Thinkpad x20x (s/t/i) Owners Thread

Congratulations!

I can't wait to get my hands on an X-series some day

 

Yes, I'd agree, they're a true ThinkPads is every way.

 

I'm downloading drivers for the Windows 7 install, but I'm not sure which ones I need. For instance, I have the Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN, but I don't know which wireless driver to download.

Which drivers do I specifically need for the x200? I already got the ThinkVantage 4.0 driver and the system interface driver. I've tried searching, but I haven't found a definitive list for the x200 specifically.

 

Click Here.

Type your model number (should be seven digits eg XXXX-xxx on the bottom of your laptop) into the little box that says "enter a product number."

This will bring up a list of drivers that apply to your model.

If you have a CTO model then click here.

 

another question about shipping. it seems that everyone's order goes to kentucky first as it is a big UPS hub. my tracking number currently shows that my laptop is in ontario, california but with a delivery date of today (the 21st). I know that ontario has a big hub too, do you think that they would just deliver it from there. it still says import scan as the latest status so i am having some doubts. i initially thought that it would go to KY first but today when i checked in the morning it just went directly to Ontario.

 

There are a few hubs now. IIRC there are Alaska, Kentucky, and California. If it still shows import scan though, you won't be getting it today. Unless someone simply forgot to scan that it's out for delivery.

 

what's worrying me is that it hasn't had an update since midnight last night. damn hate playing this waiting game

 

kevinf:

We both ordered our laptops on the same day and mine is currently sitting in Kentucky. It says "Import Scan" as the latest update and yet the delivery date (to St. Petersburg, FL) is listed as tomorrow, July 22nd. We'll see what happens but I doubt it will be here tomorrow.

 

mine was scheduled to be delivered today and the last status was "import scan" at ontario, california on 7/20 11:30 PM. the only thing that is worrying me is that there has been no updates for almost 24 hours. is that normal? and i do live in california. it never went to kentucky like most people. just curious but what would the status say if the package was lost.

 

Hello Group, I have a new X201 that came "Broadband Upgradeable" which means the antenna is in and ready to go.

There are many UNLOCKED LENOVO THINKPAD GOBI 2000 3G WWAN CARDS for sale on eBay. Has anyone ever tried one of these? Some are locked to Verizon but I would like an unlocked card that I could use with an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card. If anyone has had experience with getting one of these cards to work with various carriers I would appreciate any help or suggestions. By the way, I have the X201 Service Manual and know how to physically install the card, but I am more interested in any suggestions regarding which card to buy and how to get it working with carriers that use SIM cards. Thanks much in advance.

 

2 days total. they picked it up the day i called then shipped a new one the next day.

 

hi,guys

I met a problem with my x201. When I use the cam on skype, it will be off spontaneously for seconds, then be on again, then off......just kept working like this. The thinkpad software told me everything was normal with the system.

Any advice?

Thanks a lot.

 

Were you on battery?

 

yes, sometimes battery alone, sometimes with battery charging, no difference.

 

Hmmm...not sure why when plugged in, but when on battery....
Inside the Box Getting High Performance from Lenovo Cameras

 

I read that, but it is not the problem I met.
Anyway, thank you very much.
I do appreciate that.

 

Bah. I thought I had it. I could have sworn I've read your problem somewhere before, and it was some power saving feature, but I'm not 100% positive. The only relevant forums I read are here and forum.thinkpads.com, so I would just do some searches.

 

Got a question, what kind of games can I play on a x201 with i540m, 4Gb ram

 

Check Here

- Counter-Strike Source
- WoW
- Half-Life 2
Among others. Forget about COD: Modern Warfare 2 but lots of older games will run just fine.

 

Are there any current coupons for a CTO X201t?

 

USPRETHINK will get you 10%.

 

I get "Coupon not valid for current shopping cart" ( USPRETHINK )

 

I don't know what to tell you. It worked for me.

 

thanks anyway, maybe because I have accessories in the cart.

 

i bought a X200s !! Yeah !!

