ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

Oh and in regards to the battery meter from Lenovo: it's actually definitely not accurate. I came to work 3:40 hours ago with 85-90% battery left and at that time it said 4:15 hours left. Now it's at 43% and says 3:15 hours left.

Mostly browsing and playing online chess and watched a couple YouTube vids (I like my job ). So it seems it's actually about 8-9 hours if you're mainly browsing.

14 brightness by the way.

So I think I'd go with the Windows battery meter

 

I have some backlight bleed at the bottom of my screen, debating sending the laptop back or asking for a repair.

Anyone else have this problem?

 

I never use the Lenovo power meter except to open Power Manager. Power consumptions readings so far are from BatteryBar.

 

It looks like it might be normal with this screen. My first X220 had it at the bottom, right edge, upper edge and one corner. This machine only has it slightly at the bottom.

 

Mine has it too at the bottom. A little distracting when watching movies but thankfuly it's only noticeable in dark scenes

 

Thanks for the input.

I could've sworn mine did not come with SP1. I do have the Intel HD without SP1 now and it works fine, but I'm using Legacy not UEFI. Maybe that issue was only in UEFI? I didn't read the exact post, wasn't sure.

 

Mine has some backlight bleed at the bottom as well. I think its normal. Doesn't bother me.

 

Have you calibrated your battery with Power Manager?

Advanced > Battery > Battery Maintenance > Battery Reset

 

Added my 2 cents.

 

Hi Crafter,

How did you go about getting a keyboard replacement? Did you have to return your initial keyboard? My volume button also requires some extra force for it to register.

 

My mute button requires extra force and it feels like the underlying button is off-center.

Also, count me in as having some backlight bleed along the bottom of the screen.

 

any word on when there will be USB 3.0 and Gorilla Glass?

and also, why doesnt the webcam show up as an option online?

oh and has anyone tried to install an SSD in this thing? i dont wanna pay 400 dollars for them to put one in

 

I have considered the X220 and find certain features like the IPS panel certainly appealing. I currently own a recently purchased Asus 1215b netbook. While it is nice, of course the processing power and build quality (including the LCD screen) are not in the same league as the X220.

I do have one question though. Does the Intel CPU still make a high pitched whine while the notebook runs on battery power?

All the notebooks I have used, including an older CoreDuo Lenovo Thinkpad, a Core 2 Duo HP, and an Atom CPU netbook (a Samsung N150) produced a high pitched whine while unplugged and running on battery power. I am curious if Intel has fixed this by now with their latest processor.

 

my t400 never had this problem. in fact, i cant say that i know what youre talking about

 

yeah my mute button as well. I just changed the way I position my fingers when pressing and I guess it's okay. I put more of my finger on the button and I guess that provides the extra force for it to register. How are the trackpad clicks for you guys, hard/easy? I don't even use it but just wondering.

@ justinluck - i was using the laptop on battery all day and noticed no whine. r u the same guy from bb.com?

 

"CPU" whine is usually do to the motherboards parts, not the CPU itself. At least that is what I was told. It can be hit or miss. There was a whole thread on it in the HP Envy forum. About 50% heard it, while others never noticed it/could here it.

It's not just Intel. My AMD L625 had it as well and with a new motherboard and CPU, it solved the noise.

 

Yes. I read it might be from the capacitors making the whine on the motherboard. At least that was what it was on my sandy bridge desktop mobo I believe.. maybe a ymmv thing

 

It is very easy. Call Lenovo and tell them some keys on your keyboard don't work and they will next day air the keyboard to you. And no, you don't need to return the original keyboard! You get to keep it as a spare.

Called in the other day sometime in the afternoon, and this morning at 9:30 I got a surprise visit from the UPS guy So quick

 

can someone summarize which drivers are most important to install if you do a fresh install?

