Notebook forum review on the Lenovo X201

My 2010 Lenovo X201 Tablet, purchased late 2010) has started randomly shutting down. On the search for a solution online, I came across the review from this site (which likely fed into my purchase decision at the time, since I get a bit obsessive about getting all the facts before a big buy). All my previous posts to these sorts of tech forums have been problems asked or answered, but re-reading the review of the Lenovo X201 in 2013 really got my goat, so here's my two-cents worth:

The machine was intended to replace a €1000 (Samsung) laptop, purchased early 2006, which had also started randomly shutting down. I assumed that five years later, anything would run as fast or faster. Thanks to ridiculous 50-hour working weeks, in 2010 I could afford a few luxuries - hence the tablet screen. But my priorities were: the basics - processing speed and reliability - and a big keyboard despite small form factor, and a non-mobile operating system so that I could run all the applications I needed. All the reviews I read said these minimums would be met.

The problems started immediately. The X201 was taking longer to boot than my 5-year-old, retired Samsung and was stalling on the simplest tasks. Overseas and with deadlines to meet, I did my trouble-shooting online. Most coherent answer: Windows 7 instant search should be turned off, feature demands too much processing power (but, wait a minute, Windows catching up to Mac on this feature was one of the reasons I went for a Windows machine in the first place - and in light of my Lenovo problems since, was it even the right answer?). Going back to the seller was not much help - try complaining to your seller that the machine is taking 5 minutes to boot instead of 30 seconds, especially after someone has convincingly suggested it's not the hardware but the os? Now try coping with the stress when you're on a business call and need some info in your laptop asap.

Speaking of the seller, I remember pointing out before purchase that the keyboard was generous, but clunky and a bit sticky, and the seller saying this was a known issue. For me this wasn't a deal-breaker, but why does this site's review not mention this?

Also the sound, as another user of this site has pointed out, was not discussed in the review. For the record, the sound is the worst I've heard on a laptop, worse than the sound on my smart phone. And also contrary to the review, the battery life is terrible, again, as measured against my 2006 (5-year-old) outgoing machine.

Now, less than three years in, the machine is starting to randomly shut down. It seems to be a thermal management problem, as it gets so hot that I can't touch the bottom side, even though I make sure to tilt the machine all the time - simply sitting it on a desk is now out of the question.

Unlike poor sound, clunky keyboards and ridiculous boot times, the random shut-downs are a deal-breaker, but of course the machine is now out of warranty. I'm left with the prospect of trying to replace a hefty investment, two years early.

Even a lay person like me can tell the machine's design is seriously flawed. So why didn't the review pick up on this? Why was there no mention of the poor sound (something that could easily be judged by a consumer themselves in-store before purchase)? And why, with all the people in the review's forum thread saying they'll be buying the machine in 2010, are there no revised opinions in the thread (with the issues I've pointed out well-documented elsewhere over the last couple of years)?

I remember Lenovo advertising material in 2010 boasting that it was the US army's laptop brand of choice. Can't even imagine how the X201 would respond in the Middle Eastern desert when it can't even cope with an unusually cold European summer. Does this say more about Lenovo or the world's most highly trained, technologically advanced, and expensive army? Or, whose pocket did Lenovo pee in to get that lucrative contract? How much damage was done by an army that can't even bulk-buy reliable computing hardware? And why should I or anyone return to a review site that omits glaring design defects and doesn't bother to set the record straight?

 

Lemons happen. Even with the best of laptop lineups like the Thinkpad.

Is you laptop still under warranty? If so, I'd get it replaced due to the excessive overheating.

 

I had a X200t, which is pretty much a X201t with a Core 2 Duo CPU. It was an excellent tablet. I never had any issues with it and it remains one of the coolest most quiet notebooks I've ever used. If you needed the machine to be bulletproof then perhaps extending the warranty might not be a bad idea. If you had problems in the beginning maybe you should have been more persistent with the seller. The slow boot times are more likely related to the slower hard drive on the X201t than the CPU. Lenovo does include a comprehensive software bundle with ThinkPads, but performance can suffer, particular when using a slower platter based drive.

It's too bad your experience has been less than stellar, but I don't think that makes for a trend and is mostly likely why you didn't see any mention of your issues in the reviews. The reviewers probably didn't have the problems you did.

I don't think all is lost. Your machine might be repairable. If it's running hot, I would ask is the fan running and has it always been this way? If not, it's replaceable and not that expensive if you can do it yourself. Repasting the CPU and GPU might not be a bad idea. Some WiFi cards are known to run hot. That might be worth investigating too.

 

Just for reference, here's the review I believe you speak of:

Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Review

It's written by Kevin O'Brien whom I know personally and I really don't think he's the type of person that would be looking to mislead, though maybe the review was not as in depth as it could be. The speakers on the X201 (which I have used) are about as poor as most other business notebooks of its time so I wouldn't say they are exceptionally bad, but I agree with a mono-speaker that's placed awkwardly you're not going to get great audio.

The overheating may be due to dust build up that's preventing the fans from working optimally, I'd suggest a can of air and opening up the laptop (easy to do for a ThinkPad) and blowing out some dust in there, especially around the fan area. Also, for faster bootup make sure you have plenty of RAM (8GB) and if you can afford it an SSD or Hybrid hard drive would do miracles for bootup and overall speed, much more so than just a faster processor. ThinkPads are designed to be easily upgradeable so you've got that going for you. Finally, even with a modern OS I find that doing an OS fresh install after a few years can be quite helpful to speed things up if you have the time.

