Design
The ThinkPad X260 has a typical ThinkPad aesthetic, with a raven-black chassis that's accented only by the red TrackPoint nub on the keyboard and status lights on the lid and deck. Made of glass-fiber-reinforced plastic, the X260 can take a bit of a beating. Lenovo says that the laptop passed MIL-SPEC 810G durability tests for extreme temperatures, shocks and vibrations.

Display
The ThinkPad X260 comes with a choice of three different screen options: a plain 1366 x 768 display, a 1366 x 768 display with IPS for better brightness and color, or a 1920 x 1080 panel with IPS. Our review unit had the entry-level screen, which displayed dull, washed-out images without a lot of detail or screen real estate. Considering that the 1920 x 1080 screen costs only 0 more, the upgrade is a no-brainer.

Audio
The ThinkPad X260's bottom-facing speakers provide audio output that's mostly accurate, if not overly rich. When I played Deep Purple's guitar-heavy "Smoke on the Water" and Chic's bass-centric "Dance, Dance, Dance," the percussion was a little tinny but vocals and other instruments were clear, though a little flat. At maximum volume, sound was loud enough to fill a medium-size living room, but putting the system on my lap muffled the audio a bit.