 

I am sick of installing windows.
Here is a no non scientific results
1. Factory - Win Home premium- WEI score 5.9- battery life -5-6 hrs light use. screen -10
2. Clean install - Win Ultimate - WEI score 5.2 - battery life - 3-4 hrs with light use - screen 10
3. Clean install most of the original soft/drivers - Win Pro - WEI score 5.2- battery life - 5-7 hrs - screen 10

 

For those of you who installed your own intel ssd, where did you guys find the shorter screws to hold the ssd together after removing the spacer?

 

Took some pictures, but having some internet connectivity issues at the moment. I'll upload them tomorrow.

 

gave through and finally purchased the tablet version! was debating on ssd and/or ultrabase w/dvd. Decided to get the SSD, can always get the ultrabase later when i have more $$ with less hassle of dealing with doing a clean install. anyways here is my config.
1 4294CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM
06/08/11 $1,754.40 $1,754.40
0A59723 SBB ICI7-2620M(2.7GHZ
45M3090 VBB GENUWIN7PROFES.64
0A59804 SBB GEN WIN7 PRF64 ENGLISH
75Y0162 SBB M W7 XP MD- E
0A59714 SBB 12.5MHDLD BT DLMBR2X2ANT
45M4571 VBB 4GBPC3-10600DDR3 1333SODMM
45M4839 SBB KEYBOARDUS ENGLISH
0A59729 SBB FINGERPRINT READER
0A59745 SBB CAMERA, HD 720P
0A59744 SBB I 160 GB SSD SERIAL ATA
0A59731 SBB TPD BATT52+ (6 CELL)
41W1787 SBB CPK NORTH AMERICA
0A68261 SBB BLUETOOTH 3.0
0A68255 SBB IC ADVN 6205 2X2AGN
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR
0A59747 SBB LP US ENGLISH
1 41U5008 THINKPAD BLUETOOTH LASER MOUSE
06/08/11 $37.96 $37.96
1 51J0476 THINKPAD 12W CASE SLEEVE
06/08/11 $13.67 $13.67

 

Sorry if this is covered somewhere else in the thread, but Vinuneuro, or anyone else, have you successfully replaced the WWAN-card of your X220 with the 80G 310 and it boots perfectly with the newly installed OS? ...and you have deleted the shipped OS from the 320G disk with you now have free for data? I want a similar setup, but a cannot find any confirmation that it actually works.

Regards, Tommy
X41 ;-)

 

You can install the Intel 310 mSATA in the x220...works just fine. I didn't have a WWAN card installed so the slot was empty. Couple wires were there if you decide to install the mSATA drive you won't be able to use a WWAN card so you do have to choose. Screw was already included so it installed simply. I did a fresh Windows 7 install using a USB DVD drive (not a USB stick although I this should work as well). I did take out the included hard drive during the installation to make sure the system only had one place to install the operating system. I'm sure the recovery disks would work the same way and I did a similar setup on my wife's T520 with the 80 GB mSATA drive and restored using the Lenovo recovery disks and this worked just fine as well.

Free PDF: Lenovo Thinkpad X220 Manual Users Guide & Trobleshooting - PDF Manual, Handbook, eBook Download

Check out page 142 for instructions on installing a new drive.

 

i'm planning to just grind down the original screws.
i'll waste hours trying to find shorter screws.
if the case is a loose fit on the C300, i might just use some electrical tape.

 

I got them here from eBay, 15 screws for $4.81.

15 NEW M2x3 Laptop Screws Bk DELL IBM HP Compaq sony US - eBay (item 390199352985 end time May-16-11 21:45:09 PDT)

 

Or you can grab a pair of dikes/side cutters and cut the screw to length. They are soft screws. Just saying.... better than doing it half a$$.

 

Looks like you found a combo that worked.

What original software/drivers did you put back on after the clean install? Did you use the System Update or install them all individually?

