A Very Thin and Lightweight Small Laptop
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.

A perfect secondary device
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!