Lenovo ThinkPad X260 Review: A Sleek, Tough, All-Business Ultrabook

To help you get a sense for whether or not the Lenovo ThinkPad X260 will provide the performance you’re looking for, we compare it to a range of laptops, including systems with similar hardware, in addition to both ultra-light and premium notebooks. We change very few settings before testing in an effort to ensure that the laptop performs at the same level for us that it will for readers who buy it. That said, many factors affect performance, so benchmark comparisons are a guide rather than a guarantee.

ATTO Disk Benchmark Peak Sequential Storage Throughput

The ATTO Disk benchmark gives a look at how the ThinkPad X260’s enterprise-minded 256GB SSD performs. Part of the drive’s value is tied to its OPAL 2.0 support, but its throughput is also critical.


The SSD provided write speeds that weren’t all that much slower than its read times. As we’ll see when we reach the PCMark 8 benchmark suite, ThinkPad X260’s SSD makes for a solid storage choice.

SunSpider Javascript Benchmark Javascript Processing Performance

Next up, we have some numbers from the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark. According to the SunSpider website:

This benchmark tests the core JavaScript language only, not the DOM or other browser APIs. It is designed to compare different versions of the same browser, and different browsers to each other. Unlike many widely available JavaScript benchmarks, this test is real-world, balanced and statistically sound. 

We should note that this is more of a platform test, in that different browser versions, associated with different OS types can and do affect scores. However, among the Windows 10 powered machines here, all things are relatively equal.


The ThinkPad X260 pulled ahead of the Lenovo Yoga 700 and the HP Pavilion x360 13t, both of which are equipped with Core i5-6200U CPUs versus the ThinkPad X260’s Core i5-6300U. It even ties the HP machine with the more powerful i7 -- that’s a solid showing for Lenovo’s new ultrabook.

Cinebench R11.5 3D Rendering On The CPU And GPU

Cinebench is developed by Maxon, which is better known for its Cinema 4D software. We use both of Cinebench’s tests. The CPU test uses thousands of objects to stress the processor, while the GPU test puts your system’s graphics chip to work with a short, animated 3D scene involving a car chase. The CPU test is measured in points, while the GPU test is measured by the framerate. In both tests, higher numbers are better.


The ThinkPad X260 ceded some ground to the HP Spectre x360 15t in the OpenGL test, but it kicked down the door in the CPU test. Its score of 3.41 put it nearly even with Lenovo’s first-gen ThinkPad X1 Yoga, which sported a Core i7-6500U.