Second-hand thinkpad x301 owner's thread.

Nevermind, this X301 already has the 5300.

 

Well i just ordered the 5300 card from Ebay. I dont think there will be a big difference over the 5100. BUT the 5300 was only 18.00 shipped to my door.
Love the X301 but i wish it had a faster CPU.

 

Well count me in! i just ordered an X301 off ebay about 5 minutes ago. Looks really nice in the pictures and maybe not the best deal, but I paid $299 for it shipped. i will have to upgrade the ssd because it only has the 64 gb. Glad I found this thread and now a new X301 owner

 

Well I received my X301 and I must say that the keyboard is awesome. It seems to be able to to everything I need it to do, what I need to do now is get a bigger ssd since mine is only 64gb. I may get a platter drive for storage via the ultrabay as well. The display isn't the best in the world, but it's not as bad as some say. Actually it's pretty good and I love the resolution on a 13 inch notebook.

 

Ask 600x for his display color profile. It's quite an improvement. Glad you like it.

 

Thanks will do and an improvement would be great as it's not bad now. Now looking at ssd's and possibly a bay caddy and hard drive for storage,

 

Bronsky, did you ever find a tight sleeve for your X301? I am working on the theory the a sleeve designed for the Mac Air which has squared corners would be a good bet. I'm bidding on a Waterfield on ebay right now. Has anyone tried the Mac Air Waterfield sleeve on the X301? If not, I'll let everyone know how it works after I buy one.

please don't bid on this one: Waterfield Designs Laptop Sleeve Notebook MacBook Air Sfbags Bag Case Apple | eBay

 

Nice sleeve..Tempted to bid on it lol..Just kidding. I will be looking for a sleeve as well. Let us know how it works out.

 

I use an Incase sleeve made for the 13" MBP/MBA. Fits fine. Looks like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-I...4?pt=US_Laptop_Cases_Bags&hash=item19e052a5ee

 

I have read in the past that the lenovo 256gb ssd fru# 45N7991 was not working with the X301 or at least it was a crap shoot. The threads were kinda old and was wondering if the issue has been resolved or is it still a no go?

 

So did your temporary sleeve become permanent because you liked it more and more over time? Or were you just unable to find what you were originally looking for?

 

From this day onward, I do not only give out color profiles, but also a free 200MHz boost for your CPU!

Just send me a PM if you want the modified Dual IDA BIOS. You will loose your warranty but the 1,4GHz SU9400 will run at 1,6GHz and the 1,6GHz SU9600 will run at 1,8GHz!

 

I wanted a leather sleeve. But, I acquired a Fujtsu Q552 tablet which, with folio, travels with me most times. I just never pursued the leather sleeve.

 

I went ahead and got a 160gb x18m for it off ebay. Hopefully all will be good.

 

PM sent. How does the X301 handle the extra heat?

 

Since it's just adding 200MHz with a multiplier, there is basically no extra heat. The voltage is still the same. You can probably expect something like 1 or 2 degrees more on average.

 

32 Bit?

 

I was told you need to put those 3 files on an empty USB stick and boot from it.

 

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

Edit: no luck yet.

 

Just want to update. I just installed the 5300 wi fi card in place of the 5100.
I don't it makes a difference. The 5100 would connect at 150mbps to 300 briefly. But now with the 5300, its at 300 all the time. That's the best my apple express router can put out anyway.

 

I have three other guys trying it out. Perhaps they will have more luck.

 

I (think) I was able to flash the BIOS 600x gave me ( my earlier bios was a 3.10 and this one is a 3.16 ) but the multiplier is still x7 (checked with CPUZ). Shouldn't it be x8? My U9400 still runs at 1.4Ghz.
Am I supposed to do something else?

 

I'm sorry, but this is beyond me. The flashing obviously worked if you are on a newer version now, but all I can recommend is trying different programs to read the CPU speed and getting it to do some work. (like Prime95)

Even without dual IDA the CPU actually reaches 1,5GHz on one core. (normal IDA)

 

Managed to make it work, well sort of. I had to disable SpeedStep in the BIOS and play with options in throttle stop. Still not exactly what I'd like because the cores throttle back to x7 multipliers under load!

 

OK I just got the confirmation from an expert. You need to disable Speedstep and unlock the new multiplier in Throttle Stop. So you did everything correctly.

 

Did you use a bootable USB?

At what point under load does the multiplier step back to 7x? Any idea of the temps when that happens?

 

Nope, Just download FN/CTRL key swap BIOS files from the other thread. In the 64-bit folder, there's a WinPhlash64.exe. Run that as administrator and choose the BIOS.ROM from the dual ida folder. Flash and profit. :thumbsup:

Haven't had time to experiment with it more, but stressing ( with like prime95 ) the CPU gets the multiplier to x7. I did not look at what temps this happens, but mine were 55-ish.

