X200 Discussion & Issues/Critique

I wanted to avoid sending it in for repairs. I've had it for two weeks, and this happens? Oh well, it's the luck of the draw, I guess.

Those new MacBooks look tempting, however.

 

Whine can be a number of things...try playing with the CPU speed settings. I don't experience any whine though. Is it plugged in?...or does this matter?

And I don't think the macbooks and the x200 are interchangeable laptop selections <.<.

 

how in the world somebody that bought an X200 can possibly be attracted to a macbook?
I'm not talking about IBM vs Mac or not even mentioning that IBM may be the Anti-Christ for Apple and vice versa
I'm just talking about the looks and features of both!!!
Seriously they are "Apples" and Oranges it doesn't even look like they belong in the same category

I personally liked the X200 because it's boring/uncolorful/no frills all about business, strong built and quality components was very attractive to me.

 

i am finding that the poor sound really bothers me..besides the poor quality sound, the sound even has some daley. for example, when i am using MSN, and keep pressing “backspace", the sound doesnt come normal, and i can see the cpu rapidly increases upto 80%-100% of useage..
i checked the driver for the sound card, and it has the latest version.
dont know how to get rid off this thing...wondering anyone has the same problem..
i am running vista business...
dont know it would be better if i go change to xp pro..i just dont see how good is vista and which uses a lot of resourses..

 

X200: 12.1" / 2.95 lbs
Macbook: 13.3" / 4.5 lbs

Based on size and weight alone they aren't even close to comparable notebooks. Oh and PS: the macbook is white

 

If anything, the Macbook should probably be compared to the x301 (13.3" LED screen, optical drive, no docking/expansion options). However, it still weighs over a pound more (6 cell battery in x301), is aluminum rather than magnesium/carbon, has a stupid high gloss screen, a crappy keyboard, giant touchpad and no trackpoint. The only similarity between x200 and Macbook is the processor and relative price.

 

Audio is actually better on Vista than XP because Vista makes use of essentially kernel streaming. Where as in XP...to bypass the whole software layer of it you'd have to use ASIO . But you're correct in that the output of the x200 doesn't sound great regardless haha.

Or wait...did you mean the speaker

 

I have changed the settings, but i would still feel comfortable if I could compare it to another X200. The whine is there whether it's plugged or not. Only changing the "Power Options" to lower settings gets rid of it. Do you have the whine at the left side of the laptop on highest settings?

Didn't say they were, I just implied of returning the X200 and purchasing a MacBook.

I owned one in the past.

That's the same reason why I bought the X200 in the first place. I also think it's the best looking laptop out there.

I got rid of my previous MacBook because of the weight. Oh and PS: MacBooks did come in black, but now they're all silver/aluminum.
===============================================

Anyway, I'm keeping my X200.

 

yah i thought i would hate the look of this, but i actually love the look! attracts really no fingerprints, easy to maintain the 9 cell sticking out - doesn't look bad at all in my opinion, not in the least bit. This laptop it so **** small! the 9 cell is supposed to stick up the laptop a bit, but it basically is so small thta in no way is it noticeable. absolutely nothing like the 9 cell of the xps m1330 - that was horrible. hated it. or the dv series 12 cell.

and the only flex im getting really anywhere is right on the rightside of the touch buttons, where the fingerprint is/would be. i have to physically push down and barely moves in, but because the left side, no matter how hard i push, nothing happens - i figured i'd point it out.

funny how everything is relative....if this laptop was compared to any other, thered be no challenge - but to compare it to itself

no keys have any problems and keyboard is absolutely fantastic as stated by everyone, no flex at all and no problems! really getting used to the trackpoint and starting love it! went back to a touchpad and i was mad i had to pick up my finger to get across the screen lol. my finger gets a bit tired after a while, but just getting used to it.

the laptop NEVER gets hot! thankfully! and i ALWAYS have it on my lap.

testing the battery now, after 5 days of usage. it got better and better i think since the beginning. Although i shouldn't run it down, will have full brightness, and run down the battery to 1% and see what it is (started at 11;30), i will report this. and then run the test 2 more times: 1 with half brightness, and 1 with lowest setting. Right now it sais it has 5 hours and 47 minutes, with 10 minutes alreadty ticked off. We will see

 

no, i dont think this is the problem with the speaker. because, even i use the headphone, the problem is still there.

i didnt expect the audio quality from x200, but this problem just beyond my patience..

