X230(t) Owner's Thread

Hi guys, I ended up picking the X230 over the X1 carbon. I wanted a robust, proven, easily serviceable design, and ultrabooks haven't really had a chance to prove themselves yet in any of these categories. Ordereded 15/8/2012, expected ship out date is 27/8/2012. Here's my config!

I plan to upgrade the RAM to 8 or 16 gb and the hard drive to a 240 or 256 gb ssd

Intel Core i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.30 GHz)
Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Operating system language Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English
Display type 12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna
System graphics Intel HD 4000 Graphics in Intel Core i5-3320M Processor
Total memory 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Keyboard Keyboard - US English
Fingerprint reader UltraNav without FingerPrint Reader
Camera 720p HD Camera
Hard drive 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 6 Cell ThinkPad Battery X44+
Power cord 65W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
Integrated mobile broadband Mobile Broadband upgradable
Language pack Publication - US English

 

Apparently if you enter that (it fixed the problems on the X220T) in command prompt as an administrator you get more calibration points (16) which apparently will make your touchscreen more accurate. I cannot seem to get it to work as when I copypaste that in CMD and hit enter I get,



Will uninstall the waccom driver tonight and attempt to see if I can use the line in the quote above to improve calibration.

Apparently can also use.

Will mess around with it tonight in an attempt to improve calibration.

Wacom Forum - Wacom Europe GmbH • View topic - Perfect calibration on Tablet's Pc's is possible!!!

X230t digitizer performance? - Lenovo Community

 

Did you try pressing "reset" button in the tablet pen/touch calibration? I think you need to first remove the stored calibration data by pressing "reset" as that message is saying.

My X230T is okay without any calibration at all, so I guess I'm very lucky. But I only use it in landscape primary mode.

 

Yeah, I did try pressing the reset button. Doesn't work, I'm sure it's the Wacom driver interfering. I removed the stored calibration data but didn't make it any difference

 

WOW

Uninstalled the Wacom Driver and put tabcal lincal novalidate XGridPts=5,16,60,165,258,640,922,1115,1220,1264,1350 YGridPts=5,12,39,105,225,400,575,695,761 into Command Prompt (Under Administrator) and then calibrated it as it opens a calibration with like 50 points.

The edges are now perfect with the pen.

Can also scroll in applications now that before were not usable using my finger

 

And you've tipped on every! point with your finger or pen?
imgur: the simple image sharer

 

Pen.

Anyway
I have a problem, I accidentally deleted the recovery partition and Ive attempted to recover it but I cannot. Any idea what I can do?

 

Edit: Fixed it. Gosh that was annoying.

 

My new X230T with Windows 8 is up and running:

​

 

I think I'm going to try this on my X230 tablet. So you followed the instructions from the above post (on Lenovo forums)?

Seems too good to be true. Any advcie? Just uninstall the Wacom ISD Tablet driver, reboot, install the .exe, then run the CMD and done?

 

Third update, my laptop is reporting that it shipped yesterday. Looks like they're getting caught back up.

 

Mine shipped yesterday too, but I haven't gotten a tracking number yet and my CC wasn't charged yet. Delivery estimate is 26th Sunday. LOL

 

Current sale will end tomorrow. I need your help urgently. I have a an X120e that I use for recording, editing, and watching TV shows on a projector. I see that the X230 does not an HDMI output. Can someone confirm that the mini displayport on the X230 sends both audio and video to an external display? Also, will the X230 be a huge improvement over the X120e. Thanks.

I have preconfigured an X230 with the most basic options to save some money. This configuration will be without a camera, fingerprint reader, bluetooth, and smartcard reader. The price before taxes is $707. Is this a good deal, or should I wait for a better deal? Thanks.


• Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
• 12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna
• Intel HD 4000 Graphics in Intel Core i5-3210M Processor
• 4 GB DDR3 - 1600MHz (1 DIMM)
• UltraNav™ with TrackPoint® and buttonless multi-touchpad
• 320GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
• No Optical Drive
• 6 Cell ThinkPad Battery X44+
• None
• Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN
• Mobile Broadband upgradable
• 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty

 

A mini display port supports audio and video but since I haven't used it on mine, someone else will have to chime in. CPU wise, the x230 will blow a x120e out of the water and the GPU increase is also pretty substantial. For just over $700, I don't think you can go wrong.

 

@davidt1

I know my X230T's regular size DisplayPort can do video and audio. I have a cable that does DisplayPort to HDMI. It worked fine connected to my TV. I wonder why they made the port size different from the X230 and X230T.

Thinkpad x120e is a good netbook, but still just a netbook. You can't really compare those two. I would suggest you add at least a 128GB mSATA SSD aftermarket (Crucial M4 128GB mSATA - direct from crucial.com or at least a 64GB mSATA) for Windows, and use your HDD for recoding and stuff.

To save money, you can also go for the default wifi card instead of intel 6205. You can always buy the intel 6205 wifi card aftermarket for about $15 on ebay. Also, I would upgrade the HDD to 500GB 5400rpm (isn't this like $10 more?) if you are going to buy the mSATA SSD.

