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The X220 ThinkPad

136 points| bradley_taunt | 2 years ago |bt.ht

138 comments

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[+] smlavine|2 years ago|reply
I've had X220s and X220Ts for a few years, and I agree that they're probably one of the best laptops you can get second-hand. But they aren't as cheap as they used to be on eBay and they're only getting older. I had to cycle through three X220/Ts in four years because they failed for various reasons. Screen died. Bios just decided to stop working.

Finally I decided to ditch my last one by choice this summer and got a Thinkpad X13 Yoga Gen 3 and I really love it. Battery life of at least ten hours for what I'm doing. Still great Linux support. It's not too much lighter than the X220T, but it's a whole lot thinner and that's important trying to shove a whole lot of stuff in one bag. Also: USB-C charging means I no longer have to carry around a big proprietary brick and cable. I can just use the same charger as my phone. That's also important when it comes to weight and space savings.

The reason I chose this model in particular is because like the X220T, it also has the digitizer pen garaged in the frame. Really hard to find laptops that met that, and USB C, and thin, and Thinkpad keyboard + mouse nub. In fact I think it's the only one.

If this (fingers crossed) lasts me a while, amortized I don't think the cost up front will be that much more than what I would've had to have spent upgrading and transferring parts between eBay franken-ThinkPads over the same time.

[+] justsomehnguy|2 years ago|reply
> Thinkpad X13 Yoga Gen 3

Sadly it has that shitty modern Lenovo keyboard, with Fn in the left part of the keyboard (I'm not talking about Fn/Ctrl placement), Insert on Fn+End combo (Why?! WHY?![0]) and the stupid PrtScr under the right thumb, like you are taking screenshots every minute.

This alone averts me from any ThinkPad past x220 (and even x220 has elephantitis on the Del key..)

[0] and now I'm talking about Fn placement on the left side - even I can't make Fn+End with one hand. Compare it to ASUS TM420 keyboard: https://i0.wp.com/techraman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/A...

[+] asmor|2 years ago|reply
Me and my partners T420 had their BIOS die simultaneously in 2020, there's definitely something going wrong with these devices.
[+] planede|2 years ago|reply
As counterpoint for the repairability I never liked how hard it is to access the fan assembly on thinkpads. You basically have to fully take the laptop apart to access it. And for the laptops from a decade ago I typically wanted to clean the fan assembly properly every year around springtime.

For example for the X220 the fan assembly is removed after the system board, no way around. Before the system board can be replaced, the following components need to be removed:

  • “1010 Battery pack” on page 63
  • “1020 Hard disk drive (HDD) and solid state drive (SSD)” on page 63
  • “1030 DIMM” on page 65
  • “1040 Keyboard” on page 67
  • “1050 Palm rest or palm rest with a fingerprint reader” on page 69
  • “1070 Backup battery” on page 73
  • “1060 PCI Express Mini Card for wireless LAN/WiMAX” on page 71
  • “1080 PCI Express Mini Card for wireless WAN” on page 74
  • “1090 Keyboard bezel” on page 76
  • “1100 LCD assembly” on page 77
  • “1110 Base cover assembly and speaker assembly” on page 80
https://download.lenovo.com/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60739_01.pd...

T220 is not better in this regard either.

There are other decade old laptops with similar quality service manuals that don't have this issue and the fan assembly can be removed without too much hassle.

[+] f1refly|2 years ago|reply
I actually replaced the fan on mine a few years ago and it's not hard at all. From that list:

* Battery pack is just clipped in the back * Hard disk is removable with an extra maintenance hatch * DIMM can stay where it is * Keybord is fixed with five screws on the back * palm rest is fixed with another three screws, remove it in the same step as the palm rest * backup battery is not applicable for the x220 * pci cards can stay where they are * keyboard bezel clips out * lcd assembly can stay where it is * base cover assembly and speaker assembly can stay where they are

A better manual would be: * remove battery from the back * remove ssd from its slot * unscrew + remove keyboard and palm rest with keyboard bezel (this is pretty much one step trust me) * unplug all five cables * unscrew motherboard * take motherboard (to which the fan is attached) from case and do what you want with it

X220 maintenance is a 10 minute job for disassembly and reassembly combined.

[+] cyrialize|2 years ago|reply
I 100% agree! I made a post earlier in the thread about this. Cleaning the fans on my T530 was so tough!

You basically have to take apart the entire computer from the keyboard down to the fan. The MBP Unibody 2012, which came out around the time of the T530, is way, way easier to clean the fans of.

