Prime Notebook Computer Review

ThinkPad X201 is the newest 12 inch ultra portable business notebook from Lenovo. Technically, it’s just a refresh. But that’s no way to talk about the best business ultraportable on the market. With a strong combination of high performance, long battery life, and remarkably light weight, the X201 maintains its predecessor’s stellar reputation. It’s also built tough, comfortable to type on, and secure. At $1,514 as configured, this machine is a good deal for demanding executives on the go.

At first glance it looks like any other T-series notebook with a boxy frame and rubberized paint but much smaller. With the notebook open, you see that the design is as small as it can be without reducing the size of the keyboard. Keeping the large keyboard on the small frame does have consequences, however, such as a short palmrest that’s too short to support most wrists with your fingers in their typing position.

Just like the larger T series counterpart, the X201 retains the strong stainless-steel screen hinges, durable ThinkPad keyboard, strong plastic cladding, and alloy chassis. The thinner design does introduce some minor flex and the screen hinges feel “weaker” when scaled down but this is all relative. For a 12 inch notebook the X201 can easily be tossed around with little worry about it breaking ahead of schedule or wearing out before its useful life is up.

On the right side is a USB port, audio in/out jacks, a modem connector, and a Kensington lock slot. On the left is a VGA port, an Ethernet jack, an ExpressCard/54 slot, and two more USBs (for a total of three). The front lip of the notebook has a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Despite all these connections, we wish the X201 had another kind of display-out option, such as HDMI or DisplayPort. Though the ThinkPad X201 is available with an optional webcam ($30), our review unit did not come with one.

The X201 has a number of security features that are designed to keep your data away from prying eyes should the notebook fall out of your control. An optional fingerprint reader allows you to set up biometric logins, TPM 1.2 circuitry gives you strong preboot protection, and an optional encrypted hard drive (which was present in our review unit) makes sure your data is protected even if the hard drive is removed from the notebook.

The 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) screen offered rich colors and sharp images, even at almost 90-degree angles to the left and right of the screen. Both when streaming a 720p trailer of MacGruber from YouTube and when playing a 1080p WMV file from Microsoft’s HD showcase, video playback was smooth and free of noise. For a business system, the X201’s speakers are surprisingly good. Both when listening to a dance tune, “Emerge” by Fischerspooner, and a jazz tune, “Morning Dance” by Spyro Gyra, the sound quality was loud enough to fill a small room, but also precise and accurate.

This particular X201 configuration shipped with an Intel Core i5-540M processor, which is a bit faster than the chip in the Sony Z116GSX (Core i5-520M). Note, these are standard-voltage processors, as opposed to the low-voltage ones found in the Asus UL80Vt-A1 and Lenovo S12. The X201 had a 2-second advantage over the Sony Z116GXS in video encoding tests, since it has the higher-clocking processor.

Ultraportables like the Asus UL80Vt-A1 and Sony Z116GXS can, to a certain extent, be used for gaming because they use both an Intel integrated chipset and Nvidia discrete one; the X201 runs on integrated graphics only. The upside with using only integrated graphics is that the system gets the most out of its battery. In this case, the enormous 94WH (9-cell) battery easily doubles the capacity of the one found in the HP 5310m (41WH)—offering a whopping 9 hours 36 minutes.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X201 offers quite a few solid features compared to the older X200. Users who prefer a touchpad interface can now get it on the X201 and X201 Tablet, and even though it is netbook-sized it is still very usable. The newest Intel platform offers a huge boost in overall performance from the previous generation and in some cases doubled the 3D performance. Battery life also increased across the board with the help of the power-sipping Intel Core i7-640LM processor. If you find yourself always wanting a bit more than what most netbooks or CULV-based notebooks have to offer, the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 packs a huge punch in a small package.