Looking for a ThinkPad - Can any experts offer some advice?

[Jaster]

Hello everyone! This is my first post so apologies if I've got the wrong section for this question.

I'm looking for a new laptop - I've been using MacBooks for a while and the last Windows laptop I owned was a ThinkPad 600x which I loved dearly until the keyboard and HD eventually gave out. I now need a dedicated machine capable of running Windows and/or Linux so naturally I'd like to get an IBM (or Lenovo as I understand they're calling themselves these days...) rather than anything else, as I remember the build quality being far better than other manufacturers all round.

I'm probably looking to buy used as I'm on a budget and as previously mentioned I already have a MacBook Pro for complicated stuff. The IdeaPad S12 ION looks like it might be the right kind of thing but I'd prefer a ThinkPad if there is a roughly equivalent model. My requirements are as follows:

Screen size: 10-13" give or take, not a netbook in the traditional sense but also small enough to be portable.
Preferably capable of loading Linux as well as windows (I will be using it mainly for programming).
I'd also like to use it to play movies from my network via HDMI.
If at all possible I'd like to be able to do some basic gaming when I take a break from work - nothing extreme though - I've seen some videos on youtube of an S12 running Crysis and that would be more than powerful enough.

So my questions are whether there is a ThinkPad equivalent to the S12 ION, and whether something like the X100/200 series would have the same graphical capabilities as the S12 with the ION system at a similar price.

Thanks in advance for your help, and I look forward to getting back into ThinkPad ownership!

[JohnD.]

Hi Jaster,

Welcome to the fourm!

I just got a x120e unit from a forum member for $250. I have not been around to play with it yet since it just came back from IBM Ezserv (had to replace the keyboard due the left mouse button acting like the right mouse button). It has a dual core AMD 350 CPU and a AMD GPU. I can run some tests for you if you like over the weekend, just let me know what you want me to run. I don't know how the unit compares to the S12 ION machine. I remember when the ION was introduced on a HP netbook and reading on a HP forum, people did like the boost when playing games.

Can I ask what is your budget?

Talk to you soon,
John

[Jaster]

Hi John,

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the X120 - I haven't seen many in the UK and the newer X-series are likely to be at the top end of my budget or significantly over (I'm looking to spend up to about £400) but it looks like it might be a good ThinkPad alternative to the S12 - my aim here is to find a more 'pro'-level laptop than the IdeaPad series as I loved my 600x and the IdeaPad series really don't look like they'll live up to my expectations.