Is there a worthy successor to ThinkPad X220?

Very intriguing - despite their keyboards taking a nosedive, they still the best pointing stick system, I’m glad they stuck with anti-glare despite being touchscreen, but touchscreen doesn’t do anything for me. Dual-channel is good.

This actually inspired me to take another look at their line-up, and I’m seriously considering the Thinkpad A485, which does have a swappable rear battery.

Although the ThinkPad T480 continues to surpass the A485, the ThinkPad A485 might be an interesting option due to its relatively affordable price, particularly if you need a bit more GPU performance.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-A485-Ryzen-5-Pro-Laptop-Review.334528.0.html

Might be a good choice for dual booting / light gaming. Although I wished they tested with dual-channel configuration, and updated their numbers for the new EUFI update. The E485 seems to also be an intriguing choice due to lower price and largely same specs, but no battery expansion option, however, it does reach 5+ hours under testing, and it appears to be replaceable, so could be alright.

Update: I mean, this is really tempting for a new laptop [E485]:

The ThinkPad E485 also offers a whole series of advantages that are not a given at this price range. The processor offers more than sufficient performance for most tasks… In addition, there is a decent IPS display (however, there might possibly be some small differences depending on the supplier). Particularly for the low price, we can recommend the E485 in any case.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-E485-Ryzen-5-Vega-8-Laptop-Review.415811.0.html

With a student discount, I snagged it for $455. That was super tempting. Then I realized I had a paypal balance, which is money I never use, so that sent me over the edge.


image
So after tax (~$502 shipped), I went ~$130 out of pocket thanks to that extra money in my PayPal account. Amazingly, that’s cheaper than my X220 (I grabbed for $180). I’ll still have to pick up an extra stick of RAM for dual channel, and an SSD, so I’ll probably come out even-ish compared to X220 I got so many years ago. I’ll let you know how it goes, and if it is a worthy successor to the legendary X/T series prior to 2011!

4 Likes

I kinda want that… ugh I have the money but should not spend it on this…

I’ll have to keep a look out on ebay for a used one in the next few years.

Can’t wait to see how it stacks up

Nice, congrats! Do let us know your impressions of the E485, especially on linux. I just can’t believe they still ship out any system without an SSD.

The biggest change I’d want with the L390 is an AMD option. The APU’s strong graphics ability is great for balancing out what is typically the weakest part of this type of system. On the other hand the weaker CPU performance versus the i5-8250 is a bit surprising, even if not that big a deal, but there’s also the shorter battery life and higher power draw that are disappointing. The biggest factor that keeps me still on the fence with Raven Ridge is its iffy linux status.

I’m hoping Ryzen 3 U series is an improvement, but I suppose that’ll require about a year’s wait before it’s released, featured in devices, and available at sale prices.

This seems intereting (https://www.pcworld.com/article/3393439/lenovo-puts-amd-ryzen-chips-in-thinkpads-giving-intels-rival-a-boost.html):

Lenovo said the 14-inch T495 as well the 14-inch T495S will both feature up to AMD’s quad-core Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U chip. The Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U is built on a 12nm process and features four cores with symmetrical multi-threading as well as 10 Radeon Vega graphics cores. The chip is rated to dissipate up to 15 watts of thermals and has a base clock of 2.3GHz and 4GHz boost frequencies."

thinkpad in name only

Nice. Especially glad to hear this:

Lenovo said the new Ryzen Pro chips offered up to 4 hours more battery life than the same platform with the 1st-gen Ryzen Pro chips. Battery life, in fact, was probably one of sticking points of the original 14nm Raven Ridge Ryzen 7 Pro U chips.

Bonus:

Lenovo also said the new 2nd gen Ryzen Pros offer about 18 percent more performance than before, too.

Now to wait and see how linux compatibility evolves for the new Ryzen mobile.

1 Like

Are you referring to it being thin (probably glued together) and having a built in battery? That is a bummer.

Now to wait and see how linux compatibility evolves for the new Ryzen mobile.

Yeah, jumping in after a few bios updates will probably spare you a few headaches. Maybe one day amd laptops and linux won’t be a niche within a niche.

Just thought I’d post an update. Might be posting my impressions muchater that I hoped for. They still haven’t shipped my order yet.

1 Like

IT ARRIVED!

Also, this thing is super slow. Initial impressions are not great, but will carry on. Stay tuned!

1 Like

Thin is good, the issue of not being able to maintain it is the issue. Also can I use it in breaching a door? that is key for a thinkpad.

Using windows 10?

Spinning rust.
This is brutal:


Going to run some tests for curiosity’s sake - maybe get a baseline. I’ve yet to install these bad boys

1 Like

damn, 3 gigs of ram lol

Yeah, it was the same story when I got (and eventually returned) a Ryzen-based HP X360 Envy. I don’t know why (though I can guess…) Ryzen-based laptops often come without SSDs. Terrible out of the box experience, especially as it usually needs to get all kinds of updates on the first boot.

Curious to read your review of it with pros and cons once you get it set up with and SSD and linux.


I settled on a used Dell E7250 with a FHD touchscreen for now. It’s not perfect (coil whine being the worst part), but it fits my requirements almost perfectly. The materials and battery life are great.

powertop is fun. I have an original Acer Aspire One with an Atom N270 (single core! with HT) and 9" 1024x600 display. That thing uses reports 10W at a minimum, goes up to 15W on load. The E7250 with an i5 5300U with a FHD touchscreen and wifi on can get as low as 3.3W at idle! Blew my mind. 10X faster and 3X more efficient! Incredible.

Idling with minimum screen brightness, airplane mode, and tlp installed:

powertop

3 Likes

Yeah, part of the reason I somewhat regret getting my AMD nitro 5. I just thought at such a good price I could put in a 500gb NVME on top of it.

1 Like

I’ve found Windows 10 with 4gb of RAM AND spinning rust is the pain. Upping to 8gb can help a bit, but just getting an SSD in that is gonna help so much more.

Put them upgrades in! :stuck_out_tongue:

2 Likes

Did you? I did, and it is glorious

I did, and it is so much faster!


image

1 Like

Not yet, but i do know that it has an m.2 slot. I pretty much spent all my money on the laptop itself, but it was a deal i couldn’t pass up(rx 560x and a ryzen 5 2500u with 8gb of 2666mhz RAM for $465) I’m planning on just grabbing a WD blue SN500 because of how cheap they are on sale! i mean $65 for 500gb NVME just sounds great! I know they aren’t nearly as fast, but tbh i don’t really care for that price.

So my review of the unit is up! I felt it appropriate to start a new topic.

Please let me know if you have any feedback. Appreciate it!

1 Like