Just bought a x200! Advice?

I just purchased a new x200 off of fleabay! I finally popped my lenovo cherry (or so to speak) after getting tired of all the glossy consumer notebooks.

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo P8600
2GB DDR3 PC3-8600 1066Mhz RAM
250GB 5400RPM
Intel WiFi Link 5100
BlueTooth
FingerPrint Reader
Vista Ultimate/Windows XP Professional
6-Cell Battery
1 year warranty

960 Shipped, no tax. With MS Cashback @ 8% it comes down to around $890. I think I got away with a pretty good deal since a similar configuration on lenovo came out to around 1200, taxed and shipped (including the 15% off coupon and with Vista Basic).



So questions to current x200 owners!

1) Since this is my first business notebook, should I consider doing a clean Vista installation or is it not necessary since there isn't much junk on it? Also, if there are junk programs, what are they? (A list would be helpful)

2) How bad is the speaker on the notebook? Is there a program provided that can adjust the equalizer? If not, has anyone used such a program (i.e. SRS audio sandbox) to make it sound better?

3) How much more weight does the 6 cell battery add? And does it protrude from the back like the 9 cell? realistically, what battery life should I be expecting?

4) I need a recommendation for a good sleeve that fits the notebook like a glove!

 

Enjoy it.

I haven't bought a ThinkPad since the R60. That came with Google desktop only. The X61s I wrote the review for had the Office trial and a couple other things as I recall. It's probably not anywhere near like what a consumer machine has. I personally prefer a clean install. In addition to any bloatware, some of the ThinkVantage tools have no value to me. I'd prefer not to have them installed. I guess it's up to you whether you want to spend the time. You can also just uninstall any programs you don't want.

It's got one speaker. Need I say more?

The X200 with the four cell weighs 2.95 pounds while with the six-cell, it's 3.25 pounds. How much battery life you get depends a lot on the settings, particularly the screen brightness, WiFi, and the CPU power consumption.

I use a backpack, but my machine's bigger than yours.

Congrats on the machine.

 

Good choice of a new laptop!

1.- I don't think a clean install is really necessary for Thinkpads, as the amount of bloatware is minimal. I don't really remember what software I removed from my T500, so I cna't really list them.

2.- It's a small single speaker - pretty bad.

3.- The 6-cell does protrude. The exact weights and dimensions can be found in the Tabook, here.

4.- The ZeroShock III series of sleeves offer great protection. I'm not certain about fit.

 

1) Optional, but may not be worth the hassle. The only real "JunkWare" is McAffee and a 90 day trial of Office 2007. The most dominant installed software is either junk or great software depending on your perspective. Lenovo has dedicated ThinkVantage tools for almost every windows function (e.g. Power management, network connections, display management, password management, etc.). If you use the extra features they're great, if not, you may prefer the standard Windows versions (you can always disable/un-install the Lenovo ones).

2) The speaker on the x200 is pretty awful. It's a single speaker, it fires downward, has relatively poor clarity, and isn't very loud. I wouldn't waste your time trying to calibrate it as it's really only for basic business functions. The x200s has a louder speaker, but it's otherwise no better. The x200 Tablet actually has decent stereo speakers, but they still aren't as good as most media oriented consumer notebooks.

3) The 6 cell does NOT protrude on the x200. Instead, it lifts the notebook very slighly in the back (about 0.2 inches). In addition, it weighs about 4 ounces or 130 grams more than the 4 cell (but provides double the WHr rating).

4) Not sure about sleeves, but the ThinkPad Leather Ultraportable is a small soft briefcase that fits the x200 series perfectly (I use and love this case [ pictures in post #17]).

 

the new thinkpads do come with a ton of crapware, more than average i would say. A coworker just got one with Vista pre-installed and there were 100+ processes running when the computer was booted up for first time. We did a fresh install without any of Lenovo's softwares.

Fortunately mine came with DOS, so i didnt have to deal with crapware.

 

4) I have an x200 and bought a targus 13.3 inch case.If you have a 9 cell, I highly recommend this case.

http://www.targus.com.au/product_det...p?sku=TBS020AU

 

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Coming from consumer notebooks and having done clean installations on HP, Toshiba, Sony, and Dell, I've definitely gone through my fair share of bloatware. I think my record for processes removed was on a HP consumer notebook with 106 cut down to 51.

Looking through the software and drivers list for the x200, there seems to be a lot of recent updates to the x200.

1) Does Thinkvantage come with an auto updater?
2) If not, are there any important updates that you would recommend?
3) Are the Thinkvantage tools more helpful/powerful than using vista's built in functions?

[edit]
Somewhat off topic, can you use the fingerprint in IE and Firefox? I heard somewhere that it only can be used for logging in to vista.

 

1) It used to, but the service was discontinued about 2 months ago (not sure why).

2) Your system may come with many of the updated versions pre-installed. However, the general rule is if it isn't broke don't fix it.

3) The ThinkVantage tools offer substantially more options (e.g. battery charge thresholds, printer/firewall/DNS control when switching network connections, wallpaper switching when changing between pre-set display profiles, etc.). However, if you don't want these options, the built in Windows tools work fine.

You can use the Finger-Print reader in IE without issue. It can also work with FireFox, but you will have to do some digging to find the appropriate driver for FF3. The finger-print password manager software is called Client Security Solution and is quite effective at automatically submitting usernames/passwords when properly configured.