Lenovo ThinkPad X120e review (via Engadget)

Ok
Error corrected.

 

Looks like Lenovo's delayed the X120e's launch, whether it is to sync it with its Intel brethren, due to certain issues, or whatever. The new date's March 8.

Source: Lenovo ThinkPad X120e won't ship until March 8th -- Engadget
Note - the article on Engadget incorrectly says March 6, but the title and source correctly report it as the 8th.

 

Told you guys.

*sigh*

 

im not that upset right now cos of this i bought a asus vx51 for now so ill cash in on it in time for march i hope. but again ill be buying an import.
my main reason why i want the x120e over the hp is becasue its smaller, quieter, has a track stick with a middle click button(no right clicking to open new paged or configuring the trackpad to add middle click.)

 

PC Mag's review of the x120e is up:

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Review & Rating | PCMag.com

 

That "Con" seriously irritates me...

I love the design of the X120e!

Design is too subjective of a point to call it a Con or even a Pro.

...but great review! Basically says the X120e is perfect besides the price and "design".

 

Agreed, but I'm still waiting for a notebookreview.com review. They seem to be a little more thorough in testing and hit on a few more aspects of the notebook. I've made the decision to spend the extra money on lenovo, but I'm debating between the x120e and x201.

X201 has more vertical screen real estate, better cpu(not gpu) processor, better build quality, and better keyboard. But I have to spend an extra 250 or so, decisions decisions.

 

Same, but I am also waiting for notebookcheck.net's review... for some reason NBR always seems to be a hit or miss with their battery testing. NBC seems to have the most accurate real world simulations I have seen so far.

 

I know this is subjective, but I'll give my 2 cents. I feel the x100e/x120e make great secondary laptops where as the x201 makes a better primary laptop. Price wise, a spec'd out x120e is going to be very close to a x201. But that's is just me and everyone uses laptops differently.

 

I love the x120e's plain matte design. The dm1's silver is nice, but the tone isn't consistent on the whole case, which is a bit annoying. Also, if you check the specs, you'll see that the x120e is actually a tiny bit smaller (physically). It's not a big deal though. I have a mini-backpack and I think the x120e might fit in it (barely).
And of course, the matte screen is a plus.

I wouldn't buy a laptop as a main computer, and as a web browsing machine the x201 would be too expensive. Granted, I could save $100 and get the HP, but with their reliability ratings, I'm really not sure. I used a dm1z in store though, and the build quality is quite solid. I thought consumer laptops were typically worse.

 

I have a small desk at home with a 15inch dell laptop that my company gave me to use for work. I like having my netbook right next to my 15inch dell, I can share the mouse and keyboard with input director. The computer that replaces my 2 year old netbook would be a web browsing/media computer. The x120e fits that function very well.

@AboutThreeFitty.

What worries me about getting something cheap, like the x120e or dm1z, is that they might fall apart or fail after a year. The quote "For work: x100e...Dead. For the fifth time" persuades me to get the x201 for 800-850 bucks. My Asus 1000HE has been rock solid in terms of hardware, so its not impossible to have a solid cheap notebook. Plus an ssd helps.

 

x100e was suffering from heat problems though. Aren't Lenovos generally known for their build quality?

 

that was a processor issue, the amd fusion E-350 is supposed to fix the heat issues. lenovo is known for their build quality on more expensive machines.

 

As Aske90 said, the x100e had serious heat problems and I believe that is what did it in. As far as the build of the laptop; It looks like it did the day I got it. It is well built and really solid. From the few reviews that have popped up, it x120e does seem to run decently cooler. However, it doesn't seem to be a great as everyone wished and hoped for.

 

I second that, cant trust NBR battery tests anymore, those number are either inflated or Lenovo sends them tweaked machines to run on such low wattage

 

I don't post on here much but Scott Stein's (from CNET) comments about the track point really irked me. He said "this weird annoying track point which is common if you're a ThinkPad user but nobody else really likes them". Really Scott?! If nobody likes them then why does Lenovo still put them in ThinkPads and why do a lot of business class laptops from Dell and HP have them? I have a ThinkPad that my company gave me for work and my personal laptop is a Dell Studio (with only a touch pad) and I prefer the track point on the ThinkPad to the touch pad on the Dell. On the ThinkPad it's so much faster for me to switch back and forth between the track point and the keyboard while I'm typing than on the Dell because on the Dell I have to move my hand down to the touch pad and move it back to the keyboard when I want to continue typing. Besides that, sometimes when I'm typing fast on my Dell I accidentally glance across or touch the touch pad and that either moves my cursor to a different spot (screwing up what I'm typing) or it highlight texts that I've typed and then overwrite it with the next keystroke. That doesn't happen when I'm using my ThinkPad with the track point and the touch pad disabled. I don't think I'll ever buy another laptop without a track point.

 

New Question,

Does the SD card sit flush on the x120e? It did not on the x100e.

I use a 2GB SD card now for ReadyBoost, but I think ready boost is disabled if you have an ssd.

 

offer a 9 cell battery and give it a REAL thinkpad keyboard and they may be on to something awesome here!

 

right, its called the X201.

to me the x120e isnt small enough. i can take a hit on the keyboard size if the machine size is small and affords portability.

 

i so like X120e too,
but 1215B more better spec like USB3.0 and better screen too,
so mostly i will getting Asus 1215B.

 

my 1st laptop with a "Nipple mouse" as it was called on the toshiba. been used to them ever since. ALL my laptops had them till recently after i sold my 8530w i wanted more performance from gaming tho im not really a pc gamer. just my last 4 asus laptops which hasnt but of course, but thats why i favour the x120e over all netbooks atm.

