Thinkpad x20x (s/t/i) Owners Thread

I bought the "Limited Time Offer" two weeks ago. It arrived a couple days ago. Same price, but I got the i7-620m processor and a 9-cell battery. (Maybe you got the same one if they just now changed the offer.)

The screen isn't as bad as you might think. You can make some adjustments to the color settings to improve it, in the Intel Graphics Control Panel.

 

The new limited offer is a pretty good price, just different. Sadly, they finally figured out how to make the ultrabase un-uncheckable. You can get 1 4gb stick instead of 2 2gb sticks as a free updrade for future upgradability though.

And you can get that camera screen like the one guy wanted. And $200 off with the code USPTHINKPAD.

 

lol.... I saw that and later wished I'd pulled the trigger on the offer you went for. I'd have saved a couple hundred bucks. But I'm happy with mine... I got the i7 and 9-cell.

 

I had phoned my order in too, so it's not like I snuck it past them. And there was a 20% off coupon at the time. I needed the laptop by the end of this month (and wanted some testing time to ensure stability), but I was debating waiting one more month from when I ordered for prices to drop...glad I didn't (I wasn't interested in CPU power, just battery life and portability)

 

It's readyyyyyyyy the camera options is in the limited offer!!! I´ll oreder.. Thank you Mr. Marlinspike and Mr. Raydabruce... Thank you a lot..
By the way, whats the problem with the Screen? Any problem with this?

 

"!·"!$·%·$! THE USPLENOVO doesnt work there, same laptop but with webcam 1,619... thats more than 400$ more the same laptop!!!! Whyyyyyy? Well, i`ll still waiting..
Excuse me my bad English.

 

Did you try the coupon I said? USPTHINKPAD

Also, a teaching opportunity (because I know how much people love to be corrected....) - it's $400, not 400$. Figured I'd lend you a hand.

 

Here, yv, I'm going to help you out. That USPTHINKPAD coupon is $200 off. Here's one for 15% off which may be more depending on how much you buy 2c1jG5bzdxYB

 

Can someone tell me: does either the 6- or 4-cell battery stick out the back of the X201 at all or is it a flush, straight edge?

 

I know the 4 cell is flush.

 

They're both flush at the back, but the six cell sticks out at the bottom.

 

Good to know. Thanks. I'm thinking of getting a 4-cell to shave some weight from my X201 and give me a smaller footprint for everyday portable use. I'll save the 9-cell for trips or extended periods away from AC power.

Lenovo wants $129 for that battery. Guess I'll shop around and see if anyone else has the same FRU.

I'm assuming any X200 battery would fit and be compatible with an X201.

 

Get your batteries from the Lenovo Outlet. Much cheaper prices.

 

Okay, thanks!

 

The 6 cell will be just like the 9 cell on the bottom (but flush on the back). The 4 cell is flush all around - http://davidson.smugmug.com/photos/901268351_ihRFz-L.jpg

Contact Brad over on forum.thinkpads if the outlet doesn't have any.

 

I just ordered a 4-cell. I figured that will give me the lightest weight and smallest (& thinnest) footprint for daily use.

The 9-cell will be discharged to 40% and be stored in the refrigerator wrapped in several layers of plastic to keep moisture out. It will be in a part of the refrigerator where I know it won't freeze (which would be disastrous).

Lithium-ion batteries don't like heat. I'll take it out and charge it up once a month or so to keep it healthy or when I'm going on a trip. This all comes from the recommendations of a battery engineer, who says this should extend its useful life quite a bit.

 

Good luck with that - I have been checking daily for weeks and none have shown up in the outlet. Some were there the day I ordered my 201x, but I languished and missed out.

 

just courius, can anybody here.. would be better guys with i7 processor, post the Windos Live Experience Index?? for the x201??

 

Okay, yv1650c, here it is:



It's an awesome little computer -- even without the discrete graphics.