 

Here's my report on slip cases for the X301:

First I bought a Timbuk2 Medium Slip Case which works but is too big in every dimension. It was available brand new for $14.50 shipped so I bought it, not knowing how long it would take to find the ideal case.




After some research I decided to search for a MacBook Air slip case that had square corners. Nearly all the makers either had round corners or had a product that was claimed to be for the MacBook Air but was actually a larger general purpose size. Waterfield made cases in San Francisco that were made to order for your laptop and all their slip cases had square corners. In about a week a Waterfield MacBook Air slip case popped up on ebay. After some spirited bidding, I bought it for $23.43 shipped. It was particularly desirable to me because it had two optional feature that I wanted: a fold over flap for rain protection and a back pocket for the AC adapter. The cases were made with neoprene on the inside and a ballistic nylon exterior. Other exteriors are available as optional extras.

Success! The Waterfield slip case is a perfect fit requiring moderate pressure to insert and easy to extract thanks to the strap at the bottom which allows you to pull off the case once the laptop is grasped.





I also bought a Waterfield MacBook Pro 15 from the same seller for $7 shipped in case the smaller case didn't fit. It is the same thickness, but and inch longer and wider.

 

Hi,
can somebody PM me the link for the Dual IDA modded BIOS, I volunteer to test it in my X301...
I can burn a CD, or use an USB stick... Wich is the best (with less risk to brick the laptop) methode ?
Or maybe the abhi_envys shortcut ?

Thanks by advance.
Sylvain

 

To receive PM's, you need at least 5 posts.

 

Looks like my first post here, I did remember registering here so yea. :hi2:

Had purchased a x301 second hand around 8 months ago, and everything's working really nicely. Mine came with the 128GB default SSD as well, so storage capacity was rather sufficient. Experimented with an upgrade recently, purchased a Addonics 1.8" mSATA - micro SATA adapter [LINK] and a Crucial m4 256GB mSATA SSD. Cloned everything from the 128GB out onto my USB HDD using Acronis True Image 2013, and restored it without any problems after installing the mSATA SSD into the adapter and having the whole combination taking the place of the previous SSD. 1 restart later, and the x301 is back operationally.

And for what most of us are concerned about: Performance. I have to say, nothing improved. Boot times remain the same, shutdowns feel faster.

Perhaps a clean install will work better?

 

Hi. I am new to this thread and saw your message and perhaps I can help. I have also read other forums regarding the lenovo 256gb ssd fru# 45N7991 how some people have managed to make it work and others had problems. What I gather from those who made it work was that Toshiba was the manufactur for their SSD disks. I took the chance after finding this out and ordered one one with the same fru# made by Toshiba from eBay and thankfully it worked. It has been more than 1 year and my X301 has been running fasat without any problems. Hope this helps.

 

Hi 600x (or anybody else), I'll enormously appreciate if you could mail or PM me a link ?
I can't use Skype until a month my home internet connecting get back : Skype is burn by office firewall !
Huge thanks by advance.
Sylvain/Hérisson

 

Like I said, you need 5 posts to receive PM's.

 

I would try a clean install. I'm not sure the X301 can take advantage of the higher speeds of a Sata II or III SSD. There is some discussion of it earlier in this thread.

 

X301 does have native SATA II support, no SATA III.

 

Yep, X301 has SATA II. You can unlock SATA II on an X300 (stock is SATA I) with the Middleton BIOS.

I have a Crucial C300 1,8" running in my X301 which is a SATA III drive. However, when connected to a SATA III device, speeds are hardly any faster than SATA II. The C300 1,8" might have been the first SATA III SSD (not sure about this, but definitely one of the first), so I wouldn't have expected speeds like on modern SSD's anyway.

 

I simply *love* C300 in any shape or form. Deployed dozens of them in a variety of machines - mostly ThinkPads - over the past several years and have yet to see any grief.

Honestly, if I owned a X301 nowadays, a NOS 1.8" C300 would be the drive I'd be looking for.

 

Yeah I'm really liking the C300 as well. Got mine brand new for 70€. Real bargain. Sadly they were sold out shortly afterwards.

By the way, I wanted to surprise you guys when it would be ready, but it's already been too long anyway: I have been working on the X301 AFFS mod again and I am almost finished. Remember how I told you the panel didn't fit because of the frame? Well I found a simple solution: Completely disassemble the LCD and rebuild it without the frame.

I now have frameless BoeHydis sitting next to me. I also purchased another X301 and T5010 display cable. They are currently being soldered by a good friend that I know from a few ThinkPad meet-ups.

