Justifying x201 for college?

8600GT? I wouldn't get that GPU.

If you need more gaming grunt, get DIY vidock and a desktop ATI 4770 that surely is going to blow any of the laptop GPU out of the water in terms of performance.

 

That's an excellent point lead_org!!

 

Can get a base model X201i for very low price. See below. There's also the 13" Toshiba R705 which is 3.2lbs with optical drive or the 12" HP 2540P which can also accomodate a 1.8" SSD.

US$760 12" Lenovo X201i i3-330m 2.13 2GB 250GB expresscard, no bt, no webcam.
US$800 13.3" Toshiba R705-P25 i3-350M 2.26 4GB 500GB W7HP *no expresscard slot*
US$980 12" HP 2540P i5-540M 2.53 2GB 250GB W7HP

If you want to do some gaming just ensure your candidate system has an expresscard slot and then add a US$310 NVidia GTX460 DIY ViDock.

 

It depends on what the OP wants or needs to do. Currently, the X201 is my only computer and it does everything I need and want it to. I don't do much gaming but when I do I play older games which the X201 will run in high detail just fine. And for me, the screen size does not diminish the experience at all. I've had the big heavy laptops and they're not for me. I like the X201 for it's small size, light weight and strong CPU power.

I'm not "stuck" with my X201 as my only computer. It is my choice.

 

Given that people play PSP all day, i don't think the 12.1 inch LCD is too small for gaming.

 

Yes, exactly! The PSP screen gives me a headache.

 

Some PSP games are more suited to large LCD TV, especially those driving and fast paced action games are the worst in producing eye strains.

 

I hear you guys, but that is definitely not the case for me. I really just love having a better net book. It’s so great for School, Starbucks and McDonalds. My x200t was never meant to be my main computer, but my mobile computer. I was definitely going to get a net book (just love the way they look), but happened to get this x200t far below cost. It didn’t come without problems, but they are solved now.

I highly recommend a 12” notebook if you’re going to School, rather it is a tablet or not. Now someone needs to come out with an 8/9 cell battery with a handle/shoulder strap, that would so rule!

 

I'm new to this Windows 7 stuff and I've never upgraded the OS on a computer before. So if I were to buy a brand new x200 with Vista 32 bit and I wanted to upgrade to Windows 7 64 bit, I have to do a clean install, right? Does that mean I have to manually install all of the drivers AND the ThinkVantage software?

 

yes, unless you can source a 64 bit Win 7 Recovery media from someone.

There is not too many drivers to download, so it is not that a difficult of a task to do.

 

I'll keep that in mind.

I really hope a Core 2 Duo P8400 will be enough for 4 years of university.

 

what degrees are you studying? Currently, most of the performance bottlenecks exist in the laptop graphics card and not the CPU.

 

I think the P8400 will work just fine for what you will need to do in university. As for upgrading to Windows 7, like lead_org said, it's not that difficult. Just download the drivers from Lenovo's website first and put them on a disk or flash drive to install after you install Windows 7. The Thinkvantage Toolbox includes an updater which will do most of this for you -- but you'll have to get online first, so install the wireless, lan, and video drivers first. Some say the chipset driver should be first, they may be right. But the updater installed that one for me.

Be advised that the Windows 7 install might go very slowly because the installation drivers may not recognize the newer SATA controller or default to IDE for file copying, at first. With a reboot and the newer drivers your machine will run just fine. A lot better than Vista.

 

I'd say the P8400 should be sufficient for most general tasks and should be just fine for the next four years. My T400(with that processor) seems just as quick in general day to day usage as my X200 with the P8600, at any rate.

As far as gaming goes as long as you can live with some performance sacrifices the X200 should do alright with older titles. I was able to play TF2 on here a couple of days ago with some tweaks... native res and it actually seemed to run pretty smoothly. Even managed Oblivion better than I thought it would, too. The GMA X4500 definitely isn't a showstopper at all, but if you have some free time and want to play around a little bit it'll be adequate.

 

I completed my electrical engineering studies with a 2.53Ghz Pentium 4, so I don't think you will have a problem... Although I've been told that I am a very patient person since I can tolerate the 15 minutes for my computer to boot! However, most of the programs I used were processor intensive, so it really depends on your major.

 

So Lenovo has this partition on the hard drive to burn recovery discs. If I burn a disc, it will be for Vista, correct? Once I've upgraded to Windows 7, will there be anyway to make a recovery disc for W7 or will I be forced to use the Vista recovery disc and re-install W7?

 

I just finished a Computer Science PhD using my ThinkPad X30 (1GHz P-III) as my main computer (which I am typing on right now). You should be fine.

 

I purchased an x201 Tablet for grad school. I'm majoring in Information Assurance. I plan to use mine for note taking in class and perhaps some crypto work. To me the x201 fits in with what my major is. It has a boatload of security built in. I also got the encrypted hard drive. I also like the idea of the magnesium roll cage. I had a 17" Gateway laptop 3 years ago. It had a shiney screen and weighed like 7 lbs. The power cord port broke in a year. Haven't used it since. So, this time, I wanted a sturdy, reliable, laptop with enough power to be relevant in the next 4 years.

 

Do you have a link that explains this in greater detail? I keep seeing it mentioned but never explained in detail. It sounds kind of cool. Would the solution also work in conjunction with Ultrabase?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/418851-diy-vidock-experiences.html

yes, it would work in conjunction with ultrabase, since your expresscard slot is active even when you dock your laptop.

 

Wow, another 110-page discussion! My eyes glazed when they mentioned a USB preboot stick... I can see why you mention the DIY idea but don't bother trying to explain in detail. The details are a bit excruciating.

