Thinkpad X200t Core i7 ULV @ CES Intel

Performance will be better in single and double threaded applications due to the improved architecture and significantly better in multithreaded applications thanks to the additional 2 threads. Insane as this will sound, power consumption/battery life could be the same or even less for similarly spec'd X201t's in terms of LCD display, ram amount and speed, HDD type and the number of cells in the battery.

The SL9300, SL9400 and SL9600 all operate at 18W, whereas the i7-620LM operates at 25W. What you need to take into consideration is that the the Montevina platform consists of the CPU (18W) and the GM45 Express Chipset (ICH - 2.5W, GMCH - 12W). That's a total of 32.5W to operate. However the i7's incorporate the GMCH controller into the actual CPU, so whilst the CPU looks more power hungry at first glance (25W as opposed to 18W), it's actually far more power efficient because that 25W is for the CPU and GMCH. Total consumption for Montevina - 32.5W. Total consumption for Mobile i7 - 27.5W (CPU+ICH)

In addition, also consider that the Arrandale architecture allows the complete shutdown of a physical CPU when it is not required, further contributing to energy saving. Given the GMCH in the GM45 Express chipset accounts for 12W, I assume the GMCH in the i7 accounts for 12-15W, leaving 10-13W for the CPU. With this in mind, when one CPU shuts down, this would account for a temporary power saving of about 5-7W.

Given all of this information, X201 tablets equipped with mobile i7 could, in theory, have longer battery life than an equivalently spec'd Montevina X200 tablet.

 

Its here!!!

http://www.engadget.com/photos/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-tablet-review

Review of an i7 to be posted on Engadget on the 23rd it seems. Enjoy the photos!

-Tigz

 

is that a powered USB I see? Did the 200's have a powered usb? And the touchpad... im sure it'll attract new buyers, but that thing is tiny!!

I hope it's an "option" that can not be ordered.

 

the touchpad is quite small.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-tablet-review#2729546 <--- this should give you a fair idea of what the X201 will look like, the touchpad is the size of a satchel of 'splenda'.

 

Yeah that's the picture I was referring to. I mean I guess a touchpad user can argue that a small touch pad is better than no touchpad.. but i mean.. smaller than sugar packet size? At what point does it's diminutive size preclude it as a useful input device. I would say sugar packet.

It might still be useful for scrolling, double tap and zooming and all those non-space-taking-up gestures... but as far as cursor/pointer control, seems like with out aggressive acceleration it's useless. And for me personally, touchpads with aggressive acceleration and speed settings get too inaccurate for me to use efficiently, and I might as well use the trackpoint.

 

i think x201(s) touchpad will be little big bigger, as there doesn't have to be a big hole.

Also look at this picture from CES
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/lenovo-x201-tablet-w701-and-new-l-series-revealed-by-thinkpad-r/

 

Actually, it seems quite small. Far to small to be usable?
http://www.engadget.com/photos/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-tablet-review#2729541

 

I am not so sure about that -- the screen bezel on X201/X201s is much thinner vertically than the screen bezel of X201t, and as a result the palmrest on X201/X201s is shorter than that of X201t.

 

Here is the review:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/23/dnp-thinkpad-x201-tablet-review/

 

Hey, looks like the glossy palm rest is gone too. But, yes, the touchpad is ridiculously tiny when you see it in person. If you have an x200 laptop know how little space there is there.

Still the option never hurts and when you see the touchpads on the HP elitebooks that are 12inch, they are pretty small too.

 

Judging from the size as pictured (not like I have the thing in front of me or anything foolish like that...) the touchpad is a tad larger than a netbook touchpad and still very usable.

 

Oh you tease...

 

The X-series has always been a hard sell for me personally because of the screen options. The T400 was only a small bump in size and weight and offered better panels. Battery life is also similar across the platforms since they both use the same chipsets as long as you dont try to compare against a T-series with dedicated graphics.

 

Yeah sure, lol.

With the x201, the only thing I'm interested in is what's on the inside. If it still has the same magnesium alloy casing, then I'm sold. Of course Arrandale is a given.

 

It looks smaller than my EEE 1000HE. But there isn't anything of scale on the same perspective to compare it to in the pictures. Except for the sugar packet. I put an Equal packet up against my 1000HE and it's touchpad is larger in both width and height. Not by much though. And on the CES picture, the touchpad does look slightly larger, but it looks like the buttons are slightly larger as well, taking up some of the extra space. Can't wait for a review! I too am interested to see if build quality is still top notch.

