ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

*shrug*

I'm not thrilled that they wasted nearly two months of my time, and I burned $170+ on a nice SSD, for which I now have to find a different use, since a lot of the alternatives (ultrabooks etc.) use mSATA. If the second one were at least as good as the first, I may have just kept it and dealt with the issues later. I didn't anticipate having things start kind of poor, and go downhill from there. I did complain, of course, since they really should be more on the ball about QC. Even if not expensive for a Thinkpad, X220s are not cheap. At this point, it's just not worth playing the lottery for a soon-to-be discontinued platform (Sandy Bridge) whilst paying full price.

Beyond that, life moves on and I'm not going to worry about it that much. I'm probably more disappointed than anything else. I really did genuinely like the X220 apart from the problems. I think the Thinkpads look really sharp, and the functionality and modularity are very attractive relative to a lot of light notebooks.

Oh well.

 

well, as i expect, this is just about quality control and quality of the part inside ur laptop.. In my country, usually many people try to put the problem into newspaper till everbody read it and afterwards, the brand manager will answer and change the laptop till customer satisfied..btw what ssd you used?

 

Yes. Just make sure to buy the "slim" 7mm high version. Like this one for example : Amazon.com: Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD1: Computers & Accessories

 

Intel 520 120GB. Not cheap! Wish I'd held off, but I didn't exactly expect this outcome

 

How'd you get this one to work? I keep getting extreme mouse lag with this card. Happened on two different X220. What USB/NEC/Renesas drivers are you using?

 

The 7mm Crucial M4 model number ends with MSSD1. The 9.5mm version ends with MSSD2, and if you buy that one it has to be modded to fit.

 

Never in my life have I ever been so tempted.....

 

Wow, that is quite cheap, however I would upgrade the Warranty to 3 yrs. In Europe 3 Years is standard (and included in the price) and I don't see why it shouldn't be the same in the US. It might cost you a bit but it's really worth it.

 

nice..buy it as soon as possible.really cheap..

 

$678?! That is mental!

 

I've been looking at them for 6 months now and am about to buy at that price. Unfortunately the version on sale comes with the fingerprint reader(and no option to downgrade), which I don't really want. Does anyone know if you can get them to not install one? I tried asking their web support but they seem to understand the question.

 

I don't think so, it's part of the case--and I imagine those are the cases that they have left and need to get rid of. The good news is that is really isn't noticeable when typing, and the drivers/software don't actually come installed on the X220, so you don't even need to remove them. You can download them if you need.

Quick question though, how on earth is that price coming up? It would appear the coupon is taking 30% off? When I go to the sight (US) I'm getting 15% off?

 

I am getting close to buying two x220s for myself and wife at these prices. But, confused by the broadband ready and upgradeable otions related to the screen and inside the laptop. Do I need these options if I am planning to get an mSata drive for these? Thanks for your help. Did not think I would get a machine this small but it really has caught my attention.

Gary

 

They're using the discount from the barnes and noble gold account.
Barnes and Noble Gold

 

No, you don't need the broadband option (you don't want it) if you're going to use mSata. They occupy the same slot though, so you can only use one or the other. The slot is there either way.

 

Just a heads up for anyone that might have missed it. If you select the

config, you can get the IPS screen for free!

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

This discount is really tempting me to buy instead of waiting for the x230 now...

 

Stuck at WIMAX option - never have used and doubt if I will need it. Was this option worth it to anyone and why? Thanks.

Gary

 

How much after taxes?

 

$732.56 after tax. I had a rep. make me a quote as I'm still unsure if I can justify buying it....

 

hi,first of all..i want to ask something about ssd.
I want to upgrade my x220 4291 with samsung SSD 830 128GB.
is the ssd match with my system, i mean just only change my old drive with new ssd without any kind of modification or buy some screw..
thank you for helping me..i am really confuse and i also dont want spend my money to buy wrong ssd, due to i am a student only with limit money..hahaha..
thanks before..

 

The 830's are all 7mm, so they all fit.

 

ok, i will buy it as soon as possible.btw what is the program to clone from my old drive into new ssd..anybody can suggest it to me?thanks before.

