Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review

1. Introduction2. Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (Bundle & Accessories)3. Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (1)4. Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (2)5. Lenovo ThinkPad X220 (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Configuration7. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra 20118. Synthetic: PCMark 79. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit10. Synthetic: SDD Performance11. Real World: BluRay Playback with PowerDVD 1112. Real World: MKV 1080p Playback13. Real World: Media Encoding14. Gaming: Resident Evil 515. Gaming: Call Of Duty: Black Ops16. Gaming: Left4Dead 217. Technical: Battery Life18. Technical: Acoustics Performance19. Technical: Thermal Performance20. Closing Thoughts21. View All Pages

The IBM Thinkpad is an iconic machine well known for the ‘boxy' design, class leading keyboards and chassis rigidity to deal with the toughest of working environments. Lenovo took over the IBM personal computer division in 2005 and have released a wide range of impressive systems since then. We reviewed the X1 in September last year and I was so impressed with the review sample that I actually purchased one for work duties, on the move. Today we are looking at the 12.5 inch ThinkPad X220 with IPS display.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is a superslim 12.5 inch business notebook which supports the latest Intel Sandybridge processors and ships with a high quality IPS display. This machine is said to offer remarkable battery life … up to 23 hours according to Lenovo literature. It only weighs 1.36 kg so will be easy enough to carry around in a briefcase with other materials.

The X220 is normally priced at £973.20 in the default configuration, but Lenovo are offering a deal right now for £746.99 inc vat which features a Core i3 2350 processor and 2GB of memory. We received a much higher specification model with Core i7, 4GB of memory and Solid State Drive.

Lenovo ThinkPad X220, 4290 – Kitguru Review Sample:

• 12.5″ HD Premium LED B/L (1366×768) AntiGlare w/o Camera
• i7-2620M 2.70GHz Processor w/ HD3000
• Intel QM67
• Intel AMT
• Gigabit Ethernet
• No Modem
• Bluetooth
• Ultranav (Touchpad and Trackpoint) w/ FPR
• Express Card Slot
• 4-in-1 Media Card Reader
• 3 Year Carry-In
• Power Supply 65W
• Win7 Pro 64 Sticker
• 160 GB Solid State Drive No HW Encryption
• 4GB PC3-10600 1333MHz DDR3 SODIMM SDRAM
• ThinkPad Battery 29++ (9 Cell) for X220
• Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• WLAN activate
• Keyboard – UK-English

The price of this higher specification X220 is £1,514.05 inc vat.

Lenovo ship the ThinkPad laptop computers in a plain box with just the name of the range on the side.

Our review sample contained a massive 9 cell battery , power supply and a handy pullout detailing keyboard functionality.

The power supply is rated 65W/20V and is a trademark design of Lenovo. Like all modern laptop power supplies it will work anywhere in the world, with the corresponding plug adapter.

This 9 cell battery (29++) is an optional extra during the ordering phase, adding £18 to the normal price of the 6 cell battery. This battery is rated at a whopping 7.74Ah which should translate to many hours battery life. We will look at this later in the review.

I love the appearance of the ThinkPad range. It is both understated yet elegant and I think Lenovo have managed to bring the range bang into 2011/2012 while maintaining the primary design ethic that IBM originated all those years ago.

The front of the X220 is very sparsely decorated, with only a ‘Lenovo' and ‘ThinkPad' logo on either side of the case.

The X220 is very thin and light, yet feels as if it could withstand a reasonable amount of abuse. The drive can be replaced by removing a single screw on the side access panel. Memory can be accessed underneath the main plate at the bottom. There are two slots, one of which is populated with 4GB on our review sample. There is also a docking port connection underneath the laptop which will prove invaluable for busy executives who want to use the same machine in the office.

The left side of the X220 has a USB 3.0 port, VGA port, DisplayPort and USB 2.0 port. There is no HDMI port, which is an unusual decision. At the front is a wireless on/off switch, useful for easy access on a plane. The right side of the X220 features a card reader, powered USB port, Ethernet port and a headphone and microphone port. A Kensington lock is positioned close to the back of the chassis.

The rear of the X220 only has a port for the power adapter.

Due to the size of the 9 cell battery it sticks out the back of the machine, slightly ruining the appearance of the X220. The smaller 6 cell battery remains flush to the rear panel, but we weren't sent one as part of our review bundle.