 

oh...another thing..my x200 comes with ddr3 ram.
i opened cpu-z, and it tells me ddr2, and nothing is on the SPD page
then i thought this might be just old version of cpu-z. and today i downloaded a latest version of cpuz, 1.48, still says ddr2
i have opened up the ram rack, took out the ram and count for the pins, and it should be a DDR3 ram, but I dont famliar with the company who made it, "M" logo and in USA, not samsung, not kingmax, not kingston...

 

its ddr3 memory - cpu-z still has a problem recognizing ddr3 memory and i wouldn't worry about the brand, it'll work just fine

 

glad to hear this...

just read ur post, the keyboard is very comfortable, only a little noisy compare to my desktop one. my 6 cell battary can last long 5hrs with no problem.

fix the sound and i will love u all..!!

 

5 hours on full 100% brightness? or lowered? because i can easily make it last longer than the 5-5 1/2 hours that its lasting if i just lower the brightness but not if i dont

 

about 50%, actually i cant stay with 100% brightness under any condition. it's just too bright..so i set 50% brightness in all power plans.

 

Grasspuppet it just looks like you have a whiny fan, those things aren't perfect and every once in a while you get one whose ball bearing blades vibrates a bit. When you lower power and consequently heat output the fan slow down and lowers the noise. I don't have my X200 yet so I don't know the default sound of it.

it seems like a driver problem, is there a trouble shooting software option for the GM45 Intel HD Audio interface?
Otherwise you may want to uninstall and reinstall the driver, even an older one may work better for you.....once I get my X200 I'll be able to be more helpful.

 

yea, that's what i thought too. but my x200 comes with the newest driver, i cant find any older version of the driver....oh..wait...maybe i can...i saw one somewhere yesterday, but that one was released in 2007..not sure if it would work...i will try it later

 

I use a 2003 driver for the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz in my PC, it works better then the newer Windows approved driver....you would be surprised by the magical way drivers work

P.S.: Unlike the Graphic Cards business, there hasn't been a significant improvement in Hardware and Software for Audio Cards in years. I upgrade my drivers montly and rebuild my Hardware yearly but I still have that Turtle Beach Sound Card from my 2001 Dell Dimention 8200...THE LAST PC I EVER BOUGHT....until now with the X200.....

 

just out of curiosity.....how many processes in the task manager are running for everyone when your computer first starts after everything loads up, etc....before you actually open programs?

also state if your computer is a clean install or stock

 

I'm using driver version: 4.56.0.50
OS: Vista Ultimate

Hope that gives you some point of reference.. my sound's fine.

 

thanks for ur info

i am using the same version of the driver and vista business. i couldnt do a clean install since i dont have an extenal optical driver. i am not sure which part of the program causes the problem.

the sound is fine, i mean at least it makes sounds. but it has delays. if you have a msn, can you do this for me please?

open a conversation windows, and press the backspace key, you should hear the "dong" sound from it. keep pressing the backspace, see if the sound is normal or has delays, like"dong...dong.dong.dong" also note if the cpu usage increasing rapidly.

thanks

 

ok..so i uninstalled the orignal sound card driver and restarted it
after the restart, vista was able to recognise the sound card and installed a driver by itself. the perivous problem seems getting better with non-manufactuer driver.

 

ya you probably just need a reinstall? my msn sound is fine just a FYI.

 

I'd like to retract my statement about the X200 running cool.

Has anybody noticed that it can get noticable warm south of the mouse buttons, on the bottom of the laptop? Right about where there is the air vent. It get's noticable warm there, while the rest of the machine stays cool (the air from the copper cooler is non-hot breeze).

Why would I mention this? Because this would be a bad place for it to get hot, boys.

Also, not that it matters to me, since I use bluetooth stereo, but the placement of the sound/mic audio ports on the right side does seem a bit of an engineering oversight, considering most earphones are wired to come up from the left side.

