Lenovo ThinkPad X230 Review: Pricey, New, Tried and True - chadwickablemplaid

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Solid contruction
Great keyboard

Cons

Middle-of-the-pack performer
Software overload

Our Verdict

This is an updated version of the ThinkPad that Information technology types and concern users love. Stillness, modernists may wish for a more svelte depend.

Fans of the classical ThinkPad North Korean won't equal foiled with the X230. It's the X serial publication ultraportable laptop you love with the same rugged styling and construction, eraserhead cursor contain, and soothing keyboard–with few innovations. The X230 will never be an avatar for twiggy and sexy, however. If that's what you seek, look elsewhere (toward Lenovo's U-series, for example).

The great look of Lenovo's keyboards has e'er been a directing lawsuit of ThinkPad addiction. Hence, all time the company announces that information technology has changed the keyboard–as information technology did recently–it's a cause for fear. But any fears that the new breathable, backlit, chiclet-style blueprint may comprise a step backswept for the keyboard are unsupported. Despite having a 1mm-shorter throw than that of older models, the X230's keyboard offers the same rhythm-inducing flavor and aural feedback.

The touchpad and TrackPoint pointer control also keep goin the feel that ThinkPad users are accustomed to. For the nonacclimated, the rough-textured touchpad with buttons above it will feel odd at first. Lenovo also provides a fingermark reader for biometric security and logon.

The $1249 model that Lenovo sent us for reexaminatio is a midrange configuration featuring a Core i5-3320M English ivy Bridge CPU, 4GB of system memory, and a 7200-rpm, 320GB hard drive. Other configurations range from a $1099 model with a Core i3-2370M processor and little hard drive to a top-of-the-line $2600 unit with a Core i7-3520M CPU, 16GB of retentiveness, and a 256GB solid-say drive.

The X230's ports are a well-thought-out mix of bequest and state-of-the-artwork. You get a VGA yield, a miniskirt DisplayPort, two USB 3.0 ports happening the port side of the unit, one USB 2.0 port (e'er on for charging) on the front right, equally well as gigabit ethernet and Kensington lock ports. The array of ThinkPad switches and buttons includes Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n) on/off on the leftist side; a volume rocker, and talker and microphone mutes at the acme of the keyboard deck; and the now-associate ThinkVantage button for launching Lenovo Recovery.

When information technology comes to multimedia, the X230 is merely average: 1080p picture played American Samoa smooth as silk, but watching it on a 12.5-inch 1366-by-768 screen–even unmatched as bright and crisp atomic number 3 the X230's–will ne'er be a communication experience. For its size, however, the display is very good. Sound off through the speakers lacks bass and is lowering in midrange, which works quite well with video calls but is ill-natured with euphony and movies. Also, Windows Media Player's possess SRS Trubass and WoW personal effects are superior to those offered aside the included Dolby Civilized Sound background application through the speakers OR headphones.

ThinkPad users tend to be less concerned nigh their laptop computer's performance than about its usability and battery life sentence. That's a peachy thing with the X230. Its 87 score on WorldBench 7 is merely all right–a admonisher that even Common ivy Bridge can cost weighed down by excessive backclot software. The richness of branding apps and software package utilities on the X230 makes it the first laptop I've always seen that had 100 running processes right out of the box. The X230 perks up considerably when you utilize the Windows startup configuration tools to trim the number backwards to 50 or 60.

Gaming is not the X230's well-set suit. Systema skeletale rates from the connected-chip HD 4000 art are better than what we saw from the HD 3000 in this class C.P.U., but they're still not adequate for serious modern games. Games are playable (scantily) at 800 by 600 resolution, but that's the limit.

ThinkPads receive forever been more the sum of their parts, and the X230 is no exception. IT departments and fans volition make out the laptop computer and the vast array of support and warranty options that come with it. There's nothing here to disturb the continuity of the X blood. For everyone else, this simple machine deserves some tire-boot, especially with view to the addictive keyboard. But its profile and coming into court may not meet modern expectations.