 

-------===============HARDWARE=====================================

Imaging Devices
- Integrated Camera - Ricoh (Driver Version 1.1.0.1141)

Monitors
- Wide viewing angle & High density FlexView Dispaly 1366x768 - Lenovo (Driver Ver. 4.35.0.0)

Network Adapters:
- Intel 82579LM Gigabit
- Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 Wifi Adapter Driver (Revision 5) Version 14.00.1000 / Driver 14.0.1.2

Bluetooth:
- ThinkPad Bluetooth 3.0 (Broadcom)

=============Install Order===================
1. Windows 7 UEFI ONLY BIOS ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/572616-t420-msata-uefi-only-20-sec-boot.html)

Install Intel Rapid Storge Drivers
- Intel ChipSet Drivers
- Intel SSD Toolbox (Setup Drive)
- Intel WiFi Driver
- Lenovo System Update (Optional Install)

- Run Windows Update
- Run Lenovo SysUpdate (Optional)

- Intel HD Graphics (Windows Update Verison)
- Install Conexant Audio
- Install Intel Ethernet
- UltraNav Driver
- UltraNav Util
- ThinkPad Bluetooth
- HokeyFeatures
- PowerManagment Driver
- PowerManagment Util
- Richo Camera
- RapidBoot (Optional)
- MonitorINF (Used Windows Update Version)
- Lenovo Communications Untility (Optional Install)

- * Re-calibrate battery (Unsure if this just reprograms the battery's eeprom or is strictly software. If eeprom then no need to re-calibrate each install)

================Install Notes======================


-----------Intel RapidStorge Driver--------
-After running the EXE and extracting files then....

[Installing files]
Click Start.
[Windows 7/Vista]
Right-click Computer, and then click Properties. At the left pane, click Device Manager.
Double-click the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers or Storage controllers category.
Double-click either of the following devices.
Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller
Intel(R) 5 Series 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller
Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller
Click the Driver tab, then click Update Driver Software....
Click Browse my computer for driver software.
Click Browse..., then point to driver location specified in step 9.
Make sure the checkbox next to "Include subfolders" is checked and click Next.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete installation and restart the computer.
Delete the file saved in the step 4.


-----------To Install Lenovo's ThinkPad Monitor Driver (Not Windows Update Version)-----
Windows 7
Right-click on the desktop then select Screen resolution.
Click Advanced Settings.
Select the Monitor tab.
Click Properties.
Select the Driver tab then click Update Driver.
Select Browse my computer for driver software.
Click Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.
Click Have Disk.
Specify path to this monitor INF then click Open.
Example: C:\DRIVERS\WIN\MONITOR
Click OK.
Confirm the correct display type, then click Next.
Windows has finished installing. Click Close.
Click Close for Display Propertries.
Click OK for the Monitor tab.
Click OK for the Display Settings.

 

my 220 w/IPS arrived yesterday, feedback so far after playing with it for about 1 hour:

screen - not as bright as i expected, color accuracy is good (blacks are actually pretty black even when the brightness level is turned up to max) but i find that the overall brightness is dim until you get to level 11/12. someone commented that this display is brighter than the ipad2...i don't see it.

no flex in keyboard, palmrest, or anywhere else

battery life - impressive compared to my decked-out x201 (but i have yet to add upgraded ram and larger HD to x220)

no fan noise or high temps (won't be able to run my cpu-heavy apps until after i burn the recovery disks and install win7pro-64 bit )

misc impressions:
- no complaints about the latchless cover
- don't use the touchpad much but the buttonless touchpad doesn't feel as precise or easy to use, undecided about the texture
- a small peeve but i don't like the extra 1/2" width
- the 16:9 screen takes getting used to. not happy to lose two vertical lines (when reading PDFs)

 

I had the same thought about the screen brightness -- it's great at max brightness, but gets pretty dim just a couple of steps down. And I like to avoid running at full brightness.

You sure you are not getting any fan noise? It's not constantly running?? If so, can you check your BIOS version?

 

I have the opposite problem with brightness. At night when I have the lights off right before bed, the lowest brightness is too bright compared to my T400 and the Thinklight is like a flashlight(!). Max brightness is the same as the T400 which also has a 300nit screen.