The X220 is a very attractive machine and similar to the X1 we reviewed last year. Lenovo are using a high quality IPS screen (1366×768 resolution) with the X220, which is noticeably better than the TN screen incorporated into the X1. Colours are well saturated, viewing angles are some of the best we have seen, and definition is both sharp and perfectly legible when viewing super small text. Ideal for office duties. It is a little duller than we had hoped however.

Lenovo have managed to incorporate a large keyboard, which is no mean feat considering the diminutive physical dimensions of the X220. On first glance we can see the return key is double size, coloured blue, and the obligatory red controller ‘joystick' (technically known as a ‘TrackPoint') in the center of the keyboard which I enjoy using more than a trackpad.

The X220 is Milspec verified, which is a series of tests to test against altitude, thermal and physical shock, dust and vibration. There are also tests for cold, heat and humidity. In real world terms, these laptops are designed to deal with rough handling and abuse on the move.

The quality of the keyboard is well above average, although it is not in the same league as the proprietary, class leading design implemented on the X1. The individual keys aren't quite as tactile and the response is a little muted. That said, it is still a great keyboard, but some distance behind the X1.

The trackpad at the bottom is high quality, although due to the size of this machine, there isn't quite as much room for it, or the palm rests. In this regard the X1 is more comfortable to use long term. I found when typing that my wrist would sometimes press against one side of the X220 trackpad which was slightly irritating.

Offset to the right is a fingerprint reader, which is a great way to securely lock the machine without having to remember a series of passwords.

Unlike the majority of ultra portable laptops, the X220 looks good from all angles, and has a much more rigid chassis design. The X1 shared similar traits with absolutely no keyboard flex anywhere across the full width of the chassis.

Like the X1, the X220 can be opened to 180 degrees, which is really useful when using the machine leaning over a table, almost like a tablet.

Along the top of the keyboard are a series of function keys, highlighted in blue. These adjust various parameters, such as screen brightness, wireless and multiple screen configurations. There is a direct volume control button, which resides next to the power button.

The sound from the X220 is actually quite impressive, as far as an ultraportable could be rated anyway, and it puts the Sony Z series to shame in this regard.

Sadly, the X220 keyboard is not a backlight design, however Lenovo offer a button combination to turn on a ‘light' at the top of the screen, as shown above. This casts a blue glow over the keyboard, highlighting the keys a little. This works fine, but I would much prefer a dedicated backlit keyboard, like that found on the X1. It seems unusual to omit this feature on a luxury machine like this.

The X1 even has a liquid proof keyboard, protecting against accidental spills. The X220 hasn't got this feature either.

Above, the X220 (left), beside the X1 (right). The X220 has a superior quality IPS screen with magnificent viewing angles, but in all other regards I feel the X1 is the clearly superior design.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

System validation for the X220 can be viewed over here.

This particular review sample uses the high end Core i7 2620M which is clocked at 2.7ghz, with a maximum turbo speed up to 3.4ghz. It is a dual core design with 4 threads. There is 4MB of Level 3 cache. Lenovo have a single stick of Samsung memory configured to run at 1333mhz with 9-9-9-24 1T timings. While a single 4GB stick is better for those who upgrade later to 8GB, two 2GB sticks out of the factory would mean the system would run in Dual Channel mode. As it ships, this will suffer a performance penalty, in single channel.

The X220 uses the Intel HD3000 (GT2+) graphics which offers hardware acceleration and good battery life, but not much in the way of gaming prowess.

Many of the Lenovo upgrades are reasonably priced as you can see here. Sadly, the Intel 160GB SSD drive that is installed in this machine isn't one of them, costing £403 more than the 320GB 5,400 rpm drive, which is offered in the default configuration. Lenovo do offer a 128GB SSD upgrade for £266, which still seems somewhat overpriced on today's market. We would configure the machine with the default option, buy an SSD drive online, then mirror the drive with Acronis software and a USB 2/3 enclosure. You could buy a faster, higher capacity 256GB Sandforce drive for less money than this 160GB Intel drive.

The default software install highlighted above looks worse than it is. Lenovo install many custom applications to support various aspects of the ThinkPad. I use many of these regularly myself and wish that other companies would adopt the same policy. The power management software for instance is brilliant, as is the software updating package.

We don't hold much value in the Windows Experience Index, although it does give a quick overview of the expected performance parameters. We can see that the overall score is limited by the onboard Intel HD graphics. The single channel memory scores 5.9. The processor and solid state performance is good however, as we would expect.

