X200 with T9400 (2.53GHz, 6MB L2) at university store

FYI, Lenovo's store for my university offers the option of a T9400 processor (2.53Ghz, 6MB L2 cache), it's $115.50 more compared to the 2.4Ghz processor. I just checked the general Lenovo site, and this option is not listed, but maybe it will be coming in the future... So if you want the fastest processor (and you don't happen to study at the same university), you may want to wait for this option becomes available to you. Interestingly, the same processor upgrade in the case of a T400/T500 costs only $77 (again, on the university store).

Here is the summary of a sample configuration with the fastest processor (notice the price includes the ultrabase with a DVD-writer + 3 year warranty):

ThinkPad X200 - 3 Yr Standard Depot Warranty 1
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz, 6MB L2, 1066MHz FSB) 1
Operating system: Genuine Windows Vista Business 64 1
Operating system language: Genuine Windows Vista Business 64 US English 1
Display type: 12.1 WXGA (1280x800), 2x2 UltraConnect II antenna , WWAN, Camera 1
System graphics: Intel GMA X4500 HD 1
Total memory: 2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM) 1
Keyboard: Keyboard US English 1
Pointing device: TrackPoint 1
Hard drive: 250GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm 1
Intel® Turbo Memory hard drive cache: Intel Turbo Memory 2GB 1
Mobile media base: ThinkPad X200 UltraBase 1
Media base bay devices: DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA) 1
System expansion slots: 5-1 Media Card Reader and Modem 1
Bluetooth: Integrated Bluetooth PAN 1
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) 1
Wireless WWAN accessories: Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable 1
Battery: ThinkPad X200 Series 9 cell Li-Ion Battery 1
Power cord: Country Pack North America with Line cord & 65W AC adapter 1
Language pack: Language Pack US English 1

==
Total: $1,383.90

P.S. There is also an option for a PC-DOS license ($110 cheaper than vista home premium, $143 cheaper than vista business)

 

I am pretty sure that the T9400 processor would have a negative effect both in terms of heat and battery life. I have the P8600 and am more than satisfied with the performance/battery life, so I would recommend that combination.

FYI - the price for that loaded of a configuration seems pretty reasonable.

____________________
Thinkpad x200 - P8600 @2.4 Ghz, 9 Cell Battery, 2GB DDR3 (1 Stick) Intel x4500 HD, Wi-fi 5100, Bluetooth, 5-1 card reader/modem, 160GB 5400 RPM, Triple-Boot Vista Business x64/XPSP3/Ubuntu8.04

 

Thanks for the confirmation. My X61 is getting replaced with a free X200 from Lenovo and the rep told me the specs for the CPU was a T9400 and I wasn't sure if she meant P8400. Since a T9400 version does exist, it appears that is what I will be getting

In terms of heat and battery life. I am no expert but I would imagine an extra 0.13 Ghz will have negligible impact but the extra 3 MB of cache will make a huge difference in performance.

 

the larger cache shouldn't make any difference on regular real world applications, with the exception of a 10% better performance on gaming (which is ridiculous even to mention since it's equipped with a GMA 4500HD) and maybe some improvement on video encoding.

The downside of heat and lower battery life of 35W TDP will probably make it more of a liability then a real performance advantage.
The only 35W TDP cpu that I would consider is the T9600 because it has a massive core frequency advantage.

 

yah the t9400 will definitely have worse battery life, couldnt tell you how much worse, but i would take off atleast an hour (ofcourse correct me if im wrong). and it won't have a noticeable difference if you never compare the 2

nothing is better or worse....if you never compare it

 

Why would the T9400 use more battery life? Just because it's maximum wattage is higher, doesn't mean it uses that much ALL the time. Only when maxed out which is rare. Battery life might be a little higher since for CPU bound applications, the time it takes running it would be shorter, which is why intel recommends ondemand for battery life over an underclock cpu.

 

What university?

 

Ah crap...I didnt' realize the T9400 has a 35W TDP. What a bummer. NOw I kind of want the P8600 instead. The battery life will probably be similar to my X61 now, since it also has a 35W CPU

here is a comparison of CPU performance between the different models:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Intel-Centrino-2-CPUs.11100.0.html

Looks like the power consumption is indeed significantly higher than the P8600 although performance is better.

I don't understand why Lenovo is giving me the T9400 CPU. It isn't even in their Tabook: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitute/psref/tabook.pdf They should at least offer the P9500 CPU as an option or at least consulted with me. I think I would've gone for the P8600 even though the T9500 is more expensive.

I was really happy that I will be getting a faster CPU with double the cache but now, I am not so sure.

 

This confirms that the T9400 CPU does indeed exist for the X200:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/landing_pages/thinkpad/2008/X200

First paragraph under "X200 Features"

 

I wouldn't, because the P8400 under normal settings (energy star) already has the fan on constantly and rather warm air being pushed out. It's not loud, but it is always on. T9400 is great, not for this kind of laptop.

 

I was never given the option by Lenovo. I just hope it won't be too bad. If it is like my X61. The T8300 CPU is 35W and I can get a good 5-6 hrs on an 8 cell and the heat wasn't too bad. It was never a problem for me. I hope the X200 with the T9400 can pull at least 7-8 hrs.

At least my X200 will stand out from the rest. It is probably the most (or one of the most) powerful 12.1" ultraportable on the market! Show me another 12.1" laptop and <3.0lbs with a T9400 CPU clocked at 2.53 Ghz 1066 Mhz bus 6 MB cache...muahahaha (evil laugh)....

