I got a new laptop at work the other day. It is a Lenovo X230 which replaces the best laptop I ever had, the Lenovo X200. I carried the X200 around wherever I went for three years, and in that time I had to replace the battery once. Which is really simple: you buy a new one, take the old one out (no screws) and put the new one in. Oh, I replaced the old hard disk with an SDD one too. That involved taking one (1) screw out, pull the old one out and push the new one in.
Lenovo might not make the prettiest laptops, but they have a feeling of being an engineers laptop that in my opinion no other brand is even close to matching.
So, what’s the difference? The new one has a camera so I will finally be able to join Google Hangouts. Not that anyone ever invited me to one, but I am ready if it should happen.
The screen is wider, and with a lower resolution than the old one. The old one was 1440x900, this one is 1366x768. The thing is, I actually think I prefer this one. The X200’s resolution was so high I couldn’t use my favorite font Profont, it was just too small. But on this screen it feels just right. I also get the feeling that the colors are more vivid, but that could just be that the old one was … old.
However, the biggest change is the keyboard, which I was very suspicious of to start with. You see, Lenovo used to be only vendor that could produce a real fricking keyboard, and when they replaced that with something chickletty, I was in the FFFFUUUUUU camp.
After spending a week with the new keyboard I have to say I was overly suspicious. The keyboard has a really good tactile feeling, and it produces a clear clicking sound which I find important. (My external keyboard is a Filco with blue Cherry switches to by colleagues delight)
I also love that they made the keyboard backlit, but still kept the little lamp on the top of the screen.
After a week, it feels like this one will make my old one the next best laptop I ever had.