What happened to the X201s ?

For how long as the ThinkPad X201s been unavailable?
Lenovo - Laptop computers - ThinkPad X Series - X201s

I reeeeally wanted the higher resolution at 12" size. Does anyone know where the Lenovo product lifecycle is at? Should I be expecting that once their latest deals end, they might be revising the product line?

thx!

 

Lenovo will offer new machines like most other manufactures when Intel introduces the newest platform some time next year. The X20xs was sort of a halo project for Lenovo. My guess would be due to a shortage of LCDs, Lenovo is not offering it on the site because they would get more orders than they could fulfill, which pretty much gets everyone's panties in a bunch around here. If you want a X201s, topseller models are still widely available via the internet or ebay. I wouldn't count on seeing it in the next round of ThinkPads. I would suggest if you want one, get it now.

 

What if they cut x200 slim series in favour of T400 slim series?
You know, just like taking X300 series from shelves...
Perhaps some x200+x200s hybrid?
Im just asking, never thought of this before until now, when you started to talk about lack of hi-res display panels, and previously they had problems with sourcing low voltage CPU's Just a wild guess, nothing more.
Either way, i believe x210 will rule them all ultraportables!
(I just wish they made it available with built in ultrabay optical disc drive, so i could replace it with 2nd HDD when i get one )

 

i agree that the X20x + X20xs should merge into a hybrid, rather than existing as two separate models. There is no point cannabalising each other's sales, and there is better synergy to be found by merging the product line.

 

I wish they made an ulv version of the x200s. I believe many people won´t notice the performance difference between a normal voltage and an ulv processor while surfing and using productivity suites. ULV + SSD for the win.

 

there are ULV version of the X200s and X201s.

 

the X201s with i5-520UM was discontinued before it hit the market.

announced in june, dead in july.

 

You can get the X200s with i.e. SU7300 or SU9400.

 

Did not know that. Never seen one, I'll start saving for one.

 

I really like my X201s, it's a stellar machine. The ULV i7 runs great, it weighs about the same as the netbook it replaced. The battery life is really exceptional, I can get 6hrs from the 6 cell and at least 8 from the 9 cell. The high-res screen is very pleasant, if a bit dim (at least it's matte, I can't stand glare).

I picked mine up off ebay about a month ago; if you look around, you can still find them. I believe J&R had some, so did Laptop Authority.

 

i would have kept mine X200s if it had the WXGA+ LCD instead of the WXGA one....

 

I hope I can find the 520um x201s. Anyone here has a link? Do you guys know if Hp offers an ULV 2540p? Thank your for the replies.

Noise is my main concern and with an ulv both (x201s, 2540p) should be silent enough for me.

 

My X201s is nearly silent and runs very cool; the thermal management is much better than on my old X21, it got quite warm on the bottom of the chassis after being on for 20mins or so.

 

You can find part numbers like 51434KU via Google, but it seems unlikely Lenovo ever sold any. There's no board with the 520um listed in the service parts. You can get the X201t with the 520um and it offers a much better screen.

 

Zaz is now a ultraportable tablet laptop addict.... i wished that i had kept mine X200t, instead of giving it away to my relative....

 

The X200 is going on the block as soon as I can get a few things straightened out.

 

@Zaz, i noticed that you are using 3 gigs of ram in win 7? are you not getting the screen artifact problem from running this asymmetrical ram pairing setup?

 

Sorry to interject , but I actually had the said problem that I solved after turning off Intel Vt-d option in BIOS. I enabled virtualization + Vt-d as I was running VMware+Ubuntu.

 

I didn't have any issues with W7 and three GBs of memory, but then I realized I don't like W7 and in the process of going back to Vista.

 

Seriously? I must say, I've never heard anyone say that until now.

 

Let's not forget the x201 series, including the x201s doesn't include an optical drive in the laptop chassis. This is a deal breaker for my wife. She uses it frequently.

For that reason, the T410s will likely be her next machine. After she breaks her T400 of course. That could be any day now.

 

I think its time for Lenovo to add modular bay for either DVD-Rom or second HDD as an option on X series, if they do so, that would rock !

 

There are 2 other workarounds: USB optical drive and x201 ultrabase dock + optical drive.

 

But it wont be as portable

 

Could you share your configuration? LV or ULV processor? SSD?

 

Consumer sales are a very small slice of the ThinkPad pie. Businesses are where Lenovo makes their money and they don't give a hoot about a modular bay. Until they do, it ain't happening.

 

Well yeah, somehow HP manages to squeeze one into their 12" Elitebook.
Tho I like ThinkPads better.
Oh, well, not a deal breaker for me, not at the moment.

 

That is true. But I don't know... I just don't use any optical media anymore. Mostly it's USB keys or a small 2.5" external hard drive (160GB) that X200 came with. I bought the perfect enclosure for $12.

 

Consumer portion of Thinkpad sale are increasing in parts outside of USA (USA still is the largest market).... good thing with Thinkpad users are most of these customers are repeat customers. This is also true for many Dell customers, many people whom have dell desktops would usually put dell laptops as their first port of call (they may not preferentially lust for them like some people lust for Macbook Pro). But conversely is not true (so Dell laptop users may not look at place Dell desktops on their highest list of possible choices), unless they can get it really cheap from certain outlets, friends/family connection or company.