 

Hi,
does anyone know about the external coolers of the extractor type? As seen here Notebook Laptop USB Cooler Cooling Pad Ventilating Fan Ventilator Heat Extractor | eBay

I didn't know if the forced extraction of air would damage the fan or motor of the built in fan? The speed of the internal fan when driven by the force of the extractor would be higher than it ever reaches on its own as the whole purpose of my building an extractor would be to raise airflow.

Has anyone tried improving the air intake? I've got 2 years' warranty left I don't want to invalidate, but the intakes along the bottom look very insubstantial. I removed the RAM cover but there seems to be very little intake in that area- just wondering if anyone has got any tips more drastic than simply improving airflow under the laptop?

The reason I ask is I've started running world community grid (uses computers all over the world to search for an HIV vaccine etc) and even when i've limited it to using 50% of the processor time on one core I still hit 90 celsius, and the nature of the program means this temperature will be maintained for hours on end.

 

You better get this: Cooler Master Notepal U2 - Notebook Stand with movable Fans - Upto 17 Inch | eBay

You can put the Fans wherever you want, so you can cool down exactly the spot that produces the most heat. The cooler is much more effective this way.

 

I have CM Notepal U1, with 1 fan, and it works fine. I found that U2 extends outside of X220, and I didn't like that. I put the fan at the top left corner, right below the internal fan.

 

I cool my X220 with a Zalman NC1500 Mini, it fits perfectly and should be under $35 new.

 

Thanks for all the replies, I've got a desktop case fan on the way which I was going to use, as it would let me postion it on the underside of the heatsink. I will test it to see how much of a cooling benefit it gives.

What I am really thinking about though is using the fan with a tunnel of some sort, and clamping it over the vent on the laptop to directly extract the heat from the heatsink, like a hoover. I presume this would be more efficient that relying on the conduction of the chassis.

Would the built in fan/motor be damaged through being driven at a higher speed by the external force of the desktop fan I'm getting?

 

Depends, if it stays below 6000 RPM (the internal Fan) you should be fine.

 

Thanks all for great info in this thread. Could not resist and ordered two x220s the other day and looking forward to them. Will install a 128 GB mSata drive and run recovery disks created from the hard drive.

Just wondering your strategy as to whether you delete the recovery partition on the SSD? And, just in case I want to restore back to default without disks, can I leave the recovery disk on the hard drive and have it still be functional. May just delete all recovery partitions but not sure yet and thanks.

Gary

 

I'm assuming that forcibly upping the airflow would in itself increase the fan speed? The fan I have will have an RPM of 3000 but it is an 80mm fan.

As a very vague estimate, the internal fan is 4 or 5 cm? Can anyone confirm that? Ignoring blade pitch pitch etc the surface area on my new fan is going to be 3-4 times that of the internal fan, so at half the RPM it should give 1.5x or 2x the airflow. Making another assumption that the speed the internal fan will be driven at is directly proportional to the airflow, I'll end up with the internal one going at anything up to 12000rpm.

I am guessing with all this as you can probably tell- are my assumptions right? And if so, does the internal fan, not driven by its own motor, running at 12,000rpm sound crazy- what would go wrong? If that is crazy, would anyone hazard a guess at what a sensible limit for the internal fan RPM would be given that the stock design is 6000rpm? I would imagine it was not pushed higher due to noise, and being thought unnecessary?

I'm not sure I've fully clarified what i'm thinking- at an extreme level, surely it would be mad to use a vacuum cleaner to suck air though the body of a laptop and out of the normal heat vent- it would wreak havoc on the components. My question is: how safe is this at more moderate levels of suction.

I might give it a go for a few minutes anyway when my fan arrives (which will be a a few weeks). I thought I'd secure it with draught excluder tape around the edge and use a usb plug next door to mount it, while powering it from my eGPU's PSU. Perhaps a variable resistor to control the speed of my 80mm fan. I'll post on this thread what the results, as measures by TPFanControl are in case anyone's interested in doing something similar

 

Lenovo refreshes its ThinkPad T, W, L and X lines with Ivy Bridge processors, retooled keyboards -- Engadget

My wait is finally over ..... no, not yet.

 

dolby advanced audio....sounds good..i want to hear it soon..

