X230(t) Owner's Thread

I have read somewhere that there is virtually no difference in performance between a ULV and a regular CPU. There is a huge power draw difference though, 18W Vs. 35W. This might explain why battery life is not so great on the X230.

 

In my experience with Penryn CPUs, I've found that there is indeed no difference in the idle power draw of ULV and SV processors. There <is> a difference in load power draw, as reflected by the various TDP figures. In practice, unless you're running at full or high load very often, there is little practical difference between the two.

I don't actually know if this still holds with SB and IB, but I would think it's a similar story.

 

Don't be fooled by the TDP. That is the maximum power usage. There is no difference when they are running at the same speed. Only difference is that the regular voltage cpu can go way faster by using more power. The cooling capability limits which cpu one laptop can use. I experimented with sandy bridge i5 2435m and 2467m. Within the same architecture, performance scales exactly with clock speed assuming cache size is equal.

Core2duo low voltage was a little different because they had bigger cache. It helps but that doesn't put it near the performance of standard voltage processors.

If you want to run it like a low voltage cpu, limitting max power usage and reduce heat, all you gotta do is limit the cpu performance. You can do this in windows power manager.

 

I have the X230t and a 3/6 cell battery. The machine does not rock with either battery. The 3-cell is very portable, but dies very fast (like under 1.5 hrs).

 

I can confirm that the 6 cell battery is not at fault for 3 feet standing (rocking) issues. I had two brand new X230T in front of me, so I spent plenty of time comparing them hoping that it is a problem from the battery. I tried swapping both the 6 cell battery back and fourth, one tablet was standing on 3 legs no matter which battery it was on while the other one was completely touching all four legs.

With the 6 cell, it takes about 3 hours to get it to 50% battery left using Teamviewer doing presentation through wifi for the whole time. If I had a 3 cell, I can imagine it will only be less than 3 hours because smaller batteries also loses on efficiency. I would expect near 3 hours of light usage, 3.5 hours idle on a 3 cell.

I had my X230T consume low as 6W using an external monitor. Normally, when I'm reading something it uses about 8W, so that means the 6 cell 63Whr battery will last 7.8 hours. If your battery doesn't last that long, you should see what's eating up the battery. There's a high chance that there's a background process running and power usage is higher than 10W.

 

I have my X230 not one week, ans had so far no issues with the temperature of the i7.
While surfing the web, and doing some office tasks, it does not get very hot at all. But if you demand processing-power from the cpu, then it gets really hot, for my opinion to hot to have it on your knees.

Anyway, i am very impressed by the X230. I had the good keyboard before in my X1, so it was not a huge deal for me. The touchpad is horrible, it is not usable for productive use at all. And the battery is very loose in it's base, but it does not look unstable to me...

 

Affirmative. Ivy is to get a blame.
Duplicating AboutThreeFitty's video encoding scenario, my HP Probook with second generation Core i5 and Intel HD 3000 bears maximum CPU temperature of 58C at normal room temperature.

TO ME, X230 definitely looks to run HOTTER.

Wonder what would have happened if there were fewer vents on this Thinkpad?
The Probook comparably is thinner and has fewer exhaust vents.

Which brings me to the next question.

Should i get an X220 instead of X230, since I am going to use it on my lap a lot. I already have ordered the X230 but it still can be cancelled.

 

Fair warning. Even if you call to cancel it, the laptop will ship to you. That's how Lenovo works. They don't seem to have the power to stop an order from shipping, even if you call hours after placing the order. It's built and sent automatically. Just call them once you receive it, don't open it, and call to have a return label sent (free).

I've been through the "I can just call and cancel" mess three times. Every time the laptop shipped. The downside is your refund takes over 3 weeks to process. Annoying.

That said, I see no compelling reason not to keep the X230, but the X220 is still a good machine.

 

for those of you having troubles with the touchpad, try to use the trackpoint. i never used the trackpoint before in my life and at first it was really difficult. i went on amazon and ordered some different caps for the trackpoint. i'm using the soft rim cap at the moment and absolutely love it. i can't see myself going back to the trackpad now unless i need to use some of the windows gestures (zooming in, four finger flick to bring up tabs, etc).

 

Interesting. I guess I'll keep it then. Sadly there's no alternative to this Thinkpad no matter how worse Lenovo's build quality is, now a days.

By the way, why did you want to cancel?

 

Good call. Just ordered those.
I've used Trackpoints in the past but didn't try them with different caps.

