ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

I feel the same way about mine. Has held up real good. Granted I'm probably not as rough on mine, but I do travel a lot and don't have any issues. Definitely had other laptops that haven't held up nearly as well. It is a great machine.

 

I thought about buying another, but instead I am going to order a warranty extension on mine before it runs out.. may have this machine for quite some time. It's never let me down.

 

this review: Galaxy GeForce GTX 560 SE Pictured, Benchmarked | techPowerUp suggests your card would use about 60W idle and over 200W when at full load. Your power supply isn't high enough rated to power the card- I don't know if this is the cause of your problem but I would certainly use a different one if I were you.

If you're looking to get a power supply the rating is a good indicator, so your current one at a 200w rating won't supply as much as a 500w one for example. However that's the total power running through it, a better way to work it out is to look on that sticker you've taken a photo of. There is a maximum power which can be supplied at each voltage, and you work out the power (in Watts) by multiplying the voltage (in Volts) by the current in Amps. It's the 12v supply which is used by the GPU, so using your power supply as an example you look under where it says +12v and see the maximum current, which here is 13A. So from that the max power your PSU can supply to your card is 12x13= 156W.

On some power supplies there will be two +12v boxes e.g. +12v1 and +12v2. just calculate these as above individually first then add them together to get your maximum power supplied at 12v

 

Wow I didnt see the edit with the pic, that is grossly underpowered...

 

Hey I am trying to find out some information here if anyone is able to help, I would appreciate it and TIA.

I have an X220 with Gobi GPS unit which functions extremely well, but I do not have any 3G service with anybody at this moment.

Without the 3G and Wifi, Is there a software which I can use as a standalone Navigation unit like the garmins and tomtoms and what not?

I know the GPS itself is a stand alone, but I want to know if it can be used along with some sort of program so that I can have my x220 as my navigation unit from time to time.

Please help! Thank you.

 

I used Microsoft Streets and Trips with a PCMCIA Sierra Wireless 3G card about 3 years ago.

"Installing the latest firmware added a Port in Windows XP Device Manager: "Sierra Wireless NMEA Port (UMTS) (COM18)". I was able to change the COM port from COM18 to COM2 in Device Manager, then I could use the GPS feature in "Microsoft Streets &Trips 2002". "Microsoft Streets & Trips 2002" only supports COM ports 1 thru 7."

Maybe this helps.

 

Just ordered a 256gb M4 to mod for my X220..

It's going to be awesome I have owned my x220 since october of 2011 and I have not reformatted or reinstalled windows yet. What thinkpad software do you guys recommend? I'm throwing on a fresh copy of W7 Pro (since I get that for free from my university) and want as little bloat as possible.

 

Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD1 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

They do have a 7mm Crucial M4, I'd go with that if you haven't ordered the other one. I would do at least Power Manager, Hotkey, display driver from Lenovo, and System Update.

 

Yeah I already ordered the 9.5mm one. I only paid $169 so I don't mind removing the spacer.

Would the stock HD3000 driver be better? Or should I get the lenovo one.

edit: $215 for the 256gb Crucial M4 mSata from their site directly. Sweet deal if the x220 is your main rig or you need a lot of space.

[Comp] Crucial.com: M4 SSD3 (mSATA version) 256GB - $214.69 USD ($15 shipping to Canada) - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

 

Just an update on my situation. After disabling Active Management Technology from the BIOS i discovered that the problem did not have anything to do with the update. A couple clean installs later and long story short...the problem was from the Crucial M4 SSD that i was using.

Discovered that there is a 5200hr bug that causes the drive to be unstable. Since the Notebook is rarely turned off i've hit my 5200hrs in the the 10 months which i've owned this machine. A firmware update later and i am once again back to problem free computing.

A gentle reminder to Crucial M4 owners to update to the latest firmware!

 

BTW, the X220 can still be ordered from the German Lenovo Website. If you don't like the new X230 you better order one before they are totally gone.

 

New X220's are still available at Cost Central (prices between models vary quite a bit). I am sure there are other 2nd party resellers of new notebooks that have them as well.

 

I've recently found that even at moderate temperatures (50-60 C), the palmrest on my X220 gets uncomfortably warm, to the point where my hands start sweating just by being there. I've never had this problem before though, and I'm not doing anything processor-intensive... does anyone have any ideas on what's going wrong? The only way I keep the palmrest bearable is using TPFanControl at the manual 7 setting. It wouldn't have anything to do with the 1.31 BIOS update would it?

 

Don't know what you're talking about. Even under heavy load (CPU 80-90°C) my Plamrest stays nice and cool.

 

That seems very odd, to me at least. I've had my palms on my x220 while gaming and the plamrest is always cool. The only area that gets real hot is under the machine where the W E and 3 buttons meet.

