 gets USB 3.0, yep.

Fully decked out, the X220 is a rather fast laptop. It's not going to be doing any serious gaming, but you'll be able to do all your productivity stuff really well. It should handle HD video fine... But remember, there's no disk drive.

Since you're in school, you might come to appreciate the small size. Mobility might win you over! But then again, the smaller resolution can be frustrating if you're trying to type a long paper.

If I were you, I'd go to a brick and mortar store and try out the laptops. Find one with about the same size screen and resoluton, see if it is an issue for you or not.

I am in a similar spot as you and I ended up going for the T420s - all configurations have the USB 3.0, it's small and portable, very similar specs. Not as good battery life though.

But the X220's IPS display is something to love and cherish for the rest of your natural life.

 

Aside from gaming, it can easily be your only computer. If you get an external video card (DIY ViDock or an orignal ViDock), you can even play games with it.

I went from an X201T to a W520. The W520 is way too big for me but I don't like the X220 resolution. The middle ground for me is the T420s like Zuwxiv. Just ordered it and sent my W520 back.

 

Yea, the t420s seems like it is a great computer, but the limited battery life really kinda threw me for a loop. In theory I would be around ac plugs, but it only takes one time to be without to really regret the purchase. Also, I have read some horror stories about the screen of the t420 and the t420s. Can anyone speak to this?

 

X220 Tablet here. Hardware-wise, the screen might be a bit lacking for a standalone machine. If you have a 20" monitor at home, then you'll have no problems.

Even not fully decked out (i5 processor, 4gb ram, etc) it is a more than capable machine. Seriously, the only complaint (which really isn't even a complaint) is the small screen. I require vast amounts of screen real estate to do what I do, so hooking an external monitor when I'm sitting down at a desk is a must. On the go, I really do appreciate the 12.5" form factor.

I have a Sony Vaio that I'm looking to phase out. It still is my primary machine because I simply haven't had the time to move all of my apps/documents over.

My Vaio is a Core 2 Duo 2.2Ghz, and next to my i7 2.7Ghz x220, it is SLUGGISH. Don't get me wrong, it was a fast machine, tweaked and optimized to no tomorrow. I was actually pretty happy with the performance of it (but it is too big.. 17"). On the x220, everything is just faster. Chrome tabs open and close faster (its noticeable, but in the split second range, not several seconds difference or anything). Everything is much more responsive in general. I felt that I was already pushing my Core 2 Duo CPU to the limits, with the 10-15 applications I have open at once, HD video streaming, media player, 30-40 tabs in chrome, etc. The machine tended to lag up from time to time. On the x220, I can do the exact same thing and its totally responsive. It handles having everything open at once like a champ.

One caveat though, the x220 is a new machine. The hardware is gorgeous. The software.. uhm. to put it nicely.. I don't even know how I would. It's been plagued by several software/driver glitches and whatnot, which is another reason why I'm holding off fully transitioning from my Vaio. Not that it crashes left and right, but misc things cause me to restart the machine more than I'd like to. Stuff like WLAN glitching (the adapter just dissapears for some reason), CPU throttling (not that big of a concern, but a problem nonetheless), etc. Even this morning I ran into a really strange glitch.. the machine was under no load, but everything just started lagging up like no tomorrow. I had music playing and it would "machine-gun" (where the split second in the audio buffer gets played repeatedly) on and off. The mouse was also really jumpy and the computer basically lagged hard core. A simple restart fixed this, but I suspect it has something to do with the drivers on the machine (as I have very little 3rd party software installed).

I don't want this to discourage you from buying the x220; to be fair, when I first got my Vaio, it was a buggy mess as well, and after about a year it stopped bluescreening on a daily basis (this was in the Vista days). It is a great machine, but it will take their software engineering team some time to iron out all the bugs and whatnot, so keep that in mind (however, this is not new, every laptop launch is plagued with misc bugs and whatnot).

 

The X220 uses a standard voltage CPU, so it should be no slower than a larger laptop. It should handle most stuff easily, except gaming since it has integrated graphics. Maybe try ViDock if you need graphics power.

For the screen size concerns. I don't think it matters much. I thought the screen size of my netbook would be a big downside, but I didn't mind it that much after a month or two.

The only time I use my T400 is when stuff I need to run is too demanding for my 2510p and I'm on the go. This shouldn't be a problem for you, since unlike my 2510p with its older ulv CPU, the X220 packs a standard voltage one.

 

If you are coming from a 16in laptop, then the screen and especially the resolution is going to seem really small. The difference in size between even a 13.3 in Macbook screen and the 12.5 in X220 screen is pretty noticeable. You should definitely go to a store to check out the screen size. I think Lenovo sells an Ideapad with a 12.5 in screen.

If you are doing a lot of text-heavy stuff like writing then you definitely want a higher resolution screen or an external monitor. When I was using Word, I had to auto-hide the taskbar as well as the office ribbon just to get enough screen real estate. Otherwise you can only fit like 2 paragraphs of text on the screen.

