Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Review

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e

Review Summary:

A well-balanced business netbook perfect for corporate road warriors on a budget.

Pros

• Well-built business netbook
• Excellent video/graphics performance
• Good battery life

Cons

• A little expensive for an E-350
• No backlit keyboard
• Good, but not "great" battery life

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Full Review

 

The ThinkPad X120e is the latest "netbook alternative" for business from the team at Lenovo. This 11-inch laptop is packed with the latest AMD "Fusion" processor technology as well as plenty of RAM and a fast hard drive to keep your business running smooth while on the go. Keep reading to find out more.

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Specifications:

• AMD E-350 with AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics (dual-core CPU at 1.6GHz and dual DX-11 SIMDs at 500MHz)
• 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM (1333MHz, 2 DIMM)
• Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
• 11.6" WXGA HD anti-glare LED Backlit display (1366x768)
• 320GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
• 802.11b/g/n, Gigabit LAN
• 4-in-1 card reader and 0.3-megapixel webcam
• 6-Cell Li-ion battery
• Dimensions: (W x L x H) 11.1" x 8.2" x 0.6"/1.2"
• Weight: 3.3 pounds (with 6-cell battery)
• Price as configured: $579.00 (currently $689 on Lenovo website)
  

Build and Design
The "ThinkPad" brand name is one of the few names that is virtually synonymous with business notebooks. These laptops regularly combine solid build quality, excellent keyboards, precision TrackPoints (that red dot in the middle of the keyboard) and fantastic warranty support. Last year Lenovo responded to customer demands for a "ThinkPad netbook" and delivered the 11-inch X100e. That bargain-priced ultraportable delivered pretty good performance at a low cost, but didn't provide particularly impressive battery life and got pretty hot on your lap thanks to the old AMD processor technology.

Lenovo promises to make things right in 2011 with the new and improved ThinkPad X120e.

At first glance, the exterior of the 11-inch ThinkPad X120e is virtually identical to the old X100e. In fact, the only things that have changed on the outside are the location of a few ports on the sides of the notebook and the addition of an HDMI connection for modern external monitors, projectors and HDTVs. The simple plastic rectangular screen lid on our review unit features a "midnight black" color scheme that gives it a more low-cost appearance than the rubber-coated ThinkPads, but it's clear this laptop means business.

Those customers who are interested in upgrading the RAM or the hard drive by themselves will be happy to know there is a single massive access plate on the bottom of the notebook that gives you full access to the internal components. Yes, chances are that most business buyers will order all their upgrades at the time of purchase, but it's good to know Lenovo keeps it simple for the do-it-yourself crowd.

Ports and Features
As previously mentioned, the port selection on the X120e has changed slightly from last year's model. Lenovo listened to our complaints about the lack of an HDMI port on the X100e and added HDMI to the X120e while moving one of the USB ports to the other side of the notebook. We'd still like to see a combo eSATA/USB port or a USB 3.0 port for connecting high-speed external storage, but it's hard to complain when you're talking about a netbook alternative.

Front: Indicator lights

Rear: AC power jack, battery, and VGA out

Left: Security lock slot, heat vent, HDMI out, one USB 2.0 port, Ethernet, and combo audio jack

Right: 4-in-1 card slot, and two USB 2.0 ports

Screen and Speakers
The 11.6" LED-backlit screen on the X120e appears to be the same 1366x768 display used on the previous ThinkPad X100e. I am particularly fond of the matte screen surface since it doesn't reflect sunlight or strong indoor lights like glossy displays. Contrast and color saturation are only average with a total contrast ratio of 117:1 in our lab and a maximum brightness setting of 156 nit. Horizontal viewing angles are good out to at least 60 degrees to either side before you start to notice color distortion. Vertical viewing angles are below average as the display becomes over exposed or colors begin inverting after moving the screen 15 degrees forward or back.

Speaker quality is average as the maximum volume output is loud enough to fill a large meeting room with clear sound. There is a little distortion at the maximum volume setting and bass output is minimal, but the speakers deliver good enough quality for a good video conference or webcast. As with the old X100e, the speaker location on the bottom of the notebook means sound is directed down and away from you rather than up toward your ears. If you plan on using the X120e like a "laptop", then you should expect the speakers to be muffled on your lap.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The ThinkPad X120e uses the same "Chiclet" keyboard on the X100e that is quite different than the traditional ThinkPad keyboards. Despite those differences, the keyboard maintains the same level of quality that business users expect when they hear the ThinkPad name. Lenovo uses a keycap design that prevents the caps from popping off like they would on cheaper keyboards. One of the main benefits of choosing a Chiclet-style keyboard is that it allows for more space in between the keys on an ultraportable laptop. This means fewer typos compared to netbooks with cramped keys. The individual keys on the X120e have a springy, responsive action and each key has a curved surface similar to the traditional ThinkPad keyboard. Typing noise is minimal, with no loud "click clack" noises while typing. The palmrests are pretty small for average adult male hands but they support the wrists without causing additional stress points while typing.

