Second-hand thinkpad x301 owner's thread.

Applied the ICC profile and installed tlp for Thinkpad specific configuration, and I have to say these retro Thinkpads provide a great Linux experience. I might have to pull the plug on the x301, it's so inexpensive that it's worth it just for a little on-the-go Arch machine.

The ICC profile is a little bit warm for my tastes, but it's definitely much nicer than the default calibration.

 

The Trackpoint is always ALPS because there is only one keyboard. I'm not sure what prices are like in the US, but over here it's not uncommon to fork out 200-250€ for a good X301. Of course, one needs to keep the Greece crisis in mind. So 260$ sounds adequate.

Those 3-4h are just the new 6c. Provided of course the OS is set up properly and you are only running office at a low brightness setting, with some occasional online research. If you decide to browse the forums all the time at medium brightness, then don't expect more than 3h. Back in 2013, my 38Wh battery lasted me about 2,5h of real world usage.

The X301 may appear to be trimmed for power saving, but its power consumption values are actually pretty bad. My T61 can do better on average. I suspect that Lenovo rushing it to sales shelves had quite a negative impact on some aspects of the X300/X301.

 

Are you sure about the trackpoint? I've read online that some of the later manufactured x301s have a synaptics touchpad that supports actual multitouch (again, I'm only interested in two finger scrolling, so it's only tangentially important to me)

That's slightly disappointing, but I think I can live with that. With the 6+3 combo I'm hoping I can hit about four hours of battery life, but if I don't I don't.

I think I might pull the plug on this x301 when my paycheck comes in tomorrow. Hopefully I can source some good batteries from somewhere too, since this comes with the optical drive instead of the 3-cell.

 

Like I said, there is only a ALPS trackpoint. As for the touchpad, I actually like ALPS touchpad under Windows, but not so much under Linux. I haven't tried the Synaptics touchpad yet.

4h with a 6c + bay battery is actually viable, even under more realistic circumstances.

It should still be possible to order original batteries from IBM parts, but it would cost you more than what you paid for the X301. Third party batteries are always an option, despite what I said about them, they are still better than nothing or an original battery on its last leg.

 

Alright I finally got a chance to run through this and the ETA seemed almost exactly correct. I got about 2h40m from full charge with very light internet browsing and mostly just reading internet pages

 

I am just going to leave this here: http://forum.51nb.com/thread-1571734-1-1.html

 

Hello guys.

I'm also coming to a point where x301 simply isn't enaugh for main laptop. My battery is unable to withstand 1 hour of usage and I'm not going to invest more into my x301.

Have you found any good alternatives? I need a bit more power, better screen and battery times, compact form (14" is acceptable if unit isn't heavy).

I've done some research and well, there is only X1 Carbon 2015, which I connot afford. Same story with Dell XPS 13. Asus UX305 is very nice (fanless!) and reasonably priced, but I'm suspicious about it's processor's capabilities (same goes for Yoga 3 pro). Any ideas for a successor of a x301?

 

How about the X1 Carbon 2012? It's cheaper than the current one, has a better screen, performance and battery life than x301 and is just as portable.

 

I ended up grabbing an X300 X301 for $140, and it should be here by the end of the week. It has a 64GB SSD and 4GB RAM, I'm going to be installing Arch or Debian and I'll see how it holds up. Hopefully the 4GB RAM is enough, otherwise I can upgrade it.

It comes with 4 batteries (a 3-cell, a 6-cell, a 3-cell ultrabay and a repro 6-cell), so hopefully one of them has a low cycle count. If not, does anyone know of a good place to buy genuine OEM X301 batteries these days?

 

I wouldn't have spent any similar amount on a X300, as pretty as it might be, but it was your money to begin with...

These are likely to cost almost as much as you've paid for the machine presuming that you can locate one in the first place.

 

Woops, that was a typo, I meant X301.

 

Now that makes a lot more sense...

 

I decided to skip the X301. As sleek as a machine and as hot as it was, today's processing needs will quickly bog it down, I think.

I first tried to get an x200s with the 1440x900 screen. Sadly enough, the one I got had a scratch on the screen so I hard to return it. With an SSD and a caddy for USB 3 external that combo was going to be around £180. Main plus of that combo was the ability to have higher res screen than x200/x201 standards (1280x800) but also the opportunity of up-building that screen into a future X201.

