Lenovo ThinkPad x270

Lenovo ThinkPad x270  has a compact build, measuring 0.8 by 12.03 by 8.21 inches (HWD) and weighing 3.07 pounds. That’s small enough to slip into almost any bag or laptop case, though its weight doesn’t do much to differentiate it from the 3.1-pound which has a 14-inch display. It is still thinner and smaller than the T470s, so it takes up less space, but it’s hard to say it feels like a true ultraportable given the density.

All-black plastic, the X270 isn’t flashy, but it does meet MIL-SPEC durability standards, as do all ThinkPads. That means it can withstand extra bursts of humidity, low or high temperatures, sand, vibration, shocks, and high altitudes. The build is solid if unremarkable: It’s not flimsy, and the backlit keyboard offers the usual ThinkPad comfort, with good key travel and a nice bounce that keeps your fingers moving. Speaker volume isn’t exactly strong—it can get loud enough to hear without much distortion, but it doesn’t quite fill the room with rich sound. Still, for business use including viewing short clips or video conferencing, it does the job

Lenovo is also using a Microsoft precision touchpad in the X270. This technology not only lets windows 10 handle driver updates, as opposed to using third-party drivers, but also uses raw touchpad input rather than registering it as a USB mouse and translating that to touchpad movement through software. Microsoft can much more easily implement universal multitouch input, gesture commands, and updates across laptops from all OEMs, instead of fragmenting this fundamental part of the hardware across the market. Lenovo is beginning to use precision touchpads in more of its laptops, and ideally, all computer makers will integrate this technology and leave the software features and updates to Microsoft, making for less finicky controls from laptop to laptop.