Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet with outdoor viewable display

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Quick Glance

Good: Amazing screen, dual-swivel screen hinge, good ergonomic design

Bad: A bit pricey, no capacitive touch with outdoor viewable display

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Find the latest deals on the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet at LogicBuy

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Design
The ThinkPad tradition of function before form combined with a timeless black paint scheme is preserved with all the latest ThinkPads. The X200 Tablet of course keeps with this, in Lenovo’s first 12-inch widescreen tablet. Our model was equipped with the 8-cell battery, which sticks out from the rear by 1.1 inches. It does add a fair amount of bulk, but the extra dimensions serve as a nice grip for the machine, supported by the rubber texture on the top of the battery.

There really isn’t much to say about aesthetics on this business notebook, but the other functional aspects of tablet use are covered later in the review.

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Display
Tablets traditionally have higher quality displays than most notebooks, sporting higher brightness and much better viewing angles. Using a tablet in various environments at different angles necessitates this and is one of the reasons for the higher cost of tablets. Lenovo’s recent announcement brings two new screens to the ThinkPad X200 Tablets, officially called the “Enhanced Multitouch WXGA LED Panel with Wide viewing Angle” and “SuperBright Outdoor Viewable WXGA LED Panel with Wide viewing Angle.”

Our model has the Outdoor Viewable panel and even when you’re not outside, it rocks. The colors are very vibrant at all brightness levels and stand out to you even at a casual glance. The viewing angles are impeccable and it is pretty much as “outdoor viewable” as Lenovo claims. As noted in the hands-on review I posted, the screen does show a fair amount of reflection when outdoors. It’s not a deal breaker, but if you have a “busy” background behind you it might be rather distracting.

I have reproduced my hands-on review of the outdoor screen below as well.

Hands-on review

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As always there are trade offs and the outdoor viewable ThinkPad X200 Tablet does have a couple: a glossy finish and fingerprints. Unfortunately it appears a side effect of the process to reduce the type of reflectivity that inhibits viewability in bright sunlight required a screen coating that makes the display have a semi-glossy finish.

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It won’t remind you quite of a full-blown glossy display as seen on some consumer notebooks and indoors is barely noticeable. But when you get the outdoor viewable tablet into its element, namely the sunny outdoors, you can’t help but notice the reflections. If you orient yourself so that you don’t have numerous distracting elements in the background, you shouldn’t have any trouble using the machine outdoors.

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Picture above is with screen off, to show extent of fingerprints from normal usage

I discovered the other caveat quickly when I started inking around Windows 7 with the stylus: fingerprints. In the past, the ThinkPad X61 Tablet SXGA+ was very susceptible to fingerprints, but other X60/X61 Tablets didn’t seem to show them as much. Unfortunately this new screen shows fingerprints pretty significantly, but they shouldn’t impede with usage, especially indoors. This is more of an aesthetic complaint than a functional one, but who likes to see greasy finger & palm prints all over their shiny new ThinkPad outdoor viewable screen?

Disclaimer: I haven’t used other X200 Tablets, so I don’t know if they show fingerprints just as much.

I will leave you with one final revelation: ThinkPads get surprisingly hot when sitting in the baking sun!

Multimedia
ThinkPads have never been really oriented towards multimedia, but the reality is that business class PCs are being used more and more for “general” purpose. I know this is shocking, but business class PCs are being used for such illicit purposes as therapeutic music listening and even the occasional recreational video watching. Lenovo is not blind to this societal evolution and has long promised improvements to the speaker volume on ThinkPads.

The last few generations have had sufficient volume, but you’re still left wishing for a couple more clicks to turn the volume up. I was very surprised at how loud Pandora and Hulu could go. With the tablet in your lap, you really won’t have a need to max out the volume and it was perfectly audible outdoors with the usual background noise.

As we’ve touched upon, the display is excellent. If you’re travelling, this is actually the perfect little machine for sharing a movie between two watchers. The screen’s viewing angles and brightness are excellent for video and the audio can scale to most environments. The only video output on the tablet itself is VGA of course. If you have the optional X200 Ultrabase, DisplayPort output is included but it does not transmit audio.

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Features & Technology
Pretty much all ThinkPads have a minimum set of robust features that give you the flexibility to connect to anything or anywhere. The standard choice of WiFi cards is available, but both WiMAX and 3G WWAN can be included. Despite being a relatively small form factor, Lenovo has managed to include three USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard slot (34mm & 54mm), and 5-in-1 card reader.

Intel’s Ultra Low Voltage & Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processors are used to power the X200 Tablet, giving you a decent amount of pep. Windows 7 gives everything a lighter, more efficient feel to it no matter what platform you use. All ThinkPad X200 models use 2.5-inch hard drives, so you have free reign in storage upgrade choices.