Now I am going for my second choice, which is the x201 and an i5 540m processor (90% the processing power of the i7 but 10-15% less power use = more battery life) and 4GB and the same SSD (intel 160GB) but, since the screen is not going to be amazing, I'm going to do the AFFS screen mod. It is relatively simple and adds about £70 to the price and it works for me, for photography, better than the stock screen. Well, either AFFS or S-PVA but can't decide so far which one would be best since S-PVA may have a better coverage of sRGB colour space. Total price expected: £250.

What the i5 540m (upper mid range) gives you compared to the C2D is not just almost twice the processing power, but the graphics will be also more in tune with today's needs for HD video, especially if hooking up external monitors/projectors.

 

None of the modding screens has an acceptable sRGB coverage. They all suck, nuff said. (~50-60% sRGB) So it doesn't really matter which one you take.

 

While this may be true (and I have yet to find the stats for each of those screens) they are better than anything on stock. I will make my own measurements when I get them and get back here if anyone's interested.

The big picture here, though, is that the only great screens in ultra portables like the X thinkpads you can find second hand is Sony Vaio Z11, 12 or 13 and Z2, but the build quality of those laptops isn't anywhere near thinkpad level.

So, what other options are there under £300 to have quality panels? Not even the x220/230 IPS panels have any better coverage of sRGB larger than 70%. Only my W530 with the FHD panel can do 95% AdobeRGB and although it is a TN panel, it's very very good with a contrast ratio of 620:1 (measured)

But the w530 is hardly an ultra portable.

In any case, my initial motive was to get an X301 because of the current price range for a quality ultra portable. But that didn't happen, so I guess my business here is done.

 

The MacBook 2015 is the only machine in the under 13" category that has a truly good display. (at least for a laptop) Or you could just get a MBP retina 13", which has an excellent display as well.

It's ironic how all manufacturers are starting to boast about what great displays they have when in fact, they don't. If you want a good display, Apple is still the address to go to.

 

If you do go with the I5-540M you can probably overcook the crap out of it. The Arandale was a great overclocker. Using SetFSB I ran a I5-540M at 3.6ghz in my Acer 3820TG. It remained stable to 3.66ghz but the price in heat was not worth the extra .06ghz

 

Yep! I did end up getting an X201. I'm awaiting the delivery of the AFFS screen, arriving at some point this week. I still need to get the cables and the inverter but soon enough I will know the end result of this trial.

I also did got with the 540m. I had options to go with 560m and the 620m i7 but in the end I felt that the balance between performance and battery life was to be had with the i5. HD videos play very well. I will try to see how it works with external screens soon enough.

I am also very lucky, because I got the laptop with a 9cell battery with only 7 cycles (!), Panasonic cells and remaining 99% of the original capacity. I installed W8.1 and as I type this, with 8 tabs open on Firefox, Word and Outlook running on the background, I get an estimate of 8hrs remaining battery life.
Worth noting is that I installed an Intel SSD (320 series 160GB...cheap) so the boot time is 18secs until I can launch any program from cold boot.

All in all, looking good and I will see how well the AFFS stacks in screen quality and see how long I may or may not keep this machine. So far, though, as an ultra portable, it feels very sturdy and with a technically new battery, it feels like it may just live long enough with me until the hardware won't be able to take new programs/software.

Would overclocking also help with graphics like working with Premiere Pro or Capture One Pro? I am not really into overclocking but I would give it a try if you can get a significant performance boost in graphics without affecting battery life much.

 

So our good friend RMSMajestic told me that you can actually buy an entire AFFS modded lid for the X301 from China. Looks like my dreams may just come true after all. In fact, solving the screen issue may be enough to convince to get some new batteries for my X301 and replace my T61, which, despite being surprisingly mobile for what it is, a fully fledged 14" notebook from 2007, does weigh me down quite a bit when I'm on the go. Not to mention that its screen isn't that great either.

I'll keep you guys informed, but don't expect any news soon, since I'll be heading off to England again in the coming weeks and need to focus on other issues. My T61 will continue to serve as my trusty companion for the time being. Furthermore, my budget for these sort of things is exhausted, since I have ordered that fabled QDI screen with 450:1 contrast for my T61. Let's see if it's any good.

Ordering the AFFS lid from China means that it will take forever to arrive anyway. I'd also have to buy the X301 batteries from the US, as they don't sell aftermarket Ultrabay batteries for the X301 in Europe. I'm certainly not getting any original batteries, unless someone wants to sponsor them for me. Due to the mediocre battery life, even with new batteries, I have to buy multiple 6c units.