The x series has been a tough sell for myself as well, especially seeing how the T series has similar or better options in a not that much larger form factor and is cheaper and gets similar battery life (at least the T400's did) and now that the 9 cell has been bumped up I'm sure it's just as competitive. If I didn't carry around my laptop as much as I do, I would probably stick with the T400. But the weight savings are significant to me. T410 w/ 9 cell is 5.35 pounds. x200 with a 9 cell is 3.65 lbs, and a x200s with a 9 cell is 3.05 lbs. And I just look at it the other weigh around, for a small bump in price and a crappier screen, I get get something smaller, lighter, and longer lasting - perfect for those who carry their laptop around all day long.

On that note a T410s with a 6 cell is 3.94 pounds, not sure how much it is for a 6 cell + ultra bay battery. It's more expensive and not that much lighter, so I would rather just get a 410 for less. Plus no one seems to have a 410s in their hands yet except for one lone man on YouTube... so we have yet to see how build quality is.

But I'm excited about this release. I can't wait to see the x201s, or any of them reviewed for that matter.

 

I like it. Thinkpads have finally started to look appealing to me. My dad has an old one with a Celeron or Pentium. It is also nice that I can get a discount on them thanks to U of Pitt.

Wonder if the embargo on reviews will lift at midnight like it did and we had the flood of Arrandale reviews?

 

We can only hope. But from my apparent lucky guess, to Kevin's comment, it seems likely they are already working on the final touches of their review.

 

this is the official x201t pictures.

http://www.engadget.com/photos/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-tablet-review

 

Nice find! But I'm curious, in the very first picture, what the heck is that sticking out of the lcd panel?

 

Antenna? That was on the x200t as far as I know.

 

WWAN antenna. I'm not 100% sure of the engineering reason for the bump on the x200T versus the lack of one on the x200, but it may have something to do with the extra space taken by the tablet panel. However, the x200T does have the best antenna array of all the X-Series ThinkPads (x200s has a 3x3 WLAN array but no WWAN, x200 has a 2x2 WLAN array [at least with the webcam] and WWAN, x200T has a 3x3 WLAN array [even with cam] and WWAN).

On a possibly related note the BlueTooth module is in the palmrest for the x200T versus the display bezel for the x200.

 

Im sure yall saw it in the review forum, but I thought I would stick it in here as well.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5546&review=lenovo+thinkpad+x201+x201s+tablet

x201 review

 

Wrong..

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-tablet.aspx?page=5

 

Reviews are subject to varying use and opinions.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5546&p=2

They got 7 hours out of the x201t with the same 8 cell battery that laptopmag only got 5 hours out of.

Laptop mag says "the X201's faster performance comes with a significant drop in battery life."

NBR says "Battery life also increased across the board with the help of the power-sipping Intel Core i7-640LM processor."

Until someone gets an x200t and an x201t, both with equally used or new batterys, and loads up identical windows and power configs and runs the exact test on both, there will be no definitive answer on does it last longer or not.

The consensus seems to be that it will have only slightly shorter or equivalent battery life.

 

Wasnt it that the models with multi touch had worse battery life above 5 hours while the one without multi touch had something around 8 hours? At least thats what i recall from reading X200t reviews@NBR. The same with X201t?

 

The touchscreen version of the X201 seemed to be more power efficient than the touchscreen X200 we reviewed back in October. Note that I mention power consumption in the prior review to be 10-12 watts and it only managed 5.5 hours in the battery test. The X201 Tablet in the same test pulled off over 7 hours consuming between 7.5 to 9 watts of power. Even if you disregard the capacities of the batteries in each review model the measured power consumption dropped 1-3 watts going from the SL9600 and X4500 to the i7-640LM and GMA Hd.

Same screen brightness, same web page refreshing, and probably close to the same Windows 7 software build.

 

Any idea when these are supposed to go on sale?

Edit: Nevermind, the product showcase says "early March". Funny though cause you can order them now from Lenovo Australia. :laugh:

 

but they probably won't ship till lot later, or it could be an error and would be taken down.

 

If anyone is upgrading from an X200T with the SL9600 (2.13ghz) to an X201T and want to sell off their old tablet, let me know because I'm in the market for an X200T.

 

I think I eventually want a tablet for the screen quality. I am just trying to figure out if the x201t is worth it over the x200t. It is my understanding that the graphics clock is slower with the LV corei7. I was hoping to just play Starcraft II on the 4700 integrated. I can play the beta on my 4500 but everything is on low, heh.

 

Not sure about Starcraft II, but the i7-620LM has a lower clocked GPU (the 3D mark scores in the review are proof positive of this).

If top performance and/or a touchpad are important to you, then yes an x201T would be worth a premium over the x200T. However, if your performance needs are more modest the x200T is certainly plenty powerful (and otherwise identical to the x201T).

 

Ya, and if the new intel graphics aren't fully adequate for what I want (it will play it for sure), I might as well just build a gaming box and get an 'old' x200t for the screen.

I am not in a rush though. I will probably look for something in 6m, so the x201t might be cheap enough anyways.