Lenovo ThinkPad X280 12.5" Display, Quad Core i5-8250U, 16GB DDR 4, 256GB SSD, WebCam, WiFi, (Renewed)

The laptop is costimatically perfect with the exception of a few faint smudges at the bottom otherwise you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s new. Either the previous owner have rarely/never used it or Microdream have done a damn good job at refurbishing it.The laptop was pre-installed with Windows 11 Pro. Given the age of the laptop, I’m pretty sure that it was originally pre-installed with Windows 10 so Windows fans should be pleased because if nothing else, it proves that the X280 spec is high enough to run Windows 11. The laptop also comes with a free 1 year ESET Antivirus subscription. The ESET subscription can be renewed at c£30 p.a. I did have a bit of problem setting up the ESET Antivirus software but the ESET Helpdesk was very helpful so I’m now a very satisfied customer.The 8th generation 4-core Intel i5 cpu seems pretty decent considering its age. It was able to handle anything I throw at it including video editing. I have not tried encoding videos with it yet but I suspect that ‘making a cup of tea’ while it is doing the hard work may not be enough. One small caveat is that the 8GB of RAM is not expandable because it is soldered onto the board! This is not a big deal for me because 8GB is pretty adequate for my use.I can see myself taking the X280 with me in my next overseas trip as it is no more heavier or thicker than a tablet. If you’re looking for a small lightweight laptop with decent power for everyday use, look no further. I highly recommend this laptop.

Arrived in as new condition other than a few small scratches underneat which is wha you would expect from a.laptop being rested on a table.Screen, keyboard and outer casing is.like new.Super fast laptop, literally seconds to power up to be ready to use. Keyboard is amazing and feedback is so much better than my last laptop which was actually an M1 MacBook air.Cannot fault it, it's small which is perfect for working in the go, battery is like new for a refurbished laptop, power supply included looks new and unused. This is probably the best value for money laptop I have ever purchased and eaisly strong / powerful enough to handle all home use or heavy.office based work. 8 gigs of ram which is ample for the work I do on it and a 250gig SSD which is ultra fast.

The reason I am removing a star is because it came pre-installed with Google Chrome. I don't like having spyware preinstalled on my computers. But it *didn't* come installed with the Lenovo drivers for adjusting the brightness etc, which should absolutely be on there. You can solve this by searching "lenovo x280 drivers". Apart from that, 5/5. Onto the real review...I really don't know why anyone would even consider any other laptop at this price point unless they needed more RAM. Unfortunately it is impossible to upgrade it to 16GB due to it being soldered, but apart from that this is a fantastic laptop that's perfect for what I need it for - Microsoft Word, classic 1993 Doom and remote access mainly. I always go for and recommend refurbished ThinkPads and, in terms of condition, this one could've been described as new without the box. The keyboard, and per usual with this brand, is fantastic.The thermals can be a bit fussy - when I was debloating W11 and installing several programs at once it got uncomfortably hot on my lap, but that is to be expected in this form factor. I simply started using it on a simple slab of varnished wood. It would have been nice to have a cheaper option that comes without a Windows license, especially if you happen to have one already or would prefer to use an alternative OS, but eh, for £200 you DEFINITELY can do A LOT worse.In a way it reminds me of the old netbooks that were fashionable about 10-15 years ago now, except it's got enough horsepower and a good enough keyboard to be useful!

I rarely write reviews, but this one deserves it. This is a great little machine that does exactly what I need: a thin client with enough CPU and RAM to allow me to have meetings, browse documentation and use much more powerful computers remotely.I believe it would be adequate for office work and even some software development if I needed to use it for those purposes. Lenovo's decision to use soldered RAM is unfortunate, 16GB would have given this laptop a much longer lifetime. I successfully used this to drive two 24" external monitors, using the usb-c port with an usb-c to hdmi cable. That port is thunderport capable so it could also do display port output with 60hz at 4K, but that's not what I need/have at the moment.Beware though: this machine is using a special ethernet port Lenovo saw fit to use, and the adapter sold by Lenovo is so large it block the usb-c port, so you can't have ethernet port and two external monitors in use at the same time if you use that port (I do). I bought a usb to ethernet adapter for the other regular usb 3 port and it worked just fine.The machine arrived in great condition, so thanks to the seller. For £230 or so, this is great value for money. I installed win 10 even though it arrived with a clean (no bloatware) windows 11 install. I must say that getting windows 10 on this machine took some effort even though drivers are available from Lenovo. I think it would have been easier if I installed the desktop app Lenovo provides for driver installation/management, so you may want to try that first.Finally, 12" IPS panel with 1920*1080 looks really, really nice. Almost like looking at a tablet, so I'm happy I did not go with a laptop with smaller resolution. Lenovo has its own weird habits, such as being unable to disable fast charging of the battery, or not being able to stop the laptop from automatically starting if someone lifts the lid after hibernation (does not happen if you shut down), but I can live with these.Overall, excellent value for money.