A PC on G345?!
I know, I know! And a MacBook Pro is hardly an old Mac (not by my standards).So... I recently bought a cheap secondhand ThinkPad X220 as a generic laptop on which to play with Linux and Windows 10 (whenever Microsoft decides to let me have it). It was an impulse buy from The Laptop Centre in the UK, who often have interesting machines for sale. I had a couple of ThinkPads back in the late 90s - a 340 CSE, I think and then something else - and really liked them before I got my hands on Mac OS X 10.1, as it was then. Bye-bye, Windows.
How would a ThinkPad feel now? Could it compete with the mighty MacBook Pro, my fastest machine? Would it feel better than the generic HP family-owned laptops I've used occasionally over the past few years? If it's a Windows versus OS X shootout, it's a foregone conclusion for me.
The Facts
| MacBook Pro Mid-2012 (non-Retina) | ThinkPad X220 (2011?) | |
| Processor | Intel i5, 2.5GHz.Dual core (virtual quadcore). | Intel i5, 2520M, 2.5GHz. Quadcoe (real? virtual?). |
| RAM | 4GB (max 16GB) * User upgradeable on this model. | 4GB (Max 8GB). User upgradeable. |
| Storage | 500gb (5400rpm) | 320GB (7200rpm) |
| Ports | 2 x USB3. Thunderbolt. Firewire 800. SDXC card port. | 3 x USB2 - one powered. SDXC card port. |
| Screen/s, display resolution | 13.3". 1280x800, 16x10 ratio. Can drive external screen with resolutions up to 2560x1600 via Thunderbolt or two external screens via Thunderbolt but no internal screen.Various other options involving USB and port adapters. | 12.5" TFT/IPS. 1366x768, 16x9 ratio. Displayport and VGA ports. Can drive external screen up to 2560x1600. Various other options involving USB and port adapters. |
| Networking | Ethernet, wifi, Bluetooth. | Ethernet, wifi, Bluetooth. |
| Expansion | Thunderbolt - external expansion only (storage, displays, etc). | 54mm Expresscard (possibly add Firewire or SSD). PCI Express Mini Card slot (WLAN or SSD). SIM card slot available to enable 3G connections using WLAN.Docking station. |
| Battery | 7 hours. | 7 hours. Up to 23 hours with larger battery and docking station. |
| Weight | 2.06kg / 4.5lbs. | 1.6kg / 3.5lbs with 6 cell battery. Other battery options may increase weight. |
* Apple's maximum stated RAM for the MacBook is 8GB but OWC and other vendors say 16GB and 16GB is working fine in the MacBook. It's overkill but I'm planning to keep the laptop a long time so I may as well max it out). All data above is the best I could find. Do your own checking and your model may vary.
Things I noticed quickly
Design
The ThinkPad has a soft touch feel about it. The MacBook is a cold chunk of metal, most days. Both machines feel very solid. However, I dropped the MacBook some time back and dented the undershell. I was able to hammer the dent out gently with a small ball-hammer but it's affected the DVD drive slot, which I still need to fix. I don't think this would have happened with the ThinkPad. Although such a drop might have cracked it instead. Hard to tell, really. But I was surprised that the MacBook was so fragile. My old iBook G3 took a lot of punishment and never cracked.
The keyboard
The ThinkPad keyboard is lovely to use. I liked the keyboards in my two old 1990s ThinkPads and this one is equally sweet. The keys are slightly concave, well-spaced and can be lit by a small light above the webcam.The Escape and Delete keys are extra-large, which makes them easy to just stab at. The peripheral keys are often too small on laptops. I also like the dedicated buttons over the arrow keys which work as Back/Forward when in a browser. And possibly elsewhere.
Comfort
The MacBook is made of lovely shiny aluminium. Aluminium is a metal. Metal is damn cold in winter so if you want to put it on bare legs - in bed or wherever - be aware of this. MacBooks are COLD in winter.
Weight
I've had three Mac laptops over the past 13 years and all have had DVD drives. This lightweight ThinkPad with no DVD drive was quite a revelation. I can see why so many people are using MacBook Airs. And I haven't missed not having a DVD drive. Yet.
Expansion
Back in the olden days, Mac laptops of a "Pro" nature (called PowerBooks then), came with expansion bays that could contain extra drives batteries or other peripherals. A lot of people really liked Mac PowerBooks for their expandability. The mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro doesn't have any internal expansion options, unless you want to use an SD card as a RAM disk or something. The user can also add more ram and change the hard disk or the battery. The mid-2012 MacBook Pro was the last machine that could be upgraded to this extent by the user. More recent Pros are harder to work on.
