Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Review

Although the ThinkPad X300 gets all of the attention for cramming so many features into a sleek 13.3-inch notebook, not everyone has more than $2,500 to drop on a laptop. As the successor to the ThinkPad X61, the equally portable and more affordable ThinkPad X200 (starting at $1,199; our particular Centrino Pro configuration will be available August 5 for closer to two grand) skips the X300’s optical drive and makes a solid state drive optional while offering a slightly smaller 12.1-inch widescreen.

This is a very light and small laptop at 1.6kg and 295 x 228 x 33.3mm. As with any convertible Tablet PC you can swivel the screen round and lay it flat, facing outermost. It is held in place by a solid clasp which also functions to keep the laptop closed during transportation.

The touch sensitive screen responds to both finger-touches and the stylus that lives in a purpose built housing.

More important, it boasts better performance and battery life than the pricier X300, thanks to Intel’s new Centrino 2 platform. And as with every ThinkPad, you get a durable design, stellar keyboard, and the security features that define a first-rate business ultraportable.

The old dell inspiron 1525 battery was the last notebook in Lenovo’s line-up still clinging to the old 4:3 screen ratio, and it went dead for good reason. The new 12.1-inch widescreen not only lends extra on-screen workspace, it also produces a longer form factor with all sorts of side benefits. Most significantly, it allows the keyboard to grow to the same size as the one of Lenovo’s full-size T-series laptops, doing away with the stubby backspace key and all the other frustrations of the X61’s shrunken board. For folks who do a lot of sitting with their laptops, the longer form also lends itself to a much comfortable base (no longer will grown men have to sit with knees knocked together to keep a laptop situated.) And although the thicker bezel around the widescreen doesn’t look quite as clean as the minimalist X61 bezel, it does leave room for an integrated webcam, which the old machine could never fit.

Equipped with the new Centrino 2 processor, Lenovo's ThinkPad X200 looks a mild-mannered ultraportable, and yet it can leap tall workloads in a single bound. Its battery life is phenomenal, and the keyboard is huge. In short, this is a much better notebook than the ThinkPad X61, which it replaces, and a surefire winner for on-the-run execs.

Because it bears a lower model number, you might imagine that this a less-powerful version of the ThinkPad X300, but the X200 actually has a more recent processor. The X300 has a 13.3-inch display, however, while the X200 has a 12.1-inch screen. Ah, but what you'll see when you fire this baby up!

Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Specifications
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.40 GHz with 3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB (Centrino 2)
Chipset: Intel GM45/ICH9-ME
Memory: 2 GB DDR2 667 MHz
Hard Drive: 160GB Seagate SATA 7200 RPM
Screen: 12.1″ widescreen 1280×800 LCD, 200 nits
Optical Drive: None
GPU: Intel X4500 Integrated Graphics
Network/Wireless: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300 (802.11 a/b/g/n) Ethernet Card, Verizon WWAN and Bluetooth
Slots: 3 USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard 54mm, SD card reader, VGA out, Ethernet, headphone and microphone.
Battery: 4 cell / 6 cell / 9 cell ThinkPad X200 battery
Dimensions: 11.6 inches x 8.3 inches x 1.2 inches
Weight: 1.4 KG
Operating System: Windows Vista Business Edition
Optional Additions: Web-cam, Fingerprint reader, 56Kbps modem, 5-in-1 card reader

At just under 3 pounds with its lightest battery installed, the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 battery weighs a few ounces less than the ThinkPad X61, despite offering the same 12.1-inch wide screen and a bigger keyboard. The bright little screen has an easy-to-read 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, making it quite comfortable for work on the go. And the built-in Webcam keeps you in visual touch with your colleagues.

The ThinkPad has other features a business pro would crave. Unlike other ultraportables, which make you suffer with an undersized keyboard, the X200's keyboard is full-sized, with the famous feel and responsiveness long a hallmark of ThinkPad portables. Lenovo also provides dedicated volume and mute buttons (no more fumbling with a Fn-key combo) as well as the handy ThinkLight, a white LED above the screen that gives off just enough light to illuminate the keyboard in a dark room.

The 12.1-inch, 1,200 by 800-resolution screen is bright and exceedingly sharp. Compared to its X61 predecessor's 1,024 by 768-pixel panel, the widescreen aspect ratio keeps the height of the panel fairly squat, which makes the X200 ideal for use on an airline tray table. Wholesale laptop batteries you can equip the X200 with an 80GB, 160GB, or 320GB hard drive; a 200GB, 7,200-rpm drive with Full Disk Encryption; or a 64GB solid-state drive (SSD) that uses indestructible flash memory instead of spinning platters. If you've ever had a traditional hard drive die on you, the allure of an SSD is obvious.

Lets get things in perspective right away, the X200 isn't quite in the same league as the X300. The X200 is not as stylishly thin or technologically advanced as the X300 and its missing a few of the X300's novel features like an ultra compact optical drive. However the X200 still has plenty going for it, not the least of which is twice the processing power and half the price, compared to the X300. With a compact 12.1" chassis, full-power Core 2 Duo processor and ThinkPad durability at a starting price of $1,434, the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 battery replacement could just be an X300 for the rest of us.

The X200 is a solid tablet with the same signature ThinkPad design. If you don't like the plain black design your out of luck. It has new features like the bi-directional hinge that used to only be available on Fujitsu tablets, improved battery life and better wireless radio. I had no problems connecting to the Internet once I changed a few settings around. Some users may get confused by this, but it was easy.

The display was clear and crisp, would have liked the touchscreen to compare it to the X61, but no luck with that. The processor was peppy and had no problems running benchmarks. The array of features are good, but some users will definitely need the dock for more and may complain about that. The X200 should have heads turning and users thinking about making a new purchase.