Thinkpads Forum

Hi Guys,

I am on the edge on getting a x201... I am going into 10th grade, and I want a small portable computer that I can toss around. I have $2000 to spend. I configured a x201 with the core i7, 4gb ram, 128gb ssd, and the 3 year protection warranty. The reason that I am on the edge is because people say that the x201 is thick and has old chassis. Does that mean there will be a x210 coming out that will change the design to make it thinner? Is the t410s a viable choice?

Thanks,
Michael Rosenfield
www.teenstech.com

X201 was released this year so you are looking at a new model release in early 2011 or late 2010. If there is no serious redesign it would be x202. A serious redesign will be x210. Because of heat produced by regular voltage (vs. LV or ULV) i5/i7 CPUs, it's unlikely that x20* will become considerably thinner in the near future.

Based on complaints found on the thinkpad forum, it seems that T410s suffers from CPU heat related issues because of its thin and light design. If you intend to perform CPU intensive tasks, X201 may be a better model. Plus it's lighter. Some advantages of T410s may be its larger LCD, DVD drive, displayport and its dock adapter.

I find my X200, which would be similar to a X201, to be very portable. Of course my last notebook was a R60, which was not very mobile. If you want something small and light for office, internet and media type stuff, why drop $2k? You could probably get a X200 for a lot less, then you wouldn't have to be as concerned about breaking it because you can probably get three of them for what you're paying for the X201. For general usage, the better CPUs in the X201 won't offer much better performance, if any at all.