X200 vs X220

[jax33]

Hi, everyone, just had a couple of questions, I was looking at the X series of thinkpads, what really caught my eye was the portability and battery life of these units. I am a student on a budget with an okay amount of options, my original budget was $500 USD. However I saw that the X200 can be bought for as little as 150 to 200. with a Core 2 duo processor at 2.4 GHz versus the X220 at around 450-500 with an I5. Other than the speed and power consumption efficiency of the sandy bridge. Can I expect any real advantages with the X220 that is worth the price jump of double the X200. My primary use is office word with the occasional movie and mostly web browsing. I tried out the trackpoint at the store the other day and doesn't seem to bother me that the X200 doesn't have a track pad. I also saw how abundantly there are spare parts for the X200 and genuine batteries are rather cheap. So I was curious, if the X200 would be good enough for the next 2-3 years of school i have left for web browsing and office. The money saved with the X200 would be put to upgrading my desktop with an I5 3570k processor. So any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated thanks.

edit: also how much battery life can i expect with 50% brightness and just word office up on the X200? 9 or 6 cell battery

[Tasurinchi]

Welcome to the forum!

My primary use is office word with the occasional movie and mostly web browsing

An X200 will be enough for this type of usage IMO. Eventually you could find an 1440x900 (WXGA+) X200s for little more budget.

Since you mention Word I guess the slightly higher vertical resolution of the X200 will be a plus as well. Even if you get a low resolution model you will still have 1280x800 instead of 1366x768 the X220 has.

My 2 cents...

[pianowizard]

The X200 is limited to 1280x800. Get an X200s with 1440x900 instead.

[jax33]

I see that the X200S has a slower clock speed, would this affect any 1080p playback? my friend has a laptop with similar specs to the X200 and can play the 1080p fine with the X4500MHD and core 2 duo at 2.4Ghz, most of my Mp4 files are 1080p although i know that the X200 can not display 1080p.

[Tasurinchi]

I forgot to mention one thing (which I don't know if it's important for you).

X200s with 1440x900 screen have no webcam and cannot be upgraded with one either.
X200 with 1280x800 either have an integrated webcam or can be upgraded later.

[jax33]

I forgot to mention one thing (which I don't know if it's important for you).

X200s with 1440x900 screen have no webcam and cannot be upgraded with one either.
X200 with 1280x800 either have an integrated webcam or can be upgraded later.

oh that is a deal breaker for me, i use a webcam quite a bit for group work, i saw that there are kits for the X200s http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-For-IBM-Len ... 460955d2f9 web cam kits, this doesn't work i guess?

[Tasurinchi]

It was my understanding that the 1440x900 screen bezel has no place to accommodate the webcam. Those kits will work on X200s with "standard" 1280x800 resolution though

[jax33]

It was my understanding that the 1440x900 screen bezel has no place to accommodate the webcam. Those kits will work on X200s with "standard" 1280x800 resolution though

alright, thank you for the input, much appreciated, it's nice to have a bigger resolution although right now i'm using a 1024 x 768 with a P4 2.8 Ghz processor, so anything for me is an upgrade.

[Tasurinchi]

I have a couple of X200(s) with both 1280x800 and 1440x900 models and I like both of them. I'm not sure that an X200 cannot handle 1080p, if I have time I will try watching one at home later today.

[jax33]

I have a couple of X200(s) with both 1280x800 and 1440x900 models and I like both of them. I'm not sure that an X200 cannot handle 1080p, if I have time I will try watching one at home later today.

alright thanks, look forward to purchasing one soon, hope it can last me at least 2 years

[Tasurinchi]

I just watched Tron Legacy (1920x1080) and Dredd (1920x800) in my X200 without any stuttering or any other issue at all. I'm running Linux Mint 13 (LTS version) 64bits with all latest updates and I was using VLC to watch the movies

This particular X200 has a P8600 CPU, 8GB RAM and a Crucial M4 SSD (and a gorgeous AFFS screen )

I was also watching some 1080p trailers in Youtube. No issues either...

So I'm pretty sure any good spec X200 with proper software installation will be able to cope any HD videos.

Hope this helps! Happy hunting!

Cheers

T

[ZaZ]

One thing I did notice on my X200(P8600 I think) versus my X220i(i3-2310M) is my X220i can watch 1080p rips in low power mode while the X200 had to kicked up to adaptive CPU mode for smooth playback, which could make it more noisy at times.

I think both are terrific notebooks. If you've got the cash the things that set the X220 apart is it can give you are an IPS screen option, which is nice for movies with the color and angles. You can also do two drives with with the mSATA SSD and 7mm hard drive, which go up to 1TB. When I can my X200 and X200T, I had a 80GB SSD in them. While it was plenty fast, I disliked having to attach my external hard drive every time I needed a file.

The X200s does offer a WGXA+ option, but the screen itself while plenty bright is average quality wise. I personally don't think it's enough of a space increase to warrant a downgrade in quality, though I know some here would disagree. I guess it would depend on where you stand on the matter.