A competitor site has been moulding public opinion with a moderator there proclaiming repeatedly the Lenovo X230 is the best ultraportable on the market with no mention of either a Dell E6230 or HP 2570P as alternatives. Questioning that opinion may even get you banned.
As there are no sponsors on here to bias our recommendations, we can objectively evaluate all the pros and cons of these ultraportables below from which you can decide for yourself which features set best suits your needs. The notebookcheck.net reviews linked below are the very best available but do not cover some of the details below. So as not found on notebookreview.com, here's a pros/cons list of these three business ultraportables.
+ dual-drive capable: mSATA + 7mm 2.5" HDD/SSD but both are more expensive than 2.5" 9.5mm counterparts
+ 94Wh 9-cell battery option
+ backlit keyboard AND Thinklight
+ 54mm expresscard slot so can host an external eGPU for accelerated graphics/processing
+/- IPS LCD option. A pro/con depending on your needs. Pro: wide viewing angles and high brightness. Con: wide viewing angles bad for privacy, draws more power and there are reports of red appearing as orange and image ghosting.
+/- Displayport rather than HDMI port, a pro/con depending on your needs
-- quality issues with palmrest cracking above expresscard slot disintegrating, battery rattling around
- poor styling that hasn't evolved from their 1990s Thinkpads. Lenovo have spent $0 in the styling department.
- non-upgradable soldered CPU
- short palmrest may be uncomfortable if have large hands
- touchpad has no real physical mousebuttons, it's a clickpad
- whitelisted WWAN/wifi slots preventing use of future comms standards. I believe a hacked bios exists to get around this.
- Lenovo safeguard prevents use of cheaper aftermarket batteries -> need genuine Lenovo ones.
- eGPU users cannot get 16GB configuration to work -> need to downgrade to 8GB.
++ socketted CPU -> can be be easily user upgraded to faster dual or quad cores but confirm warranty implications
++ optical drive. Can be replaced by caddy hosting a 9.5mm 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD alongside the primary 9.5mm 2.5" SSD/HDD.
++ supports RAID-0 across 2x6Gbps internal SATA channels for very fast SSD/HDD performance
++ exceptional build quality and contemporary styling
+ 100Wh 9-cell battery option
+ 34mm expresscard slot so can host an external eGPU for accelerated graphics/processing
+ easy servicability by removing bottom cover giving access to all major components
+/- Displayport rather than HDMI port, a pro/con depending on your needs
+ glass touchpad
-- heavier and thicker than the above two
- no IPS LCD option
- whitelisted WWAN/wifi slots preventing use of future comms standards. No hacked bios is possible due to RSA protection.
- no backlit keyboard option but has a nightlight
Summary
A Dell E6230 is somewhat more stylish than the X230 but has the least features of the lot. A Lenovo X230 has some great features, if you can live with it's uninspired styling and some quality issues.
Which brings us to the best unit from this lot. Given the massive move to smartphone/tablet mobile computing, having a complimentary 2570P offering near-desktop performanace levels when upgraded (CPU+storage), yet mobile enough to take on the road means it's the most potent tool from this set. It's also the significantly better built unit too.
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Tech Inferno Fan
A competitor site has been moulding public opinion with a moderator there proclaiming repeatedly the Lenovo X230 is the best ultraportable on the market with no mention of either a Dell E6230 or HP 2570P as alternatives. Questioning that opinion may even get you banned.
As there are no sponsors on here to bias our recommendations, we can objectively evaluate all the pros and cons of these ultraportables below from which you can decide for yourself which features set best suits your needs. The notebookcheck.net reviews linked below are the very best available but do not cover some of the details below. So as not found on notebookreview.com, here's a pros/cons list of these three business ultraportables.
12.5" Lenovo Thinkpad X230 REVIEW
+ dual-drive capable: mSATA + 7mm 2.5" HDD/SSD but both are more expensive than 2.5" 9.5mm counterparts
+ 94Wh 9-cell battery option
+ backlit keyboard AND Thinklight
+ 54mm expresscard slot so can host an external eGPU for accelerated graphics/processing
+/- IPS LCD option. A pro/con depending on your needs. Pro: wide viewing angles and high brightness. Con: wide viewing angles bad for privacy, draws more power and there are reports of red appearing as orange and image ghosting.
+/- Displayport rather than HDMI port, a pro/con depending on your needs
-- quality issues with palmrest cracking above expresscard slot disintegrating, battery rattling around
- poor styling that hasn't evolved from their 1990s Thinkpads. Lenovo have spent $0 in the styling department.
- non-upgradable soldered CPU
- short palmrest may be uncomfortable if have large hands
- touchpad has no real physical mousebuttons, it's a clickpad
- whitelisted WWAN/wifi slots preventing use of future comms standards. I believe a hacked bios exists to get around this.
- Lenovo safeguard prevents use of cheaper aftermarket batteries -> need genuine Lenovo ones.
- eGPU users cannot get 16GB configuration to work -> need to downgrade to 8GB.
12.5" Dell Latitude E6230 REVIEW
+ contemporary styling
+ traditional keyboard with backlight option
+ do not whitelist their WWAN/wifi slots
+ easy servicability by removing bottom cover giving access to all major components
+ 34mm expresscard slot so can host an external eGPU for accelerated graphics/processing
+/- HDMI rather than Displayport, a pro/con depending on your needs
- no touchstyk
- non-upgradable soldered CPU
- no IPS LCD option but retrofit performed successfully here
- only single 7mm 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD capable
- no 9-cell battery option, rather uses a slice.
12.5" HP Elitebook 2570P REVIEW
++ socketted CPU -> can be be easily user upgraded to faster dual or quad cores but confirm warranty implications
++ optical drive. Can be replaced by caddy hosting a 9.5mm 2.5" SATA SSD/HDD alongside the primary 9.5mm 2.5" SSD/HDD.
++ supports RAID-0 across 2x6Gbps internal SATA channels for very fast SSD/HDD performance
++ exceptional build quality and contemporary styling
+ 100Wh 9-cell battery option
+ 34mm expresscard slot so can host an external eGPU for accelerated graphics/processing
+ easy servicability by removing bottom cover giving access to all major components
+/- Displayport rather than HDMI port, a pro/con depending on your needs
+ glass touchpad
-- heavier and thicker than the above two
- no IPS LCD option
- whitelisted WWAN/wifi slots preventing use of future comms standards. No hacked bios is possible due to RSA protection.
- no backlit keyboard option but has a nightlight
Summary
A Dell E6230 is somewhat more stylish than the X230 but has the least features of the lot. A Lenovo X230 has some great features, if you can live with it's uninspired styling and some quality issues.
Which brings us to the best unit from this lot. Given the massive move to smartphone/tablet mobile computing, having a complimentary 2570P offering near-desktop performanace levels when upgraded (CPU+storage), yet mobile enough to take on the road means it's the most potent tool from this set. It's also the significantly better built unit too.
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