Communication

In terms of communication standards, there is not much left to be desired. Intel's Wireless-AC 7260 already supports the fast 802.11ac standard, making it well-equipped for fast wireless networks. With its two antennas, it is capable of using both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz band, reaching up to 867 Mbit/s. The device lives up to these expectations during real-life usage, yielding good connection speeds without any major issues or even breakups.

For short distances, Bluetooth 4.0 is still on board - quite useful when one is trying to connect smartphones, keyboards or mice. Our ThinkPad X240 also comes with a M.2 standard HSPA+ module (including GPS) made by Ericsson. Although we didn't test this, it should be possible to insert a solid state drive instead. According to Lenovo's claims, the 720p webcam is supposedly quite good under low-lighting conditions, but we can't confirm this statement: It should be enough for well-lit video conferences, but no more.

Security

The ThinkPad X240 comes with a Trusted Platform Module 1.2, a Smart Card reader, a fingerprint reader and the usual password options, yielding a good basic array of security options when it comes to preventing data theft. In addition, Intel's AMT (long-distance maintenance, repairs and surveillance for security purposes) or AT (anti-theft) technologies can be used, further improving upon the range of security utilities. Lenovo's "Airbag" is an optional active HDD safety feature, preventing HDDs from taking damage from impacts (of course, this isn't necessary for SSDs), as is the Kensington lock connector for which a lock can be purchased separately.

Accessories

As usual, a lot of optional accessories can be purchased at Lenovo's store, ranging from larger batteries with 48 Wh or 72 Wh to new docking stations. While the latter - the "Thinkpad Pro Dock" (30A10065EU) which may very well be a must for stationary usage scenarios, due to the low amount of ports - is rather expensive, costing 150 euros, the largest battery - the 72 Wh one (0C52862, 68+) - can be had for as little as 70 euros. 

Maintenance

The hard drive bay isn't accessible any more, requiring removal of the entire bottom panel. After the loosening of 8 screws and leveraging of the panel, it can be lifted up. A guide (including information which steps the user is allowed to take) can be found in Lenovo's Hardware Maintenance Manual, as is almost always the case with Lenovo. A number of slots (Wi-Fi, M.2), the drive bay, the fan system and one memory bank can be found below this maintenance hatch. Unfortunately, this is indeed the only RAM slot on board, being occupied by one 8 GB module - neither soldered-on RAM nor a second bank are available.

Warranty

As usual, Lenovo offers 36 months of warranty for the ThinkPad X240. Warranty extensions - both in terms of quality and quantity - shall become available shortly. At the time of this writing, no such extensions could be found online for the ThinkPad X240.

The new slim chassis goes hand in hand with a change in APUs, from conventional chipsets to Ultra Low Voltage variants with a very low Thermal Design Power (TPD) of just 15 watts for all components together, including the CPU, the GPU and the memory controller. Naturally, this yields a ton of advantages in terms of cooling system design, power consumption and the resulting battery life. This new component alone defines the direction the ThinkPad X240 takes, away from maximum performance to a balance between performance, mobility and battery life. Another change has occured with the RAM where only one bank remains, limiting memory expandability as well as system and even graphics performance. On the other hand, most variants will offer a significant increase in performance as only the affordable entry-level models still ship with conventional HDDs. Even a second SSD could be added via the M.2 connector.

Overall system performance is rather good, but again it suffers from CPU and GPU throttling when the device is put under full load. This may not be relevant for Office, web browsing, image editing or video playback tasks, but it does become more important when trying to convert audio or video files, yielding lessened performance levels when compared to conventional CPUs. Another choke point can be found when looking at the RAM. It's not even that a maximum amount of 8 GB cannot be exceeded, but rather that only one slot is available, forcing the RAM to be used in single channel mode. This does not only decrease the performance of the RAM itself, but also the graphics performance, as it depends on the memory bandwidth as well. Dual channel mode might actually increase effective GPU speeds by around 20 %. Still, thanks to its fast mass storage, the PC Mark benchmark results are quite good, yielding 13472 points during PC Mark Vantage and 4388 points during PC Mark 7.