Ease of installation on Thinkpad X220?

I'm pretty much dead-set on getting an X220 for college, and I would really love to get a SSD for it, but the $350 charge for a 128GB drive seems a little absurd to me. Although I'm A+/Net+/Server+ certified and have been installing hardware in desktops for years...I'd really rather not buy the laptop without the SSD, order the SSD separately, then have them both arrive and realize I've got a good chance of breaking something if I haven't opened up a X220 before.

So...in other people's experience, how easy is it to install a SSD in a X220?

Any common issues with the BIOS or finding drivers?

I know the drive has to be 7 mm tall, but whats a common drive other people bought for theirs, and how expensive was it?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

Have you seen the images on how to tear down the laptop enough to get to th mSATA port? It doesn't seem much more than a few screws and being careful not to yank the keyboard out before you unplug it, to be honest. I've done some laptop disassembly before, and the procedure for the X220 doesn't seem to go that deep into the computer's innards given that the keyboard can be unscrewed from the body itself.

As for SSD compatibility, there's a thread about compatible drives on the Lenovo forum.

 

There's literally one screw to remove to pull the drive from the main bay and then four on the hard drive caddy. It shouldn't take more than a couple minutes.

If you're talking about the mSATA that's a bit more tricky. Probably the hardest part is the antennas aren't routed very well to allow for installation, but I would say it should be pretty easy for someone who has been installing hardware for years. I'd say the mSATA is the way to go. You get the small SSD for the boot partition, then a larger platter drive for storage, where you don't need speed. That's if you can find one of course.

 

I wasn't planning on using an mSata drive.
I had been linked to some of lenovo installation videos, and one of them showed an awful lot of plastic parts being pulled out to install a drive...I though it would be just my luck that I would pull too hard on something and snap it...but if there's only a bay to open up and install a regular sata drive then I'm more inclined to buy the SSD separately.

 

I just checked the SSD sticky and googled (shopping) the Crucial c400 series, and it appears to me that the Crucial m4 series ( Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) and Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)) are the same thing...
But on Neweggs description it says the drives are .37" tall and unless my math is bad, thats not 7 mm...
Are those still usable drives?

 

Your math isn't bad. I believe if you massage it, you can probably get it to fit, but one is left to wonder about the long term implications of doing so.

 

Is Newegg where people commonly buy theirs and they just know of a specific model to get? Or is it easier to find 7 mm models on Amazon or some other site? Neweggs lack of drive height on most models is driving me crazy...I've looked at a few drives on Amazon and they normally don't have the full dimensions either...

 

NewEgg usually has the best prices. If you're talking about the mSATA drive, they're very hard to find right now if you want the 80GB drive. I got lucky and got one at the very start. I think they were on NewEgg last Friday, but disappeared in about a half hour. There's a list of 7mm drives here. There's not many SATA III drives if you're set on getting one. Probably the Crucial C300 is the best SATA III option. From a reliability viewpoint, Intels are always a good choice, but they're only SATA II drives, though unless you copy and past files all day, I doubt you'd notice.

 

By chance would you know what model/speeds the 128GB option from Lenovo is?
Newegg still has a 40GB mSata option available, at only $100...but it's a lot slower than most standard Sata III and even Sata II drives...

 

I think they're most likely Samsungs, but it could be a Toshiba too. There's probably no way to know without the serial number or having it in hand. If you want a particular drive, it's probably best to get the cheapest drive, then order and install the one you want. As I said, the 80GB mSATA is very hard to find right now. There's some Renice mSATA drives right now, but I don't know much about them and when you're thinking reliability, Intel's a good choice.

 

So I know that ordering certain parts like the IPS panel with 3x3 antennae can prevent you from being able to get a webcam...is there any configuration that takes up the area for an mSata SSD? Or is it always available?

 

Slightly off topic, but since you know a lot about the x220...would you recommend the 6 cell or 9 cell battery? Is it noticeable or annoying having the 9 cell battery jutting out?

 

If you get the mSATA drive you cannot get WWAN since they'd use the same miniPCI slot. I went with the six-cell. I get about six hours with a clean install of Vista, which is about 3x what I'd need. You'll get more with the factory install. I kind of wish I had went with the nine since it was only $9 more when I ordered, then I could get the four-cell for around the house. The nine-cell does make for a convenient handle when carrying it around. It's about a half pound heavier, but you should get at least 50% more battery life, if not more.