ThinkPad X201 - few questions

Hi,

I'm planning to replace the alienware m11x from my sig with something that won't fall apart after 4 months. It's absolutely essential for me that the build quality is the best it can be. Simply because most laptops, in general, are built really really cheap or they don't feel sturdy. This is based on my experience with Fujitsu/Siemens, Acer, Asus, few consumer grade HPs, and the dreadful - Dell. My friends works in a store that sales laptops so I get to poke around on the exhibited models.

The laptop would be carried around a lot. VGA adapter is neat to have as I need it for presentations (even tho I see no reason for Lenovo putting DisplayPort and HDMI as well). Other than that it would be used for general stuff, running Mathematica, MATLAB, general browsing, watching HD videos, and probably playing Football Manager.

The current decision is between Lenovo ThinkPad X201 and Macbook Pro 13. So I'd really appreciate answers to a few questions:

1. Build quality:
This is the top priority. If I travel overseas I don't want laptop flexing or breaking if I load my backpack with other stuff.
Also what part of the ThinkPad chassis is plastic?

2. Looks:
To me, ThinkPad on the inside looks really ugly. I mean really... I read around that it looks sleek/sexy. Maybe I just don't see it. To me the design looks like it was made in 1980ies. But in any case I am willing to overlook it's appearance if other things are good, like if the keyboard at least feels good if it can't look good. Oh and btw, no backlighting on the keyboard ?

3. Battery life:
Now I read 2 reviews, laptopmag (pretty useless but gives some data) and NBR. So from NBR it looks good, but again, it just looks really ugly to me if the battery stick either beneath or behind the laptop. There's also 4-cell battery available - hopefully that one doesn't stick out? If I had to choose I'd rather have it stick behind than under.
If someone has that one, could you roughly say battery life doing browsing with WiFi or watching videos w/o WiFi, etc.? I'm looking for 5+ hrs of battery life while watching videos or just surfing.

4. Screen:
I read it's pretty bad. But it is matte screen right? I'd prefer that over glossy anyway. I don't really generally care about viewing angles, but they are beyond weird on m11x. If I have full black screen, the middle half of the screen is relatively black, while the top and bottom quarters are "shiny". It just looks weird if you're watching a movie with a dark scene.

5. Touchpad:
Seems pretty small. Anyone has issues using it? I'm not a big fan of trackpoints.

6. Temperatures:
I feel every review writes so many words here yet they don't really say anything (e.g. NBR review: "Temperatures increased with the system under a full load..." I mean really - NO KIDDING! ). I just need simple answers. Browsing, watching HD videos - what are the temps? Under load for a while (say you run MATLAB or some app that uses CPU for an hour or few hours) - temps?

Thanks!


P.S.

 

1.- The X2xx series is built very well with pretty much no flex. The exterior is plastic, with a magnesium alloy roll cage.

2.- The X-series uses a full size Thinkpad keyboard that should be very nice, with no flex. There is no backlighting, as with all Thinkpads, but there is the traditional ThinkLight keyboard light.

3.- The four-cell is flat on the bottom and does not stick out. The 6-cell sticks out pretty much imperceptibly out the bottom, but gives a very noticeable bump in battery life. The is like the 6-cell, but sticks out the back. On the 9-cell, the X201 can get up to around 10 hours of battery life.

4.- It's matte.

5.- Most people prefer the TrackPoint - give it a chance, and it'll probably surprise you.

6.- The X201 is cool, especially with the i3 or i5 processor options. Other forumers can probably give you exact numbers, but it is very lap friendly.

 

Erm... the X200-series doesn't have a roll cage. The X200 has a magnesium-alloy lid, and IIRC the base is magnesium alloy as well, but the rest is made up of plastic (some reinforced, some not).

That said, it *is* quite well built, and I'd definitely say it's more durable than the MacBook.

I'd sum up the comparison this way: get the MacBook if you want a machine that looks pretty and works fine and are willing to pay a premium for the former. Get the ThinkPad if you want a machine that you can depend on to help you work day-in, day-out.

I just re-read your post and noticed this:

Get the ThinkPad. The MacBook's aluminium case looks like it's quite strong, but there are three thing to consider:

1) Aluminium is not a very shock-absorbent material.

2) Glass is rather sensitive to shock and bending.

3) The MacBook features a glass panel in an aluminium enclosure.

 

my friend dropped his bag with the 13 inch macbook pro in it, and it came out with damage very similar to this, Apple shop wants 700 dollars for the repair.