 

I find my X220 screen a little hard to work with since there's not enough pixels. With an external monitor however it's fine. Might want to attach a mouse since the trackpad sorta sucks and while the Trackpoint is great, it's not as easy to use as a real mouse. As for graphics, it's fine, but nothing spectacular so plan on doing external GPU if you want to have performance.

All that said, these Sandy Bridge processors are insanely fast, and even when the fan is near full blast it's comparable to the fan on my GT240 graphics card (which sucks).

 

I would second the recommendation for an external monitor for more pixels if you intend to do text heavy work. This would go for just about every laptop in this size range (and sadly much of larger ones as well) though as most have the 1366x768 resolution though. (1600x900 guys, it isn't that hard. Sony SA anyone?)

Unless you are working with something that requires a lot of precision mousing, I would try to get used to the trackpoint over the external mouse since you don't have to lift your hands of the keyboard to use it.

 

I use my X220 as my only computer. I have it docked with an external monitor, however I used it by itself for almost a week while traveling and it was fine. Putting the Windows 7 taskbar on the left edge of the screen helps. Also, the IPS display is gorgeous.

 

Wouldn't you want a lower resolution screen for writing? The characters on a higher resolution screen would be microscopic compared to something on a larger screen with more pixels.

 

For pure text, you can use the zoom button in Word or your browser to adjust the dpi so a 12 pt font can be as big or small as you need.

What I meant by saying you need a higher resolution display is that with 768 vertical pixels, you lose 1/4 to 1/3 of your screen to the taskbar, the title bar, the menu, and the office ribbon. These GUI elements are fixed in size and can't be shrunk by adjusting the zoom or the system dpi so unless you hide them, there's not much useful space left to do work.

 

A higher resolution screen will also produce crisper text. The iPhone 4 screen was heavily hyped for similar reasons.

 

While the OP's question is about the X220, I faced a similar question when considering the X201 recently.

My solution was to go for an external monitor and to use Win 7's multi-monitor options. Personally, when traveling the X201/ X220 makes eminent sense. And when back at home hooking it up via a dock to an external monitor (or two!) makes life much easier.

As for the computing power of the X220, I think for average use (including some gaming as others have already pointed out) the X220 is a very capable machine - perhaps even the best machine in its class. Btw, I feel the same way about the X201.

The most important lesson that I learnt however is the benefit of using an external monitor. It is quite addictive (though after an initial period of disorientation in my particular case). And, when coupled with the mobility afforded by the X220, the combination can be very effective.

Edit:

Very true. One of the reasons I did not opt for the X220. I will probably replace the X201 with the refresh of the X220 or its next upgrade (or, maybe even the X1/X2(?)).

I just hope Lenov does not go around changing docks! One of the reasons I am not buying a dock for the X201 is precisely this - it would be useless with the X220.

 

+1 on all of the above. I absolutely love the size of the X220 for using on my lap or when going mobile. But when at my desk for the majority of the time, an external monitor is the way to go. I really like the Ultrabase3 as well, as it means no cable plugging/unplugging (just click and unclick the X220 from the base).

I haven't been experiencing any problems with my X220, so I'd say "go for it"

Cheers,
Wayne

 

I can't wait until returns like this start showing up in the Outlet

 

People use netbooks as their only computer. I use my X220 with no other monitors, and I likely will never hook it up to any other screen. Before this I had an even smaller computer, an 11.6" Acer 1830T and I also used that by itself. Very easily doable.

 

I honestly cannot imagine using a netbook as a primary computer. More power (And money in the wallet, smaller electric bills, etc) to those who can, but I just can't do it. I will say, there are folks who view us X series loyalists the same way. It's not a form factor that works for everyone. My X201 does get an external second monitor at home, and as soon as I can reallocate enough funds for a dock it'll be running two 19 inch LCD's when at home. However, for general use, I haven't been hampered by the 12 inch LCD in the slightest. My X201 has relegated my quad core desktop to gaming and web browsing, and more often than not I find myself wanting the power of the laptop's I7 CPU for heavier duty tasks, rather than my dated Phenom quad core.

Prior to the X201, I owned an X41, T22, and 560X. I loved the T series' durability, but the weight just killed me. Being able to have more power than I could ever need in an X series chassis is absolutely wonderful.

 

The i7 x220, running at its maximum turbo, is about half as fast as an overclocked 3.8ghz core i7 920.

Get a dock of some sort, and a high quality second monitor. This can certainly be a desktop replacement (if you're not wasting your time playing games on it.)

 

The games comments dont really hold either. It depends on the games and the settings.

I play L4D2 nightly on my X220 at fairly crisp settings without any troubles. It gets a bit warm but thats another story.

*Not to say this can compare with any desktop or laptop with dedicated graphics, its not a gaming laptop but with fast memory it does just fine*

 

Coming from usually high-resolution screens myself (my previous laptop uses a 15.4" 1680x1050 LCD) and my desktop uses a 24" 1920x1200 and a 20" 1680x1050 monitor, I think the biggest hurdle (and hardware limitation) of the X220 is the 1366x768 resolution monitor. With a secondary monitor, it'll be better to deal with, but that's not really an option when traveling. Still, the ultra light weight of the notebook, its size, and battery life should hopefully make the transition easier, at least in my case.