ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

Is it a high pitch whine?

If so, that is definitely the fan.

 

My laptop is still very warm hours after being used. Is there something I can do to fix it?

 

Lenovo ThinkPad X230 review -- Engadget

what is ur comment about the new x230?as i know, lenovo make changes for processor,keyboard shape and indeed usb 3.0

 

switch to a bigger fan

 

I'll reserve judgement on the new keyboard. As far as I'm concerned the great thing about the x220 keyboard is travel and the solidity- I don't see that these and an island keyboard are mutually exclusive so some people might find it better.

It seems to be more of an update than a new model really- Lenovo really needed to bring in Ivy Bridge and USB 3. Thunderbolt would have been nice. Overall I reckon it keeps what was already a good laptop up to date.

So it doesn't cool down when it's turned off?

 

Recently my left screen hinge has come loose, causing the screen to wobble. Is this a simple fix or would I need to send it in?

 

Hi guys - quick question considering that the X230T uses the same touchscreen as the X220T can anyone who is running Windows 8 (please state Consumer Preview or Release Preview) on their X220T confirm that the Win7 driver works without issue?

As far as I can see from the Wacom site or the Lenovo site there is not a specific Win8 driver, if anyone knows otherwise please shout

Thanks

 

I installed the consumer preview and it all worked fine, multitouch and all. I just installed it and worked straight away, I didn't have to look for any particular driver or anything

 

thanks for replying pal - much appreciated

If you get a chance to install the Release Preview please let me know on that as well as Release Preview has broken touch on my Dell M6600 when using multiple monitors... hopefully it is just this model as it is NTrig on the Dell and Wacom on the X220T

Thanks

 

windows 8?how about the appearance?performance?anybody please give me link contain review of windows 8....

 

Not that much different than Windows 7..

 

I tried Windows 8 but got rid of it again. I don't really like it. Probably because there aren't any Drivers available yet.:/

Biggest difference are the boot times. With Win 7, it takes me exactly 30 seconds from a cold start to the Logon Screen. If I remember correctly, Windows 8 CP did it in just 15-20 seconds. (5400 HDD, X220i)

 

An SSD quickly fixes that issue.

 

Still waiting for the Prices to drop, but 200€ for 256GB are quite tempting.
However, I don't really need more than 120GB.

 

Haven't had a single driver issue on Win 8 CP. Only thing is can't run it is the Dolby drivers (that you know about...).

 

Yes, that was the first thing I noticed. The Intel Graphics Drivers didn't work either, which made the Screen of my X220i unbearably washed out and extremely grainy. It was horrible.:cry: My X220 ran very hot too, even though the fan was running at high levels during Idle. Guess I'll stick with Win 7, since I hate those Tiles anyway.

 

I'll definitely check it out. It might be a few days, I'll perhaps wait till I get back to uni later this week as my parents are stuck with a download speed of ~0.5mb...

I've found Windows 8 decent overall, as 600x says it really functions as a preview at the moment for me too. My sound card etc don't have drivers released yet. I do find it genuinely good as a tablet OS though, and Metro is a decent start menu replacement You can still type the name of a program to launch it for example; for me there are no glaring downgrades from Win 7, just apart form the tablet functionality in my 2 hours of using it I didn't see anything which would really make all that much difference for normal laptop users. I've not bothered to check out the battery life, performance etc.

The only thing I'm not so keen on is the default desktop theme. I saw an article which quoted Microsoft saying Aero was dated. It might be that I only ever first used Win 7 (up from XP) 2 years ago but I find it interesting but tasteful and not overblown. The blocky colours on Win 8 (the minimise, restore and exit buttons in particular) don't look so good to me but that's such a minor thing and I'm sure can be changed.

Overall I reckon there is nothing wrong with it but I'm yet to see much incentive to upgrade for laptop users. Tablet users- quite possibly worth the upgrade, but the best thing I've seen so far is all the new form factors that have been inspired by it. If you've not seen them yet I'd urge people to check out the new Asus laptop/tablet/hybrid things which have been announced at Computex

Ah interesting, I've just run the Win 8 upgrade assistant and it gave me a message saying something like:

This touchscreen wasn't designed for Win8, it might not be as reponsive or accurate as one that was designed for Win 8.

maybe not those exact words but something close

 

quick question, I've seen some posters saying the X220 is loud. How loud are we talking? I have a Dell XPS 15 which is great but for the loud fan, so if I pick up an ultra portable laptop to complement it, I definitely want it to be quiet

 

It's so quiet, sometimes I wonder if it is actually on. Even under heavy load, I barely notice it. The Fan is high-pitched however, so it might me unpleasant to some.

 

There is a great program called TPFanControl which allows you to manually set your fan speed. I've found it possible to have do most basic stuff like browsing and have the fan stay off (even in manual at 0rpm it will turn the fan on if the temperature gets very high).

I find the fan at full load quite loud by contrast, but I guess this is very subjective, and I've only ever really used laptops with ULV processors before, so my comparison is skewed. To give some point of reference, I've got the processor running at full load now and can make out speech on streaming radio very well at 10% volume, with the Dolby drivers installed which raise the volume. At full volume I can't hear the fan running at full speed.

 

X220 on extreme load cannot be manually controlled with tpfancontrol, at least not my X220 tablet. When I played TF2, my fan revved up to max RPMs and I went into tpfancontrol and it was stuck on smart mode, I could not manually control it.

 

Thanks for the info. For comparison, what would you call a quite laptop? My XPS is loud, it sounds like a race horse chugging around the track when it is doing certain tasks (but it does not get hot)

 

Compared to my wife's XPS, it's incredibly quiet. Maybe there's some variance among individual machines, or maybe the fan noise was reduced in some BIOS updates, but my X220 is incredibly quiet under almost all conditions. Even when the fan is on high, it's still reasonably quiet and it rarely runs on high for very long, regardless of what I'm going.

