X230 VS T420s

[manolis kokotsakis]

Hi ,one question. I am going to buy my first Thinkpad.
I want a model to be small because i travel and at home to connect it with my pc screen . The laptop is going to work very hard , 24h open . But as i said because i travel to take it with me.Is the X230 a good choice for that or better to choose the T420s that has a better reputation as a work horse.
I will choose the W line but the size is big for me.

Thanks for your time.

[ZaZ]

Is the X230 a good choice for that or better to choose the T420s that has a better reputation as a work horse.

The X230 gives you a better screen if you get the IPS screen, which you should, is more portable and longer battery life. The T430s has a higher resolution though lower quality screen and an optical drive. The performance parts like the CPU, memory and hard drive are the same. I would say if you need portability, the X230 is the way to go.

[Cigarguy]

Yeah for portability look at the X series, for a bit more expandability and flexibility the T series.

[manolis kokotsakis]

What you mean expandability and flexibility ? In which way ?

[wolfman]

The T420s can have 3 internal drives (main bay, ultrabay, msata), the X230 can have 2 (main bay, msata). The ultrabay in the T420s can also accommodate an additional 3 cell battery - this is kind of a wash as the X230 can be configured with a 6 or 9 cell battery. However, the ultrabay comes with a DVD burner - this would require either an external DVD burner or additional purchase of the X230 media slice + DVD burner. The T420s can be configured with a 1600x900 display (non-IPS) vs the 1366x768 display of the X230 (both IPS and non-IPS). The T420s can be configured with a discrete graphics card, the X230 can't.

I'm sure there are some others I've missed, but that's a representative list anyway.