Lenovo ThinkPad X260 review

A compact 12.5-inch ThinkPad with era-scoped green checks

The ThinkPad X260 (2015) at $169 is the small-format classic of its year, and the sheet reads familiarly for the vintage bracket: a graphics score of 7.91 against a business-class median of 3.84 — above median, but office-tier and era-relative, sixth-generation integrated graphics — with the flagged weakness at reliability 15 versus 42.5 and a CPU score of 21.5 versus 53.

The green checks define the ceiling

Grand Theft Auto V, The Sims 4 and Valorant pass their minimum bars — an honest, era-scoped result that suits a 12.5-inch machine perfectly: older and lighter titles, competitive low-spec games, and full office duty. The graphics placing above the median should be read as relative to a weak class, not as capability beyond those checks.

The small-machine trade

Reliability at 15 prices the decade-old board at the discount band, and the CPU trails the class by about 60% — the standard vintage-ThinkPad package. What the buyer gets in exchange is the compact chassis and keyboard that made the X-series the carry-machine benchmark of its era, at one of the lowest entry prices in the catalog.

Terminal-value pricing

From a $1,300 anchor the price has drifted to $169 at 6.86% per year, projecting to $147 in two years — another 13%. Depreciation is effectively exhausted; failure risk is the live variable and it is already priced in.

Same-shelf peers

Lenovo's L560 ($186) and Dell's Latitude E7270 ($184) sit above; HP's EliteBook 820 G3 ($155) and Lenovo's L460 ($155) below. The row is interchangeable 2015–2016 stock; the X260's pitch is the smallest chassis among them.

Bottom line

A honest cheap pick for the buyer who wants the classic compact ThinkPad experience with passing era-scoped minimums and no illusions. Worth the asking price in that frame — and no other.