 

Here she is, with all stickers removed of course. 7459-x18, $719.99 + $25 shipping with a 3 year warranty.





I didn't think it was possible to fall in love with a computer. It "just works," and it does so beautifully. Now in the process of upgrading to Windows 7. Wish me luck!

 

Yes that is surely one beautiful X200...

 

That indeed is one beautiful machine!!! Congratulations!!! You couln't have said it better, it "just works"
Windows 7 installation should be a breeze.

 

I just realized I had Notebookreview.com running in the background on the first picture. Those were just quickies I took before getting my hands all over it and they don't really do it justice. I'll update with better pictures tomorrow once I've finished with Windows 7.

The beauty isn't just limited to the outside, it also extends inside. It was advertised as a P8400, but I actually got a P8600 2.40 GHz Core 2 Duo instead, along with 4GB of ram, and 160 GB 7200 RPM HDD. It's incredibly small and lightweight, but there isn't a single ounce of fragility just toughness and power. No ripples when lifting up the LCD screen and very little flex on the palm rest and keyboard. The x200 keyboard blows away every previous one I've used before (my least favorite being the white MacBook isolation style), and I see now why the ThinkPad keyboard is so highly regarded. Same with the TrackPoint. My only previous experience was the stick on a Dell Latitude. The TrackPoint is so good that I don't even miss the touchpad.

You know what they say: "Once you go black, you never go back." I don't think I can ever get another computer that isn't a ThinkPad now.

 

i am loathing using my first generation Macbook Pro's keyboard. My god, the keyboard feels exactly like the HP DV 5 series laptop that my friend got me to fix two weeks ago. The same key feel and the silver coating on the key, also the same lack of tactility from every key stroke.

And the silver anodised coating around the keyboards are starting to strip away.

But one good thing about the Macbook Pro is that it is a good hand warmer, and a good hand toasting machine during the summer. Probably need a good fan clean. The 17 inch Macbook Pro ran a lot cooler.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. There was a project I worked on once and I borrowed my partner's 17 inch MacBook Pro. My goodness! And to top things off, the lid kept bending backwards under its own weight, so I had to constantly readjust the screen. And one button touchpads make me angry in general. Button-less touchpads? Forget about it!

Just finished installing W7, now I understand why users prefer clean installs. Absolutely no bloatware, and Microsoft Security Essentials scan is taking no time at all compared to the Vista factory preload.

 

Congratulations! You got yourself a great computer, and I hope your college experience is as stellar as your purchase...

 

Windows 7 and driver installation has gone almost perfectly, just having one problem with the On Screen Display: The brightness bar doesn't appear. I can adjust the brightness, but the indicator with the sun doesn't appear. The volume meter appears, and I've installed the hotkeys driver from Lenovo System Update, still nothing. Any ideas?

 

Right click desktop, select screen resolution, click advanced settings. Hit on screen display tab. Check check box.

 

Nope, still doesn't show up. The volume control and the ThinkLight icon all pop up, but still no brightness control. Really weird.

Also, kinda annoyed that I have 147 GB of hard drive and only 92.3 GB open after all of the drivers and stuff. I'm wondering where all that space went. Is it okay to delete the Windows.old folder after backing it up? I've already got the recovery discs from Vista.

 

Yes. You should have deleted the old partitions. Windows 7 at the most takes up only about 25GB.

 

Anything I can do about it now? I deleted the Q (recovery) partition, but left the S partition because it said it had something to do with booting up the system. But even then it wasn't all that big.

 

Why do you have all the extra folders if you did a fresh windows 7 install?

If I were you, I would just do the install again, making sure to delete all drives and make new. Your notebook is fully functional after the install, so just download ThinkVantage System Update and let it do the work.

 

I'm not quite sure. I backed up the SWTools and SWshare folder because I was under the impression that they would be deleted when I did a clean install. But to my surprise, they were still there after the installation.

 

I have to go right now, but I'll leave you with this.

You must click on advanced installation/options when installing windows 7. That way, you can delete drives and make new. Once you've done that, you will format drive and install windows 7.

 

Agree^^^^ with kobe_24
Do the fresh install again from scratch and make sure you get rid of all of the partitions and format the HDD completely

 

Did the reinstall, got 123 GB of 147 free now. Still no on screen brightness display, but I guess I can live without it.

 

Have you tried the Thinkvantage System Update program? It'll detect and install all those utilities for you.

 

Yes, I tried installing the drivers manually and with the System Update, still nothing.

 

Hmm... the manual installation first might have messed something up... I've had some interesting driver issues in the past. You could try uninstalling the hotkey drivers and reinstalling them... usually the absolute first thing I do on a new ThinkPad install is getting an Internet connection going then install the System Update program.

I'm running Win7 Ultimate x64 on my X200 and all of the Hotkey displays are working perfectly.

 

The footprint is a little larger than a standard 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.



Rocking the old school wallpaper here.

I'd like to thank everyone for posting their suggestions and opinions and for ultimately helping me choose this laptop. I'm thankful for all of your help and could not be happier with the x200. Can't wait for school to start.

 

Good stuff meemer!

Looking at the back or your notebook, I think I’m going to get a smaller battery for my tablet.

 

Hey meemer, glad you're happy with your X200... I told you!

I recieved my X200 (P8400, 4GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, 9 Cell Batt., warranty, etc) a few days ago myself that I was fortunate enough to get for $690. It really is a nifty machine, a definate step up from my old, but trusty IBM T40.

I'm not sure if you're still having problems with your installation, but make sure you wipe that sucker clean first. First thing I did with my SSD was a secure erase.