I'd get it checked out as that isn't right.

 

I figured out why my laptop was running hotter than usual.

I had inadvertently switched the settings in Power Manager (Advanced) setting.

Under the Power Plan tab:
> Expand System Settings
>> First option for System Performance.

I had it set for "Low" previously but switching it to "Balanced" resulted in my operating temps increasing by 15C which trust me, is VERY noticeable.

I changed it back to "Low" and the temps dropped instantly.
CPU measuring at a comfortable 55C now (vs ~70+ before) while running Intel Wireless Display in extended mode, surfing the web on the built-in display and streaming an xvid-encoded HD video to my HDTV.

Drop in performance is NOT a problem for me ... it works fine for my daily use and I'm not a gamer or run anything that requires high processing power, so I won't notice the difference all that much.

Just wanted to share my findings, perhaps might benefit some who are looking for lower temps at the sacrifice of some (possibly slight or not noticeable) performance.

 

Even at max brightness, the display on my x220 tablet doesn't seem very bright. Moreover, I think the brightness sometimes gradually increases/decreases on its own--I don't mean the power management dim feature which is very obvious--I mean something much more subtle. Anyone experienced this?

I've tried updating the Intel HD drivers through both Lenovo's site and Intel's site, but they didn't make any difference.

I've got the multi-touch display type.

 

If you are using the battery, it will dim. You can change this in the BIOS.

 

I don't see any BIOS option that would affect this:



That's just what's under the Power tab. I didn't see anything under the other tabs either.

 

Brightness is never limited on Battery. There are no options in the BIOS.

Right-Click your Desktop and open the Intel Graphics Control Panel. Go to Power (Battery Mode) and switch off everything.

 

I think that did something good. It doesn't look like it's doing that weird subtle auto-dim thing anymore.

The display overall isn't quite as bright as I'd like, but from brightness settings 13-15 it's totally useable.

 

Hey guys, need some immediate help.

I ordered my 4286 CTO model last september with a 1-year on-site warranty. I'm on the warranty extension site now, and there's no option to extend or a mention that I cannot do so? This is all it says:

It then proceeds to give me options to purchase LoJack at the bottom of the page.

Is there a number I can call to purchase an extension or am I out of luck? My screen has been ghosting (and it's one of the post-august IPS screens too) and I thought I would have more time to get a replacement.

Additionally, will a fan replacement be a CRU part or will I have to have a tech come and install it?

 

What do you guys use to clean your X220's screen?

For the past 15 years I've been using a microfiber cloth and distilled water on all my monitors and laptop screens with great results.

However, I recently cleaned my X220's screen (it was covered in dust after a week of almost constant usage) with the above method and was horrified to discover that now its full of fine scratches.

Thankfully you can't see them in normal conditions, but if you shine a light on the screen you can see they 're there and it is a little (a lot actually) annoying... Especially if you 're OCD about scratches, dirt etc on your screen!

Is the IPS panel matte coating somehow more sensitive or something?

 

I'm wondering if the keys on the keyboard are rubbing against the screen when it's closed. I had a y460 and some people reported that they could see the outline of the keys in the screen. I wonder if something similar is happening here.

 

I thought the same at first, but under close inspection the scratches are parallel to the keyboard, running across the length of the screen. They are definitely not keyboard related. Usually I wipe the screen with the microfiber cloth from left to right...

What is even stranger is that my X220 has never been in an industrial environment or even been used outdoors, i.e. we 're talking about common household dust here causing scratches..

I really don't understand how this happened!

 

I just did a clean win7 install on the mSATA SSD on my recently purchased X220 and I was just wondering do I still need the original files that came on the factory HDD?

 

If the system boots and runs normally from the mSATA SSD, you can wipe the stock HDD clean and use it for storage. There are two partitions on the HDD: "system" and "recovery." Open Disk Management, delete the "recovery" partition, then extend the "system" partition to absorb all the unassigned space, finally do a quick format of the extended "system" partition (which spans the whole drive). You can assign a drive letter to it if you wish. The stock HDD is now a storage drive.

 

To clean my X220 Screen I just carelessly splash some water on it and wipe it off with a Tissue afterwards. Never had any Problems so far. Sometimes I even use Isopropanol to get rid of the tougher stains. I however have the crappy TN Panel instead of the IPS Panel. Perhaps the TN Coating is more rugged and less sensitive?

 

Would buying and installing an aftermarket 2x2 Intel Centrino card help with my wifi reception by a noticeable amount? I live in an apartment building and it's cluttered with wifi signals and I've got a sizable apartment. With my bedroom in the back and my router by the front door (I can't move it unless I reroute the wires and that's not going to happen) I've been thinking that moving up to 5ghz signals might relieve some of the crowding and improve the signal but then I'd need a new card.

