ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

That's very odd because the sound out of my $40 Altec lansing speakers is very loud. I have them half way turned up and the computer is at 50% volume. Technically at 25% volume then? So I don't know if I just got lucky or what.

Sound out of the speakers at max isn't as loud as my old dell 15", but not bad from such a small computer. Frankly I didn't expect much.

Just for comparison, I think everyone probably has this same driver version. I believe that is the one currently on lenovo driver site.

Conexant SmartAudio HD - 8.32.23.0

 

Trouble is, even if it is software-related, will enough people complain to Lenovo that they introduce a fix? Somehow I doubt it, as I've only seen one or two people here mention it as an issue, other than me.

 

The speakers are a quieter than my old laptop, but I suppose that's to be expected out of a notebook this small and one that's not intended for multimedia as its first function.

At least the headphone jack doesn't have electrical crosstalk like my old laptop did, though, hearing a PZZZZT in the background when it was plugged in was somewhat annoying.

 

I tried looking for other sources of drivers for this specific conexant chipset.... I couldn't find any. Oh well.

 

Yeah, thats the same driver I got. I don't know what you will call loud on those speakers (not trying to insult, just saying that I'm used to how loud my speakers are), but on my sound system if I use the airport express through itunes or just listen to the fm/am radio, it is very loud even with volume like at 60/100 on the bose system. But if I instead plug it to the laptop directly trough the headphone jack, I'll say it is like 70-75% as loud as before. That's how I see it. Not loud at all even I put my bose system volume to like 85/100 which is really high for this system. You should try plugging those speakers on some other system or stereo and then you can hear the difference.

 

If thats the case that sucks. I guess for now I'll just keep using the airport express when I want to use the laptop to route audio to my stereo instead of using the laptop headphone jack directly.

 

Just ordered my x220 today through the Canadian site...didn't have an option for shipping...is there a company that lenovo exclusively use?

 

Do these laptops have the cpu whine / noise that my X201 has?

 

Mine does not, but I think some are more sensitive to it than others.

 

I'm not sure what the whine is like on the X201 so I can't compare.... mines very quiet until I Ramp up the cpu for a while, where it'll have more of an air noise.

 

More discoveries on the audio system driver behavior.

Just got a set of 192khz, 24bit FLAC's of Brahm's 1st symphony.

In foobar, **without** the Resampling dsp enabled, WSAPI output: throws an error- Unrecoverable playback error: Not enough storage is available to complete this operation. (0x8007000E)

BOOOOO! I turn on the dsp resampler to 96khz, wsapi works fine.

DirectSound output mode. Go into the control panel, set it to 192khz, 24bit. Play in foobar on DS mode: Slight hiss in the background, and it plays LOUDER than WASPI mode with the DSP resampler.

Very strange indeed. I'm praying lenovo grants us some driver updates for this audio chipset!!!!

 

Interesting observations.

Is there still hiss at other frequency/ bits? Does it play louder than WASAPI without the resampler?

In addition, it might be an idea to start a thread on the Lenovo community forum.

 

I hear ya. I did actually have these Altec's with my dell laptop too and the volume is almost identical at 50%. These speakers actually get very loud. I have bose in both my car and house... definitely know loud when I hear it ha.

I can't however say anything about headphones as my headphones link up from usb, not the microphone jack. Via usb I only have them at 4% and they are pretty loud. If I run across any mic jack headphones I'll test them out.

The sound out of the actual internal speakers is quieter than my older dell. However that is a bigger laptop and more built for multimedia.

 

I'll check later about the hiss when I get home.

As for the thread, I'll post one tomorrow.

 

Thanks for your input. I didnt mean its low when using headphones. I meant that my stereo system is plugged through the laptop headphones/mic jack with a stereo 3.5mm cable and it sounds low compare to just having the stereo cable plugged on my airport express instead and playing the music wireless. It might just be my case or maybe my ears, but I guess I can live with it.

 

I put the headphones bit in my post just as a general note on using the headphone/mic jack. I was mainly talking about plugging speakers into that jack. More of a general comparison between my current and old laptop, noticed no volume reduction. Unfortunately I don't have the capability to test the wireless bit and see if it is indeed louder than the jack. Could very well be though. Ha, they have to have an app to measure that.

 

Speaking of audio issues, I'm getting a wicked ground loop hum when using the headphone jack while plugged in. Unplugging the power makes it go away and using normal speakers makes it go away. I also noticed by accident that if I touch the RGB port on the left, the hum dissipates a lot (tho not completely).

Any of you audiophiles have any insight into this? It's kind of annoying...

EDIT to clarify: I haven't plugged regular speakers into the headphone jack. I meant using the internal speakers, it doesn't have the hum. Only when using the jack. The phones cost $300, I've had them for years and they work fine everywhere I've ever used them.

