My Thinkpad X200T


I recently switched from a full size ATX desktop PC to my now current Thinkpad X200T laptop. The Thinkpad has a dock called the "Ultrabase" as well, although I am unable to use this yet since it was sold to me locked by mistake and I don't have a key for it (no, I didn't steal it!).

The Thinkpad has less RAM and a lower end CPU when compared to my previous desktop PC, although this is honestly a fine tradeoff since I have not noticed any performance impacts from this (at least for what I do day-to-day), but I have greatly benefited from the portability, convenience, and the fact that the Thinkpad (hilariously) has more I/O than my desktop PC.

Another factor I love about it is that it has Lenovo's famous trackpoint on the keyboard, this trackpoint (for the uneducated) is the replacement for the trackpad on Lenovo's laptops, although many of their laptops do still have trackpads, the X200T does not, meaning that it requires trackpoint usage, which I love! The trackpoint is very convenient and lets you type while using the cursor, as well as having a great feel and sensitivity. I feel that if I am going to make this into a hybrid setup (with the dock) then I will need to get a USB keyboard that has a trackpoint because I have no intentions on going back to the traditional mouse. I believe Lenovo makes these officially.

The X200T does have a touchscreen that works with the included stylus, although I am unable to get this to work on Arch as I don't believe the drivers exist for it (as it is quite niche). While we are on the topic of screens, I love the X200T's display, it is bright, vibrant, and very suitable for my usecases. The hardware itself is also very sturdy and strong, so I feel confident in bringing this around with me in a bag in public places for example.

Finally, I love the security/privacy protection that comes with using this. Unlike with many modern laptops, you can easily remove the microphone and camera array (which I have done) and it doesn't come with a modern TPM chip which means no hardware level spyware! Yippee!

The one complaint I have is how the battery only lasts for 4 hours, and that since this is a second hand laptop, mine's battery is already degraded to roughly 76% of it's original capacity, so this time is even lower for me. To combat this however, the X200T allows you to easily hot-swap batteries while it is powered by wall power, which is an excellent feature that many modern laptops can't do. Because of this, I will buy 2-3 additional new third-party batteries for it.