We will see how the ThinkPad X220 slots in against a variety of mobile systems as well as a few desktop systems featuring Intel Core i3 and i5 processors.

Software:
Windows 7 64 Bit
SiSoft Sandra
Cinebench R11.5 64 bit
Cyberlink Media Espresso
Cyberlink PowerDVD Ultra V11
PCMark 7
Left4Dead2
Resident Evil 5
Call Of Duty: Black Ops

Comparison Systems (for specific synthetic test compares):
Intel Core i5 2500k desktop processor.
Intel Core i3 2105 desktop processor.
AMD A8-3870K.
AlienWare M18X (featuring Core i7 2960XM Extreme Edition).
MSI GT780DXR (feature Core i7 2630QM).
Dell XPS 14z (featuring Core i7 2640M processor).
MSI CX640 (featuring Core i5 2410M).
Dell laptop (featuring Atom D525 processor).
Zotac ZBox Nano AD10 (featuring AMD Zacate E350 APU)

Technical Monitoring and Test Equipment:
Asus USB powered BluRay Drive.
Nikon D3X and 28-70mm lens with R1C1 kit.
Thermal Diodes.
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp.
Extech digital sound level meter & SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter.

All results are gained from multiple test runs to ensure any abnormalities are removed before publication.

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Sandra is a (girl’s) name of Greek origin that means “defender”, “helper of mankind”. We think that’s quite fitting.

It works along the lines of other Windows utilities, however it tries to go beyond them and show you more of what’s really going on. Giving the user the ability to draw comparisons at both a high and low-level. You can get information about the CPU, chipset, video adapter, ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals, AGP, PCI, PCI-X, PCIe (PCI Express), database, USB, USB2, 1394/Firewire, etc.

Native ports for all major operating systems are available:

• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x86)
• Windows XP, 2003/R2, Vista, 7, 2008/R2 (x64)
• Windows 2003/R2, 2008/R2* (IA64)
• Windows Mobile 5.x (ARM CE 5.01)
• Windows Mobile 6.x (ARM CE 5.02)

All major technologies are supported and taken advantage of:

• SMP – Multi-Processor
• MC – Multi-Core
• SMT/HT – Hyper-Threading
• MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE 4.1, SSE 4.2, AVX, FMA – Multi-Media instructions
• GPGPU, DirectX, OpenGL – Graphics
• NUMA – Non-Uniform Memory Access
• AMD64/EM64T/x64 – 64-bit extensions to x86
• IA64 – Intel* Itanium 64-bit

The Core i7 2620M inside this Thinkpad X220 is a powerful mobile chip, outperforming some of the lower specification desktop processors. Due to Lenovo only populating one of the two memory slots, the single channel performance is less than impressive, scoring 9GB/s. If the machine was populated with two, it would rise to around 15 GB/s.

PCMark 7 includes 7 PC tests for Windows 7, combining more than 25 individual workloads covering storage, computation, image and video manipulation, web browsing and gaming. Specifically designed to cover the full range of PC hardware from netbooks and tablets to notebooks and desktops, PCMark 7 offers complete PC performance testing for Windows 7 for home and business use.

The final score is actually very impressive, thanks to the excellent Core i7 performance, combined with the Solid State Drive.

CINEBENCH R11.5 is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer’s performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON’s award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation. MAXON software has been used in blockbuster movies such as Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia and many more.

CINEBENCH is the perfect tool to compare CPU and graphics performance across various systems and platforms (Windows and Mac OS X). And best of all: It’s completely free.

The 2620M in this X220 is a fast processor, but it still only has 2 physical cores which affect the overall score in Cinebench. The final score of 3.06 is still quite good, but it lags some way behind the desktop A8-3870K for instance.

Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0 x64.

Lenovo are not using one of the latest SATA 3 speed Solid State Drives, which makes the £403 upgrade price even more unpleasant. Still this X25M is much faster than any mechanical drive available on the market.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage.

ATTO results basically mirror the findings above via CrystalDiskMark. The drive scores around 270 MB/s read and 170 MB/s write via these sequential tests.

Our good friends at Cyberlink kindly supplied the software for our BluRay and conversion tests.

Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 is one of the finest solutions for the BluRay experience on Windows and we found this software to work perfectly with this chipset.We tested with the new Bluray Disc of ‘The Road’. We are using an external Asus USB 2.0 powered BluRay drive.

