I recommend getting the X230 over the X220, if anyone decides to play with these old Thinkpads. I have both machines, and I found heat dissipation has been significantly reduced on the X230 for otherwise the same performance, thanks to Ivy Bridge's die shrink over Sandy Bridge. Most components from both machines are interchangeable with the exception of their bottom covers and motherboards (an EC firmware hack is available for interchanging keyboards and batteries).

Nah, it has a crappy chiclet keyboard.

I have both i5 and i7 X220s. The i7 has USB3 and 16GB of RAM, plus dual SSDs, and it remains 100% usable today. I just wish it had a slightly higher-res screen. I'm perfectly happy with the colours and the viewing angles, but it's a bit cramped, which is one reason I still use Unity.

I said "an EC firmware hack is available for interchanging keyboards and batteries" for a reason. X220's keyboard works nearly perfectly on the X230 with this firmware hack and a slight hardware mod (insulating two LED power contact with masking tape). You can also bring your existing X220 monitors and batteries to the X230 during the upgrade.

OK, conceded.

I looked into it. I also looked at a keenly-priced X230 from a friend to do it to.

I decided, reluctantly, too much work and too difficult. I like my X220 as it is and I have a to-do list so big I will die before I make a dent in it. Life is too short for customising laptops.

The only weak point of the x230 was the stock TN display was absolutely awful. I swapped it for an IPS.

One day I dropped it about a foot onto a carpet floor, and the metal chassis accordioned and bent in the corner. Was not impressed by that.

Yeah. 1366x768 was not great

Don't forget the USB3 of X230

i7 version of the x220 has one USB3

True, and my X220 has a cheapo USB3 card from AliExpress that gives it a few more USB3 ports. Cost about $5 or something.

x230 can take 16GB RAM. only some x220s will.

slightly different keyboard layouts also, wrt pgup pgdown