 

How fast does the battery go down when it is always set to turn on by the finger print reader? It appears as though a green led is also always on.

How much battery does this use and does it shut off after a certain amount of time of inactivity?

If I don't use my laptop for several days I'd hate to have to much of the battery drained without use. The feature is convenient though.

 

Personally, I don't use or like fingerprint readers. They can be very fussy and will deny you access to your computer if they don't like the way you scanned your finger. Then you'd better hope you remember the password or you're out of luck.

 

Hello, just purchased a new X201 and it looks like there are many experienced users on this forum. I was wondering if any of you would care to post a list of your favorite or "must-have" software that you would install first on a brand new notebook? I removed the original hard drive and did a fresh install of Windows 7 Pro on a new Western Digital 750GB. Here is my start list:

1. Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010
2. Total commander
3. Adobe Reader Lite
4. ACDSee Pro
5. WinRAR
6. VLC Media Player
7. AD Sound Recorder
8. Ashampoo Burning Studio
9. Microsoft MapPoint
10. Adobe Photoshop CS4 or CS5
11. Sandboxie
12. Casper Disc Clone Backup

 

My list would be very similar. One notable exception: No Microsoft Office for me. Too big, slow, invasive & buggy. I much prefer OpenOffice.org. It's small, fast and doesn't gum up my computer with zillions of registry entries, services, etc. (And it's FREE.)

VLC and WinRar are must-haves and I also use Acronis TrueImage 2010 for cloning and backups. PowerIso is standard for me to deal with image files. You might also try CoreAVC codecs and KMPlayer too -- as good or better than VLC. For burning, I use the free Imgburn program. Never had a bad burn from that program. "Damn NFO Viewer" is a handy little freebie for viewing .nfo files. And UltraEdit is the best overall text editor you can find for Windows, IMO. For image editing I use the free GIMP. It's not as powerful as the Adobe CS series but it does everything I need, and then some (and the price is right).

 

Man, I tried to get used to using Open Office, but it drove me nuts. It's not great when it comes to making outlines.

 

True, it's "feature-poor" compared to Microsoft Office but I don't use those features. It will read and write .doc, and .xls and other MS Office formats though, which is a big plus. I like it for it's speed and simplicity and low resource usage. And I can switch to Linux and there it is, running just as well as (or better than) it does in Windows.

 

I think MS and Open Office are in cahoots, because MS loses the formatting of an outline if it was written in Open Office and vice versa.

 

@raydabruce...this GIMP...works on Win 7 x64? I looked on the site and it says for XP/ Vista. No mention of Win 7 or x64. Thanks.

 

Yes, GIMP will run just fine on x64 Windows 7.
http://www.gimp.org/windows/
Be sure to download the help files too, which is a separate download on the same page.

 

..............................

 

(I was busy with other things so I wasn't able to respond sooner. I couldn't even play with the X201 right away! )

@raydabruce: You're going to hate me even more -- while I typed up my previous post (with the graphic that showed the UPS tracking), the door bell rang and it was UPS guy with my X201. No joking -- I could reproduce that UPS tracking page if needed. The UPS guy said that it was shipped Next Day Before 10:30AM. Odd, since I chose 2-day shipping. I have no idea why I got mine so fast. This is my fifth ThinkPad overall, and I can tell you that there have been delays my previous ThinkPads before.


Anyway, I finally was able to play with the X201 this past weekend. I have the same "problem" as the others regarding the battery "wobbling" a little. In addition, the top "layer" of the frame around the screen (the UltraConnect antenna?) wobbles a little if you grab the side edge (hard to explain this, I know).

I've read that many don't care about previous speakers on the X-series being mono, but I LOVE that this X201 has stereo speakers. I dabble with music (composing and/or arranging using Finale), but not at the level as the pros.

Unlike some of the other users, I don't mind the 1280x800 screen. I think if I picked a X201/s/t with a 1440x900 screen everything would be TOO small (I know that one can adjust the size of the system fonts). I also have the problem with colors on the screen -- they are pretty washed out. Can someone tell me again what I can do to fix this?