 

Right click on desktop->Graphic Properties->Power->Set power saving off on both battery and plugged in profiles. It dynamically adjusts brightness depending on what's on the screen. It doesn't brighten up a whole lot when you disable, but enough to notice. I like that feature though.

 

Thanks guys! I just ended up not using screws as there's nowhere for the cover to go once the drive is installed anyways

 

Okay, pictures with the 9 cell battery. I have them! Excuse the mediocre quality.

 

same here, don't like running at full brightness. i usually run my laptop display at 5 (generally no higher than 6 unless i'm in bright light surroundings) and was shocked at how dim the x220 looked at that setting.

no fan noise but i wasn't exactly pushing the cpu in my trial run, just playing back an mpeg movie. my fastest computers are my laptops so i use them to do video decoding. on my x201, max temp is 79-80C and the fan is running but it's not overly noisy. i'll post more feedback after i get the x220 configured to do the same, but it probably won't be until next weekend.
.
.
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one thing i forgot to mention in my impression post, pressing the thinkpad button now takes you directly to the system recovery part. a little disconcerting as on prior laptops, it would give you a menu option in case you wanted to get to the bios. on the x220 you now have to press f1 (or was it f2, i forget)

 

thanks Temp! That's an awesome summary!

Which Lenovo apps do you guys typically install after a clean install? It seems like the Power Manager does well, but the Toolbox seems kinda worthless?

 

That's just it though... the fan runs on my X220 even while it idles, and that's true for several others as well. I would think it's a universal problem for anyone on BIOS 1.11.

Currently it's at 39 deg. and 3500 RPM.

 

Beautiful pics! Thank you very much for this. From your personal experience, does the fact that the battery protrudes out about an inch annoy you, are there any major problems when using it?

 

Yes, very well done with the pics

 

Perhaps that is because the case is smaller, the inside is jam packed with hardware and the system gets warmer sooner than cases that are larger. Just a thought.

Is that 39 deg. or is that more like 39c ? 39c is not bad at all. My desktop runs at 41/43c right now, but that has to do with the ambient temp in my room which is 81 deg and very low humidity. Ambient temps do play a roll in the systems temp.

 

Yup, a bit of backlight bleeding at the bottom of my screen too, and that's really only going to show up when I watch movies.

 

I installed the Synaptics normal drivers from their website, much nicer than the Lenovo ones (Chiral Scroll works!). The trackpoint also still works.

 

Not at all. It makes the footprint a bit larger but I don't have a bag that is small enough for that to matter. I prefer the way Asus sets up their large batteries,but the wobble on other thinkpads was always my biggest issue and the extended batteries would exacerbate the wobble. On the 220 it is as much a part of the laptop as anything else, so the only reason to not get it is the footprint or weight difference.

 

Hey, all. I will finally be the proud owner of an X220 on Tuesday!!

Couple quick questions:

1. Those using external DVD drives, which one are you using? I'm looking to get one and I'm not sure if I want a full size or a slim external. I don't plan on taking it with me, which is why I'm considering the full size one with a power adapter.

2. Anywhere with the Intel mSATA 80GB drive? I meant to order one on Newegg, but they went out of stock in about 30 minutes a couple days ago after I got the email notification. I was also considering the Renice 120GB mSATA drive since it would give me more space. Anyone try that?

 

That's 39c.
I'm not saying the temp is bad actually... just that the fan should not be running at 3500 RPM until it gets hotter.

I think the X220 is intended to only run the fan if the CPU is being stressed somewhat, similar to MacBooks. The reviews certainly suggested this.

 

can anyone comment on if USB 3.0 is being used yet? im hearing different things

 

Bought the Lenovo external DVD recordable on there sales websit. It was on sale for $84.00. Used it only once now to burn the recovery disks.

 

Or do like I did and buy an Asus USB powered dvd drive for under $40 on Amazon. I had a previous version that lasted me 2 years (just broke days ago).