I guess most Apple laptop users would also consider Apple desktop as their major consideration.

However, most Thinkpad users may not consider a Thinkcentre as their main desktop alternative (nor would Thinkcentre customers rate Thinkpad as their first choice for laptop)... Lenovo must work harder to drive up their desktop sale and make closer association between these two sale category.

All of the above are just personal observations and data collected from friends and colleagues...

 

Same here. Even with the Ultrabay in my T500 I only use the optical drive when installing OS. 99.9% of the time I have a 500GB HDD sitting there instead.

I've had at least 10 X-series notebooks and never missed having an internal optical drive. Having said that I would also love an internal ultrabay, but only so I could slide in a big HDD like in my T500 and keep OS and app essentials on my SSD.

 

I guess businesses aren't buying the T410s then.

 

zaz's statement isn't far off.   business customers consider docks more important than modular bays.   software is installed using an image and in some cases end-users are restricted from installing their own software on company-issued systems.   that leaves little need for an optical drive or second HDD caddy.

 

Spot on. I am yet to receive a company issued laptop without it including a docking station. Ultraportable or not. My current X6 ultrabase at the office is connected to the brink with all sorts of devices.

But apart from being a business user, I am a also a (ThinkPad) geek - so would obviously love to maximize my X200 storage capacity with an extra HDD Speaking of X200 - the nicest touch about the X200 ultrabase is the capability of charging an extra battery.

 

Thats what I would want it for
Ok, enough of repeating myself.

 

It would be interesting to see sales volume by model.

 

if you can see it, then Lenovo is in Trouble... since HP, Dell, Acer would also see it... this is business secrets, i would imagine not even the lower end Lenovo employees would know the exact detail of which.

 

+1 I think my X201s is great compared to some of the older ones I have seen running Vista With a SSD in it,Windows 7 Professional and 8Gb of RAM the X201s is a wonderful laptop. I do wish it had a better processor in it though but there is nothing that it really can't do.

 

Agreed. I have often wondered what it must be like at Dell or Lenovo when they post a discount coupon. Watching the orders flow in real time on a digital dashboard must be pretty cool for the VP.

 

Mine's running an i7-640LM, 2.13GHZ, 4GB RAM, 320GB Seagate 7200 HD, and I've got the WXGA+ screen. About the only sounds are the HD (very quiet); and occasionally the fan, if I'm forcing it to work hard.

Honestly, the sounds coming from it are all but inaudible unless you're in a *very* quiet room and actively listening for them.

I plan on upgrading to an SSD this winter, which will make it quieter still.

I've been very pleased with it, the battery life is stellar and performance leaves nothing to be desired in my usage pattern.

 

Any suggestions on where to look for this laptop? I'm looking into getting a new ultraportable and this is at the top of my list!

 

eBay and Google.

 

I guess I will skip x200s/x201s and see what X210/s or X220/s brings to the table, with progress in CPU technology I expect them to fulfill my theoretical needs for laptop power.
Once the low power cpu's exceed current fastest dual core Core 2 Duo cpus in considerable amount not just in synthetic benchmarks but also in real life rendering/coding/number crunching, Im on a mission buying X slim series
Perhaps it will happen when quad core cpu's will be default for laptops?
Till then Ill wait for my T9400 equipped laptop to arrive and stick with it for a while.

 

I just ordered a 201 and the only SSD option was 128gb; too small for many, including me (Im sitting on 160 now), so I went cheap and got 250 old-style thinking that I should be able to upgrade into a higher capacity SSD in the future....but is that true?

What is the likiehood that the 2010 and prior X201s will get better compatiable SSD options in the future?

 

SSDs will certainly get larger and more affordable. Hopefully, they'll get better power management too. SSDs are already hitting the wall of what SATA II can do. I don't know that you'll see much better performance. It'd be tough to notice better than .1ms response times

 

Oh, ok...thanks. I've been hearing so much on this board about how an SSD is the next best thing I could do to incrementally increase speed/sound/performance on my 2.1i3 & 4Gb RAM X201. I guess that's not true?

 

No, it is true. It *absolutely* is true. What I think ZaZ is saying is that while SSDs are already faster than the fastest hard drives, they're going to get even faster in the future.

Get a good SSD (read informed reviews like those from Anandtech before you buy), and you won't look back.

 

What I'm saying is for the X201, which is a SATA II machine, SATA II SSDs are already performing at or near what SATA II can do. You probably won't see much a performance gain there. You'll definitely see drives get bigger and cheaper, which is a good thing.

The X202 or whatever it's called will be I'm guessing SATA III and you will see some marked improvement in performance, but the marginal value won't be as high. Most of the things people do with their notebooks like Office and Internet are not very hard drive intensive, and I think SSDs are already so quick, it would hard to improve the performance noticeably.

My only real beef with SSDs is I like to run in low power mode, which if you have an Intel chipset, puts a serious dent in SSD performance. Now, it was sold to me as the best upgrade since the silicon chip, but it hasn't worked that way for me. I can run adaptive mode or do the BIOS hack to get better performance, but then battery life takes a significant hit and I prefer battery life. I like my SSD, but more so for the quiet it provides. Coupled with the LV CPU in my tablet, it's a silent machine. I probably still would have bought one for the quiet, but I can't help feeling a little ripped-off. That's also why I'm hoping for better power management.