CPU demand is very low when handling BluRay media, averaging 9 percent. This means the processor is available for other background multitasking requirements when watching a movie in the foreground.

The Matroska Media container is a very popular, open standard Multimedia container which is usually found as .MKV files. It is a very popular format in enthusiast circles and can be played directly in Windows Media Player with suitable codecs installed. We use the Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP).

We ripped our BluRay disc of Sniper Reloaded to 1080P MKV and use Windows Media Player to playback the file.

Decent results for demanding MKV contained high definition media files.

CyberLink MediaEspresso 6 is the successor to CyberLink MediaShow Espresso 5.5. With its further optimized CPU/GPU-acceleration, MediaEspresso is an even faster way to convert not only your video but also your music and image files between a wide range of popular formats.

Now you can easily playback and display your favourite movies, songs and photos not just on your mobile phone, iPad, PSP, Xbox, or Youtube and Facebook channels but also on the newly launched iPhone 4. Compile, convert and enjoy images and songs on any of your computing devices and enhance your videos with CyberLink’s built-in TrueTheater Technology.

New and Improved Features

• Ultra Fast Media Conversion – With support from the Intel Core i-Series processor family, ATI Stream & NVIDIA CUDA, MediaEspresso’s Batch-Conversion function enables multiple files to be transcoded simultaneously.
• Smart Detect Technology – MediaEspresso 6 automatically detects the type of portable device connected to the PC and selects the best multimedia profile to begin the conversion without the need for user’s intervention.
• Direct Sync to Portable Devices – Video, audio and image files can be transferred in a few easy steps to mobile phones including those from Acer, BlackBerry, HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Palm, as well as Sony Walkman and PSP devices.
• Enhanced Video Quality – CyberLink TrueTheater Denoise and Lighting enables the enhancement of video quality through optical noise filters and automatic brightness adjustment.
• Video, Music and Image File Conversion – Convert not only videos to popular formats such as AVI, MPEG, MKV, H.264/AVC, and FLV at the click of a button, but also images such as JPEG and PNG and music files like WMA, MP3 and M4A.
• Online Sharing – Conversion to video formats used by popular social networking websites and a direct upload feature means posting videos to Facebook and YouTube has never been easier.

For our testing today we are converting a 3.3GB 720p MKV file (2h:12mins) to Apple Mp4 format for playback on a portable device. This is a common procedure for many people and will give a good indication of system power. We are using the newest version which has been optimised for Sandybridge processors.

The latest version of MediaEspresso offers hardware acceleration support for this system configuration. We enabled it.

The power of the Core i7 processor shines through, taking just over 15 minutes to complete the heavy duty encoding task. By comparison an Intel Atom D525 System takes over 1 hour and 11 minutes to complete the same task.

Resident Evil 5, known in Japan as Biohazard 5, is a survival horror third-person shooter video game developed and published by Capcom. The game is the seventh installment in the Resident Evil survival horror series, and was released on March 5, 2009 in Japan and on March 13, 2009 in North America and Europe for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A Windows version of the game was released on September 15, 2009 in North America, September 17 in Japan and September 18 in Europe. Resident Evil 5 revolves around Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional town in Africa.

Within its first three weeks of release, the game sold over 2 million units worldwide and became the best-selling game of the franchise in the United Kingdom. As of December, 2009, Resident Evil 5 has sold 5.3 million copies worldwide since launch, becoming the best selling Resident Evil game ever made.

The game isn't really playable at these settings, even with the image quality lowered. The Intel HD 3000 graphics are not really designed for serious gaming duties. During the more intensive sections of the environment, the frame rate would stutter noticeably.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was a huge seller, as expected and is the seventh game in the Call Of Duty series. The game runs on an enhanced World at War engine (which itself was improved from Call of Duty 4‘s) at 60 frames per second on consoles. It features a streaming texture technology (also seen in Modern Warfare 2), making bigger levels possible such as “Payback” where the player controls a helicopter. Lighting effects have been improved as well.

Again, while the average frame rates would indicate borderline, smooth performance sadly the engine would stutter during some of the sections.

Like its predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 is set shortly after a worldwide pandemic of an infectious disease that rapidly transforms humans into zombie-like creatures and mutated forms that demonstrate extreme aggression towards non-infected (much like the ones in 28 Days Later). Few humans are immune to the disease, still carrying the infection but showing no symptoms.