 

have you found the dolby drivers fro x220 which is hanging around on this forum somewhere? They massively improve the sound from the speakers. Judging from the complete lack of change in the chassis they might even be the same speakers in the x230 as the x220.

With so little change in the chassis then perhaps the keyboard can be switched with the old style?

Some people are saying there will be a new 1600x900 display- will it be possible to put this an an x220(t)?

 

They said this when the x220 came out too.... I wouldn't hold my breathe. That being said, I'd love to put one in my x220 ha.

 

The X230 should have the 1600x900 option, I've seen on some site that all X,T, L models that don't have it standard will have it as an option.

 

Call me a skeptic too. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

I did read that on a site or two, but it seemed like the sources weren't 100% sure (at least how I read it). I would like to hear it directly from Lenovo, but it's a good sign.



I have to say I didn't see myself upgrading, but I'd like a higher res than the x220 has. It would be cool if we could just upgrade the screen on these, I like everything else about it.

One thing though, I'm curious about the x230 fan. I'm curious if it will whine like my 220 does. I even had the assembly replaced, didn't do anything. Ha, if the fan doesn't whine, it runs cool like this one and I can get higher screen res.... I may just have to upgrade to the 230.

 

well...i am going to install the driver now....hopefully everything is fine.

 

Stock RPM is 4500 at max. You can get 5-6000 when hitting the afterburner, but this will damage the fan if used too long, however.

Dolby Drivers are in my Sig.

 

well..my speaker became very clear and i do not need to increasing the volume until 50..
Unfortunately, the speaker material is bad enough and i can not hear any bass effect..
in the end..i proud of my x220...=p

btw, thank you to 600X makes my speaker very clear....=p
btw where are u from?i think i am the only one from Indonesia.nice to meet all of you.

i bought this x220 with only $870(office subsidy).The market price is very high(around $1399)..thats my luck

 

I live in Germany and since I'm a Student I got my X220i from the Lenovo Campus Program. It cost me 690€ at that time and included pretty much everything I needed, even 3 Years of warranty. That was 1 Year ago.

However, I am currently planning on swapping it with a X201, because the 16:9 Screen is just a pain to use on the go. I prefer to X201 Design too.

 

yeah thanks for the Dolby drivers, they've been great.

I guess it's a case of weighing up processor vs fan wear. I just ran a wPrime 1024 to max out the processor with the keyboard removed and hit no higher than 82 degrees celsius, a drop of over 10, so it would seem there is potential for heat dissappation here. if anyone regularly uses an external keyboard and would like to minimise heat this could be worthwhile.

 

The thing is: You can easily exchange the Fan, but if your CPU melts, you will need a new Motherboard, since the Processor is soldered to the Board. If you consider your Options, I would rather opt for destroying the Fan.

My CPU only hits around 79°C at Full CPU load, with the Keyboard in place. Try disabling Turbo Boost. It really helps. Since I only have the i3 I didn't need to disable anything.

 

I might do this, it seems a shame to not be able to use the full power I paid for, but in reality it isn't necessary. I'll continue to explore external cooling. Thanks for the replies!

 

well, what is the difference between x220 and x220i?
i'm confuse when i heard x220i.The series that i knew only x220 and x220Tablet.
btw what kind of game have u installed?

 

It used to be the i at the end denoted the use of the Core i3 processor, but they're not doing it any longer. The only game I have installed is World of Goo.

 

X220i means:
-"Consumer" Processor (for example i5-2410m)
-TN Panel instead of IPS
-Cheaper price

Currently, I only have Skyrim, AOE III and NFS World installed. Planning on getting FreeSpace 2 SCP and IL-1946 as well.

Since I use a eGPU (GeForce GTX550Ti) I can play all my games on max. Details.

GRID and DiRT have been uninstalled, they got too boring.

 

Although I use an external fan, heat does not seem like a big issue for X220. My fan NEVER makes any noise, but it does not get too hot like my other previous laptops.

As for games, I have NBA 2K12, MLB 2K12, Team Fortress 2, Dota 2, Starcraft 1 and 2, Warcraft 3, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, Madden 07.

I have tested and failed with Black Ops and many other recent FPS games. Many of them still run, but way too choppy to play.