Compared to my T61 or E420, it's worlds quieter; so much so that I haven't bothered installing TPFancontrol on this unit.

 

thanks for the response. Yeah, my XPS is loud, but effective. I've done stuff to manage the fan (even having it replaced) but I've come to accept this machine is just really really loud at times,but for a machine I plan to use as a highly portable device (rather than a desktop replacement) 'd like it to be a little quieter.

That reminds me, does it run pretty cool too?

 

Both the X220 and X230 run very cool to the touch.

 

You can edit the .ini File to set the temperature higher at which the Fan Control is given to the BIOS. At 105°C however, The X220 will shut down to prevent damage to the CPU.

 

thanks for the info. I'm pretty much committed to getting one of these. I'm looking at the affordable i3 model, but was considering a couple upgrades. Should I get the blue tooth and 9-cell battery for example?

 

I would recommend the 9 cell. It's a significant battery life boost.

bluetooth, do you have anything that uses bt?

 

my desktop replacement XPS 15 and my iphone use it

 

little use for BT Between two laptops as you can connect them via wifi.

for iphone you could use it for a number of different features, like file transfer/syncing, contact transfer, playing iphone music through your computer, etc, but it's up to you to decide if that's worth it.

Probably the most useful use of bluetooth on a laptop is pairing with a wireless mouse (sans usb dongle) or a sony sixaxis controller.

 

i have a desire to upgrade my RAM from 2x2GB into 2x4GB..
what is the effect for my x220?is there any significant effect for booting ?

 

Thanks for the info--I think BT would be convenient but not a deal breaker if it doesn't have it

 

One more question for X220 owners. I've heard that if you customize a Lenovo it takes quite a long time to get it. I'm just curious, if I were to, for example, customize an i3 model into an i5 model, would that take a long time to be shipped to me?

Thanks

 

It varies, but they're usually under the estimated delivery issue. Mine took over a month, but there was a payment issue with it.

 

If it's CTO, it ships from China. Biggest factors that is going to delay shipping is a specific part that says may delay shipping, and customs. Average turn around time is 2-3 weeks.

 

Customs can be an issue, something Lenovo has had trouble with is sending valid manifests for the items that they ship. It varies by country, so there is no way to say how fast or slow it will be without comparing ordering experiences from people in your country.

 

Thanks much. So if I just go to Lenovo.com pick a model and change nothing it will arrive pretty speedily?

 

Not necessarily. If a part or parts go low or out of supply during your order time, you'll wait. If you want a quick delivery, then you should probably a buy a pre-configured model on the web, but that'll probably be more expensive, though I don't think they're available yet.

 

Yeah, I absolutely love mine after a little over seven months now. I have the 9-cell on mine, but part of me thinks that the 6-cell was probably sufficient since I rarely need to use a laptop more than five hours away from from an outlet. It is still nice to have a 9-cell though since I rarely think about packing the adapter when on the move. Also, the 9-cell will probably last a longer in terms of lifespan.

I use bluetooth for the mouse when I am at a desk and connected to a separate monitor. You likely don't need bluetooth, and I probably wouldn't include bluetooth in my CTO if I had a choice.

Mine only took about a week.

Separately, my x220 is now my (and my wife's) one and only personal computer at home. It literally does everything we need it to do. Admittedly, part of me wants a desktop or desktop replacement, but that is only because
I want to play Diablo 3 on non-low settings (despite being too old and busy to play video games now), which by the way raises a question for me. Should I get a laptop cooler for an x220 which otherwise runs really cool?

 

Not always, my X220 tablet from Provantage was only 1250, with the same specs a CTO model from Lenovo would have cost over 1900 dollars in February. Even right now, it would cost like 1600+ dollars, plus at least 1 week shipped from China. If you camp hard, you can find a NICE deal on ThinkPads on Cost Central or Provantage.

 

This is where the word probably comes into effect.

 

Dear all:
I have a problem with my X220t; I beg you guys to help me.
Now my X220t can find finger print sensor device; but the fingerprint status is not green which indicates the fingerprint reader is ready to swipe. when I swipe my finger on it, I cannot login and no response was got (the light does not flash).
Anyone can tell me what is wrong with my fingerprint reader?
One more question is, can I replace the device with fingerprint module on my X220 laptop? are they compatible with each other?
Thanks in advance. Any advice will be appreciated!

 

Is the fingerprint software/driver installed properly? You could, the fingerprint reader is underneath the bezel...fair bit of work. Why not call up Lenovo for warranty repair?

 

Dear Tsunade_Hime. Thanks for ur response.
Lenovo rejected to repair it for me because I've disassembled the tablet to check if I can fix it. Now, I think the problem is the sensor doesn't work any more. I'm sure the dirver and software were installed correctly.
You mean the two fingerprint readers on X220 and X220t are compatible with each other?

 

The palm rest is considered user replaceable on the X220t. I don't know how they denied it, but call again. Perhaps a new rep will see things differently.

 

This is where an eGPU comes in. Of course, a desktop would only be $150-$250 tops extra more than the eGPU, which might be worth it with all the X220 sharing going on.

 

Well either the sensor is bad, or you could have a bad cable/mobo.

X220 tablet has the fingerprint reader on the LCD bezel like all x series tablets.

 

How could I forget?

 

Thanks for the response but I dont want to replace palm rest. I just want to replace the fingerprint reader module with the fingerprint module on X220. It is feasible?

 

yiha..after lenovo announced the new x230 and nobody post in this forum..sink to page 5