The Lenovo Thinkpad X60s is a fast, well-designed ultraportable notebook geared toward business users. The unit replaces the ThinkPad X41, and while it leaves out a few features you’ll find on comparable laptops–such as a built-in optical drive–it’s still one of the best ultraportables you can buy.

The good:

Extremely portable design; excellent keyboard; fingerprint reader; integrated WWAN radio; great performance; incredibly long battery life when configured with high-capacity battery.

The bad:

More expensive than comparable models; lacks built-in optical drive; lacks built-in support for ExpressCards.

Specs for X60s as Reviewed:

Just a quick note regarding the difference between the X60 and X60s. Basically the design is the same for each, but the X60 has the full fledged Core Duo processors so you can get say a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo T2400 processor,the same battery with thinkpad x60 battery . The X60s uses the low voltage L2300 or L2400 Core Duo processors and therefore is slower in terms of performance, but gets superior battery life and runs cooler.

The ThinkPad X60s’s 12.1-inch display has a 1,024×768 native resolution that provides just enough screen real estate for basic business tasks and Web surfing; the Fujitsu’s and Sony’s smaller displays have slightly finer resolutions. Though most ultraportables sacrifice key size to fit a smaller case, the X60s’s keys are large and very comfortable for extended typing. Our only complaint is that the right-side Alt and Ctrl keys are a bit narrow–annoying if you’re accustomed to using shortcuts. As with all ThinkPads, the X60s includes a red TrackPoint pointing stick; beneath the keyboard are three mouse buttons (the center acts as a scroll button) and a fingerprint reader for security. Otherwise, you get just volume controls and a long, blue ThinkVantage button that launches system maintenance, connectivity, and other utilities. Tucked into the lid is a nifty light that illuminates the keyboard in dim environments.

Business travelers will find all the ports they need on the ThinkPad X60s: VGA, four-pin FireWire, and three USB 2.0 ports, as well as headphone and microphone jacks.li-ion thinkpad x60s battery , The laptop also includes slots for Type II PC Cards and Secure Digital cards, though ExpressCards require an adapter (not included). Aside from the aforementioned missing optical drive, the ThinkPad X60s’s connections match up well with those of both the VAIO VGN-TX670P and the LifeBook P7120. Our review model included the X6 Ultrabase docking station ($160 if you buy it as an option), which features a DVD/CD-RW drive in addition to a number of other ports and connections.

Processor and Performance

The ThinkPad X41 notebook I’ve been using for the past year has a Pentium M 1.5GHz low voltage processor. It’s no speed demon, but it’s really quite good for an ultraportable class notebook and gets stuff done in regards to Office applications, email and web. However, with the Core Duo 1.66GHz Low Voltage processor there is a significant step up in performance. Indeed, based upon benchmarks the 1.66GHz Core Duo is a fully 30+ percent faster than the 1.5GHz LV Pentium M X41.

The X60s I have has 512MB of RAM, it’s not enough, I’ve been getting low virtual memory warnings and general sluggishness when there’s 5+ applications open (I multitask and am guilty of having a ton of windows open at one time). With all the pre-installed ThinkVantage software that runs in the background you’ll want 1GB of RAM so there’s enough room in memory to run other programs without paging the hard drive every few seconds. The ThinkVantage software that runs in the background such as Active Protection System and Access Connections is great, don’t get me wrong, you’ll want to keep it but you won’t want to sacrifice performance either so I highly recommend 1GB in terms of memory.

The hard drive in the X60s is the 2.5″ variety common among all other notebooks, and is certainly reason to rejoice. You are now able to upgrade the hard drive to a 7200RPM variety and are not strapped to a non-upgradeable 4200RPM 1.8″ HD that past ultra slim X-series notebooks have been allocated. The smaller and proprietary hard drive was always a knock against the X-series. With a 5400RPM drive such as my X60s has you’ll see marked performance in boot-up time. And since it’s 2.5″, you have comfort of knowing you can upgrade your hard drive as higher storage capacities and speeds become available.

Battery

Lenovo thinkpad x60s battery life of an ultraportable is, to me, the all important factor. What’s the point of having an ultraportable computer where the battery dies in 2 hours and you have to find a power outlet as a lifeline to staying charged? The X60s I have comes with an extended life 8-cell battery,the same quality as thinkpad x60 battery, it sticks out of the back of the notebook rather than being flushed, and weighs more than the standard 4-cell. But I’ll gladly carry the extra weight for the 5 hours and 59 minutes of battery life I get with the X60s. Incredible! The notebook went into hibernation at 5% battery life remaining at the 5h 59 min mark, that was with wi-fi on and screen brightness set to medium. The notebook was mostly idling during this time with some light typing and some internet browsing done. When typing and using the notebook to write documents, browse the web and send email I’m cruising to 4 hours of run time with 30+% battery still showing. This is far and away the best battery life notebook I’ve used. The processor does significantly underclock from top performance to achieve this life, but so what, things are still snappy enough. I’m ecstatic in regards to this feature of the X60s.

The X60s is a leap forward in performance over the X41 and offers more in terms of ports and features. Some will find the built-in EVDO antenna an irresistible feature, some will love the extra USB port and FireWire. Personally, the off the scale battery life has me all a flutter about this notebook and I believe is the real story. As I type now I’m flying between London and New York and with 1.5 hours left in the flight, the lenovo thinkpad x60s battery life is still at 49% (estimated 3hours and 8 minutes of usage left).Thinkpad t60 battery can get point. I’ve been using the notebook screen at full brightness with wi-fi off for a total of about 4 hours during time at the airport and on the 6.5 hour flight.

That said, if you can swallow the cost and don’t mind my other quibbles, this ThinkPad is an outstanding ultraportable laptop for business users and anyone else who wants a terrifically well-designed machine.