[+] plg94|2 years ago|reply
I recently had to replace the fan because the motor died, and agree, that's a really big hassle. If you want to unscrew/remove the whole fan from the motherboard, you have to lift off the whole heatsink assembly from the board+cpu, meaning you also have to re-apply thermal paste every time you clean the fan. Far from ideal. But the most difficult part was finding a screwdriver for the VGA port (it screws into the case).
[+] numpad0|2 years ago|reply
I believe the way ThinkPad HMMs(Hardware Maintenance Manual - I'm sure it's an intended pun) works is you start from the first page until you hit the problematic part, and it ends with the CPU or "system planar" and all the parts around it. It's a carried over culture from IBM probably.
[+] yummypaint|2 years ago|reply
I've gotten by taking a hose from a vacuum cleaner and partially covering and uncovering the intake and exhaust holes in quick succession. It makes enough turbulence to clear most of the dust and hasn't broken anything yet.
[+] jacknews|2 years ago|reply
T430 is a piece of cake to replace the fan.
[+] VK538FY|2 years ago|reply
It is a great machine but the screen resolution was already rubbish when the X220 was introduced.

And crucify me if you will but the new ThinkPad keyboard can feel _great_ on the models where it is deep enough (T series mostly). I just miss the 7 rows of the old layout.

[+] jeffbee|2 years ago|reply
The screen is garbage and most of the second-hand fleet has the TN screen. The IPS screen was a rare option. The X220 and its immediate predecessors came out during the very embarrassing (for Lenovo) period during which they claimed it was impossible to source IPS displays. A few days after the X220 came out, Apple switched to 100% IPS displays across their product line. This forced Lenovo to change their tune.

IMHO the "good" laptops were from the era when Lenovo was still traveling on IBM's roadmap. The X61 Tablet had a magnificent display. As soon as Lenovo switched to widescreen designs, it was all downhill.

[+] TeddyDD|2 years ago|reply
I agree on the keyboard. I had T470 from my employee and the keyboard felt nicer than every Dell and HP I ever used.
[+] agentultra|2 years ago|reply
I agree. I stopped buying Apple and switched to Thinkpads. Refurbished. With a decent backup system in place I can replace one on the fly as needed without breaking the bank but more importantly I can repair them. One spill was all it took to destroy my last Mac Pro: the whole machine was useless. I have kids and spills happen. As do drops, tugs, etc. My T450 suffered a spill: nothing. Disassembled, cleaned, back in business. But if it had been toast? Less than $200 to get another refurbished one.
[+] ubermonkey|2 years ago|reply
It's a great option if you can stomach Windows or put up with Linux, I agree.
[+] volkadav|2 years ago|reply
Strictly in my opinion, the M1 mba is perhaps a tie or even slightly edges out the x2_0 series. Solidly built (would I use it as a melee weapon? no, that's what actual melee weapons -- like model m keyboards -- are for), fast, quiet, great screen, insane battery life, usable unix under the hood. I'll grant that the older IBM keyboards were top notch, but the M1's is good enough and having a modern screen to read code on is worth the trade (at least for me, I spend way more time reading and thinking when writing code than physically banging away on the keyboard). I feel kind of weird gushing about hardware to be honest, but it's just that good a machine and I guess that's in keeping with the author's love of the x220? :)

If I didn't have an m1 air though, an x200-series thinkpad running linux of some form probably would be my go-to! I still eye minifree.org from time to time when the temptation for a dedicated portable linux machine has me in its grip.

[+] arh68|2 years ago|reply
Yeah. I had an X220 (or X220i?) years ago running Debian/WindowMaker until the motherboard died.

I think a "tie" is fair. I'd say the MacBooks last a few years longer, though ThinkPads have more ports. ThinkPads were about as good 10+ years ago as MacBooks are now, so can we just call it a tie? I suppose.

Unfortunately, the keyboards on both have regressed to "fine".

[+] gumballindie|2 years ago|reply
The M1 is limited to a single os and is not upgradeable though.
[+] ant6n|2 years ago|reply
No matte screen option on Apple though.
[+] SilverBirch|2 years ago|reply
I don't think it's a coincidence that author has picked a laptop whose processor came out in 2011. Intel has basically had a lost decade in terms of performance. I remember going from my 2012 Macbook Air (i7) to a 2015 Macbook Pro (13inch) to the 2014 Macbook Pro (15inch) to finally getting a Thinkpad X1 and I never felt like the 2012 Macbook Air was struggling in the way that the subsequent laptops struggled.

Now my X1 doesn't have the build quality of the X220 - but it's still very good and I finally bit the bullet and did what someone well paid who relies on a tool for work should do. I bought the full 5 years support package for my X1. Any hardware issues? Send it in they'll fix it no questions asked. I need the laptop for work, I get paid good money, it's a good investment to have that business level support.

The only area where the X220 is really showing it's age today though - you just gotta have USBC ports I'm afraid.

[+] icegreentea2|2 years ago|reply
Sandy Bridge was a really really good release, but it's also not useful to ignore that Intel really did keep improving their product for a while. While their product segmentation (keeping mobile parts pinned at 2 cores, and the quad core limit on desktop) definitely was a form of 'stagnation', Intel made real improvements in their micro architecture, at least up to (and including Skylake).