 

Do a simple experiment: ask someone else (friend, family) to try it and see if you get the same result. Sometimes is just your body introducing itself into the system. (or try also a different set of phones)

 

I wonder if anyone can see if this is bad? Whenever I use max performance (fan is on BIOS, or Smart 2 on TPFancontrol) my temps spike up to high fifties. Also, when I webbrowse on optimize energy settings, im at 42 degrees, and a simple vid jumps it to 60 degs. Is this normal? I have nothing plugged in except a set of headphones (Ultrasone HFi-580). Power draw should be less than five watts with those?

 

I like the power usage meter... while a usb device (mobile phone) was plugged in, wattage jumped from 8 up to 11... keeps a reminder up there to stop wasting your battery hehe...

The form factor on this is excellent, i get a nice keyboard to type on, but I am in the coffee shop with a slim desk to fit the laptop on... and works perfect!

In terms of audio from above... I've had mixed results.... Recording for me is very poor, but its possible I havn't found a good adaptor that it works with yet.

 

does anybody know if the X200 charger is compatible with the x220?

 

I can confirm that wasapi output from Foobar2000 is significantly louder than DirectSound, with the Conextant speakers set to 24 bit, 96000 Hz output. The sound also seems clearer, less "muddy". Thanks floz!

You'll need to download the wasapi plugin, unzip it, and copy the .dll to your foobar2000/components directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000\components). You can get the plugin here: foobar2000: Components Repository - WASAPI output support

 

How very strange. There is no difference in volume or apparent quality between Conextant DS or Wasapi when playing 16/44 or 24/96 files. I have it set to 24,96 Studio Quality in Speaker Properties/ Advanced/Default Format.

 

Sorry, never got around to testing the whole 192khz issue yet. Or posting that thread at lenovo forums. I'll get around to it soon.

Otherwise, I've found no real difference in volume between wsapi and DS. The only discrepancy I've found is at 192khz, when the wsapi method seems to have less volume than setting the conexant speakers to 192/24, and using DS mode.

 

Just received the X220!
Initial impressions, after 5 minutes:
-speakers suck. no surprise, not too upset
-textured mousepad is hard to use. I have calluses on my fingertips, that's probably why haha
-Damn, this thing is light!
-keyboard has my full approval
-Screen has a bit of a yellowish tint? Not that impressed with the viewing angles.
-there's a little high pitched whine from the fan. It's not there when the fan is at its lowest speed, but when it goes a bit higher you can definitely hear it. I'll get over it.
-A bit warm

Any advice on adjusting the screen? How do I check to make sure it's the IPS display? Also, what are typical cpu idle temps? My i5-2520 idles at around 45

I'm going to order ram and an ssd drive next.

 

Easiest way to tell is to just move the screen back and forth. If it starts to look ugly and washed out really quickly, then it's not an IPS panel.

 

Your idle temps are fine.

As for the screen, look at the screen from the left and right. The brightness will drop off, but the color should be the same, even at the most extreme angles. Up and down should yield similar results, with more brightness dropoff, and just a HINT of color shifting.

 

So I purchased my X220t with just a micro SSD (80gb) and I am looking to throw another mechanical hard drive in it to increase my storage capacity but I'm having trouble finding (or should I say verifying) that drives I am looking at are indeed 7mm. Here are 2 that I have found on newegg:

Newegg.com - HITACHI Travelstar Z5K320 HTS543232A7A384 (Part#: 0A78603) 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive.

or

Seagate Momentus 7200.4 320GB 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

I'm 99% sure that the hitachi is 7mm, however it is only 5400 rpm, where as the Seagate is 7200. I can't find any info on the actual size of the Seagate, but it appears that it might be a 7mm with some kind of spacer/bracket on it pushing it to 9.5mm. Will either of these drives work? Will the seagate require me to remove the bracket (and will this void the warrenty?)? Will I be able to actually notice the difference between the 5400 & the 7200 with Windows, etc. running off the mSSD?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7641528-post522.html

 

For anyone researching msata options for this and other new Lenovo sandforce laptops, the Renice X3 was recently reviewed at Storage Review -
Renice X3 mSATA SSD Review | StorageReview.com

 

I've just ordererd one on these:

Orbit USB - IML237CLR - ORBIT USB - IML237- USB Computer speakers at Altec Lansing

Hopefully it will be a decent improvment despite being mono. I had trouble deciding between the usb version or version that plugs into the 3.5 mm audio out. Opted for the former, see how it fares.

 

As an aside on the fan whining/pulsing...

Seems like a replacement may solve one of the issues. Not sure if this user was referring to the pulsing or whining. If a replacement fan fixes either one, I'm pretty game.

Posts 400, 423 and 431.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by speakers. My old Z61t is way worse (especially quieter) and it's a bigger laptop (more room for bigger speakers).

