ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

So, did anyone went further with TPM-friendly modded 1.42? Also, I have a stupid question. Can I get a Thinkpad 7260AC (which is cheaper) to use with modded BIOS, or do I need a generic one? Will I be able to reuse that card in non-Lenovo machines?

 

You can use a Lenovo model or generic with modded bios, doesn't matter. You cannot however use an Hp one.

Also, correction on earlier info, the 230 is bios locked once you install the 2.0 bios. I don't know if anyone got around to modding earlier bios though. So the 230 and 240 are both stuck


As for mine, I actually sold my 220 already.
It was always meant to be a temporary system, I just didn't expect it to be THAT temporary. I did make a profit though.

 

FWIW my X220 tablet with modified 1.42 BIOS is running 7260 AC card just fine. TPM is happy and doesn't produce any beeps. For Bluetooth to work, you require Wi-Max enabled in BIOS and either pin 51 taped (which disables hardware killswitch), or Thinkpad Bluetooth present, yet disabled in Device manager (hardware killswitch will work as usual). I recommend the former solutions. Beware that some 7260AC cards (early revisions & samples) are buggy and Bluetooth will not start, exchange the card in this case.

 

I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to write about my x220 experience which is still going strong and still my favorite laptop.

Recently, I accidently took off a couple keys while trying to open up the laptop (by stupidly not removing one of the two keyboard screws). I just went on eBay and found an original keyboard for less than $20 and installed it right in.

Everything works, and I love the fact that most of the important stuff is user-serviceable and easy to find. I've pretty much abused this laptop, but it has held up admirably.

 

I'm not new to thinkpads, in fact, I still have a T420 laying around but I don't use. I primarily use a macbook. However, I'm looking into a "tablet" for the purposes of taking notes in OneNote. I'm thinking of the x220t which I found in an excellent for a decent price on ebay. Would you guys recommend that nowadays?

 

@iphetamine it's an excellent machine - but only if you can stand (or for some reason favor) the 1366x768 resolution. I upgraded the hell out of mine, and it's modern in every sense. Be reasonable with your expectations regarding performance, though - while CPU fares slightly worse than new i5 ULVs (and may better them under sustained loads - full-voltage CPU holds Turbo-boost better), GPU performs at Core M levels at best; SSD, WLAN, WWAN will perform as fast as on new machine, if you put appropriate hardware. Also, the machine lacks native USB3.0.

 

Thanks, I already bought one. I just need it primarily for note-taking and light tasks.
Have you installed an mSATA for primary OS? I'm considering doing that to have a 1tb hdd in the other slot. However, would SATA 2 make much of a difference in performance?

 

@iphetamine I didn't try installing OS on mSATA - I have a WWAN module in the slot - but there is no reason why it won't work, just make sure not to put anything in 2.5" bay while installing. SATA3 vs SATA2 generally makes noticeable difference in sequential reads, and sometimes writes - depending on your SSD. HDD will decrease your battery life noticeably. I suggest purchasing aftermarket 9-cell 72Wh battery and 7260AC Wi-Fi+Bluetooth card if you didn't already - these upgrades are cheap at ~$50 combined, yet will make your experience noticeably better.

 

My laptop came with WWAN but I don't use it at all. Unfortunately, it didn't come with BT. I'm planning on getting a 128gb mSATA and an HDD for put in there. I have the original 6 cell battery, 62Wh. Got a link to the 9 cell?
I was actually thinking of getting a smaller battery to be flush with the unit and less heavy overall.

 

My laptop came with WWAN but I don't use it at all. Unfortunately, it didn't come with BT. I'm planning on getting a 128gb mSATA and an HDD for put in there. I have the original 6 cell battery, 62Wh. Got a link to the 9 cell?
I was actually thinking of getting a smaller battery to be flush with the unit and less heavy overall.

 

@iphetamine 3-cell flush battery is extremely expensive; aftermarket 9-cell is almost the same size as original 6-cell, and they both are very comfortable as handle in portrait mode. 7260AC will give you Bluetooth 4.0, as well as 802.11ac wi-fi - just put electrical tape on pin 51, and don't forget to flash modified 1.42 BIOS before installing it. It will also unlock additional memory profiles, allowing to use overclocker memory to further improve iGPU performance if one's in the mood to burn some cash.

 

Thank you so much for the fast response!
I think I have the 7260AC in my old T420? I'll need to double check. So with that card I don't need a dedicated BT card, right?
Regarding bios, I'm on 1.26, isn't up to 1.28 supports 16gb of faster ram? I currently have 4gb of PC3-10700 677Mhz. I want to eventually upgrade to 4gb x2 of DDR3 1600mhz.

 

@iphetamine yes, with 7260AC you won't need a dedicated BT card. 1.26 is ancient, I strongly suggest to upgrade to latest official 1.42, then to modded 1.42. single 8GB DDR3L 1600 (or faster) would be more future-proof - you'll just another module if ever need to make it 16GB; however, iGPU will perform slightly worse with single module instead of two.

 

If I upgrade to 1.42, can I go back to older version? Where can I read about the modded bios?
Is the computer compatible with DDR3L and regular DDR3?

 

@iphetamine you won't be able to go back. Actually, modded 1.43 is out. Mod removes whitelist, fixes 16GB+eGPU bug, adds additional settings, allows higher memory frequencies (1600, 1866), etc. X220 tablet is perfectly compatible with DDR3L. Without modded BIOS, you won't be able to use 7260 AC, or any other modern 802.11ac WLAN card for that matter. There's no point in purchasing DDR3 - it's old junk incompatible with newer machines yet costs the same as DDR3L; even some Skylake machines rely on DDR3L.

 

do you mean the 2 tips of the blue and red wires?

my laptop didn't come with an LED for BT, it's still work/compatible? <--- silly, i know :|

 

@iphetamine I mean putting a small & thin piece of electrical tape to cover pin 51 (and only pin 51), otherwise Bluetooth will not work on 7260 AC (or any other card with both Wi-Fi & Bluetooth, for that matter) in X220 Tablet. You also need to enable Wi-Max in BIOS.

 

I see what you mean, interesting. For ram, should I opt for 1600 or 1866mhz? Would it make any real world difference?

 

@iphetamine it will make small difference, so I believe it's worth paying no more than couple $ for 1866 over 1600.

 

Not likely in the real world.

 

Thanks. I've doing some research and while there wont be any noticeable difference is performance, the prices are pretty much identical.