Having used windows since 1996,I have always used the genuine product. I'm not a thief, and I don't appreciate being treated like one.

I can now say I will definitely NOT purchase Lenovo again.And the lack of flexibility by Microsoft means my next PC will be an Apple.

Additional 2 stars removed for lack of assistance after repair from Lenovo and Microsoft.

******** Review Updated March 8, 2018*********
Purchase Date: June 7, 2014
Original Review: August 3, 2014

Computer Died: March 1, 2018

This computer lasted 3 years and 9 months. The motherboard stopped working in March 2018, although there were some issues in late December 2017, where the computer would just go to a black screen / power out. Eventually it went one last time and would not restart. I have been advised that it is most likely themotherboard - which is not worth repairing or replacing. You may draw your own conclusions on my thoughts, but it is highly unlikely I would purchase Lenovo again.

Originally 5 stars, but two stars removed for lack of longevity and that the fingerprint reader was useless

******** Original Review Starts August 3, 2014*********
I know there have been mixed reviews on the X240, especially from long time Lenovo ThinkPad owners.
I was looking for a powerful laptop that I can hook up to a monitor, keyboard and mouse while at home, but be small enough to easily travel with and decided on this one.
One of the major issues people seem to have is with the track-pad. I don't use track-pad buttons very often, preferring to double tap the pad. I still prefer a mouse, but the track-pad works ok for me, when I'm not using the mouse.
The two USB ports could be an issue, but I purchased a small Bluetooth mouse for when I am away from home and it leaves both USB ports free for a hard drive or flash drive.
I like the keyboard, which has a much better feel than my Toshiba, but as I'm not an accomplished typist, the TrackPoint doesn't get much use.
8GB of RAM is enough for what I do, (it would be nice to be upgradeable, but that option seems to be disappearing on ultra-books) and the processor, when teamed with the SSD, moves very quickly.
I'm happy with the standard battery. I get excellent battery life (my recent Toshiba was good for 3 hours when new...) I didn't want the bulk of the upgraded battery, although some reviews like the keyboard lift (and huge boost in battery time) it gives. It is nice to have the option of easily adding a battery, that some other manufacturers no longer allow
I wanted Windows 7 (it came with the pro version), and I didn't want a touch screen. I've tried Win8 and I have to say I'm not a huge fan, but I guess I can get used to it sometime in the future. While it makes sense the Microsoft is moving to a touch based interface for phones and tablets, I don't want to touch my monitor or laptop screen as (A). it is hard work lifting my arms all the time, and (B) I want /need my screens to be crystal clear.I have an iPad retina and there is so much loss of clarity because of fingerprints, the retina screen seems almost pointless, unless you keep it crystal clear. (BTW Touch my laptop screen and I'll break your fingers: )
I was very happy with the price, saving close to US$750 if I had purchased at home and also got a longer international warranty.
One issue I did have was with a 3.0 USB hub. I tried a powered USB 3.0 hub from Anker, however there was some issue with the Western Digital Elements Portable Hard Drive losing connection. Now, I'm not sure where the issue lies, but suffice it to say for me, the X240, WD Passport HD and the Anker USB powered hub, didn't play well together. After several weeks of communication with Anker, the issue was not resolved. I have stopped using the 3.0 Hub and reverted to my older Belkin 2.0 hub, and while the hard drive is slower, it doesn't disconnect. I'm more concerned about damage to the drive and data integrity, than speed. And 3.0 is not required for mouse & keyboard.
Over the years, I've owned Gateway (Win95), Compaq (ME), Acer (XP) and Toshiba (Win7) laptops upgrading about every 5 years. I've always kept my older laptop as a Back Up device and networked. Now that XP is unsupported (and the Toshiba was giving me 90 minutes of battery life) it was time to upgrade.
I can honestly say this Lenovo ThinkPad X240, in this configuration, is the best laptop / ultrabook I have owned.

Pros:
Speed:Very fast workhorse, I have 8gb on top of the 4 standard gbs of ram.
Lightweight:
Size:Fits into almost anything.First time I’ve used a 12.5 inch screen and it’s pretty cool.Can’t say I love doing excel on this but it works.
Wifi:All the new bands including AC, which makes this quicker than most on the internet.
Battery:Someone here is complaining that it doesn’t go further than 5 hours of battery life which sounds right if you’re running at optimal settings (i.e. max brightness, full utilization of processors etc.).BUT if you reduce these setting you can get up to 8 hours out of this little guy.

Cons:
USB:Only two and both are on opposite sides.Seriously man add one more.
TrackPad:This is without question my biggest problem.I have been hands and I always end up touching this pad while working so my cursor goes and clicks on random parts of the screen which of course means I’m now wasting time to cut and paste what I wrote in the correct location.I had to disable this thing and the little red pointer in the middle of the keyboard is kind of pointless really.I purchased a wireless mouse for this which means I now have only one usb port left since the dongle occupies one spot.
KeyBoard: Compared to the apple keyboard or even the Aspire S6, ehhh.It’s ok.Doesn’t have a smooth enough click but not a deal breaker.What is, is that you’ll need to use the FN key to use any of the F1-F12 keys for the actual F keys as opposed to dimming the brightness of shutting down wifi.Since I’m an office users, I’d have appreciated the F key usage as the core function.

Overall, good laptop, but there are far better options out there now for half the price.

In terms of performance:
My system is an 8GB core i51.9GHZ CPU speed. It works absolutely fine with no problem. Very fast in opening applications and running heavy softwares which occupy 5GB-8GB of spaceand are specifically electrical engineering simulation softwares.

Very light weight computer.