If the market for powerful, compact business laptops were an arms race, the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 would be a rapid-firing howitzer among a crowd of mostly popguns. In this supremely well-executed machine, you'll find a classic ultraportable with all of the ThinkPad perks you've grown accustomed to, including class-leading speed, a no-compromises keyboard, an excellent-quality screen, and strong connectivity features. Of course, all this does come at a price―$979 for Lenovo's entry-level model in the family, or $1,299 for the more powerful unit we tested. This pricing may be a tough hit for buyers who aren't getting the X220 through a corporate IT budget, but we maintain that this machine is nonetheless a superior value for the money.
The most striking feature of the ThinkPad X220 is its weight―or rather, lack thereof. At just 2.9 pounds, this notebook feels about the same as a netbook. But of course, it's not a netbook, so the power inside comes as a pleasant surprise. It's less than an inch thick, too, so it's easy to slip into a bag or carry with a portfolio or a stack of papers.
Beyond that, if you've ever seen any ThinkPad, you already know what the X220 looks like: a matte-black, squared-off chassis with not a frill in sight. If that's not your style, then ThinkPads in general are not for you. On the plus side, unlike the cheap plastic feel of most low-cost laptops and netbooks, the ThinkPad X220 has a magnesium-alloy shell that feels solid. Plus, the outside is coated in a high-quality paint that serves two purposes: The slightly rubberized texture gives a sure grip, and it also helps hide fingerprints.
If you can look past the bland exterior, the X220 will impress with its durable design. It complies with MIL-SPEC standards for semi-rugged laptops, meaning it has been tested to withstand environmental hazards such as temperature and humidity extremes, vibration, and dust. The keyboard is spill-resistant, and there are "weep" holes on the bottom of the machine to funnel liquid away from the internal components should you douse the machine with your favorite beverage. The hard drive features active protection to protect the data on it in the event of a bump or a drop to the machine, and for truly crash-proof reliability, you can opt for one of four choices of solid-state drive, which range in capacity up to 160GB.
Like most ultraportables at around three pounds, the ThinkPad X220 does not offer a built-in optical drive, so you'll have to buy an external USB drive or spring for the ThinkPad UltraBase. The UltraBase is an optional $200 module that snaps on the bottom of the laptop and adds a swappable drive bay and various ports. If long battery life is more important to you, Lenovo also offers a half-inch-thick battery slice ($179) that snaps onto the bottom of the unit, bringing the weight to around five pounds.
Despite the ThinkPad X220's diminutive dimensions, the port selection is very good. The right edge houses an always-on USB port (for charging USB-connected devices even when the laptop is off or asleep), a headset jack, a Gigabit Ethernet jack for wired network connectivity, and an SD/MultiMediaCard flash-memory reader. The left edge features two more USB ports, a VGA port for connecting to an external monitor or projector, and a DisplayPort jack for attaching display devices that use that standard. The inclusion of DisplayPort makes sense; while HDMI is more popular among consumer displays, business-oriented displays, especially in Europe, use DisplayPort. (Plus, you can get a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter for about $5 if you really need HDMI.) Business buyers will also be happy to see an ExpressCard/54 slot on this edge for use with those swap-in cards.
On the bottom of the ThinkPad X220 is the connector for the base or battery slice. Also, corporate IT departments will be happy to see easy access to the hard drive (near the edge) and the RAM on the bottom panel.
