Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
JOD, I have kept in mind the idea of finding an X220. I hope your statement about production issues is true.
Buying from eBay could be a problem, I'd have no idea when the particular unit was produced, not to mention other eBay issues.
The seller can give you the build date. As far as Ebay, I think you may be better off buying from a reseller rather than Lenovo themselves. As long as the seller has good feedback, I wouldn't worry. Ebay resellers actually seem to be the main source for the Thinkpads (along with selling direct). The difference is the resellers have the product--order from Lenovo and you're waiting...sometimes a short while, sometimes not... You still have warranty service through Lenovo, so that's not an issue.
As far as the issues in production, some of the first ones had bad motherboards (sounds like a previous poster had that issue) and ghosting on the IPS screen. Both of those issues seemed to be resolved if you go by anecdotal reports on the interwebs. Mine was perfect.
IMO, there is a significant difference between the Thinkpads and most consumer laptops, and options for traditional keyboards are really limited.