 

just got my x200 today and indeed it has the T9400 cpu. Will update with battery and heat performance later.

 

Just reporting back on Heat:

Almost none! It gets just mildly warm on the palmrest and a little warmer on the bottom of the laptop. It is MUCH cooler than my x61

Haven't tested battery life yet.

 

Anyways, today was the first time I had any real extensive use of the battery (9 cell). It was charged to 100% and all that I have been doing is Word, wifi on (but not browsing), brightness at 50%, and listening to music. Power setting to Power Source Optimized

So far, I'm at 50% after 2 hours of use only, with 2:30 hrs remaining according to the battery meter. That only gives me about 4.5 hrs of battery life! Which is about half of what is report with the T8600 CPU!

I can probably stretch it to 5 hrs if I have screen at minimum, no wifi, and no music. This is worse than my x61, where I can active 5-6 hrs with this kind of use.

This sucks

On another note, I don't know why my HDD keeps flashing. According to Peformance monitor, it is spinning up and down constantly, from 0 KB/sec all the way up to >8000 KB/sec. It just keeps fluctuating. Is this normal? Virus scan is not active.

 

the spinning hard drive is probably because you just got the computer. Vista is still indexing the drive.

 

According to "Indexing Options", the indexing is complete.

 

i was about to purchase my x200 and refreshed the page and saw a t9400 option. i clicked it right away for an about +~$115 option over the p8400. who cares.

so i ordered it and whatnot. next day i get an email and cancellation saying there was a problem with the heat and battery life of the t9400. so i was forced to re-order the p8600. i do wish i coulda had the t9400 tho.. worth it to pay a bit more for the power and to be different from all the other lenovo's stuck with the p8xxx series

 

Really? They said the reason the T9400 wasn't canceled because of heat and battery life problems? Then why did they give it to me?

I guess my X200 is set apart from the rest. Better resell value in the future?

 

My best guess is that because you are a warranty replacement rather than a paying customer the rules may be different. They probably built a few T9400 equipped x200 to test out the performance, but ultimately decided that the P series processor was a better fit for such a small notebook. Because you got a free upgrade from an x61, they probably figured it would still be better and you would be satisfied.

I am not really sure about resale value. The T9400 is certainly a little bit faster, and this may appeal to some people. Although to me, the key with a laptop the size of the x200 is battery life first, keyboard/build quality second, and raw performance way down the list. So I think a medium voltage (P) or even low voltage (SL) processor is a better fit for an x200 and thus more valuable. Now if it was a P9500 or SP9400 (6MB Cache, 25w) then that would be something that I would pay extra for.

 

actually, my laptop was built in October according to the sticker on the outside if the box. It was a custom built laptop with the equivalent specs of my old laptop.

 

Any updates on how this laptop has been running? I have looked at Lenovo's website and didn't see any 2.53 processors available with the 6MB Cache.

 

Laptop is working fine. No problems. heat is really not an issue. the palmrest gets only very mildly warm. The bottom of the laptop gets moderately warm but hardly an issue. The air coming out of the vent is not even hot. This is a HUGE improvement over my previous X61.

The only complaint I might have is with the battery life. I have not ran the laptop from 100% to hibernation yet but according to the battery life estimate, I am looking at around 5-6 hours of use(closer to 5 hrs) with wifi & BT on, 50% brightness, and lowest processor speed (which is 1.6 Ghz). I can likely stretch it to 6 hours with battery stretch on.

I would really like the processor speed to go down to 800Mhz but my friend has the X200 with the P8600 CPU and lowest throttle is 1.6Ghz as well. I don't know how others are getting 800Mhz?

 

I think there is a reporting issue with some applications and the newer penryn processors. On my x200 Tablet (SL9400 @ 1.86GHz), CPU-Z reports my system at 1596MHz with DDR2 memory. However, it has DDR3 and is able to step down to ≈800MHz.

If you are running Vista, I suggest starting resource monitor. You can open this by starting task manager (ctrl+shift+esc), switching to the performance tab, and clicking "resource monitor" in the lower right corner. This will give you detailed graphs of CPU, Disk, Network, and Memory.

The CPU section should also include % Maximum Frequency. On my x200 Tablet this goes down to 42% (0.42*1.86GHz=782MHz) and this is the appropriate speed. The P8600 should go down to 33% (0.33*2.4GHz=792MHz). I am not sure about the T9400. It may not be able to attain 30% speed (0.31*2.53GHz=784MHz), and the best you can get may be 47.4% (0.474*2.53GHz=1.2GHz). However, if you check this, I think you will find that your processor actually does drop below 1.6GHz when using the maximum battery life profile.

 

Thank you for that tip. You are right, I am getting abou 800Mhz when set at Maximum Battery Life. According to the Performance Monitor, the CPU is running at 31% maximum frequency, which is 2.53x0.31x100%=784Mhz.

Thank you for clearing that up

 

Glad to hear it. I am not sure why CPU-z is misreporting all of the new processors. Hopefully that will be fixed in a future version.

 

hey so i am completely aware that this thread has been completely dead for a year, but i just thought id mention that this model is listed in the hardware maintenance manual, so you didnt get a demo

and, there is also a t9550 2.66ghz model.

there is also a pretty well known (as in im thinking of getting one on ebay) p8700 2.53 ghz model. i wonder why you didnt get that one?

my question is: why not a p9700 model? gees that would be awesome.
or a p9600... or at least a p8700 that you can still get from their store... *sigh*