 

I just got a X201 as well. I removed the hard drive that came with it an replaced with an Intel 80GB SSD that I had in my previous ThinkPad, and I put Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on it. Just to compare, here's some of the software I use (a question mark next to number means that I don't know what your corresponding program does):

1. OpenOffice.org 3.2.1 (free; no 64-bit, though )
2. ????
3. PDF X-Change Viewer (the viewer only is free, and it's available in 64-bit)
4. ????
5. 7-zip (free; also available in 64-bit; I THINK it can handle .rar archives)
6. Media Player Classic x64 + ffdshow x64 + Haali Media Splitter
7. Audacity (no 64-bit)
8. ImgBurn (no 64-bit)
9. (none; I just go to Google Maps. )
10. Gimp (64-bit)
11. ????
12. (none)

Having done all of this, I'm actually thinking about putting Linux on it!

 

i am about to order the x201. is there any disadvantages or advantages with paying with paypal vs. a credit/debit card?

 

I got my x201 a couple weeks with the 6 cell battery and there's no wobble in it at all. I flipped it over and tried to move it around and it wouldn't budge. Seems either the battery or the system I got doesn't show that quirk.

 

My 9-cell wobbles a bit, but the 4-cell I bought for it doesn't. I think most of the wobbling comes from the 9-cells.

@eumyang:
ThinkPads are great for Linux. I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 x64 on my T410 and it really flies. No driver or hotkey issues but I've yet to figure out how to configure ACPI and battery usage so that it's more efficient with power usage. I know it can be done, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I didn't know they made notebook hard drives in 750 GB. The last time I checked the biggest was 640GB. Is it a Scorpio Black? 7200rpm?

 

WD 2.5" 750GB is here:
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 750GB WD7500BPVT 2.5" HDD - eBay (item 310232646247 end time Aug-07-10 17:35:39 PDT)

 

can anyone with the fingerprint reader tell me if the fingerprint reader on the x201 allows me to turn on the system and log on with one swipe of a finger?

 

Yes, absolutely.

I find the fingerprint reader works best when your finger is slightly moist. I've got pretty dry hands and most of the time it takes me several attempts before it works. I wonder if this is normal, or if the scanner is low quality. I find the previous reader much better, or accurate.

 

so the fingerprint reader has a green and amber LED next to it?

 

Yes. Green on the left. Amber on the right.

 

Cool man. just out of curiosity, whats the make of your 6 cell?

My 1st X201 had pretty bad wobble, every direction possible (6 cell Sanyo). I returned it back to Lenovo and got a brand new replacement unit including new 6 cell battery (Sanyo) and it still has the wobble but less. I'll pickup a 4 or 9 cell when or if they ever go on sale and just hope the wobble is with my 6 cell.

 

My x201 came with the 9 cell battery. I don't notice any appreciable wobble.

 

FYI, a new bios is available. Hopefully the USB fix now allows the PS3 controller to be charged...

 

Damn, PS3 controller still doesn't charge through the powered USB port when in sleep mode or system turned off.

 

Can anyone with an x201s and windows 7 confirm that their laptop will sleep, then hibernate if left unattended on batteries?

If it does - are you running 32 or 64bit windows 7?

(mine is set to hibernate but will only hibernate on AC power - not when on batteries)

 

I took the battery out and looked all over and didn't see an obvious way to tell the make of it. How do you find out?

 

Go to the power management software and click on the battery tab

 

How do you enter the bios an a x201? Every time I hit the blue thickvantage button during bootup it takes me to the rescue and recovery.

 

F1.
Or go into rescue and recovery with the blue button, go to advanced rescue and recovery, and there will be an option to go into the bios from there.

 

worked perfectly. thank you.

 

When charging why does the battery link blink but the charging symbol not blink?

I'm referring to the LED lights on the bezel of at the bottom of the screen.