Any input? would it help at all?

I've changed channels and played with a/b/g/n and improved it a bit but still not enough.

 

5ghz is a boon in such environments. I had a similar issue on a 2.4ghz router living in an apartment. Signal was fine but intermittently the speed would drop significantly.

 

I have some ideas about upgrading my 4290-RV8 to 16Gb@1866. Google tells me that the only memory with such specs is Samsung M471B1G73BH0-CMA. Unfortunalety cannot find it. So the question is - any ways to overclock memory in our thinkpads?

 

did you ever figure out what FMAPP.EXE does?

It seems to be using system resources but I'm not having problems when I kill the process.

I have a Lenovo x220, I'm bumping it up to 8gb ram but still want free up as much mem as possible.

Thanks

 

It's for the audio driver. A quick Google search indicates it's for sound recording, so if you don't need to do that, you should be able to kill it.

 

Hello, i got a quick question. Not sure if i'm in the right thread, but you'll probably able to help me.

I'm looking for a second hand x220 to buy. I've found one, but i'm not sure about the specs, and the given number does not show any results while typing in google.

The machine it is about has the following name:
Type:4291-W2R

Is anyone able to attach a list of specs to this number? I'm particulairy curious if this machine has the optional IPS screen.

thanks in advance

 

4291-W2R
i5-2520M(2.5GHz) 2GB RAM 320GB 7200rpm HD 12.5in 1366x768 LCD Intel HD Graphics Intel 802.11agn wireless WWAN option Bluetooth 1Gb Ethernet UltraNav Secure Chip Camera 6c Li-Ion Win7 Pro 64

I would suggest not posting your serial number online.

 

thanks for your reply and your edit. Can you tell me were you found this information?

Then the next question, how hard do i want/need this IPS screen? I'm gonne use my laptop mainly for office work, and for at home i'm having a external screen to plug it on to. Is there really much difference between the screens?

 

The Lenovo support page.

The IPS screen will offer you a better image with higher contrast and wider viewing angles. It's a personal preference as to whether you want it. If you were configuring one, I would say it's absolutely worth $50, but if you can get a X220 without it for considerably less and don't care about better image quality, then perhaps not. I recently reviewed the T430. It's a fantastic notebook in most ways, but the screen is average. It's fine for office and internet type stuff, but anything where image quality is important like movies or photo editing for example, it won't cut the mustard. Maybe the other question you should ask yourself is if it's $50 more for a IPS equipped X220, are you going to hate yourself later for not getting it?

 

I am hating myself in this moment for not getting the IPS Screen. I ordered it today and when it arrives I will throw my old TN out of the Window and shoot a hole through it. (not really)

I'd say just go for it. It's not like you were going to spend those 50$ on something useful anyway.

 

It's more a matter of what is offered on the second hand market. The x220 mentioned above, cost about 500 euro's ($650,-). I wouldn't mind paying $50,- extra, but a x220 with a IPS screen is just not for sale on the Dutch second hand market

 

If you want a inexpensive ThinkPad with a IPS screen, you could look at the X200 and do the AFFS mod. That's if you don't mind getting your hands dirty and having no warranty. You could probably do that for less than a X220 with IPS and the X200 is still a pretty modern PC.

 

Thanks for your advice. It is a good option, but i think I'll wait some more time for a x220 with IPS to show up. I'm sure it will!

 

The X200 has the drawback of the touchpad lack.

However... how can I check if the display is really an IPS one ?

 

Push the screen back. If the colors don't shift, it's the IPS.

 

Can You be more clear ?

 

IPS:



TN:

 

clear enough!

 

I have a question for those with SSD's in their X220's. How are your boot and resume (from hibernation) times? I've had a 256gb M4 in my X220 for about 3 months now, and I'm wondering why my resume times are so slow.

I have friends with cheap HP laptops and HDD's resuming faster than me. I'm running a clean Windows 7 install with 8gb of Gskill ram. I don't have too many things open when I resume, nor do I have any unnecessary services (usually just dropbox and onenote).

What could I be forgetting?

 

That's a good question; although my resume and boot times are fantastic even on my SATA II SSD, my hibernation resume times are usually considerably slower. On occasion the resume from hibernation will be as speedy as bootup, but that is rather infrequent.

 

I don't hibernate often, but my boot times are just a shade under 20 seconds. Disabling TPM in the BIOS if you're not using it will shave about five seconds off the boot time.

 

About the boot... are there an effective way to boost up the reprise of the system (Win 7 ultimate) after an hibernate ?