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Home » Laptops & Computing » Laptop » Lenovo ThinkPad X121e » Video

Lenovo ThinkPad X121e video review

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The 11.6in X121e preserves the ThinkPad brand’s reputation for rock-solid build quality and excellent ergonomics, and throws in a decent screen, well-placed connectivity and good battery life to boot. Frankly, it’s difficult to see how Lenovo achieved all this in a machine starting at £330, though we’d probably go for the 3G-sporting Core i3 version at just £510. Regardless, whether you’re looking for a large netbook or a versatile budget ultraportable, the X121e should be near the top of your list. Read full review

Overall

9/10

User Rating

9/10

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Ardjuna Seghers

By Ardjuna Seghers
Reviewed 18 November 2011
Updated 15 March 2012

Price as reviewed

£510.12

  • Review
    • 1: Design, Build and Connectivity
    • 2: Usability, Screen and Speakers
    • 3: Performance, Battery, Value and...
  • Video Review
  • User Reviews
  • Comments
  • Specs
  • 12 Photos
  • Reviewed by Ardjuna Seghers
  • 18 November 2011
Read the full Lenovo ThinkPad X121e review
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Awards

  • Recommended by TR

Lenovo ThinkPad X121e details

Battery Life
7/10
Design
8/10
Features
7/10
Performance
7/10
Value
10/10
Overall
9/10

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Excellent value
  • Built like a tank
  • Superb keyboard
  • Decent, matt 11.6in screen
  • Optional 3G

Cons

  • No USB 3.0
  • No Core i5 option

Price as reviewed

£510.12

Manufacturer

Lenovo

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Godji

2:27 PM on 18 November, 2011

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Is the quoted battery life with a 6-cell or a 3-cell battery? Also, how loud does the laptop get under load?

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gagagaga

8:33 PM on 18 November, 2011

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Agree - excellent laptop. Been running premium thinkpads at work for years and this gives hardly anything to them .. same build, it just works.

I spent my own money on this one. Got mine for about £350 - lots of deals on the Lenovo website if you watch out. Oh, and there is an SSD option on there.

I would disagree with the screen rating though - it's pretty pants on mine like most thinkpads (though my previous laptop was a TZ before some bugger nicked it.. so not really a fair comparison).

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Ardjuna

4:18 PM on 22 November, 2011

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@Godji:
That's for the 6-cell, as you can tell from the 5,160mAh rating. As to noise, it stays fairly quiet, which is not too surprising considering it's a low-power chip in a chunky chassis.

@gagagaga:
Indeed, though as mentioned in the review some ThinkPads (like the X1) were disappointing at best.
Thanks for pointing out the SSD option (when we checked out X121e options prior to the review this wasn't available yet), amended review to match.

As to the screen, as mentioned it's fairly decent, except for its viewing angles. Compared to similarly priced rivals it certainly holds its own, as cheap laptop/netbook displays tend to be rather poor, making an average effort good.

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dcdp

8:44 PM on 25 November, 2011

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I got this laptop for my wife to replace her ageing and incredibly slow EeeePC 1000H. The difference between the two of them is light and day as you would expect going from an Atom with 1Gb RAM to an I3 with 4Gb RAM. However that is only the beginning. The extra screen size and resolution make a huge difference to the user experience (and the extra speed, did I mention the speed?). The other really good thing about it is the HDMI connection. The ability to plug a single plug into the TV (as opposed to fiddling with seperate sound and video cords) is excellent for watching videos off the laptop or just using the TV as a huge screen for viewing images etc. Plug a large USB drive into the laptop and it becomes a tiny media player.

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dcdp

8:47 PM on 25 November, 2011

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@Godji - The laptopis barely audible under load.

Keep an eye out for deals on Lenovo, I got it for under AUS$600 when it first came out - which was the same price I payed for the EeeePC I bought 3 years ago which it was replacing.

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Simon

1:01 PM on 30 November, 2011

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After reading this and doing some more poking about i have ordered one of these to replace my Acer Aspire One. I am very much looking forward to the speed increase and being able to watch full screen iplayer/youtube as well as some very light gaming.

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James Reckitt

7:47 PM on 7 December, 2011

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Nice review! Tempted to order one of these for Christmas to replace my trusty NC10 (which I still love, but the screen res gets a little irritating when working on long docs). Maybe some of the commenters who have bought one to replace netbooks will be able to help me here - how great is the performance upgrade from an Atom to this i3 (or the AMD equivalent)?

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MoeMoe

2:17 PM on 24 January, 2012

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:o

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Average user rating

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9/10

0 out of 0 people found this review helpful

Super little unit

25th November 2011, By dcdp

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This is a super little unit and great value for the price.

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