BTW, while overclocking the CPU as I did greatly increases performance, it equally diminishes battery life. Luckily, all I have to do is type texts, so I opted for a stock 1,4GHz board.

It will be interesting to see how the X301 behaves in a real world usage scenario, as its flaws have previously prevented me from using it in such a manner.

 

600X wow .. What a good news !!!!
can you tell us the link or where we can buy the AFFS modded lid for the X301 from China ?

I just upgraded my X301 to Windows 10 Pro , everything went so smooth.. just love it, the only down side like you said is the mediocre battery life, i use an original 6c and an aftermarket bay battery ( 3 - 3,5h total time).

 

It is a workshop active in the 51nb forum,
The AFFS is glossy though~

 

Do they ship internationally? How do I get in contact and what do they charge for a lid with the AFFS?

I have multiple of those AFFS displays here, so I am well aware that it is glossy.

 

I asked them once, they can buy the parts(lid), assemble, ship it all together.

they/he use wechat/QQ primarily,

http://forum.51nb.com/thread-1520405-1-1.html

I think he quoted me 800RMB for gentle used parts and 1Kish RMB for all new parts.

 

Thanks, the price seems reasonable. (at least to me)

Is English OK? Or should I ask someone who speaks Chinese to do the contacting? I'm guessing wechat and QQ are chat programs like Skype?

Do they accept PayPal as payment method? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm determined to actually buy an AFFS lid.

 

Doubt he speak english xD. and yes, those are IM software.
you can get wechat easily on you phone with your phone number.
I think google translate is good enough for most case, but if you can find someone who can do it for you then ofc it is better.

I think you probably need to use paypal to charge alipay(chinese paypal). Or you can ask him to make a taobao listing and use third party re-shipper (but all those fees add up, not worth it probably)

There are some dealers who do gray-market business (they buy US machine back to china) that can help you with the currency exchange and translating , but that's more people involved and may/may not be worth it.

 

Thanks for your efforts so far. I think it will probably be best if I ask RMSMajestic to sort things out for me. It's always good to have someone experienced to handle things. Or at least someone that speaks Chinese for that matter.

 

Yes. Overclocking increases the IGPU speeds as well. And, yes, it does cost in battery duration. Still ...

 

Just to give you guys an update, I ordered an AFFS lid. It will probably take a few weeks for it to arrive. Perhaps the X301 will see productive use again after all? Although I still need to wrap my head around the 150€ battery cost, if I want to use it on the go...

 

Where you order that lid? And if you want a battery I have one spare. Original 6% wear level. PM if interested.

 

The link can be found in post 723. I'll get the bay battery first and upgrade to a new 6c when needed.

 

Premiere Pro really does benefit from a FirePro or Quadro GPU however, if much rendering is involved. I do find the X 301 an attractive lightweight road warrior. It is an excellent, well built classic ThinkPad.

 

Anton have you looked into the BIOS (press F1 when the ThinkPad logo comes on) and checked the Computrace settings? It should be disabled by default unless the previous user had activated Computrace which will then become Enabled (plus you can't disable it yourself).

If it's disabled then most likely it would be a scam, if its active then that would be of concern. The fact you see the Computrace message while entering the BIOS does hint it may be active without you knowing. You would need to contact Computrace directly and explain the situation to have it remotely disabled off your system if that is the case.

 

Do not buy an aftermarket Bay battery. It does not discharge in sequence.

 

Just finished reading (well, skimming) all 74 pages of this thread over the course of a few days. Thanks for all the info. Eagerly awaiting my X301's arrival. I have low resource requirements so I think I'm really going to like this machine.

 

Guys, need some help here. I can't get my X301 (with U9600 and windows 10) to play fluent youtube videos. 720p resolution is totaly unplayable and 480p only without full screen mode. It is really annoying, especially considering that some time ago I could play 720p full screen no problem. That was back on windows 7 I think.
It's not my main activity, but it's just very bothering.

Any suggestions how to overcome this? What would be best windows version and best browser for max efficiency?

 

Reverting back to W7 comes to mind...

 

Or Linux if you need something more modern. Even Windows 8 wasn't officially supported on Core 2 Duo models, so I wouldn't get my hopes up too high for Windows 10.

Alternatively you may try a different GPU driver or browser.

 

I'm going to try updating my old Acer 1410T's SU2300 to Windows 10. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Well after reading the entire thread I figured I should probably join!

