The biggest difference between this and a consumer class machine is how well it's built. It has a carbon fiber lid, magnesium base, steel hinges, and interior roll cage. It's meant to take a beating. It's somewhat bland in styling. It's not the lightest at a little over 3.5 pounds. And it's not the thinnest ultrabook at about .85 inches. But again, it's made so you can give it to your employees who won't be easy on it and it will still last. It's not a pretty executive model, it's the middle of the line business class machine.

With a 7200 spinning disk hard drive, 4GB of ram, and a low resolution screen, the specs aren't amazing. In fact, it's last year's model. The last year's model doesn't matter much because you're not really going to notice the difference between a 5000 and 6000 i series processor. The spinning disk hard drive can easily be replaced and the ram can easily be upgraded. (six screws to take the base plate off and the ram and hard drive are right there) The screen is low resolution, isn't the brightest, and just isn't amazing. The screen is fine, but really middle of the road.

The keyboard is among the best--if you do a lot of typing it really is nice. The touchpad is pretty good. At least they brought back the pointing stick buttons which they took away for the T400.

The battery life is good even though it's a 3 cell battery. I think I got over six hours. Yes, batteries only last 1-3 years (ish), but that's true for every laptop. There is a six cell battery available that will last for around 14 hours.

The warranty is 1 year mail-in. That's the main reason we get more Dells than Lenovo. Even the cheaper business class Dell laptops come with a 1 year on-site warranty and the nicer business class Dells come with 3 year on-site warranties. Yes you can get longer warranties and on-site if you buy a Lenovo laptop from Lenovo, but that doesn't help you here. If you're really using this for a business, you can't afford to mail it away and hope you get it back within two weeks! Thankfully, we haven't had any issues with T450 laptops.

It's $500 today for the deal of the day. I wouldn't call that absolutely amazing, but it's a very good price for a well built laptop.

Having used windows since 1996,I have always used the genuine product. I'm not a thief, and I don't appreciate being treated like one.

I can now say I will definitely NOT purchase Lenovo again.And the lack of flexibility by Microsoft means my next PC will be an Apple.

Additional 2 stars removed for lack of assistance after repair from Lenovo and Microsoft.

******** Review Updated March 8, 2018*********
Purchase Date: June 7, 2014
Original Review: August 3, 2014

Computer Died: March 1, 2018

This computer lasted 3 years and 9 months. The motherboard stopped working in March 2018, although there were some issues in late December 2017, where the computer would just go to a black screen / power out. Eventually it went one last time and would not restart. I have been advised that it is most likely themotherboard - which is not worth repairing or replacing. You may draw your own conclusions on my thoughts, but it is highly unlikely I would purchase Lenovo again.

Originally 5 stars, but two stars removed for lack of longevity and that the fingerprint reader was useless

******** Original Review Starts August 3, 2014*********
I know there have been mixed reviews on the X240, especially from long time Lenovo ThinkPad owners.
I was looking for a powerful laptop that I can hook up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse while at home, but be small enough to easily travel with and decided on this one.
One of the major issues people seem to have is with the track-pad. I don't use track-pad buttons very often, preferring to double tap the pad. I still prefer a mouse, but the track-pad works ok for me, when I'm not using the mouse.
The two USB ports could be an issue, but I purchased a small Bluetooth mouse for when I am away from home and it leaves both USB ports free for a hard drive or flash drive.
I like the keyboard, which has a much better feel than my Toshiba, but as I'm not an accomplished typist, the TrackPoint doesn't get much use.
8GB of RAM is enough for what I do, (it would be nice to be upgradeable, but that option seems to be disappearing on ultra-books) and the processor, when teamed with the SSD, moves very quickly.
I'm happy with the standard battery. I get excellent battery life (my recent Toshiba was good for 3 hours when new...) I didn't want the bulk of the upgraded battery, although some reviews like the keyboard lift (and huge boost in battery time) it gives. It is nice to have the option of easily adding a battery, that some other manufacturers no longer allow
I wanted Windows 7 (it came with the pro version), and I didn't want a touch screen. I've tried Win8 and I have to say I'm not a huge fan, but I guess I can get used to it sometime in the future. While it makes sense the Microsoft is moving to a touch based interface for phones and tablets, I don't want to touch my monitor or laptop screen as (A). it is hard work lifting my arms all the time, and (B) I want /need my screens to be crystal clear.I have an iPad retina and there is so much loss of clarity because of fingerprints, the retina screen seems almost pointless, unless you keep it crystal clear. (BTW Touch my laptop screen and I'll break your fingers: )
I was very happy with the price, saving close to US$750 if I had purchased at home and also got a longer international warranty.
One issue I did have was with a 3.0 USB hub. I tried a powered USB 3.0 hub from Anker, however there was some issue with the Western Digital Elements Portable Hard Drive losing connection. Now, I'm not sure where the issue lies, but suffice it to say for me, the X240, WD Passport HD and the Anker USB powered hub, didn't play well together. After several weeks of communication with Anker, the issue was not resolved. I have stopped using the 3.0 Hub and reverted to my older Belkin 2.0 hub, and while the hard drive is slower, it doesn't disconnect. I'm more concerned about damage to the drive and data integrity, than speed. And 3.0 is not required for mouse & keyboard.
Over the years, I've owned Gateway (Win95), Compaq (ME), Acer (XP) and Toshiba (Win7) laptops upgrading about every 5 years. I've always kept my older laptop as a Back Up device and networked. Now that XP is unsupported (and the Toshiba was giving me 90 minutes of battery life) it was time to upgrade.
I can honestly say this Lenovo ThinkPad X240, in this configuration, is the best laptop / ultrabook I have owned.