I have joined the X220 club

[shawross]

Picked up 2 X220's at an auction on the weekend Type 4291-HL3 which is the I5.

In Perth Australia the X220 aren't as abundant as they are in the States or even in Europe so local sellers are relatively few.

I paid $240 AUD for 2 machines. One has a plastic chip below the trackpad and the other a faulty right-hand side USB port.
I intended to make one good system from the 2 machines but individually they are both in good relative condition so I will probably just use one machine and keep the other for spares.

I could probably recoup my cost by selling one but I like the option to have 2 Lenovo 6 cell batteries (about 66% capacity), a spare 120GB SSD, 2 x 4 GB ram chips, Spare keyboard and motherboard.

I wasn't necessarily in the market for an X220 but I am not sure that the Retro would be enticing enough and if it was it would be expensive.

My partner is a teacher and she wants the X201 which has a 9 cell battery for school. I will continue to use my X301 because i enjoy the feel and the 13.3" 16 x 10 aspect ratio. But I am mindful going forward that the X220 will holdup for a few years yet for anything intensive I might want to throw at it. YMMV

The X220 is a great machine which would have been even better at 16 x 10 aspect ratio and maybe 13.3".I have seen the X320/X330 on Tabao. I have installed a new Msata pcie 120 GB system drive with Windows 7 of course and the existing SSD will be used for data. My X301 still uses a 65GB SSD for system and a 500GB WD Scorpio Blue.

Keyboard and feel of the X220 is great but not quite to the same level as the X301 IMO.The X220's have great hinges and overall quality is not too far from the X301.
I think mine have the TN panels and the X220 is slightly better than the X301 for my eyes. With a new Msata drive running at only Sata 2 speeds the machine should handle anything I might throw at it easily.

Besides the hardware of the X220 I like the fact that the X220 is popular and because of this there are projects like the FHD mods. Similarly I enjoyed this about the X61 and the T43.

I will keep a watch on Hope from 51NB for future options for all my current machines.

[axur-delmeria]

Welcome to the club~

[shawross]

Thanks and any club with a Retro keyboard I am happy to join although a sleep LED with the Laptop open would be nice.

Another comparison with the X301 is speakers and the X220 comes up a bit short again. We have all had some great laptops and we see elements get deleted or altered in newer models and we "think" just why.

Laptops like the X301 should have been a standard not a bridge too far.

[dr_st]

Thanks and any club with a Retro keyboard I am happy to join although a sleep LED with the Laptop open would be nice.

Well, the power button pulses when the laptop is asleep.

[shawross]

True enough and fair to say the keyboard doesn't disappoint with keys and indicators.

I am still getting acquainted with the machine but it is a thumbs up for me.

[Thinkpad4by3]

True enough and fair to say the keyboard doesn't disappoint with keys and indicators.

I am still getting acquainted with the machine but it is a thumbs up for me.

Although there may not be as many indicator lights on the display assembly, I have counted 8 indicator lights, on par with my A31.

[RealBlackStuff]

My partner is a teacher and she wants the X201 which has a 9 cell battery for school.

Does she have one already or are you looking?
I have such an X201 (3680-7S1) with X200s LED screen and 1440x900 resolution, that I may be talked out off.

[shawross]

No it is the one in my sig. Thanks anyway