 

Thanks for the help, folks.

HP79,

About using the mSATA for windows, do you mean there is an additional slot for a second hard drive? For storage, I have a WD 750GB 7200rpm already. Thanks.

 

There is one "normal" hard drive slot along with an mSATA. This way you can install Windows on the mSATA SSD and use the normal hard drive slot for mass storage. Gives you the best of both worlds. SSD and mass storage. I don't keep up with hard drives but I doubt the hard drive you have is going to fit. The x230 only accepts 7mm high drives. (Assuming you want to use it in the first place.)

 

So I deleted the recovery partition and reinstalled Windows which I'm regretting. Don't have a backup copy of factory image. Called Lenovo, played dumb and gave them a sob story and now they're sending me factory discs for free.

 

haha nice. the first thing i did when i got the laptop was make my recovery disks with the help of Hearst's guide. I learned the hardway when I never made disks for my acer lol.

 

I just checked...the mini displayport does output sound and video to an external display.

I'd bump the 320gb hard drive to 500gb if this is going to be your primary computer. If not, the 320 will suffice.

Also, I definitely recommend going with an mSATA SSD for your OS drive.

 

Just received my X230 and immediately removed Windows and installed Ubuntu.

It is honestly the most beautiful laptop I've owned. Keyboard is beautiful, I'm seeing 12 hours of battery under Ubuntu 12.04 at medium brightness. Everything works out of the box. The only issue I have is with the trackpad, but I rarely stray from the keyboard so it's not really a problem.

Ubuntu runs smoother than ever. So smooth in fact, that I've stuck with Unity, using a workspace with DVTM + TMUX as a tiling WM. The whole OS is super snappy, even with my 320gb 7200 RPM HD.

I just ordered a Crucial 128gb SSD for the mSATA port that I'll be installing Arch Linux on. I'll keep you all posted.

I recommend that you all give Ubuntu a spin. Windows seemed a bit sluggish on this laptop, but Ubuntu absolutely FLIES with none of the bloat of windows.

 

hey guys how do we use micro sd cards on the x230? do we need to get some kind of adapter or something?

 

Good stuff, I will buy one of these laptops soonish and am real keen to hear a full in depth report on how ubuntu goes with it as that is my OS of choice also. The term "windoze" is not for nothing, anyway.....
PLease report back telling about any little thing that does not work, any little detail of something that should but doesn't I would love to hear please.

DR34M, yes adapter required, there are usb one as well as probably the more popular solution on this page for eg.
Micro SD Card (MicroSDHC) - Online Shopping @ Shopping Square.COM.AU Online Bargain & Discount Shopping Square

 

Discs arrived this morning! Overnight shipping. Have restored it to factory.

Also just bought a stick of Patriot 8GB RAM at 1300mhz. They didn't have 1600 but now I have 12GB RAM!

Also bought an external slim DVD player, 500GB USB 3.0 portable harddrive and a 8GB microSD with adapter. Life's good.

Windows absolutely flies on my Lenovo installed Intel SSD.

 

Get a USB microSD adapter. My SD Card Reader on both my old X201 and X220T randomly blue screen instantly upon inserting an SD Card, and to this day I have no idea why.

 

Alright next order of business: Build a eGPU & purchase a slab battery.

 

Anyone looking to order the Samsung 830, its on sale for $180 at Tigerdirect and B&H photo. Order with your discover card (Must login to your discover online acc and get to Tigerdirect through there) and get 5% cash back (Amounts to $9 off techinically costing the Drive $171.)
Fat wallet offers 4% cash back

At B&H photo the price is $180 and you also get a $10 gift card (so technically $170.)

On the slickdeals forums, some members are reporting that Newegg and Amazon are price matching. Some members who bought the samsung 830 on Newegg got a refund for the difference in the form of a Newegg GC.

 

Lenovo sent me an email Monday saying my x230 has shipped from Shanghai. I checked the order number with UPS and it showed it being in Shanghai and I assume on its way over to Canada. However the day after and until today. The tracking number doesn't work on UPS and Lenovo's order status says "invoiced" What does this mean? Is my laptop on the way here to Canada or..??

 

Bought a L520 today for a relative and cannot believe how much I miss a big screen

 

Buy a dock with an external monitor There's no way I could have used the x220 as my primary machine without the power of external displays.

 

Yeah, I'm going to do that as soon as I can afford to because gah small screens are horrible and this is my primary laptop that gets me through the day in everything I do. I'm glued to a computer screen most days due to university, work and other stuff.

 

thanks for the suggestions on the media card reader guys. this would work for us right? Amazon.com: Sandisk 16GB MicroSDHC Memory Card, Class 4: Computers & Accessories

 

It's in the mail... I was about 5 min from heading to work when I saw the deal and jumped on it.

