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ThinkPad X120e: Compact and Powerful Laptop
ThinkPad X120e retains all the good features of X100e, and has improved elements that X100e lacked. In short, it is a true performer.
by Mark Brown - February 17, 2011 - comments
The ThinkPad series brings back a mood of nostalgia. It’s one of the most recognized brand names in the world of portable computers.
If you have used Lenovo’s ThinkPad X100e, you might have regretted your choice as its battery back up is very poor and it heats up pretty fast. Lenovo seriously looked into these issues and improvised a lot in ThinkPad X120e.
The Money Times discusses why it’s one of the top notch performers in such a small form factor and how it really rejuvenated the ThinkPad series.
Form factor
Let’s start with the form factor. ThinkPad X120e kept the same chiclet keyboard and chassis of its predecessor that won many accolades from the users.
It improvised in the processor and boosted it with a powerhouse AMD Fusion Zacate APU. The cover is made of black plastic and has a matte finished.
The screen hinge is strong. The looks of this laptop is classically elegant and you will certainly appreciate its simplistic approach.
Design
It’s a bit wider than the traditional 10 inch netbook yet portability is absolutely great. Its also very lightweight at 3.3 pounds. That’s a great advantage for any netbook because nobody likes a bulky netbook.
It is worth to mention that ThinkPad X120e is even lighter than its closest competitor HP Pavilion dm1z.
The other hardware features include three USB 2.0 ports, VGA and Ethernet sockets, a mic / headphone combo jack, and a SD card slot.
The major change is a HDMI port that X100e lacked.
Despite its brilliant design the battery compartment is oddly placed and Lenovo could have designed it better.
Keboard, Display and Touchpad
The keyboard resembles the X100e design and it’s absolutely brilliant. It gives you ample place for faster typing and the keys are placed so well that there is no chance of any accidental wrong click.
ThinkPad X120e has both the TrackPoint and touchpad. Both work pretty decently.
The display is crystal clear, thanks to its 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768-resolution matte screen. The webcam is capable of producing nice video even in low light. Speakers of X120e are loud and distortion free.
Processor
If you love to play games then this is an ideal netbook for you. ThinkPad X120e is powered by AMD's dual-core 1.6GHz E-350 processor and has a whooping 4GB RAM to process high end graphics faster and crispier.
You can play the most graphically rich games like 'Batman: Arkham Asylum' in it. This powerful laptop handles multitasking brilliantly. It does not show any lag in response time even if you work on Microsoft Word Starter 2010, surf internet on Chrome with multiple tabs, simultaneously run Skype and Windows Media Player in the background.
It can also play 1080p full HD video via WiFi and HDMI port on a larger screen.
The battery life is improved in ThinkPad X120e and offers up to 5 hours and 45 minutes backup if you do daily work such as surfing internet and typing documents.
The extreme heat issue with X100e is also solved in X120e as it is much cooler during long time usage.
The X120e supports Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) edition. That means you can utilize all the great features of the latest Microsoft OS without any worry.
To summarize the ThinkPad X120e in one sentence, it’s an excellent laptop and beats its contenders in the hardware segment.
The only thing you might not like is its high price. But if you are looking for a laptop that is classy and does multitasking no matter what you throw at it, then it’s the best product for you.