 

Yes, I agree. I'm waiting on the x120e as well. There was a great deal on SlickDeals.net yesterday for the HP DM1Z (E-350, 3GB DDR3, 320GB HD) for $353 + tax with the HP EPP discount and I was tempted to get it but I'm going to wait on a deal for the x120e. My only complaint about the x120e design is the way the battery sticks out of the back.

 

I'm always perplexed as to why the battery sticking out the back bothers people.

 

It doesn't look good? No clue. They make a great handle for carrying the laptop around.

 

IMHO, it looks like an afterthought like they didn't design the case to properly to integrate a 6 cell battery so they figured they'd just have a piece of the battery sticking out of the back. I'd prefer to have the back of the x120e squared off like most ThinkPads.

 

I agree, 6 cell shouldnt stick out, Im fine if 9 cell sticks out a bit, not as much as in T/R400 tho.
Sticking out means taking up more space in sleeve/bag+depending on laptop and battery design it might look ugly as well as take up some precious space on desk.
Dont understand why Dell cant make their 6 cell batteries flush in Latitudes, even their new Latitudes will have 6 cell batteries sticking out? The same applies to Elitebooks.
I look at 6 cell batteries as standart laptop batteries, 9+ cell as extended, while 3 cell as weight saving measure, hence why I want 6 cell batteries to be flush.

 

Agreed ... it doesn't bother me at all. But I could see how ergonomics for fitting in a carrying case or just plain aesthetics could be an issue for some....

Good review btw....

 

Its probably because ppl are used to the convention. The prototypical notebook/laptop has always tended to have the screen hinges flushed at the edge of the laptop with nothing sticking out the back, until designers tried new designs and engineers wanted to extend the battery life of laptops by adding more battery cells the laptop carries but without raising it up.

 

I think that pretty much covers why the battery sticking out works, but doesn't look all that great.

 

hehe true that for most cases. Just look at the difference between NASA technologies and startrek enterprise or Portal Turrets. One often involves merely having electronics in rectangular casings, while the others are rounded and curved with lighted highlights. aesthetics vs function.

 

me alike. i have looked up the dm1z to see if i could be tempted at a good price having it imported but at the end of the day. the x120 is what i really.
its smaller with everything else we like about it.

im with you on the battery. it doesnt bother me a great deal but it would be nice to be flush. i guess they could of but cos of its dimiensions means that it sticks out. so if the chassis was same size as dm1z then the battery would wouldnt protrude.
i guess if we want to be happy we could get a 3 cell battery lol. but if they do a 9 cell battery that sticks out the same then i may aswell get that then for longer life. i could live with it sticking out with 50% more life than flush and half the battery life.

 

Interesting. Dynamism now has the X120e available for purchase (really its pre-order), for worldwide customers (yes including Europeans stuck with the edge). It claims to be available for estimated shipping on March 14th. This may mean you can get it faster than going through lenovo.com that will likely involve payment processing and construction time lag.

Of course, prepare to be ripped off if you are a north american customer.

 

Thinking of buying this however only have about 400$ in budget. Can anyone tell me what I might be getting in terms of the specs with the mentioned budget?
Thanks!

 

No. I would like the x120e to have a real thinkpad keyboard and a 9 cell, NOT the x201. The x120e is in a different class and those 2 options would make it near perfect in the segment.

I actually like this as it gives me a grip when moving the laptop.

 

likely to be e-240e with 1gb ram and 160gb. something like that.

 

Here is the most complete x120e review I've seen so far, just upped today:

Lenovo ThinkPad X120e Review: AMD Fusion Infused - HotHardware

 

That's a very good review! Thanks for the link stjernefodt.

 

Thank you for the link ... it was a good read.

 

lol bea tme to it. i was just reading it and thought let me see if it is here yet.

 

nice review, their battery life results seem off.

 

The price of the Laptop is a little on the high side, I was thinking about picking one up if they sell them for 420 for the dual core. There are notebook that has intel core 2 duo for around 400, the Vostro V13.

 

I would agree. That's of course MSRP. If you can wait a bit to do eBay or the outlet, you'll do better. I'd argue of course the X201i offers better performance, less heat/noise and more durability for not much more. Plus you've got the AFFS mod option on the X201i, which is not an option for the X120e. It's not bad and if can wait a bit you'll do a bit better price wise. Then it may become a good option.

 

isnt the x120e screen technically better than the x201 default screens?

the x120e screens arnt that bad even right? even quite decent?

it has a high resolution for that size and view angles seem pretty good too

 

Since no one has seen one, it's kind of hard to say. I wouldn't think they'd be much better than what's on the X100e.

 

it looks like it may be the same screens, so are they any good then?

 

It's a thinkpad. Draw your own conclusions.

Thinkpads are great computers, but the screens are very lacking.

 

Its up for sale at lenovo.com, but they charge tax so I'm going to wait and order from another store. Very excited though.

 

I disagree. My t400 screen isnt as good as a RGB or WLED screen, but its still not too shabby. Especially since its a CCFL screen. For work and play it does very well. Would I use it as a photoshop/Gimp computer? No. But then again I wasnt able to get the high nit or LED display when I purchased due to availability.

 

Quick question - feel stupid to ask this but will probably get the quickest answer here.

x120e comes with DDR3 1333MHz PC3-10600 memory. Would any DDR3 memory work is it necessary to get exactly the PC3-10600? Own upgrade is cheaper than Lenovo upgrade.

Thanks in advance.

 

Not too bad for a laptop the starts at $400 and with a few color setting changes you can make it look pretty decent. Nothing to brag about, but it'll suffice for most people.