 

Just added 8GB of the Kingston Hyperx 1866 to my Thinkpad X220 (i7-2620M). Prior to that I had the Lenovo stock 4GB.

My winsat mem speed went from about 9400 MB/s to about 17575 MB/s.

My Windows Experience Index for RAM went from 5.9 to 7.6; my scores for Aero Graphics) from 4.6 to 5.2, for "gaming graphics" from 6.1 to 6.2.

Ran the Lenovo Toolbox memory tests and memory stress test, all passed.

 

I wonder if they have different sources for speakers much like some of the other minor components. Mine suck too, and frankly I dont see how ANYONE could call them decent much less pleasantly surprised, even considering the small machine they are in. To me they are on par with maybe your average cell phone speaker, but EASILY the worst and quietest laptop speakers I have ever heard. Even my iPad's speaker sounds MUCH better and gets louder then these do.

 

I love x220 speaker... way better quality and details than my dv6tqe's hype Beats audio.

 

Agree 100% and ironic that on a model with IPS (with added incentive to watch multimedia type content), they decide to use speakers even worse than other thinkpad speakers. Sure, it's an ultraportable but so is the MBA, and their speakers are meant to be pretty impressive.

The fact that some people think the X220's speakers are okay or even 'good', illustrates to what degree subjective impressions differ. We should bear that in mind more when interacting on this forum.

 

I agree that the X220's speakers are disappointing. However, I have an Acer 1830T, and its speakers are worse and the max volume is lower.

 

My x220 is over 2 weeks old, the hard drive almost full with stuff, and I still haven't made recovery discs. For some reason, I thought that the recovery discs are copies of the recovery partition and not of the whole drive. Have I goofed up?

 

Rescue and Recovery is a copy of just the recovery partition, which is the factory image. There's also Enhanced Rescue and Recovery which iirc backs up all of it. As a first step, do the first one.

Btw, when you reinstall using recovery disks, it puts the recovery partition on your new hard drive. Reinstalling windows from the recovery partition on the ssd takes 10-15min.

 

Ok, thanks for the clarification man. Factory image, here I come...

 

The thing is that I don't expect decent quality from internal laptop speakers. I realize that it is very bad, but from my 4 laptops (LifeBook S4545, Dell D410, Thinkpad Z61t and X220), it has by far the best and loudest sound.

 

Does anyone do any gaming or game design on their laptops? I was wondering how it would handle some steam games on a 12 inch screen after seeing a few videos on youtube.

 

I would imagine it mostly depends on the games you are trying to run. Fast moving graphicly rich games like the latest first person shooter is going to be a big no way, but others like command and conquer type games, puzzle or board type games, etc should be OK. This is purely in processing terms. Weather something is worth playing or not on a particular screen size is purely subjective.

 

I was wondering this myself. I decided to take the plunge and get it and I'm glad I did. I'm not a Frames-per-Second enthusiast so I can't tell you how good it is objectively. I can tell you that the games I've tried are totally playable (at reduced graphics usually). Here's a short list:

- Civ V
- DoW2: Retribution
- Solar 2
- Greed Corp
- DCUO

Given that spread, I'm sure most games I like will play just fine. And it's only going to get better as Intel improves the HD3000 drivers.

I wouldn't bother with anything too heavy like Crysis or whatever tho.

 

I play The Witcher, it looks pretty good. It will even run Witcher 2 but it is very choppy (and the fan goes crazy).

 

Only games I've played on the i5 2520 have been portal 2, duke nukem forever and Fear 3. All worked just fine at lower settings. Not much of a gamer myself, but I can at least confirm those. Black Ops... no go... no surprise there.

 

I respect your opinion but must say I struggle to imagine how weedy the output of those other machines must have been if this is the best and loudest by far.

I'm starting to think that Lenovo may be using different speakers in the x220, although the three x220's I've heard have all been the same volume.

Also listened to a Dell Vostro 3350. Despite it being mono, it was louder than the x220, Not by that much, but definitely louder.

 

Can anyone point me to a good user review for this laptop? I'm trying to decide about getting this or the vaio SA by tomorrow (to make the lenovo sale) and was curious about a few things.

 

I can't point to a review, but let me give you my opinion: the X220 is just an amazing laptop. The display is just lovely to look at. The keyboard is excellent. The trackpad suffers a bit in comparison to Apple's, but is much better than most Windows OS trackpads.

The volume of the speakers is limited, true. But I rarely have fan noise, the temperature stays low, the machine is always responsive, and was even before I upgraded the memory.

The battery life, even though I keep the display brightness high, is easily six to seven hours with the nine-cell. The machine is light in weight and easily portable, but feels solidly constructed.

It's just a very nice laptop, and every time I use it, I feel good about my purchase.