 

That might be the memory or the wi-fi card. Neither of those have a cooling solution so they could run hot. I have not had any issues using my x200 on my lap for 4 hours+ at a time, it is still quite cool and has never bothered me. If you can, post a picture of exactly the location you are talking about so we can check ours out to see how they compare.

 

Anyone having a problem with the Microphone quality or sound level? I've read all 33 pages of this thread and seen no mention of it.

I've had my X200 (with XP Pro , SP3) for a week. I love it but for one thing. I previously used an X61T with Vista ultimate. Everyone I regularly talk to on Skype says my voice is extremely quiet and sounds like I'm a mile away - (in complete contrast to what was perfect sound when I talked on the X61T). I'm using the same build of Skype on both machines. With the X200, I have to move my mouth within about a foot of the mic and literally shout for the other party to hear me.

It's not a problem of audio quality for the listening party, but rather of audio volume (and less importantly, the sense that I'm on the other side of the earth rather than right next to them as it was with the X61T).

Now, this may be my first post in this forum, but I don't consider myself a newbie to tech and system settings. After the default "out of box" settings caused people I called to tell me about this problem, I checked and modified settings:
1. For starters, in Skype I've deactivated the auto mic gain setting and manually set it to max.
2. In the WinXP "Sound" control panel, I've set the "volume" of the mic to max and checked the "Microphone Boost" box in the Advanced settings for the input device.
3. There's a new item called "Smart Audio" in the control panel (I haven't seen this before). It's "Voice Enhancement" settings are set to "Speakerphone/Internet Telephony" which seems to make sense from what I read on their web page.

After these tweaks, my Skype callers report no discernable difference in sound volume. Any ideas what I might try next? Anyone else having great results (or even poor results) on Skype? (Note that I tried the Skype 4.0 beta and had the same problems that I have with the 3.8 version I'm running now).

Any and all feedback on the mic performance would be appreciated, particularly with Skype.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I should mention I have the Conexant HD Audio driver package. I assume I got this because I got the modem + 3-in-1 card reader. Anyone have a different Audio driver on their unit that doesn't have a modem? (Conexant's main business is modems, not Audio)

 

Are you using the factory OS installation or did you do a clean install and install audio drivers yourself?

When you do the mic setup in skype does it show your gain level as being high enough?

 

If this heat is from the wifi card (which was the problem on the X6x series) then I found a solution in using the battery manager utility to set the wifi card to "max power savings" rather than "max performance". This did NOT affect performance in my experience and made the wifi card run MUCH cooler.

 

That seems plausible. I never put mine on anything other than the battery savings. As you say it does little in terms of real world performance. Good to know though, thanks for the investigation.

 

I'm using the factory install. Haven't changed any audio drivers.
I'm manually setting the mic gain in Skype to max......and still getting complaints from all the people on the other end of my skype calls.


I tried a bunch of permutations today with audio settings and the Skype Test call function -- I heard just how soft and distant my own voice is.....still scratching my head.

 

i got my x200 today...!!!~_!_!_!!!!
but i have a problem..
my x200 does not recognize my esata expresscard..
Anyone tried to use an expresscard with x200?

 

I used a 34mm Sprint EVDO modem Express Card (Merlin EX720) in my x200. It worked fine, and provided me Internet even in a moving car going down the interstate beween Ohio and Indiana (I was in the passenger seat). I did initially install the Sprint software/driver, but I was eventually able to get it to connect using access connections.

Install any drivers for your esata card (if there are any), and make sure that the Expresscard slot is not disabled. Power manager has a way of turning everything off to save power if it is not actively being used.

 

What happens if you take skype off of the max gain setting and do the mic setup thing so that you can visually see your input level when testing? How do your input levels look?

It sounds to me like maybe your microphone is faulty.

 

Thanks for the info about the wifi, but no, the wifi card area for my x200 is just slightly warm. I assume the wifi card area is the place with the two FCC ID stickers. The warm area in question is 6 o'clock referencing the RAM removal panel. Right where the air vents are.