There indeed was a lot of research put into it.
IBM introduces "Pointing Stick" (TrackPoint) (1990) - YouTube

 

interesting vid, thanks for posting.

guys i've been having problems with flickering on my ips screen. it's mostly minor waves but they are getting annoying. i tried this test last week: Inversion (pixel-walk) - Lagom LCD test but none of the boxes were flickering. i did it again today and i get strong flickering in 4a and 4b. anybody know how i can solve this issue or is it something i'm going to have to live with?


EDIT: seems like I have solved the issue. did a quick search on google and found out my screen refresh rate was somehow changed to 50Hz. I changed it back to 60Hz and now it is perfect. here's a link for more info if anyone is interested: http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...guide-get-rid-50-hz-when-running-battery.html

 

Have anybody of you installed Windows 8 on the x230t?
What are your experiences?

 

I did. Everything's great except the fact that some ThinkPad utilities do not work.

 

Does a clean install significantly reduce the boot time compared to a factory image? My T410s with an Intel SATA II ssd boots faster than my X230t with a Samsung SATA III ssd. On the T410s I have a clean install of Windows 7 while on the X230t I have a factory image (from recovery discs.)
I remember one of the forum members mentioning that the number of background processes are significantly less between a clean install and a Lenovo factory image. I have anywhere from 112 to 115 running at any given time on my X230t

I caluculate the boot time from the point I hit the power button to the point where the desktop is usable (wifi connected, no loading sign next to the cursor) I don't have a password setup so I go directly into my desktop. In this manner my T410s desktop is ready to use in 30 seconds where as my X230t takes a full 40 seconds.

Does the capacity of the SSD matter at all? (Intel 80GB vs Samsung 256GB)

 

It takes my Samsung 830 22 seconds from hitting the power button to being able to open Chrome. That's with a clean install with some of Lenovo's programs installed. Even with all of those processes and start up programs, 40 seconds seems long... I didn't bother using the factory image, so I can't comment on what it would it have been with it.

 

Any ideas where to get more info on the battery options for the x230? I see virtually no info on Lenovo's site, I'd like to see pictures of the 6 and 9 cell installed along with estimated life for all three batteries. Seems like simple information to provide by Lenovo but I'm coning up blank.

 

The touchscreen, too?
Mine isnt identified as an wacom input device....

 

Ive got an 230t with the stock 180gig ssd, i7, 16gig ram, all stock Lenovo applications running. i never did a clean install. It was booting up in 20 seconds or less when I first got the machine. After a few days of troubleshooting an ssd problem i was having it went up to about 40seconds to boot up. I was about to give up on getting a better time, then one day i read that disabling "rapid boot" would help. Strangely enough it did. I'm now again at 20 seconds or less from swiping my finger to turn on the laptop and logon, to a fully loaded desktop with wifi connected.

 

How do you disable rapid boot?

Edit: Nevermind.Disabled it. No cheese

 

type rapid boot in the search pane. i forget exactly what after that, but its just a click. i'm not on a machine with rapid boot technology at the moment or i would re-enact it.

 

Guys, I have my new X230 tablet here and love it. Samsung 830 (256) SSD, 8gigs RAM, photodon screen protector, etc. Basically every option but the webcam (went for the 6300 wifi card for a great signal). 3 and 6 cell batteries. I may have to sell it due to some unforeseen and sudden bills.

I don't think this is the appropriate venue, but wanted to float it out there in case anyone is interested. I sold my X301 here two weeks ago to a very happy buyer. At the risk of breaking some rule, please PM me if you are interested. Looking to recoup my cost - could sell on eBay for more, but hate the hassle of that.

Thanks.

 

just got on the x230t. just type rapid boot in the start menu search pane, click on enable/ disable lenovo rapid boost shield, uncheck the box.

 

Did exactly that. Still was taking 40 seconds to boot. Changed the power plan to maximum performance and voila! booted in 30 seconds!!! (Still short of the awesome 20 something seconds you and 350seconds get)

 

Can you check what it shows for the "Processor power management" - "Maximum processor state" in the Windows' power plan for the "power source optimized" plan? I did a clean install, and then installed Thinkvantage Power Manager, and somehow mine was set to 5% for the max speed when plugged in, and 50% or something when on battery. The CPU was capped at 1GHz. I changed that to 100% for plugged, and 99% (to disable turbo boost) for battery.