X20x is definitely more robust than the Macbook Pro.... Also, if you ever use a lot of Macbook Pro you would know that it has the worst cooling system design ever, it can really heat up to 70 degrees on the top edge of the casing above the keyboard (Apple engineers was really smart using the aluminium casing as a heatsink) if you run some GPU and CPU intensive apps.

Apple is form over function, and Thinkpad is function over form.

 

For me the reason to pick thinkpad x201i was 1. portability while being very durable and quite powerful, 2. design (I absolutely LOVE thinkpad design and hate all the new stupid shiny plastic notebooks), 3. trackpoint - I would never evr buy notebook without it, I hate touchpad - give it a try, trackpoint is much more precise and finally 4. Thinkvantage software is really cool, not some kind of bloatware that other manufacturers are installing to their machines

 

I just received an X201 from our Lenovo rep so I can test it for our CFO. I can tell you right now - the machine is typical ThinkPad quality - solid, solid, solid. They sent us all 3 battery types - the 9 cell sticks out the back and angles the laptop just slightly. To be honest, I think the 9-cell battery itself might even be a little bit heavier than the laptop. I'll play around with it over the weekend and maybe snap a picture or two.

 

cool can't wait for the review.

 

I think that's debatable. I think the X201 itself weighs around two and a half pounds while the nine-cell is about a pound. I thought that myself too when I got my X200. I just picked up the four-cell battery because I only need a couple hours and I'd like to lighten the load.

 

Thanks a lot for all the answers (and PMs); excellent info! I am still researching it, but next week I'll visit the office of one of the students at my uni who has X201 tablet. Not sure how comparable the screen is to the non-tablet version tho. I read people complain about bad quality and v

Otherwise it sounds great. 3.5 lbs with 9-cell (~1.6kg) is still pretty nice. Alienware is around 4.4lbs (~2kg) and I find it OK carrying it around. Thinkpads do have an interesting choice of features - like modem (rofl? ).

ZaZ, how much run-time do you get on your 4-cell battery?

 

It's not *rofl* considering Thinkpads are more business oriented and you could send faxes with it...

 

Well... given the probability that I will need to use fax, multiplied by the probability I am on the go, where there is none available.... I don't see that happening - ever. But then again - I am not a businessman. I prefer e-mail. 1 time, actually, when I was asked to fax something (1 time was when I left my laptop in Germany and I had to pay the shipping to the US), I just asked if I can scan the document and e-mail it and it was just fine.

On the other hand... there's quite a bit of times when I like to watch a video through HDMI. It's also quite often that I'd like to see where the keys are when it's dark.

 

Maybe you're looking for a different type of laptop. Thinkpads are more oriented toward business. I see the Alienware in your sigs and those are pretty much made for gaming which is different from how Thinkpads are marketed. Thinkpads don't have cutting edge graphics but they do have a solid and reliable tradition of surviving and for work. In that vein- a backlit keyboard and the latest ATI graphics card are not necessarily what corporations are wanting to push on their employees. They want the job done efficiently and not worry about whether their employees multimedia and gaming needs are met through company paid for laptops.

 

That is excellent advice! While the X201 is a great system, no model can suit every potential user's needs.

 

Well, good point. But... I think the laptop that I want, doesn't exist. I don't mind the price - I'd pay even $2k+ if there was such laptop with nice steel hinges such as Thinkpads but all-around good (I saw the metal hinges on the video and how you can flip the screen to 180 and I just love it).

Originally, I wanted excellent build quality, no overheating problems, 3D/gaming performance of Alienwares and good battery life. I bought m11x as I thought it's closest to it - and it was - until it began falling apart. And I don't have time to get building into DIY hinges at the machine shop near my lab + there are also other parts of the laptop that are just falling apart, screen just gets dirty each time you close the lid, keyboard and touchpad already look "greasy" as if they have been used for 2 years etc...

I am not (that) good with machining to be able to build an entire support system and I don't feel like paying Dell another $300 for 3 year warranty - and on top of that - deal with their incredibly retarded customer service. (no offense meant to real mentally retarded folks ofc) I just want the laptop the works - and from my experience - Dell is far from making that happen. Even if Lenovo customer service is that bad, hopefully, their laptops are made better so that I won't have to.

Anyway... I thought, might as well sacrifice completely gaming part, and just get a well built laptop with integrated graphics.

Yeah I know, and you are perfectly correct. It is a laptop targeted for business - I just meant its too bad there isn't more extra stuff on it, or that they don't have a fancier Thinkpad laptop in 11-13" range. It seems like almost everyone is just making cheap plastic junk nowadays.

