Question on Notebooks:

I'm thinking of buying either the ThinkPad X200 or the X200s.

The X200s offers the 1.8GHz SL9400 processor as compared to the 2.53GHz chip offered in the X200.

My question is: If I pick the X200s, how much speed am I losing out on?

I'd prefer the X200s as it if lighter, but I don't want to compromise on performance if the difference is too great. Can you please help me make a decision?

Submitted by Prajith, via email

Answer:

How much speed you are losing depends entirely on what applications you are using. If all you do are Internet surfing, a little basic photo editing or simply producing PowerPoint presentations in bulk, then the difference is minute. In this case, go for the X200s as the chip sips less power and provides longer battery life.

However, if your job involves multimedia editing, especially video encoding, or opening many application windows, then you'll really begin to appreciate the speed of a full-power processor on the X200 compared with the X200s.