Thinkpads Forum

I'm looking for a Lenovo laptop that has the following features.

Small form factor (around 12"-13")
Intel Core i5
HDMI output
Graphics card capable of smooth 1080p full HD playback
Webcam (not a requirement but a plus if available)

It can be any line of laptops offered by Lenovo, not necessarily a Thinkpad. It can also be a current or discontinued model. I haven't had much luck finding a model that matches these criteria. If anyone can offer suggestions, please do. Thanks.

The integrated Intel HD 4000 is certainly capable of playing HD content. The X230 might merit consideration. It does not have HDMI, but a displayport, which is easily converted to HDMI with a cable.

My T61 with Intel graphics and T9300 plays 1080p BDRips just fine (stored on a network share, no less). Pretty much any recent laptop should handle HD content by now.

The ThinkPad X220/230 certainly fits all the bills except having a physical HDMI port, but the displayport can output HDMI (+ audio, reportedly) via an adapter.
All current IdeaPads have HDMI as seen here: http://www.lenovo.com/products/us/laptop/ideapad/ In the current lineup, S300 and U310 are 13 inch.

ZaZ wrote:It does not have HDMI, but a displayport, which is easily converted to HDMI with a cable.

SailingAway, it's better to have DP output than HDMI output, because DP supports up to at least 2560x1600 whereas HDMI is almost always limited to 1920x1080. Even though 1080p may be adequate for you right now, someday you may want to go higher and if the laptop only has HDMI, then you would be stuck. But if it has DP, then it's future-proof. Like ZaZ and twistero said, all you need is an HDMI-DP adapter.

Thanks for the suggestions!

After some more looking, I found that the Thinkpad X120E has all the features except for the i5 processor. Instead, it uses the AMD E-350 Fusion. Any idea how drastic of a performance drop I can expect with this CPU? My intent with the laptop is for internet/email, MS Office and Netflix streaming to an HDTV.

SailingAway wrote:Thanks for the suggestions!

After some more looking, I found that the Thinkpad X120E has all the features except for the i5 processor. Instead, it uses the AMD E-350 Fusion. Any idea how drastic of a performance drop I can expect with this CPU? My intent with the laptop is for internet/email, MS Office and Netflix streaming to an HDTV.

Our daughter is using an X130e with an AMD CPU. For internet/email/office it is certainly sufficient. However, I don't know about HD video streaming (don't have Netflix). I tried this video from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v2L2UGZJAM in 1080p and there was noticeable stutter during playback (audio was fine) - video was buffered for 30+ seconds so I doubt there is any network congestion to blame. For 720p, there was less stuttering (but still noticeable). 480p playback was fine. (As comparison, the same video streamed flawlessly in 1080p on my W520).

SailingAway wrote:I found that the Thinkpad X120E has all the features except for the i5 processor. Instead, it uses the AMD E-350 Fusion. Any idea how drastic of a performance drop I can expect with this CPU?

It's a huge performance drop. The PassMark benchmark for the AMD E-350 is only 773, whereas the score for the X230's slowest i5 CPU, i5-3230M, is 4,031. 773 is a very low score nowadays, and you would certainly feel it even for the most basic operations such as opening a folder or clicking on a URL. Even if it's tolerable now, it won't be in a couple years when Flash and Windows get even more bloated.

Performance aside, the X230 is a much higher quality product than the X120E. If you insist on having HDMI output, I recommend you to check out Dell's X230 equivalent, the Latitude E6230. If you want to go this route, you are in luck because today, Dell Outlet offers 30% off all Latitudes through the coupon code B1X95KV54$4Z9M: http://dealsea.com/view-deal/113532 .

twistero wrote:My T61 with Intel graphics and T9300 plays 1080p BDRips just fine.

As does my R60e with Intel GPU and T5500.