In short, I think the X240 improves incrementally on its predecessors, but the rest of the market has moved fast enough that it's behind the curve now.
Slightly longer:
For $1000 today, I can get a Macbook Air with:
- An SSD
- Twice the battery life (yeah, the X240 has nice removable batteries, but that kind of defeats the point of an ultraportable)
- A higher res screen that's only half an inch bigger
- A far nicer trackpad
- A nicer graphics chipset
I'd be giving up:
- Alloy roll cage and spill protection
- Powerbridge (hot-swappable batteries)
- A touch screen/digitizer (an Intuos2 ($40 from ebay) fills that gap nicely for me)
I don't think the X240 is a bad laptop, but, right now, the costs far outweigh the benefits.
Slightly longer:
For $1000 today, I can get a Macbook Air with:
- An SSD
- Twice the battery life (yeah, the X240 has nice removable batteries, but that kind of defeats the point of an ultraportable)
- A higher res screen that's only half an inch bigger
- A far nicer trackpad
- A nicer graphics chipset
I'd be giving up:
- Alloy roll cage and spill protection
- Powerbridge (hot-swappable batteries)
- A touch screen/digitizer (an Intuos2 ($40 from ebay) fills that gap nicely for me)
I don't think the X240 is a bad laptop, but, right now, the costs far outweigh the benefits.