Excellent Endurance
With a four-cell battery, the X200s delivered 3 hours and 30 minutes of endurance on the LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi), 1 minute longer than the X301 managed with a six-cell battery. However, the X200s truly shined with the nine-cell battery, lasting 10 hours and 43 minutes—nearly three hours longer than the X200 with the same nine-cell unit.
Not enough runtime for you? The included Battery Stretch utility extends the endurance of the system’s battery by automatically disabling Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, audio, and other features when the X200s is unplugged; it even estimates the increase in battery life. Lenovo doesn’t offer slice batteries for the X200 series, but if you purchase the Ultrabase dock, you can use it to charge an extra six-cell ($159) or nine-cell battery ($189).
Wireless Options
Our configuration came with Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and 802.11n Wi-Fi. On our Wi-Fi tests, the ThinkPad X200s’ Intel WiFi Link 5300AGN radio excelled in moving data; we saw throughput of 20.3 Mbps when the machine was placed 15 feet away from our access point, and 17.2 Mbps at 50 feet away. These numbers top the 17.8-Mbps and 14.9-Mbps ultraportable averages.
While the X200s features the optional ThinkVantage GPS Enabler that lets users track their movements using Google Maps, it lacks an integrated mobile broadband option (as does the X200).
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