Connectivity & Ports

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Left side (front to back): ExpressCard (34 or 54), WiFi switch, USB port, Ethernet, VGA output, fan vent, AC plug, lock slot

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Right side (front to back): USB port, headphone output, mic input, pen tether loop, modem jack, digitizer pen, USB port

Front: 5-in-1 card reader, screen latch

Software Preload
It doesn’t appear our Windows 7 system has the final version of Lenovo’s “Enhanced Experience” (read more here), but it’s still a fast and slick package. While I’ve found some of the Windows Vista IdeaPad systems to be loaded with some real junk, this ThinkPad is pretty slim in the junk department. A 90 day Norton Internet Security trial is included, but with Microsoft’s new Security Essentials package it is made pretty obsolete in my eyes as a trial software. The standard Office 2007 trial is included as well, but the only other software you will find is part of Windows 7 or Lenovo’s own utilities.

Lenovo’s excellent Access Connections network management and Power Manager utilities are included and have a slick integration with the new Windows 7 taskbar. You can take a look at a list of what Lenovo utilities made the cut into Windows 7 here.

Battery Life
I’m still working on a consistent way to benchmark battery life in Windows 7, so unfortunately this is more of a subjective usage. I used the X200 Tablet outdoor while writing this post, playing some online music, and a couple hours of watching Netflix video as well. This usage pattern ran about 4.5 hours out of the battery until it was at 1% remaining. The Netflix videos run the CPU at about 40-50%, so if you stuck with regular web browsing usage you could see another hour or more I would say.

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Tablet buttons (top to bottom)

• Disable tablet buttons (to protect against accidental presses)
• Tablet function menu
• Rotate screen (one press rotates screen once clockwise)
• Ctrl-Alt-Del
• Lock power button against accidental presses
• Power button (there is a power button on the inside as well)

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Tablet Usage
Tablet PCs are all about usability. If the design and features of the tablet don’t meet your needs, it has the value of a big, expensive paper weight. Lenovo generally prides itself on function over form and for the most part, the ThinkPad X200 Tablet exudes that. The fingerprint reader is large and placed perfectly for use whether it is in notebook or slate configuration. Lenovo included a number of useful buttons placed on the bezel, allowing you to access Ctrl-Alt-Del, screen rotate, a multi-function menu, and a button to disable the tablet buttons against accidental pressing. You can see the options on the multi-function menu below.

Once upon a time I used a ThinkPad X60 Tablet extensively, with the high resolution SXGA+ screen. I loved that machine. It ran a bit hot due to the thin chassis and LV processor, but the screen and portability were amazing. Moving to the ThinkPad X200 Tablet, a few design changes were made for the worse. A consequence of the new 12-inch widescreen form factor and the tetris that must be played in the computer’s innards, the digitizer pen was moved from a very natural position at the front left corner of the machine (near the card slot) to the right rear corner. Maybe it’s because I used the previous design for so long, but I just find this to be less ideal.

The X6x Tablet models also had a four-way game controller style button that allowed for eminently simple scrolling. You could also “click” the button and the actions of each directional push or a click were configurable. While Lenovo’s studies may have shown the controller wasn’t used much, I think anyone who used it would agree it was a god-send.

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Real World Usage
Battery life was more than sufficient for most of my needs and is rather competitive, considering the power draw of the screen and all the technology built into the X200 Tablet. It did get a little warm in my lap with extensive usage, but not unbearable like my X60 Tablet would get. Unfortunately the loss of the four-way controller on the bezel means that scrolling requires either a pen flick or locating the scroll bar on the screen. This is especially a pain for someone who is left handed.

While I love the awesome Outdoor Viewable screen, the multitouch screen would more than erase any usability lost in the X200 Tablet’s design changes. I hope to be able to sample a multitouch X200 Tablet soon to compare the screens more directly.

Conclusion
Die-hard tablet users are a picky bunch, and rightly so. The little details in a tablet’s design can make or break usability. Lenovo’s choice on the tablet system buttons, dual-swivel hinge, wireless switch, fingerprint reader and even LCD latch are all the little details that make for an excellent experience. I must say that a couple of the changes from the X6x Tablets to the X200 Tablets were a step in the wrong direction for usability, but there’s no use in crying over spilled milk.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the ThinkPad X200 Tablet as a tablet PC, with its legendary build quality, feature set, and amazing new screen. The big question for the buyer will be what type of screen they really need (high brightness, capacitive touch, etc) and what their budget is.

A well equipped X200 Tablet with the outdoor viewable screen will run $1800+ before any discounts and that is without the very handy Ultrabase docking slice. You can save several hundred dollars on the screen, which as I mentioned is the biggest deciding factor in what tablet you should buy.

Despite being a relatively small, thin, and light chassis, the X200 Tablet includes every feature you’ll find in a non-tablet PC. The new outdoor viewable display is also amazingly vibrant, although it is a fingerprint magnet and difficult to clean. I am spoiled by the eminent portability in my workhorse ThinkPad X61, but the X200 Tablet isn’t far behind and is one of the more thin & light tablet computers out there. We hope to have some of the other display options for the X200 Tablet in the labs to give you a good comparison of your shopping options.

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Tagged as: thinkpad x200 tablet