Basically, if all goes well, I'll have a FlexView modded X301 in front of me within the next few weeks or even days. Guess you're speechless now.

 

Speechless, no.

In absolute awe should you succeed - by all means...

 

I had an X301 for sometime. Lenovo peaked in design with this notebook. Hard to believe they never returned to it, considering the success of 13" notebooks. It's just too bad they didn't put a stronger processor, it was that close to perfection.

 

For that generation the X301's ULV processor was adequate. They should of kept the line, and just updated the processors as they went. But Apple was gaining momentum with its MBA back then, and Intel got a taste of what MBA could do in terms of building a system that was not upgradeable and was only good for 2 to 3 years; but at the same time using expensive parts like ULV and SSD. The start of MBA and the subsequent Ultrabook sealed the fate of AMD as a mobile processor manufacturer.

 

Slight OT: Nice little historical aspect. Intel itself "inspired" Apple to make the MBA. Back in 2006, Intel was starting to develop the plans to "reinvent" the Notebook market, because at this point, the development of the notebook market started to get slower and the innovations became less and less. Because of this, they started their initial CULV project and they showed the manfuactures a first prototyp of a new thin-and-light device, the ancestor of the UltraBooks. Unfortunatly, the manufactures were not really excited, besides Apple. The first generation of CULV devices (ThinkPad X300 / X301, Macbook Air First Gen, Dell Adamo XPS, HP Envy 133) was no big succes (mainly because of the high prices and because the concept was not really mature), instead at this time, Netbooks started to rise, so the OEMs started to focus more on the cheap market. The first of these Ultrabook devices to really succed was the Macbook Air 2010. In 2011, Intel tried again to convince the PC companies to actually start making thin-and-light Notebooks. At this point, the Netbook market started to collapse because of the new Tablet market, so the OEMs needed a new idea / a new market. This was also the year when Intel renamed the "CULV" Subnotebooks (a horrible name) to "UltraBooks" - and they finally had success with it.

The X301 was a very nice concept, but I think it mainly failed because of the high price and the low sales.

 

The X300 never failed. Lenovo never intended it to be a success in terms of sales. Instead it was meant to be a halo machine that shows what lenovo is capable of. And since it has become quite the collectors item, I'd say it was successful in its true purpose.

The X301 could easily handle a 17W processor. Of course that's still far from something decent like a P8600, but still quite a step up from the SU9400. Nowadays a 15W ULV Haswell would fit the bill just perfectly.

 

Well, I don´t think Lenovo ever intented to produce something that does not sell well and then become a collectors item. And of course it failed: Lenovo killed of the line after only one refresh. The product was good, but it couldn´t success on the market.

They always want to sell their products. Of course they tried their best with the X300 / X301, because they wanted to make a truly great premium subnotebook - but I guess they underestimated that the price was just to high for many people. Today, the X301 might be much cheaper since many special components they used back then were pretty expensive (today they are much cheaper as thin Notebooks are the standard now). But it would be pointless for them to make them again (or, modern versions of the X301): Most people just don´t need an DVD drive anymore.

 

The X30* series could've been a "MacBook killer" which I believe was the idea behind it. Three things were missing from that equation in my opinion, though:

a) A proper - or as the later history showed us at least *properly calibrated* - screen. Those LCDs looked horrible "out of the box" IMO, and didn't compare well with MBA.

b) A quieter - or at least differently optioned - fan.

c) A proper marketing concept. With two of its arguably most interesting products of this era - W70* and X30* - Lenovo proved itself prone to the type of failure that I refer to as "The Ford Syndrome": utter incompetence when it came to marketing/selling a truly high-end concept, which was something that had doomed (amongst a couple of other things) Jaguars of the Ford era...

Whatever the case may be, these machines still stand as one of Lenovo's best moments in my opinion, as imperfect as they were.

My $0.02 only...

 

The screen on the X301 was horrible, but they were readily available and it was probably cheap. The fan on the X30x was okay, the first generation of MBA had a Hoover vaccum cleaner as a fan.

Lenovo produced many machines as a concept to test the water and to see how the customer reacted. So ThinkPad products like X1 Carbon, Twist, Helix, Yoga, etc are usually all one off product, which they produce to see how the market reacts to their concepts. If they are successful, they usually start something else incorporating that. T400s was arguably an offspring of the X30x machine, which i think is really great (apart from the under reinforced mb and crappy palmrest design).

W70x was created initially for a large computer company, and someone saw the need to mass produce it and see how the market reacts to it. From memory around 50,000 units were produced and sold, which was break-even for Lenovo.

 

I've never seen an x301 so I don't know for exact but isn't it still being continued as x1 or x1c?

 

Not even close.

 

Can't wait to see this. Best of luck.