 

hi, i'm experiencing some problems with my x201. again.

there are times when my cursor will stop responding for a second or two. it just sits right there not moving (using touchpad or trackpoint). i've noticed this phenomenon from day one. it doesn't matter whether i'm plugged in or on batteries. i didn't consider it as a big problem, only an annoyance.

last night this happened again. the freeze though, which normally lasts for only a couple of seconds, took like a minute. after that time, i was able to move the cursor by using the trackpoint. touchpad navigation was dead.

i decided to check the mouse properties in control panel. i clicked the windows start button on the keypad, it didn't respond. very odd. so using the trackpoint, i moved the cursor to the start button, proceeded to type in "mouse" in the search field, then discovered that my keyboard no longer works! i waited for like 15 minutes and see if the keyboard will eventually work. nothing. i had to do a system restore in order to have the keyboards function again.

so i checked the lenovo forums and found out that there are people experiencing the same cursor and keyboard freezes. someone there suggested to remove the ultravav drivers as this "fixed" the problem for him. i tried this and it didn't work for me.

thanks for reading and hope you can help me out. again.

 

build date? specs?

 

just a quick question, is there any way to tell if the battery is charged when the system is off? the plug symbol stays on all the time since it is plugged in, the battery symbol is also always solid.

also another question, for some reason when i move the mouse cursor with the trackpoint the arrow doesn't move as smoothly as the trackpad. is this just the trackpoint recalibrating as i am using it. it gets across the screen fine but it's not a completely smooth motion. it doesn't freeze either the movement is just not as fluid as the touchpad. is this normal?

 

Whoa Kevin.... take a deep breath. Please download and take a look at the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the X201. You will find a lot of useful information there. It explains all the lights, ports, cards, peripherals and specialty keys, etc., etc.

It's not a perfect laptop (no such thing)... but it's pretty damn close.

 

yeah i did look at the manual lol. it only explains that the battery symbol might blink or change color under a certain charge level. but it doesn't tell me if it is done charging. since if the light does blink it's a pretty slow blink

 

thanks for the reply!

here's the specs of my laptop:

Main Features
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-540M Processor ( 2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MB )
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Professional 32
System graphics Intel HD Graphics
Total memory 2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz
Display type 12.1 " WXGA TFT 1280x800
Hard drive device 320GB 7200
Network card Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200
Optical device DVD-ROM
Bluetooth Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR
Finger print reader Fingerprint Reader
Warranty Three years parts and labour (system battery: one year)
WWAN Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Pointing device UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Battery 9 Cell Lithium-Ion

 

i've noticed that most of the freezes occur when hovering the cursor over the program icons/shortcuts on the taskbar, but i've also encountered this when i'm just working on a document or browsing the web wherein the cursor/pointer is not positioned anywhere near the taskbar.



the problem is reproducable (though not immediately or always) as follows:



1. by opening numerous windows/programs so that the taskbar is populated by icons

2. playing a youtube video in 1080p

3. hovering the pointer over the icons on the taskbar, thus showing previews



notes/observations:



* noticed the problem immediately upon receipt of the laptop with out-of-the-box settings



* experienced the problem both when plugged-in or using batteries



* have updated drivers using the lenovo updater. problem persists



* noticed that the keyboard freeze only happens when i have the latest ultranav driver installed (15.0.24.0)

i have not encountered the keyboard freeze on the previous driver (15.0.18.0), only the mouse freeze



* if keyboard is frozen (not working), touchpad is dead. usually the mouse freeze or lag is for a duration of only second or two if the keyboard does not altogether stop responding. if you don't do a restart, touchpad and keyboard is completely dead.



* trackpoint navigation still works on both cases. when you go to control panel / hardware and sound and click on mouse, nothing happens. you can't check on its properties



* uninstalling the ultranav utility and driver does not solve the problem



* i have not made a fresh install of the OS and have kept all the lenovo programs



hope this info helps.

