It’s getting close to the time that my poor old IBM X40 will need replaced. It’s been a great machine and has served me well for all these years, but its age is starting to show. Like me, it’s starting to go grey around the edges 🙂

It arrived with a 40Gb hard drive and some version of Windows (XP if memory serves). During the intervening years it’s had 2 replacement batteries, a new 60Gb HDD installed and all evidence of Windows removed (apart from the “Designed for Windows XP” badge below it’s keyboard). Given the number of miles I travel every year, the laptop has stood the test of time remarkably well, shrugging off the occasional fall or knock with ease. Finding a replacement won’t be easy.

I’ve been thinking that it might be time for a new laptop for a while now – thinking given more haste by the nonsense that Ubuntu has made of the Intel video driver in it’s latest incarnation. Apart form that small annoyance, everything else works fine though the slow disk and processor do sometimes annoy when processing pictures or doing anything that is I/O intensive.

I’m not sure when I’ll be in a position to buy a replacement, but it’s maybe a good time to start looking around at what I’ll be purchasing. It will serve as my main machine but will also be travelling with me for upwards of 200 days a year, so size and weight are important considerations. A good battery life is also useful as I’m often in places without easy access to power outlets. The Lenovo X201 is an obvious candidate, but is there anything else I should be thinking about?