 

My ThinkPad X201t is reliable, and so is my X200t. Overheating problem maybe either the problem with fan/heatsink/heat pipe or there is a dust buildup in the machine.Regarding, the keyboard, can you describe how is it been cluncky?

 

My experiences with an X20x tablet is not similar to yours as I have an even older X200t and it is still working fine. Clearly something is amiss with your X201t as my X200t boots in under a minute to a usable desktop. 5 minutes is far too long!

My advice for you follows what others have suggested as well. If your warranty is still in effect give Lenovo a call and get the X201t serviced. Excessive heat output and shutdowns sound indicative of thermal compound that needs to be reapplied and/or dust that is obstructing the I/O assemblies of the X201t.

At the very least if you feel you are capable of popping the keyboard off and taking a peek at the fan you may see a huge amount of dust in that area. You could then place something in-between the fan blades to prevent them from spinning while you blast it with compressed air. Letting the blades spin freely is highly unrecommended as the fan bearings will wear out faster.

Good luck

 

Just found this thread again, thanks for your considered replies.

Here’s an update: I know about the dust issue and am confident enough to undertake most non-soldering repairs if need be, but none of my other computers started failing so early. Also, in other forums, this model’s cooling unit has been widely reported as unreliable. Now, I thought the Lenovo was out of warranty (place of purchase: 2 year warranty), but last week my employers bought me a new laptop. While migrating my data onto the new machine, I noticed that according to Lenovo, I still have a couple of weeks of warranty. And with a new computer at home, I can actually afford to send the Lenovo off for servicing. So on Monday I’ll take time off work to take it to the point-of-purchase. I’ll report back on how the retailer responds. Note ‘responds’, not ‘solves the problem,’ because:

On the same day, I’ll be taking in an iPhone to its point-of-purchase at the other end of town. The wi-fi stopped working 3 months after the Apple 1-year warranty ran out. Apple forums suggest it’s definitely a hardware problem. When I rang up Apple and the point-of-purchase, I was told that I should have paid approx. 70€ more to extend the warranty from 1 to 2 years. But according to EU law, all products have a 2-year warranty automatically and Apple has already been reprimanded for charging customers for a service already included. However, reclaims and repairs have to be handled by the point-of-purchase. So on Monday, I have to explain this to the sales staff, who have been trained that they have no obligations after 1 year. Here’s hoping that I find someone who doesn’t brush me off automatically because they either identify too much with their job, or conversely, can’t be bothered to make the extra effort demanded by a reclaim that is legally justified, but that goes against standard operating practices.

I’m sure the reviewer wasn’t deliberately misleading readers. And I don’t write consumer tech reviews, so I can’t say whether a reviewer should drill-down to assessment of hardware components like cooling units. But considering the hurdles an end user faces, I’d suggest a reviewer go that extra mile or more broadly challenge this system that effectively allows big business to strip money from customers without consequences. Journalism is defined by the line between public information and advertorial.

Re Lenovo: When I make a mistake in my freelance work, I fix it at my own cost. And I’m motivated to do so, because losing 1 client of 20 matters more than losing 2000 of 1,000,000. When large corporations make mistakes, they hide at the far end of the supply chain, where consumers like me can never reach them. They don’t even experience the stress of irate customers. That’s another big business advantage – for example, in my workplace poorly designed and faulty products sit in corners gathering dust, because trying to reclaim the costs is just not time- and cost-efficient. It’s not just IT hardware, the scientists in our research lab tell me we pay multiple hundreds of euros for reagents that are d.o.a., but recouping the costs is not worth the time it takes. Isn’t it strange that in this climate of downturn, accountability is a non-issue? Efficiency only ever seems to translate into unpaid overtime, underpaid, lower rank job cuts and wage increases that don’t keep up with inflation, while corporations taking thousands of euros for below-par products and services are consistently let off the hook.

I’ve diplomatically but consistently pointed this out in my workplace. I’d like to say that we’ve set up a system for reclaiming costs lost, but that would involve creating new positions, even a dedicated business division. Instead, the only result has been that that I’ve changed the office discourse about spending, unintentionally mainly for my own benefit. My boss, who in 2010 plunked a 5-year-old flat-bed scanner on my desk when I talked about a paper-less office (prudent spending), now encourages purchases that make my work easier (improving efficiency). And so, thanks to a new laptop, I can now afford to send the Lenovo in for servicing.

It’s not about brands – talking about Lenovo vs. Dell or Apple vs. Window is like talking about Republicans vs. Democrats. And it’s not about how much you pay for a product (price doesn’t reflect what a product is worth, it just reflects what people are prepared to pay for it). I want to see independent journalism on consumer issues factor in accountability. Executive management wages have increased from 20 times to 60 times the wage of average shop-floor employees over the last 50 years. Lenovo can fix my top-of-the-line 1600€ laptop that’s randomly shutting down mid-work and Apple can inform their retailers that €600 iPhones with defective wi-fi will be repaired as a matter of course without damaging commercial viability.

PS spending the time to write this post is in itself a bad business move that smarter types like my boss, who approves multiple 10 thousand Euro IT purchases each year, would not make: it promises zero remuneration and little hope of outcome.