 

Just wanted to say thanks everyone for good replies. As it just happens I saw 3 Thinkpads today (IBM T60, X300 and T410) and I have to admit they do look quite a bit better in real life than on photos.

It doesn't change the fact that the keyboard could use some cosmetic changes, but in reality it really seemed like a minor thing - all laptops looked really sturdy and well built.

T410 in particular looks best and most like IBMs. The drop in build quality IBM->Lenovo isn't that big as I originally though. All of them are light years ahead of even Dell Latitudes. T series at least feels like m17x + shock absorbing sturdier - mad graphic power. I noticed they (unlike macs) have options for dock station which is the selling point for me in this case. There's even some kind of native dock station with DVD drive which is big BIG THUMBS UP from me.

In any case, I'll most likely go for X201 with i7 620m.

 

if you want better graphics card, you may look into the DIY Vidock option, however, it is not portable.

 

Thanks, interesting DIY article. I noticed it few days ago. But I think I am good with m17x for gaming... I don't think I switched on nVidia card on m11x once in the last two months.

 

If you're not using the discrete GPU on your M11x, I sincerely doubt you'll miss having a discrete GPU on the X201.

I used to own a Dell XPS M1730(the M17x's predecessor) and I can agree that the build quality on the ThinkPads are miles ahead of anything consumer at least. I think the closest you'll find to the ThinkPads are the HP EliteBooks(which I haven't seen in person); the Panasonic Toughbooks are extremely rugged(military/construction applications rather than business) but quite expensive for the power.

the Intel X4500 on my X200 handles older titles alright, but it depends on what your expectations are when gaming. I can run most Source titles decently, and can even get good framerates in TF2 if I force DX8 shaders. It's not pretty but it works surprisingly well. The only game I play regularly that I just can't get to run on the X200 is Fallout 3. Considering the Intel HD on the X201 has a 3Dmark06 score twice that of the X4500(1800-2000 versus 900), it'd be safe to say that it could still play older titles decently, if not full-tilt. I also only game on native resolution as I hate the fuzziness of gaming non-natively, which increases the horsepower needed to run them.

either way, my X200 has taken some serious abuse before I owned it and it's still running strong. I might turn to my T400 for gaming, but the X200 is what I generally take everywhere else.

 

if graphics cards is not the biggest problem, then X20x laptop are perfect. The X series laptop gets the least amount of user complaints, and most people whom uses the X30x and X20x have loved them.

Even Nando4 recommends them, it is such a good machine. And Lenovo should offer Nando4 a X20x machine to test on, because these people are the most important influencer in the market.

 

Hi all, awesome forum you have here. I'm about to pull the trigger on a X201 and have a couple of questions. Thanks for bearing with me.

1) When will the X201 be refreshed and what are the anticipated changes? In particular, I would be interested in a better screen, USB 3.0 and discrete graphics.

2) What happened to the X301, I don't see it on the site, has it been replaced by another model?

3) What is the advantage between the following options?
a) Windows pro x32 vs x64
b) Are these options all BGN compatible?
ThinkPad bgn Wireless
Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (2x2 AGN)
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)
Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250 (this is for accessing a cellular network, right? Which carriers (I live in the US)?) How is this different from Integrated Mobile Broadband (Gobi 2000 3G with GPS)?

4) Should we expect prices to get cheaper from now till the end of the year? Is it recommended to buy a refurbished model?

5) If I buy a version that comes with Windows 7 32 bit installed, how do I install 64 bit without buying a new licence?

Thank you!

 

1. You would need to jump up to the T410s. The only thinkpad with usb3 is the W510.
2. Discontinued.
3a. 64 bit versions allow you to use more than 4GB of memory.
3b. Unknown but most likely the answer is yes for BGN compat.
4. You never know on price. They go up and down depending on market conditions, holiday proximity, and alignment of the moon. If you are patient, wait for a good sale.

 

1.) The next X2xx-series refresh is expected Q1 of next year when Intel releases their Sandy bridge line. USB3 may be a possibility (if included in the Intel chipset for Sandy bridge; if not, I wouldn't count on it). How do you define 'better'? If by 'better', you mean higher resolution, then it is a possibility (the X200s/X201s variant has offered a 1440x900 LCD, compared to the default 1280x800). If you mean 'better' by wider viewing angles, increased brightness & color saturation... I'd say that seems unlikely. Discrete graphics? Not going to happen on an X-series, though the integrated graphics in Sandy bridge will be on-die with the CPU (like the current Core i-series) and will offer dynamic clock switching on-demand independent of the CPU. So the next gen X-series may be appropriate for light/casual gaming, but if you want to run demanding games, you may be looking into the wrong product. Perhaps try the Alienware 11"

2.) The X3xx-series has been discontinued by Lenovo.