As with the X100e, our only real complaint about this keyboard is the lack of LED backlighting. Yes, adding a backlit keyboard option would make this netbook alternative a little more expensive, but it would make it that much more attractive to business travelers who need to see their keyboards on dimly-lit airplanes.

The Synaptics touchpad and TrackPoint provide a fantastic pair of control points for moving your cursor in various applications. If you regularly use the larger touchpads found on MacBooks and desktop-replacement notebook PCs, you might consider the tiny touchpad on the X120e to be very cramped. However, the touchpad on the X120e is roughly the same size as the touchpads on any modern netbook. The TrackPoint buttons include the traditional middle button found on most ThinkPads. Overall, the touchpad and TrackPoint were both a joy to use, with a fast response time and no discernable lag. Sensitivity was excellent and no adjustment was needed out of the box. This particular touchpad has some multi-touch capabilities, including pinch-to-zoom and pivot-rotation. The touchpad buttons seem to have a slightly shallow clicking depth compared to other ThinkPads, but they still provide a deeper press than most netbook touchpad buttons.

Performance and Benchmarks
The big news with the ThinkPad X120e is that Lenovo is using the newest AMD Fusion technology. Specifically, the new X120e is available with your choice of the AMD "Zacate" E-240 or E-350 accelerated processing unit (APU) which combines a dual-core CPU with a Radeon graphics processing unit (GPU) on a single processor die. Not only does this make the X120e more energy efficient than its predicessor, but it means the X120e offers significantly greater video and graphics performance than a similarly priced business netbook with an Intel Atom processor.

While you might not believe that graphics performance is important to business, think again. Modern business professionals need to be able to access HD video for client presentations. Road warriros need to be able to join webcasts and video conferences without the video lagging or dropping out completely. Likewise, modern applications like Adobe Photoshop CS5 run much faster if they are being used on a PC with a reasonably capable GPU like the ThinkPad X120e. 

While the low-voltage E-350 APU doesn't have the raw computational power of an Intel Core-series processor found in the Acer Aspire 1830T-68U118 ($899) or the IdeaPad U260 (also $899), it's important to point out that the X120e has a starting price of just $399 and is just as capable as these more expensive machines when it comes to running office appliations.

The 320GB Hitachi Travelstar 7K500 hard drive in our review sample was more than speedy enough for average tasks and I found it refreshing to see a budget business notebook with a reasonably fast hard drive for a change.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
Noise levels were average during normal daily use. The default fan speed seemed to pulse between off and on at a low setting. The fan didn't get as loud as the fan on the old X100e, probably because of the lower heat output from the E-350 APU. Bottom line, the external temperatures of the X120e are quite "lap friendly" for regular use while traveling. All temperatures shown below are listed in degrees Fahrenheit.

Battery Life
The X120e with AMD E-350 APU delivered 5 hours and 53 minutes of battery life with the screen set to 70% brightness, wireless active and continuously refreshing a website, and Windows 7 set to the "balanced" power profile. This is almost one and a half hours more battery run time than the X100e but slightly less than the HP Pavilion dm1z. It's also worth mentioning that the low-cost ThinkPad X120e provides significantly better battery life than the much more expensive IdeaPad U260 ultraportable notebook.

Battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):

Conclusion
We were big fans of the ThinkPad X100e and had high hopes for the new ThinkPad X120e. In general, Lenovo delivered the goods, but it isn't perfect. For starters, several other companies have risen to the challenge of making good netbook alternatives. The new HP Pavilion dm1z might be a consumer ultraportable, but at the time of this writing the dm1z offers essentially the same hardware specifications for $480. The ThinkPad X120e is priced at $579 or $689 depending on where you buy it.

On the other hand, the X120e has a fantastic touchpad with TrackPoint and a great keyboard (even if it isn't backlit). In addition, the X120e provides better battery life and lower external temperatures than last year's ThinkPad netbook. If the ThinkPad X120e was a little less expensive then I'd probably give it an Editors' Choice Award. Unfortunately, it's a tough sell when you can get essentially the same hardware from another company for less money.

Pros:

• Well-built business netbook
• Excellent video/graphics performance
• Good battery life

Cons:

• A little expensive for an E-350
• No backlit keyboard
• Good, but not "great" battery life

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities 
Usability 
Design 
Performance 
Features 
Price/Value Rating 

* Ratings averaged to produce final score