Meanwhile, the ThinkPad is like Lego. You can add two SSDs internally (using the PCI Express Mini card and the 54mm Expresscard option) as well as a hard disk, or 3G functionality or a pile of other things. All these options can be carried out by the user, quickly or with a bit of patience. Having two internal expansion ports is impressive. Meanwhile, the range of ThinkPad battery options is mind-boggling to a Mac user. And then there's the Thinkpad's docking module...
Operating Systems
So far, I must admit, the ThinkPad is winning. Lighter, smaller, expandable... For a computer hot rodder who likes to max out everything, that's a joy. But then, there's Windows. I've worked in IT and with techies for years and while Windows is a great operating system for business, I don't think it makes any sense in the home, where access to one's own tame techie may be absent. I abandoned Windows with my first Mac and I've never regretted that. It's just so much less hassle. But I must admit that Lenovo's X220 is a distracting little beast. And that was a surprise for me.
Syncing
iTunes works on Windows, but iCloud doesn't, if you don't have Outlook. I can read iCloud mail and access calendar, notes and other iCloud apps via the browser at icloud.com, but OS X just makes this so much easier. And it works without an internet connection. DropBox and Microsoft's cloud work on both machines.
Longterm
I don't know. I haven't picked up the MacBook since getting the Thinkpad. It's really hardware (ThinkPad) versus software (OSX) here. There's no winner - but if Lenovo started selling ThinkPads with OSX, I'd be hooked. This is probably where I should start thinking about a dual-booting Ubuntu installation. Which was the whole purpose to begin with.
The ThinkPad has a soft touch feel about it. The MacBook is a cold chunk of metal, most days. Both machines feel very solid. However, I dropped the MacBook some time back and dented the undershell. I was able to hammer the dent out gently with a small ball-hammer but it's affected the DVD drive slot, which I still need to fix. I don't think this would have happened with the ThinkPad. Although such a drop might have cracked it instead. Hard to tell, really. But I was surprised that the MacBook was so fragile. My old iBook G3 took a lot of punishment and never cracked.
The keyboard
The ThinkPad keyboard is lovely to use. I liked the keyboards in my two old 1990s ThinkPads and this one is equally sweet. The keys are slightly concave, well-spaced and can be lit by a small light above the webcam.The Escape and Delete keys are extra-large, which makes them easy to just stab at. The peripheral keys are often too small on laptops. I also like the dedicated buttons over the arrow keys which work as Back/Forward when in a browser. And possibly elsewhere.
Comfort
The MacBook is made of lovely shiny aluminium. Aluminium is a metal. Metal is damn cold in winter so if you want to put it on bare legs - in bed or wherever - be aware of this. MacBooks are COLD in winter.
Weight
I've had three Mac laptops over the past 13 years and all have had DVD drives. This lightweight ThinkPad with no DVD drive was quite a revelation. I can see why so many people are using MacBook Airs. And I haven't missed not having a DVD drive. Yet.
Expansion
Back in the olden days, Mac laptops of a "Pro" nature (called PowerBooks then), came with expansion bays that could contain extra drives batteries or other peripherals. A lot of people really liked Mac PowerBooks for their expandability. The mid-2012 13" MacBook Pro doesn't have any internal expansion options, unless you want to use an SD card as a RAM disk or something. The user can also add more ram and change the hard disk or the battery. The mid-2012 MacBook Pro was the last machine that could be upgraded to this extent by the user. More recent Pros are harder to work on.
Meanwhile, the ThinkPad is like Lego. You can add two SSDs internally (using the PCI Express Mini card and the 54mm Expresscard option) as well as a hard disk, or 3G functionality or a pile of other things. All these options can be carried out by the user, quickly or with a bit of patience. Having two internal expansion ports is impressive. Meanwhile, the range of ThinkPad battery options is mind-boggling to a Mac user. And then there's the Thinkpad's docking module...
Operating Systems
So far, I must admit, the ThinkPad is winning. Lighter, smaller, expandable... For a computer hot rodder who likes to max out everything, that's a joy. But then, there's Windows. I've worked in IT and with techies for years and while Windows is a great operating system for business, I don't think it makes any sense in the home, where access to one's own tame techie may be absent. I abandoned Windows with my first Mac and I've never regretted that. It's just so much less hassle. But I must admit that Lenovo's X220 is a distracting little beast. And that was a surprise for me.
Syncing
iTunes works on Windows, but iCloud doesn't, if you don't have Outlook. I can read iCloud mail and access calendar, notes and other iCloud apps via the browser at icloud.com, but OS X just makes this so much easier. And it works without an internet connection. DropBox and Microsoft's cloud work on both machines.
Longterm
I don't know. I haven't picked up the MacBook since getting the Thinkpad. It's really hardware (ThinkPad) versus software (OSX) here. There's no winner - but if Lenovo started selling ThinkPads with OSX, I'd be hooked. This is probably where I should start thinking about a dual-booting Ubuntu installation. Which was the whole purpose to begin with.
