Thinkpads Forum

Hi all
I have the opportunity at this moment to swap my x201 with i520 against an x220 (probably with an i2520) and I wanted to know what the real-life improvement is in performance. Is the marginal improvement worth it e.g. ripping video files or compressing files? Is the mSATA SSD worth it? and how does the Intel HD 3000 graphics card compare with the GM4500HD? Or ultimately better wait for the x230 next year?
As usual thanks for your opinion!

It is always, with every single computer model ever made in the history of personal computing, better to wait if you can. There will always be something better, faster, lighter, or more feature-filled available in the future, and whatever you're looking at now will probably get cheaper as time goes on.

As always with value judgments, you and I may answer differently. From a performance perspective I can't tell much of a difference between my X220i and X200t. The two best features on the on the X220 in my opinion are the mSATA drive as it allows for two drives, and the factory IPS screen, which means you'll have warranty. If you value those, then perhaps it's worth it.

JPH wrote:and how does the Intel HD 3000 graphics card compare with the GM4500HD?

The X220 has significantly better performance.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Bill is correct. The new cores are vastly better in pretty much every area. It outperforms dedicated GPUs from just a few years ago, yet draws far less power. This is a good thing.

That said, it is worth noting that both GPUs can be used to accelerate video decoding. Personally I wouldn't get too hung up on the GPU aspect, as both have more than enough performance for the usual non-game applications. The X220's GPU does bring a couple of neat power-saving enhancements, but I'm unsure how well-supported they are by the current drivers (Intel's got a bit of a rather unfortunate history of not enabling all of their GPUs shiny new features in the initial versions of their drivers.)

If you can find the X220 for a good price, and can sell your X201 for a decent value, then go for it.

As with (most) cars, you're always losing money on a laptop. Whether or not you want to believe it, keeping the laptop will likely be more expensive than just buying a new one and selling the old one (think dead weight loss after 3-4 years of ownership, upgrade costs, repair costs, consumables like batteries, and even down to how much electricity an older computer uses).

I get a new laptop every year, and usually I don't pay more than $100 difference after selling my old one. It's all about getting it for an amazing deal, then selling it a year later at fair market value. In a year I will sell my X220 that I bought for $670 probably for more than I bought it for.

If it is a swap, swap it. You lose nothing, unless you are one of those people who whine about 16:9 vs 16:10 vs 4:3 screens everyday.

Performance wise, the new Sandy Bridge processors are significantly faster, but may not show up in your day to day usage. You only mentioned video ripping and files compressing. Both of these are processor heavy applications, and you will see noticeable speed improvement, but don't expect a miracle. Video ripping will be much faster if the program you use support Quick Sync. The new Intel graphic gets a significant performance boost over the old one, but again don't expect a miracle since this is not intended to be a gaming laptop to start with.

The real significant improvements you should expect to see, whatever your usage is, are longer battery life and a much better screen (if the X220 you are getting has the IPS panel on it).