I don't really have a problem with boot speed or anything, but your comment just reminded me of the weird power plan settings. Thinkvantage Power Plan has a very confusing way of power configuration when switching back and fourth between Basic mode using a slider and the Advanced mode.

 

thats odd, with msata im able to boot in ~18sec, maybe a clean install will do the trick

 

def do the clean install. you can still keep some lenovo program if you like, just follow the last few steps of Hearst's guide. I only installed power manager, access connections, communications utility, and necessary drivers from lenovo. i'll time how long it takes for me to boot from a shutdown and post it here. just have to wait to finish this download that i'm waiting on lol

EDIT: here you go. specs are in my sig!

 

Report back on battery life sir! Im getting 6 hours with 6 cell, same with Windows 8 or worse? I have a slab battery arriving tomorrow.

 

I decided to bite the bullet and buy an X230. I plan on doing a clean install and using ThinkVantage system update to install the necessary drivers.

Where is this guide located?

 

You were right to change it to the %'s you did.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/642274-hearsts-guide-clean-installing-windows-7-thinkpad.html

 

DR34M,

What software did you use to get the boot results you posted?



Also can anyone else using the samsung 830 recommend any other good program they've used which would help in optimizing it/speeding it up (other than samsung SSD magician which I am already using)

 

It's called bootracer. It's the same one Hearst uses so I thought I'd try it out. First time using it actually

 

Hey guys,

I got a X230 with the IPS Premium Display. Sadly i noticed some wave like flickering when running on 50Hz and flickering when running on 60Hz. I already tried Lenovo and Intel drivers and the fix from here, but nothing has changed. I get the most flickering when displaying an area with the same color (RGB 127 127 127) and dimmed backlight.

Did anyone of you notice this problem and accomplished to fix the issue?

Thanks in advance

 

what box is flickering?

Inversion (pixel-walk) - Lagom LCD test

 

According to BootRacer I don't seem to be doing too bad...

 

Give Ubuntu a spin. My X230 boots to the login screen in ~3 seconds, and in the first 5 seconds I've got Chrome up and online. I'll post a video some day. This is with the mSATA drive only.

 

Lol that's pretty good man you're fine!

 

1, 2a, 2b, 4a (most flickering), 5, 7a, 7b

I tested the boxes with dimmed backlight.

 

Hi All,

I just picked up a Lenovo x230T, and I'm looking to upgrade its internal hard drive (a 320gb 7200 RPM hd). My options are to either:

1) Buy an mSATA drive and install it in the ExpressCard slot, move my OS and programs onto it, and keep the original drive for extra storage. If so, I'd be looking at roughly $90 for a 120gb mSATA SSD drive. I'd expect its Windows Experience Index to jump up from about a 5.9 to a 7.8. The downside would be that I'd loose the ExpressCard slot (not sure what else I'd use it for), and I'm not sure if I would lose (or gain less) battery life in the process.

OR

2) Just buy a 7mm SSD drive and replace the original 320gb platter drive. I imagine that I only need about 256 gb of HD space, which puts me at roughly $215 for the SSD and an adapter for the installation. I'd expect the Windows Experience Index for the HD to jump from 5.9 to 7.9, and I'd expect some sort of battery life savings.

Any advice? The mSATA seems like the way to go, but I'm not sure if I'm underestimating the ExpressCard usefulness or power savings.

Thanks!

 

The mSATA plugs into the miniPCI slot located under the palm rest, not the express card slot. The mSATA + hard drive is the way to go in my opinion.

 

Picked up a ThinkVision 19 LED Monitor. Hooked it up to VGA as couldn't find a an HDMI adapter for DisplayPort but regardless 19 inches rock!

 

Im fully running Windows 8 now. Also have Get Start Button (ORB) and Classic Start Menu Back in Windows 8 Using Classic Shell - Tweaking with Vishal running and it looks great.

 

did you 'clean install' windows 8? have any trouble with drivers or issues?

 

No, I upgraded from Windows 7. No issues whatsoever.

 

Thanks for this! I had seen this before but, had not tried it out. Good to know that it works great.

 

I failed to mention I had my power plan at maximum. so disabling rapid boot worked ? is that correct ?

 

hmm.. not sure what's wrong. have you tried the test at maximum brightness? go to power manager and click on the video playback option and see what happens.

 

Anyone have a good recommendation for an expresscard slot tv tuner?

 

Disabling rapid boot DID NOT WORK for me (in the sense it did not speed up my boot time.) Changing the power plan from "maximum battery" life to "maximum performance" did.