Lenovo X301 Questions

Hey All,

I'm looking to buy a Lenovo X301 fairly soon but have a few questions. I'm looking to order it from the States (I'm in Canada) as the US models can be equipped with a ATT/Verizon Modem. I have a few questions about the X301:

1. Has anyone here put a Rogers SIM card in the X301 to make it work on Rogers Mobile Internet. I know ATT partners with Rogers for International Coverage, but I'd want to go with Rogers instead as the plans would cost less.

2. Does the X301 have the Global Warranty. I would also be purchasing the 3 year warranty with accidental damage protection.

3. I can wait till Christmas to order the new laptop. Do you see a revision to the X301 coming before then?

4. How does the SSD that comes standard with the Lenovo compare to the new Intel SSD?

Thanks!

 

They won't ship it to Canada unless you order from their Canadian website.

 

I've got friends in the states who will forward it to us. If we ship express from the states, we bypass the brokerage fees.

 

3.- No, the next revision of the X-series is not due until January-February of 2010, meaning that you will not have one in your hands - even if they do refresh it and put it up for order very quickly - until around March.

4.- I believe Lenovo uses Samsung SSDs in its X301 for the 64GB and 128GB sizes. They compare quite well to the Intel SSDs, in real world usage they're pretty much the same.

 

Thanks MidnightSun. One last question, what kind of performance difference will I notice between a new X301 (1.6ghz, 4gb ram, SSD) and my current T60 (T2500, 2gb, 7200rpm HDD).

 

X301 is not about performance, i doubt the X301 will be any faster than your T60. X301 is all about portability, user-ability and ultra thinness in one black package.

If you want performance look elsewhere.

 

Thanks Lead_Org. Actually just noticed the T400s, which seems to be very similar be between the X301 and the T400. Might be perfect for me.

 

I will take a T400s over a X301 any day.

 

The T400s may be a better choice if performance is a concern. It offers medium voltage CPUs at a higher clock/bus rate. You also get better expandability due to the ExpressCard slot, docking station, and option to swap the Optical drive for a second HDD/SSD (impossible on the x301 due to the extra thin optical drive).

You do gain about a pound in weight and in inch in each direction, but the T400s should still prove very portable.

Also note that the SSD alone will probably make an x301 or T400s feel snappier than your T60, even if the performance difference in CPU bound applications isn't that great.

 

Thanks for the response jon. Does anyone know the answer to the question regarding using rogers wireless internet on the AT&T or Verizon modems?

 

the previous generation x300, uses SAMSUNG SLC SSD 64gb. not sure if the new x301 uses SLC drive. it would be good if it did. since almost all intel ssd that is out there is MLC variant.

SLC is much better and much much much more expensive than MLC. the major reason to go SLC is its 10x endurance rating. at 100,000 rewrites instead of 10,000.

 

mine come tmr but with Verizon card ill try to put my friend Rogers card to see if i can make it work or at least get the gps work

 

My X301 from March 2010 came with an Samsung MMCRE28G8MXP. That's an MLC Drive.

Samsung SSD Page

Datasheet

I can't find any information about SLC Drives on this site. Looks like they don't offer any SLC at the moment - Too pricey?

 

the 64GB samsung SLC drives were dropped over a year ago due to both pricing and samsung's shift to the enterprise market.   it's a big reason why the X301's price came down.

fwiw, i have both the MMCRE64G8MXP and MCCOE64G8MPP and can't tell them apart in real-world use with identical drive images.