3a.) Windows 7 Pro x32 is the 32-bit version of windows 7 and can only address ~3.5GB of physical memory, Windows 7 x64 is the 64-bit version and can use much more. The x64 version is recommended, especially if you want to run demanding software or virtualization.

3b.) All of these options will do 802.11b/g/n, the 6300 will give you the best reception since it has 3 antennas (google it). I think the lenovo cell cards have worked on either Verizon or AT&T (check the specifics through google) in the past. Gobi is a separate card iirc that offers GPS + 3g.

4.) Computer prices are usually falling, and Lenovo has deals/coupons frequently. If you are a university student, you can get a pretty nice discount (you can sometimes combine with coupon codes). The outlet sometimes has great deals if you're willing to do the refurbished models. As to whether a refurb is recommended or not, it depends on how important a long warranty is. I built my last 2 thinkpads from parts on ebay & the HMMs are an excellent guide if you do need to fix/replace something. If doing so isn't comfortable for you, then perhaps you would be better served by a new machine with a 3yr warranty.

 

5) check discussion here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/519261-32-bit-64-bit.html

 

Why the i7 620m in particular? This "i7" is only marginally better than the i5 540m. The label on the palm rest will look impressive, though.

It's an X201, for goodness sake.

 

Because at that time, it was a web special, and actually cheaper than the i5 model. In any case, already ordered X200.

 

Hello, first off I must apologize if I posted this in the wrong area.

I am considering purchasing a new laptop to replace my current one, which still works fine, but has such severe overheating problems (on idle 135-140F) that it's making it difficult for me to do my college work at times. My previous laptops are what you may call media enthusiast's laptops, ones that have graphics cards in them but aren't powerful enough to be gaming laptops.

However, I'm starting to think that such laptops aren't really all what they're made up to be, they get outdated in the games department in less than a year, and aren't of the best build quality. That's why I'm considering my next purchase to be a Thinkpad because I have other consoles to play games with, and I'm really looking for durability and stability.

I have a few concerns though:

1) While games I can do without, I still enjoy watching movies and TV shows. Will the Thinkpad X201 be able to handle up to HD videos?

2) Would I be bothered by the screen size? My first laptop was 15 inch, followed by my current 14 inch. I've never had the experience of playing around with a CULV laptop before. I like the thought of a lighter and smaller notebook to haul around campus, though.

Right now, I'm deciding between this or sticking to a tried and true route with possibly the HP Envy 14 (though the QC problems people have been talking about are scaring me). I might also end up not buying any notebook and waiting for a newer model in the future. Thanks!

 

1) It'll have no problem with Full HD content.

2) Kinda. You will most likely get used to it. After using my x100e, going back to the 14inch one feels almost too large.

 

Btw, X201 doesn't come with ULV CPUs. They offer standard mobile i3/i5/i7s...

 

Thanks for your quick replies! Another question that came to mind is, are there any heat problems with this laptop? I am really worried about overheating issues, considering my old model, and this review by LaptopMag has stated that it runs hot. Thanks again!

 

Without trying too hard, you can find bad things written or said about any laptop.

My own X200 runs like it's not even on from a heat/noise perspective, though I run in low power mode mostly. The fan can get a bit noisy at full power. If you don't mind a X200, there's this fabulous deal on the X200. If I didn't already have one, I'd get it. Why pay twice as much for a X201 and get a marginal performance increase?

 

I hope it doesn't as I just ordered mine (X200).

I tend to trust way more the reviewers on this site than any other. The temps they measured seem fine: Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Performance, Benchmarks and Conclusion . I think those temps are after some kind of a test, don't remember which one exactly.

 

The X200 with Intel 4500 MHD are already designed to handle full hardware decoding of 1080p bluray movies.

 

Btw, same deal on buy.com. Exactly the same price... looks like someone is trying really hard to get rid of them.

 

Refurbished is usually just as good as new and in this case, with one year warranty from Lenovo if you buy from them.
THey're usually returns which they put to new specs and they will even replace cases and stuff if they're bad. This may be different from other makers but I've gotten plenty of refurbished printers and you can't tell they're not new.

Also, try their site.. Lenovo Outlet - X Series Tablet - ThinkPad laptops - Laptops & netbooks - Discounted Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Refurbished Laptops, Discounted Desktops, Cheap Desktops, Refurbished Desktops

Note, you can EXTEND the warranty up to three years I think

 

you can't say no to these super deals.