A few weeks ago I received rather a jackpot. After having my pride and joy (a top spec 2012 13" Macbook Pro) stolen, and undergoing an unbelievable amount of issues with my Y50-70 touch (hard drive failure and beyond flaky customer service) I asked my dad to see if they had any old machines laying around at his office I could use so I had a daily driver laptop.

To my surprise he brought back SIX machines. Yes, six. (i5 x201, i7 x201, i5 x220, i7 x230, i5 T410s with a bad screen) and, a U9600 x301.

Before even booting them up I instantly fell in love with the x301. Perhaps because it is the closest to my MBP. And despite it being the worst spec'ed of the lot, I still am really leaning towards using it as my travel/ basic tasks machine. Though the other machines perform so much better, none of them match the quality of the x301.

That being said, the battery is shot in it and the original 128 SSD seems to be working WAY too hard (on a clean install of Windows 10. So those both likely need replaced. But in general she seems to do alright for my basic needs. Particularly since I finally got the Y50 working well and am using the X230 as my other portable.

On to a couple questions for you guys. When I did the upgrade to Windows 10, then clean reset from within Windows 10 I lost all connection to my WLAN card. I've searched high and low for drivers and installed about half a dozen different ones. Nothing seems to work. In my device driver menu it shows the WiMAX 5150 and has a current driver for that but the Network adapter has no driver and no information as to the hardware. Bluetooth is working fine. Any suggestions? I'm currently using a usb wifi dongle I had laying around and that works fine.

Lastly, if any of you know of good threads for any of my other machines I'd like to see what kind of mods are possible on them as well. I'll do some looking on my own and I'm in no hurry.

Glad to have joined the family!

 

I actually just dusted off mine and threw Win10 on it last night and it seems super solid. I came back to this thread looking for upgrade/mod options and somehow inadvertently was reading one of my old posts on page 1 (and then realized - "OH, that's me three years ago" lol). I might actually end up using this one in the future for international travel. I 'lugged' myT420s to Israel just recently and found it to be still too bulky despite the size/weight and the X230 wasn't going to be the right one to take.

 

Welcome. My X301 was upgrqaded to W10 before I sent it off to college. I didn't have any problems with the upgrade. Wifi worked fine. I upgraded from Windows 7 if that makes a difference. Don't recall doing a clean reset.

New drive is a great idea. If you have a really old Sata I drive (early models) it is slower than a conventioanl drive. The eMMC in my Surface 3 is faster. Aftermarket 6 cell battery is fine. If you intend to use the bay battery, you will need an original one to make it work. If you don't need it, you might think about getting a travel insert (plastic cover) for the bay drive OD to get the unit under 3lbs for traveling. If you have a Onecase sleeve from your MBP 13m, it fits the X301. Battery duration is about 3.5 to 4.5 without the Bay, which adds a surprising 2.5 to 3 hours. If I didn't need the extra time, I would have gone with the lighter weight.

I like the X230 too, but the extra display real estate and higher resolution outweighed the advantages of the IPS display in the X230.

 

DAMN! That is Great! You now officially have the nicest X301 on the planet.

Did you replace the keyboard too? Or is that how little wear you have?

 

That is actually the keyboard which I bought back in 2012. In fact, the very same keyboard can be seen somewhere on the first few pages in one of the pictures I posted.

After all that time, there is no shine on any of the keys, which I find quite amazing. Lenovo did use a special anti-wear coating though, which I initially mistook for a rubber coating. It really makes quite a difference.

 

Ah geez now now you're really making me want to order one of those displays .
Better brush up on my google translatefu

 

Wow, that display really pops.

If I wasn't contemplating picking up an X1 Carbon, I would pick up one of those screen. I really love my X301, but after looking into the battery situation I think I'll just live with what I have. I still get about 1.5 hours out of the OEM 3-Cell my machine came with. I'm mostly happy with the display on mine and CPU performance is fine for what I use it for. I work in IT. I don't need i7 to hop into a terminal shell and talk to networks.

 

Hey Guys,

Have you seen some increase or decrease of battery life after upgrade to Win 10?

Thx for reply

 

Hey 600x! Impressive screen! I will try to contact the seller as well.

 

'New' owner checking in

 

I'm just curious what is the average time you expect from a 6 cell battery? I'm just doing light internet surfing with brightness set to level 8 with wifi ON. Bluetooth and wireless WAN are turned off. When the battery is fully charged, the battery meter shows approx 1 hr 10 mins which is dismal.

Cycle count: 77
Design capcity: 43.20Wh
Full charge capacity: 21.99Wh
Manufacture date: 2009

Does it mean the batt is on its way out?