The real 'lost years' were post Skylake, where we got like 5 generations of Skylake refreshes while Intel couldn't manage to get their new node online.

Here's a review of Skylake (6700k) from way back showing IPC improvement from Sandy Bridge to Skylake - https://www.anandtech.com/show/9483/intel-skylake-review-670...

[+] MSFT_Edging|2 years ago|reply
I bought an X1 around 2016, and its still super reliable. I think it was a 4th gen.

It has a couple small issues, sometimes the USB ports fall asleep and never wake up regardless of OS, the lid has a couple hairline cracks where it takes the brunt of the open/close force. The fingerprint reader never worked in Linux.

Aside from that, it still has 90% of its battery life after all this time, boots fast, does everything I need a laptop for.

Even though RAM is soldered, 16gb still works and its a decent sacrifice for a laptop so light and thin.

[+] jeroenhd|2 years ago|reply
Intel CPUs definitely got better over the years, but Macbooks were nerfed by Apple's mediocre CPU cooler designs. Their power curve was tweaked so users wouldn't notice (boost to extreme speeds extremely quickly to respond to clicks and such fast, then come down fast because the cooling can't sustain the boost speeds) but the CPUs never came out their best in any Macbook design, no matter how expensive they were to buy.

Most Thinkpads haven't been struggling, except maybe their netbook counterpart. Some "workstation" ones with Nvidia hardware in them do put out unreasonable amounts of heat and noise, but that's hard to prevent when Nvidia is the only one making GPU hardware that performs well in laptops.

I must say the Dell and Lenovo support packages are great. Few people buy them, but the knowledge that the company will send someone to your house within 24 hours to either replace a broken part or give you a new laptop should placate a lot of anxiety.

[+] hypercube33|2 years ago|reply
I just grabbed a cousin of this model and have been having fun modding it and use it more than my new gaming laptop. It's a A285. I have a surface laptop 4 that's smaller and technically faster but I still enjoy typing on the Thinkpad more and other than ram everything is basically upgradable.

There needs to be more 12in laptops imo.

[+] jeffbee|2 years ago|reply
> Intel has basically had a lost decade in terms of performance.

This is a pretty goofy take. A current mobile Intel CPU is 4-20x faster than a mobile Sandy Bridge depending on application.

[+] lproven|2 years ago|reply
Best laptop ever made.

« Why Thinkpad X220 is the best laptop ever made

Published on 10.05.2020

I’m rather certain that you will come to the same conclusion, esteemed reader, as I did, namely that the Thinkpad X220 is the best laptop ever made, in consideration of the following points. »

https://okigiveup.net/blog/why-thinkpad-x220-is-the-best-lap...

I have 2 of them, and I love them dearly.

[+] bradley_taunt|2 years ago|reply
This is fantastic and actually written more clearly than my own!

As for your point:

> You can’t watch videos on it

I don’t seem to have the same issue? Most videos on the internet stream/load fine without much struggle on my X220. Does your laptop heat up / spin up the fan?

[+] 0x6c6f6c|2 years ago|reply
I sold one of these. Mistake. I have two T510's still but I miss the smaller form factor.
[+] ryukoposting|2 years ago|reply
A 10yo used eBay X220 got me through four years of college. I did Verilog synthesis on it. I learned how to use i3, and even used my own fork of Sam, an old text editor for Plan9. I wrote my first from-scratch RTOS on it. It's a tremendous laptop even today, but it's also one that holds a special place in my heart.
[+] davexunit|2 years ago|reply
The X220s only serious flaw was the screen resolution. If it had 1920x1080 it would have been perfect. My favorite laptop of all time. I use an X1 now.
[+] plg94|2 years ago|reply
I think there are mods to replace the TFT with a FHD IPS panel, but it's not exactly easy to do without breaking something.
[+] ho_schi|2 years ago|reply
I’m using an X220 with Archlinux short before 10 years now :)

The best feature is the seven row keyboard with regular size and regular key drop. The mobile form-factor in a size of A4/Letter combined with power and docking-ports. Also a small notch to lift the display and USB 3.0 port. Maintainability is great, you can upgrade the BLE 4.0 from the later L-Series, add 16 GB (unofficial) or even swap the entire WiFi/BL (requires MOD-BIOS).

The weak points?

The PCI-Express card slot reduces stiffness of the palmrest. The remaining flat four cell batteries from Lenovo are deep discharged and cannot be charged. The USB 3.0 tends to go into low-power state (use powertop or /sys to change). Some IPS-Displays could show “ghosting”.

It will be replaced now by an X13 Gen3 AMD. It ships in Europe without an operating-system (130 EUR not for Microsoft shareholders - spend that for the FSF, GNOME or Mozilla or your fav Distribution!) and can be shipped preinstalled with Linux. I had to replace the screen by the HiDPI option myself because Lenovo is weird.