 

Outlet machines are sold with a one year warranty that cannot be upgraded. You'd need to buy an out of warranty extension, which is more expensive.

 

Oh my thread has been moved. I originally wanted to post here, but I didn't want to hijack unreal25's thread.

Thanks for the deal too, but I may just get a X201. The idea of an i5 processor really excites me.

 

can you tell us what aspects of i5 that really excites you?

 

Thanks mate. I know the problem is there aren't many user reviews on X200/X201.

Think about the price though. The X201 with i5 CPU is basically 2x more expensive, even though of course it is faster on raw CPU benchmarks (e.g. search for them here: PassMark - CPU Benchmarks - List of Benchmarked CPUs ). The question is, how much of that performance are you really going to see in day-to-day usage? If it was a gaming laptop, then it would boost you up nicely. Personally, even if that laptop was offered with ULV CPUs like SU4100/SU7300 overclockable to 1.7 GHz, I'd take it right away. And apart from the CPU, I really don't see any big difference between the two (X200 and X201). I'd go with whichever has the best battery life.

If you aren't going to run CPU intensive apps on a daily basis, there will be much more of a performance upgrade in an SSD drive. Just my $0.02 tho.

I ordered X200 from buy.com for $650 total w/ NY taxes, $25 more for extra 2GB RAM from ebay and $220 extra for a fast 120GB SSD (OCZ Vertex 2). Originally planned to get 60GB but then I just received $90 refund from a trip I made 2 years ago + a friend of mine will buy my m11x.

 

For those whom are interested, you can get the X201 with a ULV CPU.

http://shopap.lenovo.com/SEUILibrar...000294:&smid=45EC6C0B6E34439B8F111DD4805EE63C

 

Well you brought up some good points, however, I was thinking that considering this would be my main laptop, it would do well to have one with a powerful processor. Plus, I would prefer a laptop to at least be more powerful than my current one, I multitask quite a bit, and am just exasperated by the lack of speed. However I must say I'm not a computer expert here.

Another question I just thought up, how is the screen quality on this laptop? Thanks!

 

I second that. Battery, battery, battery.

Niiiiice!

 

what sort of softwares do you run on the laptop? so you have isolated the lack of speed to the CPU that you are using?

 

But that doesn't mean you need to pay big $ to get the Core i7. A "powerful" processor is only powerful relative to certain applications. To date, not a lot of applications are expressly programmed to take full advantage of 64-bit processing, multicore and hyperthreading - only some, one being Internet Explorer 9 Beta. Also, pay attention to daily battery life.

For a "main laptop" that is also light/small enough to carry around, I'd suggest you research the T410 (a lot of useful information in this forum): it has a larger and better screen for you to look at hour after hour when you work.

 

I'm really liking the X201. may pick one up via university discount. any caveats i should know of? loose hinges, creaky panels? etc.

 

loose hinges, creaky panels? those "problems" are minor and not rampant. ThinkPads are well built and work tough.

Just don't overspec your system. Watch out for battery drains: high-speed CPU, discrete GPU, high-speed HDD. An i3 processor with integrated graphics and a 5400rpm disk drive would be really good for "ordinary" applications. If you can afford it, look closely at the 128GB SSD, which is both faster and more power-efficient.

Mobility and battery life: please keep them in mind. The X200/201 is not a desktop replacement.

 

Oh, another thing: if you are serious about battery life, get a 9-cell battery. It does stick out a bit in the back of the machine, but it is not as ugly as you might imagine.

 

To answer the display question, the X200/201 come with a pretty much standard TN display. Not all that exciting. If you're willing to invalidate your warranty and are handy with opening up your notebook, there is a 1280x800 AFFS display out there that can be swapped in with moderate fuss. It's basically like the Flexview displays of the older T60p models; outstanding viewing angles and great color reproduction. I think it's easier and less expensive to put the display in an X200, however.

 

I can't change the specs because it's via the university laptop program.

Prozessor Intel Core i5-540M
Cache 2 x 256 KB L2, 3 MB L3
Takt 2.53 GHz (TurboBoost 3.06 GHz)
HD 500 GB / 7200 RPM
RAM 4 GB (1 x 4 GB, DDR3)
Display 12.1" (matt), WXGA, 1280 x 800, LED
Displayformat 16:10
Graphik Intel GMA HD, bis 512 MB (shared)<
Batterie 9 Zellen Akku, 84 Wh

how would that config serve me?

 

I would click Buy.