The Source engine is a smooth experience at these settings, although we would notice some slight hitching from time to time.

To test today, we are putting the machine through a variety of ‘real world’ situations, mirroring the real world usage of a potential customer.

One as a media movie lover on the move (wearing headphones), a person wanting to watch high definition media on a train journey or bus with two thirds screen brightness.

Second as a businessman, with screen brightness around half way. Wireless and BlueTooth were enabled. A mixture of checking, answering emails using Microsoft Office and editing pictures in Adobe Photoshop.

Lastly as a gamer, playing Left4Dead at settings highlighted earlier in the review.

The battery life is extremely impressive, offering a businessman a realistic ‘full day' charge before a power socket would need to be located. The optional battery slice could be added underneath the machine to extend this even further. If you don't mind adding some ‘thickness' to the overall chassis that is.

We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground with our Extech digital sound level meter to mirror a real world situation.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet take off/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

The machine generally generates only a modicum of noise, but due to the very small chassis size and high powered processor the fan has to work hard under load to maintain reasonable temperatures.

The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.

Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by running Furmark and Cinebench together. Room ambient temperatures were 23c.

We measured results with CPUID Hardware Monitor software. The CPU was loaded with Cinebench in a loop and Furmark stress test.

The X220 with Core i7 2620M can get quite toasty inside. The CPU regularly runs at over 80c, peaking at 90c under synthetic stress conditions. Not an ideal peak setting long term. It never crashed however which is reassuring.

We attached 5 diodes to the rear of the machine and measured temperatures after loading the machine for 90 minutes.

The rear of the machine gets rather hot and uncomfortable after loading it for so long. We had a problem keeping the X220 on our lap until it had cooled down for 10 minutes. When we reviewed the ThinkPad X1 last year, we noticed that the optional battery slice also acted as a heat ‘block' underneath so it may be advisable to think about this option when considering a purchase.

The ThinkPad X220 is one of the most impressive 12 inch business style notebooks on the market. Lenovo have been able to advance the IBM tradition by releasing a range of machines with bullet proof build quality and high specification internal components.

The ThinkPad machines stand out mainly because of their highly durable chassis designs, which you know will take some abuse on the move. Ideal when in the hands of an active businessman who is more concerned with getting the job done, rather than pampering the machine to ensure it won't fall apart. For instance, while we love the high cost Sony Z Series they definitely need to be delicately handled when out and about.

The ThinkPad X220 has been carefully thought out and is equipped with a great keyboard, trackpad and plenty of ports to cater for a business user on the move. The IPS screen is splendid with very wide viewing angles and fantastic colour rendition and consistent edge to edge backlighting. Even the onboard audio is clear, with substantial volume for company presentations in a small room.

The biggest challenger in my opinion comes from the ThinkPad X1, which ticks more boxes for me. This keyboard is in a class of its own, equaling the best desktop keyboards on the market. If you have never used the keyboard on the X1 laptop, then you really don't know what you are missing … it really is the benchmark to judge all other laptop computers. The X1 keyboard is also liquid proof and offers two levels of backlighting.

Sadly the X220 does away with these features and merely offers a little light on the top of the screen, to create a ‘glow' over the keyboard. It isn't remarkable and a backlit keyboard would work much better.

The ThinkPad X1 chassis is also slightly more rigid and more comfortable to use long term, thanks to the added space for wrist support. With the optional battery slice the X1 will last for around 9-10 hours and can recharge to full in under 40 minutes. The X220 certainly has the edge in regards to the IPS screen and battery life, but in all other regards, the X1 gets my vote. The X1 also has the Corning Gorilla Glass protection system, whereas the X220 doesn't.

If you want a Solid State Drive we don't recommend you pay Lenovo £403 for a 160 GB last generation Intel drive. Buy the cheapest mechanical option, then get a faster SSD from an etailer and do the changeover yourself.

You can compare and buy the machines, with various specifications from Lenovo over here.

Pros:

• Built like a tank.
• appealing looks.
• great screen.
• good keyboard.
• High specification possibilities
• massive battery life.

Cons:

• no backlit keyboard.
• SSD pricing is way out.
• not designed for gaming.
• ThinkPad X1 is more feature rich and we feel a better overall machine.

Kitguru says: A great superportable business machine and built to last. I prefer the X1 however.

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