 

I have done this and the levels look decent. But when I do playback my voice (via the Skype Test call function), my voice is 1/4~1/3 the volume of the spoken voice of skype "attendant." Changing the mic gain - whether via skype or the Sound control panel seems to have a very small effect on the actual gain.

A faulty microphone certainly seems possible. I've never RMA'd a new computer. I suppose I need to call IBM service and do a test or two with them. Will they do an advance replacement of the whole computer, or am I going to be stuck without my machine for 1~2 days while it gets repaired at my local service center? I just gave my X61T to a new hire, so this is now my primary business machine, and I can't really be without it for more than a few hours, as I don't have a backup at the moment.

 

Hm...but if the mic was not functioning properly you wouldn't see the gain tests as you would. So I think it is still something software related.

 

I agree with jaredy.

To try to narrow down what the problem may be, do you have an external mic that you can plug in either to the mic input or USB? Can you get your hands on an external webcam with a built in mic to test?

 

Just a quick comment about the x200 and skype, but I tried it out today with my wife in the other room on her d630, and I have to say, I was actually pretty amazed by the video quality as well as the sound when we switched places. Granted, it was over a home network so no latency, but compared to the 1.3megapixal camera on my np5790, I found it to be much better (though the smaller resolution on the x200 might have made it seem this way, admittedly). As for the sound, I could hear my wife's voice clearly even when she moved across the room to change the baby (thankfully the camera didn't follow!).

Anyway, just my 2 cents/feedback.

 

Thanks for the input. I guess the user who is having the problem knows how it SHOULD work now...and haha at the baby comment.

 

Are most people using the install of OS that their x200 came with?
Anyone with a clean install of xp/vista? Were you able to get the GPS working?

 

I installed Vista64, everything works except the GPS. It detects COM 9, 10 and some other hardware (not on the laptop now and can't remember the name) but says the drivers are not for my OS. I've followed the instructions on Lenovo's website to no avail. The light for the WWAN is on below the screen, but it is greyed out in Access Connections.

Tired of messing with it and don't want to waste the time calling Lenovo support.

-Art

 

I'm getting my x200 tomorrow. It's a free replacement for my defective X61

But, interestingly, according to Lenovo, my X200 has the T9400 2.53 Ghz 6 MB cache CPU. It's better performance than the P8600 but it is a 35W TDP CPU so I would expect greater heat and shorter battery life

I'm debating whether I should purchase a 4 cell battery for days when I want to go light.


Question: my laptop will come with a 2GB DDR3 ram. I have a spare 1 GB DDR2 ram. Is DDR2 and DDR 3 compatible?

 

Battery life might be pretty short if with 4cell and T9400.

DDR2 and DDR3 are not compatible. I picked up 2GB dimm from Newegg for ~$65.

-Art

 

What is a good display port adapter to DVI ?

 

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_pc3_8500_ddr3_sodimm

Can someone confirmed that the 4GB Kit - OCZ3M10664GK will work on the X200?

tallshorty: can the burner be powered by just USB?? I don't want to lug around a power adapter for the burner.

 

Yes, the burner can. It comes with 2 USB cables. I use one for reading the DVD and use the secondary power USB cable for burning. It can burn with one USB but I use 2 just in case.

 

What kind of warranty did you get with your x61?

 

Very long story. In a nutshell, I didn't get any extra warranty when I bought it. I had multiple consecutive repairs on my x61 since I got it in June. I finally had enough and asked for a new laptop. The x61 is no longer available so Lenovo offered the X200 to me and upgraded my warranty to 2 year onsite.

 

sheez..sweet deal!

and i see that you're getting a CPU for the x200 that's not offered in the configuration page on lenovos website.

 

It was huge headache going through all the repairs! But I guess getting a new laptop made up for it somewhat. Yea, it's a higher end CPU model but the downside is it also consume more power because it is a 35W TDP CPU so it will have reduced battery life and more heat. How much I don't know. I kind of wish I was actually getting the P8600 instead. I don't know why they are using that configuration instead of what is available. Unless it was a typo and I'm actually getting the P8400. I would be upset if that was the case because my X61 has a 2.4 Ghz CPU.