Design

At 12 x 9.1 x 1.25 inches and 3.6 pounds (with a nine-cell battery), the ThinkPad X220 is extremely light and thin, comparing favorably to last year's ThinkPad X201 (11.6 x 9.2 x 1.4 inches, 3.8 pounds with a nine-cell battery) and the HP EliteBook 2740p. However, the 13-inch MacBook Air is much lighter and thinner (12.8 x 8.9 x .68 inches, 2.9 pounds). The standard six-cell battery takes 1 inch off the depth of the notebook and 0.2 pounds off its weight. The optional battery slice, which attaches to the bottom of the system, adds 0.6 inches of thickness and 1.5 pounds of weight.

Heat

There are few things more uncomfortable than a hot notebook, so we must give kudos to the X220 for keeping it cool. After streaming a video at full screen for 15 minutes, we measured the touchpad at just 82 degrees Fahrenheit, the keyboard at a cool 86 degrees, and the bottom at a reasonable 91 degrees. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees to be comfortable.

Performance

With its 2.5-GHz Core i5-2520M CPU, the ThinkPad X220 has more than enough performance for the most demanding tasks, even video editing. On PCMark Vantage, a benchmark that measures overall performance, the X220 scored a whopping 7,719, about double the ultraportable notebook category average of 3,837 and a bit faster than the X201's 7,050. That showing is also miles ahead of the HP EliteBook 2740p (5,374) and the 13-inch MacBook Air (5,390).