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Comment by mbrubeck | Hacker News Reader

The Lenovo ThinkPad x230 is available with a good quality IPS display (though still widescreen and low-resolution). I own an x220 with the same IPS display, and I'm very happy with it.

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I just recently got an x230 with the IPS option. The display is great and really comparable to my 11'' Air except for the coating. Overall, I love the machine. It lacks the size advantage of the Air (they are generally similar, but the x230 is several times thicker) but I was able to swap out the drive with a 256 SSD and upgrade the RAM to 16 GB which has left me with a machine that is way more capable than I anticipated. I also am really surprised by how much I like the keyboard.

That said, the ultrabook market is still in a weird state. I looked at all of the major vendors and no one really had the ideal combination of components yet. Once you can get the x230 with higher res display and a multi-core CPU, it'll be an ideal machine.

So you think one can like the new keyboard, right? I heard many long-time ThinkPad users were dissatisfied with the new keyboard. I'm on older X series and really contemplating whether I should get X220 or X230 in the future. Apart from the keybord type, why the hell do they dissolve the six-key Ins/Del/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn block ?!

I have had 3 other ThinkPad T models and I actually kind of prefer the keyboard. It's pretty subjective either way.

If you don't use WWAN on your x230 (or even have the card), you can put an mSATA SSD into the M-PCIE socket. Then you can have an ssd for your OS, and a hard drive for mass storage.

That's interesting, I didn't get the WWAN option so it's probably just dead space. Thanks!

You should have an unused M-PCIE slot then.

But those are still low res (1366x768), right?

The only ultrabooks I can find with high res screen at the moment are either made by Asus or Sony. I've heard good things about the Asus UX31/32, full HD IPS displays (1920x1080) in a 13.3 inch laptop. A 12 inch laptop with 1600x900 would probably be ideal for me.

Yeah, it's the 1366x768, same as the Air. I saw better options from a few different vendors but it always came at the price of low end components elsewhere.

Yes, but 12" is too small for dev work and it's still not possible to order T430 or T530 with IPS display.

Why not have it drive one of these[1] on your desk and use the smaller size to its more portable advantages?

[1] http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/viewsonics-vx70smh-led-ip...

I have my X61t, with 1400x1050 res 12" display, hooked up to my HP IPS 24" 1920x1200 res display. It's a good combo for portable (yet usable res for real work) and then even better when it's docked at home.

12" too small...? There is a small amy of developers running off 11" MBAs out there. I guess usability depends on what IDE etc you are using though.

EDIT-- It probably helps that the MBA has a higher pixel density screen and resolution.

I'm not sure how many developers are using 11" MBAs. 13" yes, but the 11" one is small and low-res enough that it's awkward for development (particularly development involving an IDE).

Likewise. I also own a X1 and the X220 screen is far better.

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