Lenovo ThinkPad X240 Pro Reviews

The solidly designed Lenovo X240 Thinkpad features fourth-generation Intel Core processors and hot-swappable batteries. But its display resolution of just 1366 by 768 is disappointing at this price point.

The ThinkPad X240 isn't perfect, but the flaws we found are minor in the scheme of things. If you can work it into your budget, you'll be rewarded with plenty of performance, stellar battery life, a business-rugged design, and a top-of-the-line screen and keyboard.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X240 is a powerful business laptop sporting a Core i5 Haswell CPU, a speedy solid-state drive, and a 12.5-inch IPS touch-screen display. You'll pay top dollar for this well-built ultrabook, but it'll give you over 15 hours of battery life in return.

There’s a lot to like about the X240—especially if Lenovo delivers on the optional 1080p IPS panel in the near future. The company has tweaked a few things here and there, mostly for the better (although we still miss the rubber-like lid), while leaving much of what was already excellent about the X230 alone. You could certainly argue that the X240’s price is high, especially if you’re used to much more affordable (and a lot less durable) consumer laptops. But Dell’s very similar Latitude E7240 business line seems to be a bit more expensive for similar configurations. So we wouldn’t say the X240 is expensive for its class. Dell does have Lenovo beat when it comes to basic warranty length. The E7240 comes with three years of coverage (including hardware and on-site service). The X240 ships with one year of coverage standard. And if something goes wrong with the X240 in that time, you’ll have to ship your unit to Lenovo for service.

All in all, the Lenovo ThinkPad X240 is a well-made ultrabook with typical business-friendly characteristics. Security features, build quality, variety of ports, expandability and the keyboard all work well, succeeding in fulfilling most wishes of professional users. The high-constrast IPS display comes with great viewing angles and high brightness levels, allowing for comfortable working conditions even under direct sunlight. Unfortunately though, the resolution, color space coverage and color fidelity all are a bit lacking, especially for professional graphics designers and similar professions. The slim chassis, the low weight and the low noise emissions are bought with some throttling issues and localized increases in surface temperature. If silent operation under full load is not desired, much cooler case temperatures can be reached, although the noise does become more annoying. Definitely an improvement: Battery life is better than ever, despite a smaller-sized battery being used. 6 to 8 hours of real-life usage should be enough for most users. The location of some ports could be improved, as could the touchpad and trackpoint buttons which have been integrated into the 5-button clickpad. Still, depending on one's own working habits this shouldn't be a dealbreaker. Our test device is definitely no bargain, coming in at a decidedly premium price point of approximately 1800 euros. Still, with its 36 months of warranty and a long list of distinct advantages, the ThinkPad X240 does remain an overall attractive packet, especially in a number of professional working environments.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X240 is a small, robust, and all-around solid laptop that offers everything you need in a small system without being boisterous or in your face about it. The feel of the laptop is excellent, being a nice mixture of lightweight and small without coming across as flimsy or fragile. The display is solid on its hinges, as well, and the keyboard has the ever-popular strong report that ThinkPads are known for. At no point did I have to battle with the trackpad, which is something worth noting considering how often a trackpad has small peculiarities to which one must adjust. Even under heavy usage, the computer remained fairly cool and the fan, though running, was only audible when putting it up near your ear.The display isn’t quite as bright and sharp as you’d find on some other laptops in the same range, but the almost 180-degree viewing angle is exceptional and provides visibility when you have to hold the system in a weird position. As someone who has owned several ThinkPads since their IBM hay days, the X240 stands out as one of the best yet, something given a further boost by the incredibly long battery life and attention to small details.