Recently bought the x200... wrong decision?

I recently bought the X200 with a SU7300 processor (1.3ghz). I paid about $750 for it. Awesome laptop by the way. It's a very beautiful laptop and it feels very good in the hand and strong. I will definately buy another thinkpad in the future.

But I recently saw the announcement for the new x201 and their new processors. I was wondering if I made the wrong decission. I bought the x200 mainly because it was in the same price range as other CULV thin and lights but it had that thinkpad build quality and GPS.


Another question I got is that my x200 only gets about 5 hours of battery life during regular use. Wich is even less then what I have read in reviews of x200 with a P8600 processor. Despite the fact that mine is a CULV. Is that normal?

 

Which battery do you have and what's your machine type?

 

I dont know wich battery I have. I know for sure its not a 9-cell battery. My battery sticks a bit out at the bottom (1/2cm) and is flush at the back. Is that a 6-cell?

I got a thinkpad x200si

 

Depends on where you live. If you got a model with the Su7300 then I suspect you don't live in the US and that it's really the best deal you could of gotten.

In the US you can definitely get a full powered x200 for ~750 from either Lenovo w/ coupons or from the Outlet.

The battery life depends on how many cells your battery has. The Asus UL30a with the same processor gets ~10 hours off of a 8 cell 84whr (x200's 9cell offers the same capacity). If you have the 6 cell then your results seem normal.

 

What's the issue with this being a wrong decision? You seem happy with the machine.

 

I am unhappy with the feeling that I dont have a newer and better laptop (x201) with a much better processor. And if I look at the US prices I wouldnt be much more expensive

Btw just a question if you could get a fully loaded x200 for about $750, why do people still buy thin and lights?

 

Some people want an optical drive is one reason. I have my R60 because I like the resolution.

 

You sent back your U150 didn't you? May I ask why? [ sorry a little OT ]

 

Graphics options as well. Well you already could have boughten a more powerful x200 too so... I don't know why you're too worried about getting a newer gen. Plus you wouldn't have the machine right now since you'd have to wait to receive it.

 

I didn't mean fully loaded, I meant fully powered as in a P8400 processor over the CULV SU7300. Also, the x200 has reached the end of its life cycle and that's why it's so cheap. Thin and Lights are still great values because you can get them brand new and they offer great battery life and some consumer features x200's don't have (HDMI, stereo speakers).

 

Well the main reason was that I compared it with other CULV laptops in the 11-13" range with the exact same processor online as well as my local shops. And it was competitively priced both online and local. So that is why I bought it. I had it immediately after I bought it in the shop. I also checked ebay for a loaded x200. The price was slightly higher but I wasnt sure about import taxes and ofcourse its always a bit scary when sent by mail.

So I was happy at first but not after I found out about the updates. Or the battery life compared to the reviews with a P8600

 

Well if you want to you can go and upgrade but IMO the CULVs are good processors and work very well for most tasks. Your x200si has build quality and keyboard design miles ahead of any of the consumer options.

Your battery life is a little low, with light, battery conscience usage you should be able to get your power drain to 8 watts (or even lower), translating to 7 hours of battery life with a 6 cell. So if you want to extend its life I'm sure you could.

 

You can do anything you want, but must live with the consequences.

Any number of reasons - one, the screen on it was terrible. I couldn't see the top and bottom halves of the screen at the optimum angle, which is kind of sad for a 11.6" unit. I'm not sure if it was just my screen. The first unit I got had a broken key. So I exchanged it. My impression of that one was the screen decent, not great, but decent. The second one was terrible. Granted my main machine is a Flexview, so my standards may be high.

Overall, the quality was good, but plasticky. I didn't like the keyboard. The keys felt a bit cheap. While it was very firm, the key depth could be measure in nanometers, which I didn't like.

