Two hours with X220 review

System Reviewed: X220 i7 6 GB ram 320 GB 7200 HDD USB 3.0 6 Cell battery

OS: Windows 7 Premium 64 bit SP-1: Yep. This one comes with SP-1 included, so no install of this from Microsoft, nor SP-1 disk that you may have created.

Have not done a fresh install. All default services left on at this time.


Build quality: Solid build. No flexing notice when holding from the front/corners. Have not tested the flex with the screen.

Weight: Going from the 4.6 lb T420 this X220 is light. Would be nice to have it even thinner, but I do believe that in doing so, may cut in the build quality in that it would seem fragile. Just a guess. I carried it around with one hand (No sleeve or case at this time). Nice

Palm Rest: I have big hands, so my palm hangs over the edge a bit. Does take a bit to get used to over the T420 I had.

Keyboard: Keyboard is a pleasure to use. Coming from the Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard, this one takes just a bit to master for me.

Screen: IPS. Thank goodness I returned the T420. This screen is bright (From level 12 on up) and well suited for my needs. One member complained that he set his brightness at 6 and it was dim. No kidding. Goodness, even the T420 I had was dim at level 6/7/8, so its not just this model. For those that do lots of spreadsheets, excel etc programs will have to scroll a bit more over the larger notebook screens, but should not be too much of a letdown.

Viewing angles are just right for me, and nice that one does not have to play with the angles as one would on those small viewing angle screens. I have my screen brightness set at 13.

We are all have different views of notebook screens. Some with/without vision issues will look at the screen as not bright enough unless it is cranked all the way up, and others may view it as too bright when level is lowered. Overall, the screen is a pleasure over other TN none IPS panels, and a good decision to purchase this. Perhaps later on, IPS screens will be offered on larger notebooks.


Speakers: Much quieter than I like. It’s even quiter than on the T420. Get yourself a nice headphone


Temps: X220 has been on now for over 1 hour of use and it's only slightly warm. This of course using normal applications, internet and some YouTube stuff, no games, so that might make it a bit warmer. I have the power set to Maximum at this time. Someone else will have to review the temps in games.

CPU temps at Idles around 34/36C
Normal operating temp in the 40/42c
Default fan speed for these temps


Touch Pad: I don't use it. I either use the track point or wireless mouse. Track point is nice and smooth for me. Others have noticed their eraser pointing device to be problematic, not mine. I also slowed the cursor down just a tad in "Hardware and Sounds", then clicked on Mouse.

Fan/Noise: System set to Max performance. Have not used any programs that need the CPU to throttle high to see if the fan can be heard at this point. That may come later, but at the moment, I have absolutely no complaints with the fan throttling as some have reported. Cannot hear the fan at all from typing distance. Placing ones ear up to the keyboard, than yes you can hear it a little bit, but not loud at all.



Battery Test: Too early yet….

If anything changes, I'll return with a follow-up review. Thus far, the X220 was a good decision to buy. Should have gotten this one over the T420, but I was in such a silly hurry to buy a Lenovo.

 

Gratz!
Glad to hear such good things!

Thanks for the quick review!

 

Far as some reports of backlight bleed. None for me.

Temps now 35/40c downloading updates and internet usage. Ambient temps is 80 deg in room.

 

The volume is very disappointing and rather inappropriate considering how nice the screen is for multi media. Maybe it's a defect of the Conexant driver because it also applies to the headphone socket, which also has very low gain. I wonder if the speakers could go louder without distorting.

You could plug in a wireless dongle that connects to a small pair of active or pc speakers. They are quite cheap.

Another possibility is buying an expresscard soundcard but I guess this will only improve the sound for headphones and not out of the built-in speakers?

An outboard digital to analogue converter (DAC), connected via USB would be the ultimate solution.

 

Could very well be a driver issue, because volume is actually pretty good in Linux at 60-70%. Can't remember how it sounded in Windows in comparison.

 

I may have to get one of these.

 

Cranked the volume all the way up and not good. Went to Control panal>Sounds>double click Speakers>clicked on Advanced where I tried the "TEST" button, and the sound was more than enough. Just not when playing music and such.

Using a headphone and the sound level was OK. I'll play with this later when I get some feedback as to what is going on. Right now the system is doing just fine.

 

It's a really nice machine isn't it. It's basically got everything (features, characteristics) we've been asking for (except the high res screen which some want, but I think is unusable). The screen and esp the build quality blow me away.

 

Sound seems weird. For example in Netflix, the couple of movies I've tried all required the sound to be at max (50) to be at normal levels. But on YouTube, I had to lower the sound to 15 or 20.

But Windows sounds (like the above poster mentioned with the "test" button), require sound to also be at 50 to sound normal. Odd

 

I seem to have the same problem with my X201. What sound card does your machine have?

 

Mine has the Conexant 20672 SmartAudio HD. 02-09-2011

Intel Audio display 10-15-2010

 

Something else to try: Fire up the SmartAudio applet and try different equalizer settings.

-darren

 

Yeah...see my X201 also has this Conexant card. I really need to check what is there in my R400 because it has a much better sound - through headphones - than the X201. It's noticeably different...for the better (in the case of the R400).

 

Tried TEST and perhaps it goes a bit louder but not by much

It doesn't make it go any louder, which is the issue at hand.


Yep, I think there might be something wrong with the volume in Windows. I can't believe it should be that low.

 

Maybe your headphone impedence is high. Some headphones/earphones have higher sensitivity which makes the sound louder. Others have high impedence (ohms) which makes it more difficult to drive.
Some of my headphones require MAX volumes on my mp3 players. Some only need half the power.

 

like i mentioned in another thread, the sennheiser CX300-II gets my vote on this. Reasonably priced, excellent performance, and is really loud compared to others

 

I to have tried SmartAudio applet but a no go. My headphones are just fine however, and for me, I'm not too worried about this since I do not use the system for music.

Thanks to those that are assisting.

 

Really like it. The keyboard is amazing, screen too! Performance very snappy (2410). Wonderfully compact form factor. Can have it in my bag when cycling without feeling the weight. Really glad I returned the Vostro 3350 for this. Paid more but would have gladly downgraded to i3 if keeping to same price as Vostro necessary.

Negatives are: A small amount of light bleed along bottom and bottom left corner but only noticeable at around 14/15 with black screen. Constant fan that should be addressed with bios update?, low speaker volume which also may need addressing. Battery isn't quite as good as expected, so far. Biggest negative is very difficult to put down and stop using -)