Why not Gen4?

I avoid the Gen4 because of the reverse notch sticking out of the chase. The reverse notch is ugly and parts sticking out of the device surface tend to break and hinder save storage. Furthermore the keyboard is hard to replace which is bad because that is the most stressed part.

[+] Leimi|2 years ago|reply
I'm still in love with my x201s, the x220 predecessor. It was 16:10 and could have a super high res of… 1440x900, a rare thing in such a small format for the time. These small thinkpads were solid as hell, packed with I/O. Perfect keyboard. You could set it with a 90Wh battery. For a 12" laptop. Haha. Screen quality, speakers, touchpad were all garbage but oh well. So much other stuff was perfect. Good times.
[+] flkiwi|2 years ago|reply
I'm sorry to be that guy, but what is a "screen lock" button? Does the X220 have a button to lock the display, or (again, I'm sorry) are you talking about ScrLock (Scroll Lock)?

Writing this on a ThinkPad with great appreciation for them. And, in fact, I'm genuinely unsure what magical buttons a ThinkPad might have squirreled away.

[+] bradley_taunt|2 years ago|reply
You are correct - that was an autocorrect mistake? I will update the post shortly.

But yes, I do find those little extra keys useful. Print Screen is great since I have it linked with scrot via dwm.

[+] samrolken|2 years ago|reply
I absolutely adore this machine. Even the little LED lamp in the lid. I use Mac computers for my day job and real life stuff. But when it comes to machines for hobby/linux/hacking around this is still my go-to. It's an amazing machine, especially when you consider the ample supply of cheap units, and replacement parts/batteries/etc. There are aftermarket upgrades including 4K display replacements and more.
[+] jacknews|2 years ago|reply
X230 seems like a better option to me, you can replace the k/b with a 220 keyboard.

But even though they're built like tanks, these 220/230s are getting old now. Given a choice of old X series thinkpads, the x270 makes more sense - still very decent build quality, modularity, etc, but pretty much better everything. The X280 has soldered ram and other undesirable changs.

For T series, the T480 seems to be the sweeet spot.

[+] c12|2 years ago|reply
I should look into replacing my X230 with an X270, they look to now be the same price point I paid for mine second hand three years ago.
[+] easyThrowaway|2 years ago|reply
Still have one. Still an amazing machine. And still performing quite nicely despite being more than 10 years old by now.

The only limiting factor is the iGPU, which is way too old even for 1080P playback and DX10-level features.

I wish there were any expresscard-sized video cards available, even an heavily downclocked current-day mobile chip would be good enough and within the termal and power requirements of the integrated port; The x220 is fully capable of deactivating the internal video card and sending the signal from the pci-express bus to the integrated display when it detects a discrete one, I've tested it with no issues using an nvidia 750GTX ti and a pci-express adapter.

[+] jacknews|2 years ago|reply
"I wish there were any expresscard-sized video cards available"

That would be fantastic - should be a standard capability of newer m.2 slots too.

[+] andrewdutton|2 years ago|reply
I've been following (and tempted by) someone on faceboock (lcdfans / Jackyzhang - http://www.cnmod.cn/ ) who has a business of rebuilding x220 / x200 series laptops with modern hardware - the latest I've seen is a "X2100" - an x210 with I7-10710U and 13 inch 3000X2000 IPS...

One day if I have and extra few $k that I'm willing to risk I may ordering one...

[+] massysett|2 years ago|reply
I have an X230 that runs Debian. It has a newer keyboard than the X220. A lot of folks seem to prefer the old keyboard but I think the new one is an improvement and is the best laptop keyboard I’ve found. I put the modern MacBook Air keyboard second to it, and the old X220 keyboard is behind that.

The X230 has a miserable screen though, and the touchpad is so bad they just shouldn’t have bothered. The Trackpoint is good.

It runs Debian stable with no effort at all.

[+] tibbydudeza|2 years ago|reply
X270 is my PC when I am away from my home office - wish it was a bit faster but then I look at my colleagues lugging around their HP/Dell "gaming" laptops and I am not so envious anymore.
[+] ja27|2 years ago|reply
Yeah, an X270 is my newest Thinkpad. I got it as kind of a beater for a vacation that COVID cancelled. That or an X280 feel like kind of the sweet spot for usable almost modern small Thinkpads that can still be upgraded. USB-C port for charging, video out, etc. $70 FHD display panel. Can take two SSDs (one small one in the WWAN slot). It's been mostly fast enough for everything except heavier games but software builds can be slow.
[+] Zetobal|2 years ago|reply
I still have an T440p and a X220 in the workshop they are workhorses. I am Linux only these days but the T440p with MacOS is the perfect laptop if someone sends you a keynote file or you need Xcode.