 

For those who are curious about the invoiced MSG, I found out it means they sent me an invoice a few days after sending me the laptop. The delivery was very fast! Took 4 days total. They used UPS to deliver it to me. Shanghai to Canada. Its at the ups office so I will pick it up tmr!

 

Ordered that slice battery thing. Hopefully doesn't weigh a tonne. But looking forward to longer battery life as I'm only getting a mere 7-8 hours of usage. Also should get a higher wattage charger but Lenovo charges so much for them! Will check on ebay.

 

I just got my new X230 and it looks like I got a bad one. On a black background I have a lot of light-bleed. The black looks very patchy and close to the bezel I see large spots where the light shines brighter. I doubt that this is normal had somebody the same problem?

 

a lot of these screens have light bleed on the edge...it drives you nuts on startup but isn't an issue--for me anyway--once your in the os

 

yeah not sure yet if it annoys me enough to return it. I will decide in the next couple of days.

 

Am I the only one who got a perfect X230T?

 

Maybe you are just less OCD than others

 

I did too

 

I don't believe there is a perfect x230(t). I like mine just fine, but I would be stunned if there was one without a flaw...I've owned or managed hundreds of laptops and never saw a perfect one.

Mine is pretty good. No dead pixels. Doesn't rock on three legs. Solid pegs to hold the screen in place (adjacent to keyboard). Some screen bleed. My only real problem was the keyboard...the Y key popped off the second day and kept popping off until I got a replacement.

As far as "designed" that way, but not perfect, I am pretty disappointed in the touchpad. This is more a user preference in some ways--I don't care for the textured finish or small size--but also from a functional standpoint I just am not thrilled with the buttonless touchpad. Right clicking is hit and miss and click and drag is dubious.

I know it can be done right--the macbook touchpads are a true joy to work with--and I know they were trying to conserve space, but I feel they went to far and if I was giving a score of 1 to 10, I'd knock a point off just for the touchpad.

I've gotten over the whole island keyboard and think it is easily the best island keyboard out there (blows the macbook away), but I left my laptop at home one day last week and grabbed an office x220 and it only made me miss the old keyboard all over again....sigh

 

Having a hard choice selecting either an X230 or T430.
I want to go for a smaller and lighter notebook but screen resolution of 1366x768 is holding me back on X230. The T430 on other hand, has high resolution and 9 cell slice battery but it is not IPS and has poor display reviews so far.

Since my development work needs a bit of HD+ resolution, do you think HD display on X230 is workable in normal routine?

Also, anyone with an i7 on X230, how are the average temperatures??

Good god, Ivy does run a lot hotter than the Sandy!

(P.S. I already have hot lemons running on idle temps of 65-75C with normal browsing LOL, like XPS 1645 )

 

Those Ivy Bridge numbers are from unlocked desktop processors. The mobile processors (Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge) are pretty close in terms of heat and power usage. Unless you are constantly pushing the CPU, the i7 dual core offers little performance over the top i5 for a huge price increase. What type of programs do you use? Is an external monitor doable?

 

I'm thinking the leg issue has to do with the battery. The 6 Cell batter has two legs and it voids out the leg that is next to the battery. When you pull the battery out, the machine only sits on 3 legs as a 4th one doesn't exist. Im thinking that maybe the 3 cell battery (which people have) is at fault for not having its own legs or something? I dont know as don't own the 3 cell. But there is absolutely no rocking issues for me and trust me I tried.

I don't mind the touchpad at all. Yes, it could have been bigger but really you're meant to use the touchscreen for most things. Ive already posted about how to get the touchscreen to be extremely accurate and I find myself just scrolling down websites using my finger as its more convenient. I have updated the driver using DriverMax to a newer version that Lenovo doesn't have on its website and it fixes the software issues.

I have no light bleed and no issues with the screen.

 

CPU extensive compilations mostly. Well, already have external monitors but I'm getting X230 purely for outdoors so longer the battery life, the better it is! That's where I guess T430 gives most output? Isn't it?

Since you have an i5, what average temps you see on it while pushing it to the limits??

A quick look around for Ivy Bridge and HD 4000 notebooks, in this forum - it does look like they run hotter than second generation ones with HD 3000.

 

Rendering a video for 20 mins. with the CPU pegged I normally see it level off at 75C. (Room temperature is roughly 75F.) The battery life of the T430 and X230 should be close as they both offer the same battery options. (9 cells, slice batteries, etc.)

 

I can more or less confirm that; the idle power draw of my T430 is approximate the same as that of my x220t, which was approximately the same as that of the x230t that I briefly owned. The power draw between laptops of similar spec and different screen sizes really isn't anywhere near as pronounced as it used to be.

 

How are you guys monitoring power consumption? My new x230 with the four cell battery is only good for three hours of casual use, I expected much more than that. Maybe I confused reviews with the six cell battery. Doesn't the six cell battery extend out of the back or bottom of the laptop?

 

The 4 cell is flush with the entire laptop and the 6 cell is flush at the back and extends from the bottom. The 9 cell extends from both the bottom and the back of the laptop.

Your battery life for the 4 cell seems about right.