 

hey what are you guys' idle temperature and load temperatures like. when i am working in my room of around 28 degrees (summer afternoon with no ac) the idle is around low 40's. when using the laptop normally (listening to music, web browsing, etc.) it goes to 45. if i start watching an HD video clip off youtube then it goes to the mid 50's is that too hot? or does it have to do with my ambient temperature? all the temperatures listed are celsius. also i noticed under cpuid hardware monitor that core #0 is hotter than core#2. 1 and 3 doesn't show because those are just virtual threads and not physical cores

 

^my x200 idled on the same temperatures. Your computer is fine.

 

If I'm on the web listening to music with the CPU parked in low power mode, I'm usually in the upper 30°s.

 

yeah forgot to mention this is while plugged in so increase power to cpu could also be a factor

 

I set it up for low power mode even when plugged. The temps remain the same. If I need more juice, I have a setting for adaptive in Power Manager.

 

Can anyone tell me if the X200/X201 hard drive bay will take a 12.5mm drive? I noticed today that the new high-capacity (1TB) Western Digital Scorpio Blue is 12.5mm in thickness. Info Here. Most notebook hard drives are 9.5mm.

 

It will not. I have the 1TB WD. It's a piece of crap anyway.

 

Thanks for the info.

Are you using it in an external enclosure then... for storage? Or internally in another laptop? What makes it bad? Slow, noisy, too hot? I've had pretty good experiences with WD drives.

 

I bought the 80GB Intel, which I'm not real impressed with either, other than the quietness, and the 1TB external WD, but every time I attach it to a computer it hangs and has trouble reading data off it.

 

Hi!

What kind of experience is everyone having with SSDs? Recently bought a Mushkin Callisto Deluxe. If you look at the raw performance numbers it looks pretty decent, but in my system, X201i, Core i3 M330. Windows 7 Professional 32bit. 4GB RAM:



The drive is running very poorly compared to what it should be running at:



Applied all the latest Lenovo drivers/updates and went through most if not all of the SSD tweaks recommended. Then tried the Mushkin's SSD support forum - got no answers from them over a 12 day period. Seriously disappointed by a company that takes over $300 for the drive and then offers no support. The thread is here:

Mushkin Enhanced Forums • View topic - Slow small file performance

One of the forum members not affiliated with Mushkin thought it may be a cpu/bios/mb problem specific to Lenovo/the X201i. Anyone have problems with their SSDs getting lower-than-expected performance?

Other than that (I know, not directly related to the notebook), I love my X201i!

 

Hello
I have X200T 7453-B20 at home which I use as a desktop replacement till "sandy brige" come out .
I wonder if I should remove the battery so that it is not permanently being charged? Thanks!

 

Use the Lenovo Power Manager and adjust battery thresholds for start and stop charging percentages.

Double click on the battery icon in the taskbar>>switch the view to advanced>>click on battery tab>>battery maintenance>>choose custom and pick when to start and stop charging.

 

Could someone please measure the width of the palmrest? I'm considering an X201s, but a little concerned that my hand might be scrunched up using the trackpoint. This is based on using my T400 and comparing it to pictures of X2x0's.

Are there any owners here who use their X2x0 as their sole machine? Could you please comment on whether that's an issue with the 12" screen? Since I only use my laptop (and no external monitor) comfort is paramount.
Thanks.

 

I dont have a ruler with me but I'm guessing the palm rest is about 3"

I use the X201s only and the screen is fine for me. It depends on what screen you came from imo. If you came from some IPS screen then you'll be disappointed but the screen is not that bad if you look straight into it.

 

I meant size of the screen. Are there ever situations you wish it was larger?

Where'd you get your X201s from?

 

I bought my X201s at the lenovo site when it came out.

Well, the screen size I used previously was a 14.1" which is not much larger than this. Just sucks when trying to watch a movie or something though. Besides that, I don't think there were much. Especially since I'm not used to the screen size. I figured if I really cared I would just buy a monitor and just use that at home

 

has anyone upgraded their BIOS to the new 1.17 version released recently?

 

I have the Intel 160GB SSD G2 in mine and so far it runs excellent Performance is night and day difference with a good SSD.