Lastly and I think the deal breaker for me is I could for some reason I couldn't figure, I could not put another drive in the machine. The drive on the u150 is easily accessible, but any drive I put in there, I tried four difference ones along with two external drives, I could not install another OS on it. I tried XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Linux, none worked. Either it wouldn't see the external drive during boot or the install would fail at some point. I did get it once with Vista by putting the drive in the UltraBay and installing it on my R60, then popping the drive in the U150, but it was so slow(this was using a Intel 80GB SSD) and messed up, it wasn't going to work. After that I kind of figured it wasn't meant to be. Amazon was nice enough not to charge me a restocking fee.

Now I got a X200 coming from the Outlet. For an extra $50 I get a full Core 2 Duo, better build quality/support and better battery life. Plus down the road I can drop in one of the best notebook screens ever made. Seemed like a no-brainer to me.

Oh yeah, note to the Lenovo engineers - next time you secure the hard drive to the chassis using a screw in a place where it's next to impossible to hold the screw in place while tightening it, you might want to not put a large hole next to screw point that goes down into the machine. That's called good engineering. I must have had that screw go down in that hole at least six times. Then I'd have to five plus minutes getting it out.

 

No, you'll be fine. Mine lasts 10+ hours with my 9-cell battery and SSD. Get those two if you want battery life and performance.

X200
C2D P8600 2.4
LED Backlight LCD
OCZ 60GB Agility SSD
4GB DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 Professional X64
9-Cell Battery

 

Thanks. What you said just reinforced my feelings that I wont be getting a U150 again.

 

The "wrong" in your decision seems to be paying $750 for it. There were so many deals and coupon codes for X200 series since December, you could easily get such config at much lower price, or at the same price for much better configs. For example, I got mine with 2.53 Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB Ram, Win7 Pro, fingerprint reader, bluetooth, 9-cell battery, 2 year warranty for about $850 including tax and shipping. Unless you live outside the US of course, $750 for the CULV model is too expensive.

Yes, X201 series may be faster and newer, but they are also much pricier. It will be at least 9+ months before prices of X201 get close the the current prices of X200. If you were actually willing to pay more, you wouldn't have purchased the CULV model in the first place. So why feel upset about the newer and faster machines that are priced at a level you wouldn't be willing to pay for anyway?

Regarding battery life, most reviews used the 9-cell battery. Yours probably is a 4-cell or 6-cell. Get a 9-cell battery and you will see significant improvement in battery life. Go outlet.lenovo.com, there are some "scratch and dent" X200 9-cell battery for $45, even cheaper than some of the knock-off batteries on eBay.

 

Since Lenovo US does not offer X200s with CULV processors, the OP most likely lives outside the US.

 

I would rather have your SU7300 then a P8600 for an X200.

 

Well I searched for the asus ul30a with SU7300 on ebay and the first hit gave me a price of $730. So based on that I think I got a good deal. And from memory I believe that most thin and lights are in the $700-900 range. I do live outside the US btw.

My laptop came with the following: SU7300, 320gb 5400rpm HDD, 2gb DDR3, bluetooth, wwan, fingerprint reader, 6-cell battery, 1280x800 max. resolution.

Right now I set the power manager slider all the way to long battery life and in the advanced section I picked the max. battery life option. I have google chrome with 4 tabs open, the power manager, music player and explorer. The power used doesnt get below 10W. And its fluctuating between 10 and 13. What am I doing wrong?

 

The x200s in the US can come configured with an SU9400, isn't that a CULV?

I know it's not the SU7300 he has on the x200si, which means he probably did purchase outside the uS...but the SU9400 is a CULV as well no? Or have I been mislead on this.

 

from what i understand the 9-series are ULV, and the 7 or below series are culv

 

The C in CULV stands fro consumer. The SU9400 is a business/enterprise grade ULV processor (includes a few additional virtualization and administrative features) and is priced to match. However, both perform very similarly and feature the same 10w TDP.

 

Nothing is wrong, playing music is a relatively intensive task when compared to straight web browsing.

 

LOL no kidding. My M17x can't do it without stuttering every 15 seconds.