Lenovo ThinkPad X100e: When Build Quality Matters Most

Is It Worth the Bread?

First things first: regardless of pricetag, Lenovo's ThinkPad X100e is a pretty nice ultraportable. Performance is solid if unexceptional, and the Radeon HD 3200 can even handle some mild gaming if you ask it nicely. What you're really looking at with the X100e is the superior keyboard and build quality, and these things really go a long way. You can have the fastest, most power efficient notebook in the world, but if using it feels like a chore, why bother? The user experience is marred slightly by the mediocre screen and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the notebook can get mighty toasty under a heavy load, but overall it's far more comfortable to use than any other netbook or ultraportable I've personally tested.

When we get to the pricetag, though, it does start to get onerous, and you're going to have to ask yourself if it's worth the premium over competing notebooks from Acer and Toshiba to get something this comfortable to use in such a small form factor. Things only get worse when you start looking at shelling out $150 to upgrade your allegedly cheap ultraportable into the realm of true usability. The X100e is perfectly fine without the upgrades, but it cannot be overstated: the SSD makes a major difference. That's extra cash on top of an already high $529 for the Turion Neo X2 version; we can't recommend going with the single-core Athlon Neo MV-40 with its inferior performance coupled with worse battery life. The Athlon Neo X2 build might be a decent middle-ground, but that's still $479.

Of course, there's a third option. It's the one that I chose and it evens the odds somewhat, depending on your luck: you can buy it from the Lenovo Outlet. Honestly I didn't even know it existed until it was brought up in the comments on another site's review, but I was able to score mine for $430 shipped. Mine was new, apparently just an overstock, but if you're willing to put up with a refurb (and in fairness, it's a refurbished ThinkPad), you can probably score an excellent deal. A current check reveals the Turion Neo X2 model for $440 before shipping, which we think is still worth the premium.

So yes, it's last generation tech. It runs hot, and it only lasts about five hours on the battery. But the ThinkPad X100e is also exceptionally well-built and incredibly easy to use, upgrade, and service. For many users these aren't going to be big enough perks to make up the difference in price between a faster unit from a competing vendor, but there are going to be some users out there frustrated by slow ultraportables with mediocre keyboards. The X100e is for them, and it's absolutely worth the premium. Nothing else in its class feels better to use.