Best means that it's better than everything else which in this case is factually incorrect.

I do think that X220 is a great laptop because despite its age, it still runs great.

But, tbh, i don't think that it holds up well in terms of performance if we compare it to any modern laptop.

What we do want is a modern laptop which is open source friendly, has a great battery life, is repair-friendly, has a good hardware. Do Framework laptops fit this criteria? I don't know. I also do hear that the modern Thinkpads are good but they used to be better, years back.

I'll happily agree with that. My X201 was basically the closest thing to walking around with a desktop in your backpack. If I had the money to install a high-res screen, I'd still be using it today.

Holy mother of clickbaits. There IS no best laptop in the world, just like there is no best car in the world etc.

Love mine but the I5 is showing its age. Incredibly slow to do anything. Firefox with NoScript and uBlock Origin becomes necessary.

The X220 ThinkPad was launched in 2011. Since then, I have owned more than three of them. I have also had several X201 and X230 models. Among them, the X220 is my favorite because it features the iconic blue Enter button.

All of these models are nearly unbreakable. The only issues I've encountered so far are related to the fans and the fact that they tend to get very hot after about two years of daily use. By daily use, I mean working on them and having daily video calls—the hardware just isn't designed for that level of usage.

I have given all of my previous ThinkPads to friends and family. Recently, I purchased a used X220 (with an i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a 500GB SSD) for 250 bucks. It's now my "holiday" notebook, running FreeBSD and Sway.

I don’t understand the super thin and light laptop trend.

I don’t care how much it weighs, give me a milled aluminum chassis that could double as a weapon. I also want it thick enough for a normal Ethernet port and a good keyboard. Speaking of ports, I want them all. Can’t always predict what my travels will get me into, and more options is better than less. Especially when 2,000 miles from the box of cables, converters, and dongles at home.

I love the X220. Its input system is unparalleled, its storage (mSATA??) mega flexible, its case nigh unbreakable, its ports waiting to connect to almost anything, its parts all replaceable. I even have the SK-8855 so I can use the (exact) same keyboard when at a monitor and keep all my muscle memory. In the ways you physically interact with a machine, the X220 gets it all right, and there's something ineffably cool about a machine that's indeed so physical.

That said, its display tech is bordering on too old. 1366x768 is too small for most people to reasonably work on. In true X220 style you can upgrade this, and although you give up a DisplayPort on the dock, most people won't care about that. The other problem is external resolutions are limited to 2560x1600, which isn't 4k. Finally, a lot of software has gotten too heavy for its CPU. You can run things like VSCode, Slack, Google Meet, etc. on it, but it's not wonderful. I have a basic belief that if an app is slow on the X220 it's too slow in general, but developers of workplace collaboration apps and almost all websites disagree.

One of my "when I get rich" projects is to design/print a board to put a Raspberry Pi 5 CM in an X220 shell and sell it along with display upgrade kits. I think I've had actual dreams about this.

> I don’t think anyone could argue against these keyboards being the golden standard for laptops.

That's very ready to argue - it has the same awful unergonomic layout like almost every other keyboard instead of ortho staggered. And the spacebar is needlessly huge

Also the screen had poor resolution for the best laptop

Framework Laptop has consistently higher iFixit repairability scores than Thinkpads (which also score well): https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/laptop-repairability-sc...

One think I don't remember having in X220 was physical microphone off switch, which is present in the Framework.

x60 all the way

Nope. X220t is better because you can write on it! I actually did most of my PhD with an X220t folded and mounted to my wall with a little handmade desk in front of it and an extra screen. Worked great.