Lenovo Thinkpad X220 in 2022?

Hello and welcome to another AIC video. 

I recently did a video where I went through 4 different generations of the x series thinkpads, now I am going to go through each one and showcase them individually. 

First up is this excellent condition x220. I’ve had a few of these over the years, They are simply classic. 

The most obvious difference between this and the other x series I am looking at is the keyboard. And there is simply no contest. This is a better typing experience than just about any other modern laptop I’ve used.The full sized key caps, the travel, the force required to push the buttons. This is truly a dream to type on. It has more buttons, so you don’t have as much sharing of functions on the same key. Less having to hit function to get the option you want, like dedicated volume, and mute buttons, and there isn’t the awkward row of keys along the side like some keyboards do. 

This laptop also has a plethora of ports. Two video, three usb, network, headphone jack, sd card reader, and your doc. It also has a long obsolete, but something I very much miss, an express card slot. I don’t have any express cards, but I have this PCMCIA card, which looks very similar, and performed basically the same way, in that it provided an expansion slot for the laptop to provide everything from additional storage, to ports, networking, or like the PCMCIA card I have, wireless broadband access. I miss this on laptops. I always hoped it would be used to add better graphics… can you imagine hot swapping in a graphics card on this thing? 

The laptop can also be upgraded, with two ram slots, you can have 16 gigs of ram running in dual channel and I currently have a 128gb ssd in here. So the storage is plenty fast for it. 

One of my favorite features is the keyboard light. These keyboards are not backlit, what they have is a little white LED next to the webcam, that when you push function and page up, lights up your keyboard. This is better than a backlit keyboard if you’re ever have to read something or look at something while also working on the laptop, as it gives just enough glow to light up around the system as well. 

Here’s where we start to fall off the cliff a bit and the thinkpad shows it’s age. First and foremost the x220 is 65% heavier than my x280, it’s also 75% thicker than my x280, meaning it’s a chunky boy. While compact, it is neither light, nor “small”, It has some heft to it. It is well built for sure, but it’s noticeable in a bag when you have to cary it. 

The next thing is the screen. All the x220’s I’ve had have had the 1366×768 TN panel screen. I know there is an IPS screen option floating around, but I’ve never seen one in person. The TN panel is good for a TN panel, but it’s not good for a screen, especially today. It’s a pretty low resolution for today’s standards as well, and its pretty dim, viewing angles are not great. I’ve seen some posts on upgrading it, or swapping it out for the IPS display, they are a bit above my paygrade in skill set and require soldering. 

The touchpad is also a weak point. It lacks many multi touch features I’m use to, wish drives me bonkers. I keep trying to right click by tapping with two fingers, like I have for nearly a decade of computer use, it’s also quite small. The much bigger keyboard does not leave much room for the touchpad. The track point is good, but I doubt many people use it anymore. I still do, but I’m also kinda weird. 

It’s age is also shown in it’s ports. Video out Full size display port, and VGA, USB 2.0, not 3.0, Even the wi-fi is only wireless N, picking up just a 2.4ghz, signal. This can be upgraded, but there is a whitelist and you have to flash the bios to allow for other wireless cards, so is really just a task for more advanced users willing to tinker with their system. 

But where the biggest show of it’s age is it’s graphics. Intel’s website says the HD 3000 supports DirectX 10.1, and it did pass my directx 10 tests, but I read that it supports some directx 11 features, but not enough, as my performance test crashes when I try to run it. And forget about directx 12. For most people this won’t matter all that much, since this laptop was never a gaming laptop, but if you use an app that requires directx 11 or newer support you will be out of luck. 

The sound quality on this laptop is also lacking. This was meant as a business machine, for serious work, and so, there wasn’t much expectation for high quality sound, and it shows. The sound is muffled, far away, as if you’re listening to it from a distance through a tube. 

And lastly, battery life. Even with it’s big heavy battery, it’s battery life is just OK. part of that is due to the age of my system’s battery, but even with a fresh battery, it’s general life is just OK compared to the newer systems. It also runs hotter with a noisier fan. It’s not extreme, but it is noticeable. 

Why would somebody buy this laptop in 2022? First and foremost not for gaming. I will do a separate video doing some gaming on it, but in short, it’s not a great experience. It’s hardware is just too out of date to manage anything newer. If you were only interested in games from the early 2000’s? Sure, break out your GOG.com library and go ham. 

What is it perfect for? Anybody who has to do any long term typing. Because it’s thicker and because of it’s superior keyboard, this is the perfect system for somebody who is wanting to hit up a coffee shop, or library and spend hours typing away on document. I wrote this whole script on this machine and never felt tired or fatigued. It really is that good. 

It also will fit the bill for a lot of people who like to work with linux or would like to make it a hypervisor. The modding community for older lenovos is HUGE, and if you’re into that sort of stuff the resources are nearly endless. eGPU setups, bios flashing, screen upgrades, the list goes on of mods you can do. 

It also has a bit of nostalgic flair without the sacrifice of going to a much older system. This laptop is anything but obsolete, it will do anything 99% of people will want to do with it without question. Youtube? Plays flawlessly without hiccups, Facebook, reddit, twitter? Bring it. 50 tabs open in chrome, for your amazon shopping spree? Yawn. No problems. If I do anything with this at all, it would be to toss in a larger capacity SSD, so I can run more apps on it. It will even run some basic video editing on here without missing a beat. 

The last thing I want to mention about the x220 is the price. These have bottomed out. For a while there you could buy them for $75 all day long. They now have crept up in price, and a good one, without a trashed keyboard that doesn’t have broken corners or is scratched up can easily sell for $150-200. They have started to hit that collector stage in their life cycle. So if you want one… Get one.