What did you do with your new x220?

So I've just ordered a new x220, and would like to know the best way to treat my laptop. I saw the other thread about things i should do with a new laptop, but was wondering if anyone know a thread like the asus one with the bloatwares to uninstall on a x220. Moreover, what are some other general things people do with their new x220? Thanks!

 

I'm also waiting for my new X220 and look forward to reading advice here. Could I post my specific questions here, or is that not proper forum etiquette?

 

I don't know who deleted my post but here it goes again.

1.) Check for excessive backlight bleeding when booting up.

2.) Examine for whine/high pitch noise when CPU Power Management is enabled in bios.

3.) If those two issues are discovered, good luck with getting them resolved with lenovo customer support because you will are better off returning it for a full refund.

 

You should make the restore disks even if you never use them. At the very least, it will help the resale value a little

I just make sure all the hardware's working, install my own drive/OS image, and that's about it. Not much to it, imo.

 

1.) Look lovingly at it.

2.) Rub the lid..it's really rubbery soft <3

3.) Turn the brightness all the way up and put the Win7 screensaver on Ribbons

 

I'll use it at awkward angels just so I can admire the IPS screen.

 

how would I chek for that problem in the BIOS? sorry I'm not that familiar with computers

 

Bleeding/Ghosting is obvious if you have it. So is the whining provided you are in a fairly quiet environment.

 

i think there is some slight bleeding but it's minimal at the bottom. should I be concerned about it? My suitemate's blasting his electric guitar at living room so can't say about the whining atm.


P.S. it is like heaven to type on this keyboard.

 

I was wondering about the battery. Are you supposed to run them down to zero before recharging to maximize battery life? I also ordered the slim battery base and wonder if I leave that plugged in and use the computer while charging or let it run down to zero (as much as possible) and then recharge.

Also, I ordered with the Intel 160 gb SSD, but I've been reading about adding an mSata drive. What should I do to plan for space management? I ran out of room on my 64 GB X300 between Windows and Lenovo with no docs, movies, music, or photos. I'd like this computer to be my primary computer. I have a Dell XPS One desktop that is getting old. Ideally, I'd like the X220 to be my desktop replacement for work (mostly word docs and web surfing, plus billing software - solo lawyer). So any advice as to how to plan for longevity of the computer would be appreciated.

Thank you.

 

from what I read, there isn't memory issue with lithium batteries. But you do try to minimize full charge/discharge cycle, about every 30 charges do a full cycle. It is recommended to charge to full, unplug (dont want to charge the battery after its full since the heat will damage it). then its ideal to use until 10-20% to charge back to full again. If you plan to have it plugged in, remove the battery at around 40% and store it in a cool place. I read that its the best to store it at around 40% charged.

The SSD is also something i'm wondering about, since I was planning to get 320GB HDD + some SSD in mSATA. Instead I got a refurbished laptop with 128GB SSD installed. I was thinking perhaps wait til cheaper mSATA drives are out (i think samsung is coming out with some) to get a larger SSD (160GB?) Can anyone advise whether that's good or not?

 

Do the restore disks restore the "recovery" partition? For example, if I got a new SSD and used the restore disks on t, will both partitions be restored? Thanks

 

Yes the Recovery Media will restore to a state as if its left the factory regardless on which hard drive you use.

 

No you shouldn't run the batteries to zero nor should you fully charge them.

Power Manager has a setting for the upper limit (aim for 85-90% charge max), and there's not much you can do about the lower limit other than avoid draining it too far (keep it above 10% unless you really have to use it).

 

Excellent! Thanks! What media are you guys making your restore media on?

 

Generally its 1x CD (the 1st disc is the recovery boot disk) and 2/3x DVD's (Data Discs) is all that is required to make your Recovery Media. Be sure not to lose them as you can only make one set from the Recovery software (though once you made your physical discs you can copy them as many times as you like using other burning software as backup).

 

Are there options for those of us who don't have external burners?

 

You could technically make recovery media out of an 8GB+ flash drive, but note that you won't be able to put any other data on it if you choose to do so. Given how cheap external DVD burners are nowadays, it might be a good idea to pick one up for the rare instances where you actually do need a CD drive.

Once you open the box, you will not be able to return the computer without a 15% restocking fee.

 

If you're interested using a external device such as an USB pen drive you may want to read Lenovo's support document on how to create such bootable media. Though as MidnightSun pointed out its probably cheaper and easier to get an external DVD-RW drive as you can make as a many backups of the recovery media if you need to while you can't with the USB pen drives.

 

Thanks. My temporary solution was to image the drive.

 

I treated mine to a sauna and massage. Then took it out for a really great meal.

 

Well, to be slightly more exact, yes, all three partitions (including the recovery partition) get installed to the new SSD.

If the new SSD is smaller, it just makes the primary partion (Windows OS) smaller.

 

Which do you suggest for recovery, USB drive or CD/DVD combo? The only writable DVD drive I have is in my current desktop. Do I need to buy an external DVD drive, and if so do you recommend the Lenovo? Or is it just as good with the USB? I miss my corporate IT department! Sorry for the naive questions, but I've been reading for too many hours, trying to decide what else I might need when the x220 arrives. Thank you!

 

I bought an external (Samsung) USB-based DVD drive a while back that I used to create my recovery disks (and actually did a restore from them to a mSATA SSD that I was testing.
So you could use USB (12GB+ to be safe although 10GB may be OK) or you could use DVD. Neither have to be Lenovo-branded. The USB will be cheaper but it depends whether you will want to create DVDs occasionally.

 

Ha, exactly the type of stuff I was thinking when I first read this thread.

 

At least someone else around here has a sense of humour

 

Thanks, Kalahari. Since we have desktops, I don't think I'd need the DVD for this computer. I'll look into the USB route. Thank you.

 

False.

I used a 16gb flash drive, did the recovery image on it, and created a new folder called Storage where I put other stuff. I have tested by performing a recovery before and after creating/filling the extra folder, and it worked fine.