which one is better?

[lumenite]

Hello, I am looking for a new laptop, actually used one.
anyway,

Which one is better?
X201 i5 and X220 i3

what advantages does x220 have over x201 in general?

Thank you.

[ZaZ]

The Sandy Bridge CPUs offered in the X220 get significantly better battery life than the 1st gen Core CPUs in the X201. They run cooler too. The X220 can be had with an IPS LCD from the factory, though not all have them, and it's much better than anything you'll see on the X201. The X220 can also have two hard drives. It's got a 7mm bay and a mini-PCI slot into which you can put a mSATA SSD. It's also the WWAN slot so you can't do both.

The main advantage of the X201 is most likely cost since you'll be able to get one for less than the X220. The X201 also offers the touch padless palm rest, which is more aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. Good luck and welcome to TPF.

[Tasurinchi]

Let me add that the screen ratio is also different

X201 have a 12.1" 16:10 screen with a resolution of 1280x800, some "s" models with 1440x900

X220 have a 12.5" 16:9 screen with a resolution of 1366x768

[masterus]

as I remember X220 has msata which means you can buy 32GB msata and install OS onto it , then use 2,5" HDD/SSD as storage

regards,

[ZaZ]

If you're doing Windows, I'd probably get a 60GB drive. You can get by with a smaller drive if you're going Linux.