Advice on X series laptop buy

[adam2502]

Hello everyone. I am looking to buy a used Thinkpad and my needs are as follows:
main OS will be Ubuntu, or derivative
plus OEM Windows 7, working in a virtual machine
development tools, mainly Perl and C
I need decent web browser performance
I will be working on battery power on a commuter train (2 x 40 min per day).

I'm coming from an Asus netbook running lubuntu that is a bit pokey but it has given me very long battery life, compactness, and total reliability. I never shut it down. It just sleeps between use with the occasional reboot for software updates.

I'm not an expert on Thinkpads but I'm trying to learn enough to make a wise purchase. Have I got the following right?
X201S is the most recent compact Thinkpad with hires (900 pixel) screen option
X201S has better battery life than X201
X201S is more likely to be fitted with SSD than X201.

Other questions? I don't really 'get' the X3xx series: they seem rare and expensive. What is the USP? I was toying with the idea of T420 or T420S but weak battery life of S version and reports of cracking in palmrest etc has put me off. My motivation for going for Thinkpad is that I'm expecting to use this for 4 years and I don't want it to break on me.

I would have gone for a used X220, they are quite affordable and well specced... apart from the paltry 768 pixels which is barely more than I have now!

So I'm thinking X201S with 900 pixels, 6 or 9 cell battery, and SSD is the optimum selection for me, but have I missed anything?

[91011]

So I'm thinking X201S with 900 pixels, 6 or 9 cell battery, and SSD is the optimum selection for me

I have one and agree with you, if for no other reason than the 1440x900 LCD.

but have I missed anything?

Don't know about the UK but they are incredibly rare here - have seen around six since I got mine off eBay a year ago.
Most recent have sold in the low to mid $500 range - about a 30-40% premium over a plain x201.

There is one currently listed but the seller only mentions US shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-Thinkpad ... 19da917802

[wolfman]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I've used an X series (X61) for software development (Java EE mostly) and for VMs (VirtualBox). It worked alright, but had some problems... specifically, the keyboard, while classic Thinkpad, was a little too cramped for my hands. The palm rest didn't quite extend long enough to be comfortable. The X61 ran a little hot on the bottom for my taste. The resolution (1024x768) was barely adequate in an IDE - 1600x900 or 1440x900 is much better. Finally, this machine was limited to 8gb of RAM.

I ultimately upgraded to a T410 and then a T420. The T420 is a very nice machine. Yes, it's a little heavier than the X series machine and the T420s (for example), but it has a 1600x900 display, option for 3 internal drives, support for 16gb of RAM, runs cooler and (arguably) is easier to maintain than the X series machines (for example, for CPU fan replacements). The T420 I have is in my tag line below. I use this as my main machine and it's a very good performer, I run Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS as my host OS. I run multiple VMs concurrently, mostly Ubuntu / CentOS server VMs, but also a Windows 7 VM. This machine handles the load and I've found it to be a good compromise between power, expansion, cool running and portability - much better than my W520 from work - which is a great machine and real beast, but too heavy and bulky for my tastes.

Hope the above helps you with your decision...

[Cigarguy]

I've recently got a X61 Tablet, with X60 Tablet sxga+ screen and love the combo. Battery life (8 cell) is about 2.5 hours and I have a spare with me so all day computing is no problem. My office is my truck and I'm on the road a lot. I got this combo for super cheap, all in all after memory upgrades to 4 GB and a SSD, it cost me about $200. At the time I wasn't specifically looking for this unit but was looking for a good used netbook. I soon realized that for a few $$ more I could get a machine that is much much more than a netbook. I absolutely love the flewview screen.

Before that I was running a X201 with 8 GB RAM and a SSD. Battery life was around 4.5 hours (9 cell). I really like the X201 and is definitely is more powerful than the X61T but I like the screen on the X61 more. The keyboard on the X201 is a full size keyboard which is nice as it doesn't have the shrunken backspace key of the X61 which confuses me at times.

Also have a T420 but I found the size is not as nice as the X61 or X201 but that is personal preference. Battery life of the T420 is OK but not as good as the X201. The screen on the T420 is the horrible standard screen. One of these days I'm going to upgrade it to a 1440x900 and hopefully I'll enjoy it more. But, after having experienced a flewview screen, it's hard to go back. I'd take less pure computing power for a flexview screen as I don't need/utilize more computing power. My desktop with IPS screen is for intensive computing.

As for a SSD, let's just say I would never go back to a HDD. I found it's more economical to find a machine without SSD and add a SSD of my choice later.

[adam2502]

Thank you all for your interesting comments and sharing your experience.

It's been a couple of weeks and I thought I would post back what I did in the end. I have to say I was torn which way to go: I had to compromise somewhere:
X201S: compact, hires screen, but not the most recent technology system...
T420: reliable, upgradable, high performer, but would not suit me so well on the go...
X220: newest tech, clean examples and long warranty, but standard screen...

I found that used examples were all obtainable around the same price range: £350 to £450. Interestingly, there was slightly more of a choice of systems for the X201S on ebay.co.uk than on ebay.com. Maybe it's because UK (especially London) is more of a cramped sort of place and corporates issue more of the compact systems to carry on the tubes and trains!

In the end I was hooked by a tempting near-pristine example of an X220 and bought it for a little over £400. It had more than 2 years on site warranty still to run and its relative youth means the battery was still very new with only 20 discharge cycles or so. So I compromised on the screen resolution and will find myself tuning my text editor and screen layout to maximise editing space... But what a pleasant machine to use in all other respects! We are issued with Dell Inspirons at work and I have to say I'm finding the Thinkpad is much nicer to handle and use. Having a clean and fast Windows Pro installation without added bloat software is really nice too and I've found this a huge plus over 'consumer' machines I have seen.

So I'm now a happy owner of an X220, busy learning. I created a recovery USB stick and also made a copy of my MBR, before shrinking Windows and installing Ubuntu. I'd strongly recommend that other new users make recovery media as a first step. My aim is to get a Windows image working in Virtualbox so that I can conveniently test my work in both Linux and Windows. I'm going to leave the SSD upgrade until I've worked everything out and hopefully decide that I don't need a native Windows installation on the same disk.

Thanks again for the helpful comments made in reply to my post and good luck to others looking out for these X series systems.