X230(t) Owner's Thread

Considering the max two-core turbo on a 3520m is 3.4GHz, I'd say you are fine. Don't lose sleep over a couple hundred MHz, really.

By default the x230t (I assume you are talking about the t, since there is no outdoor display for the vanilla) has an IPS screen, which is pretty good as far as screens go. The outdoor display should be brighter, but I personally find the regular screen to be more or less bright enough. The 2x2 and 3x3 just refer to antenna counts. If you get a unit with 3 antennas, you can't get a webcam.

 

i don't have anything bluetooth to try other than three audio devices--two headsets and a receiver for the stereo :/ could be audio-specific i guess?

i've reinstalled, rebooted, and restarted drivers and devices so many times, but it gets to be more magic than science when there are this many settings. five tabs in the Bluetooth Settings, a couple sub-properties pages; i have no idea if one wrong setting could muck up the works. what's the difference between Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator and ThinkPad Bluetooth 4.0? what in the world do those do? do COM ports matter to audio? arg

 

Well, the t is the Tablet version, right? If so, that's the one. I don't care about webcam so is 3x3 better than 2x2 or something? Also, webcam improves resell value if I should ever get rid of it (or not)?

Thanks

 

The t is the tablet version. I do think the webcam marginally increases resale value, but not by as much as Lenovo charges for it. 3x3 is theoretically better than 2x2, and if you don't need the camera, you should by all means get it, but the difference may not actually be perceptible depending on how you're using the wifi.

 

I believe all the X230 screens, tablet or not, are rated at 300 nits. I think they're all the same screen too, though I may be wrong on that point. Another factor is the outdoor tablet screens are covered in glass, which can be reflective. I've found my X220i to be fairly usable outdoors except in direct sunlight.

 

Wow, so there's no difference between indoor and outdoor except for the finish now?

EDIT: It looks like ZaZ is right:

http://shop.lenovo.com/products/us/tech-specs/laptop/thinkpad/x-tablet-series/x230t/

 

You doubted me. That's what hurt.

 

I'm just really surprised... I don't understand what's the point of having an "outdoor" screen, that's got the same brightness and more glare. Sometimes this company is just beyond me.

 

Thanks peeps

 

It's 3.6Ghz.

ARK | Intel® Core

 

You should read the fine text at the bottom of the page:

3.4GHz is max for two cores, 3.6GHz is max for one core.

Still, again, no need to lose sleep over 200MHz.

 

Dear community,
I own a X230 with a clean Win 7 64 bit installation on a 128 GB mSATA SDD. I'd like to use the internal 500 GB HDD as a backup & media drive.

Somehow it's not possible to hot swap the HDD without rebooting! The drive starts spinning but there is no recognition in the Disk Management.

AHCI is enabled in the BIOS (UEFI only).
"Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" driver 11.2.0.1006 from Lenovo System Update is installed.
Recent driver from Intel Website doesn't get Hotswap running, neither does the Standard Windows AHCI driver.
The HDD is a Hitachi HTS725050A7E630.

Has anybody managed to hot swap the hdd? Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
chemiker

 

The primary bay in the X230 (or any ThinkPad) is not designed for hot-swappability, even in situations where the user indicates the mSATA SSD as the boot drive and uses the HDD in the primary bay for file storage. The fact that the HDD in the primary is used for file storage is only a "user convention" and not a system setting.

By contrast, on the T430/T530/W530, you can add a drive to the UltraBay via a caddy adapter, and this drive is swappable: it appears in the Windows 7 "safely remove drive" list in the notification area.

 

Hey guys, I was wondering if there was a way to disable the fingerprint reader and bluetooth. I don't need these features but when you order an X230 now, these features come with it. I would appreciate any feedback.

 

Fn+F5 (in Windows): turn off Bluetooth in black Lenovo window. BIOS setting (at start-up): turn off Fingerprint Reader.

 

Just changed the thermal paste on my X230 to Artic Cooling MX-2, this is how it looked like:


https://www.dropbox.com/s/4scy65qvapj29az/2012-11-10 15.24.11.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/odhecjda2p2vrg7/2012-11-10 15.26.56.jpg

Idle: about 2-5ºC difference
Load (prime95): about 10ºC

I am happy with the change =)
Took about 30-40min.

 

Thanks. I will do that.

Lenovo does not give the option to not select the fingerprint reader and bluetooth when you configure the machine now. I am wondering if having these features will make the battery life slightly worse.

 

Here in Germany I can choose If i want the FingerPrint-Reader or not.. Difference in Price is about 11 EURO. Bluetooth is always selected to....

I think if you turn it off in BIOS or, Windows System-Settings they will not use any Battery Power (not measurable).

 

I am currently considering an X230, but I don't like the 6- and 9-cell batteries. I saw that there is a 4-cell battery but its nominal capacity seems to be much less than the jump from 6 to 4 would suggest. Is this true? How much time could you expect to squeeze from this battery compared to the standard 6-cell battery?

 

9 cell = ~95Whr
6 cell = ~66Whr
3 cell = ~30Whr

At most, I would say around 4 hours is the max for the 3 cell. Why don't you like the 6 and 9 cell?

 

Because they stick out the bottom? I for one really, really hate batteries that stick out the bottom, especially that x220t/x230t 6-Cell.

 

According to Lenovo the small battery has 4 cells (ThinkPad Battery 44) and only 29Whr - which I find strange compared to the 66Whr of the 6 cells.

Commander Wolf already gave the same reasons why I don't like the bigger batteries. In addition theses batteries make the notebook higher in the back which I also dislike.

 

Because "cell count" and actual capacity are only linearly correlated when the cells are the same size, and I'm pretty sure that the small battery is using different cells than the two larger ones. One more reason why "cell-count" is a useless measure of anything.

 

Re 6 cell. Just unboxed new 230 tablet with 6 cell. Charged it and states has 3 hrs of max life... defective battery or am I doing something wrong?

 

Check the actual WHr capacity. Recalibrate it if you want. If you're getting the rated 56WHr (or whatever it is), then there shouldn't be any issue with the battery.

 

Under high performance mode with lot of disk access then 3 hours is right. Under normal usage like office, net, then 5 to 6 hours is more typical.

 

just got a x230t, how do i know if i have IPS screen? or all x230t has IPS screen?'
the screen looks foggy, and not even as good as my old x220 non-ips screen.
BTW, the screen is so yellowish, i had to calibrate the display to make white color white.

 

all x230t have the same screen.

 

How's windows 8 perform on X230 so far?
I haven't followed this thread for a while and too lazy to read it again.
Thank you.

 

No problems with Windows 8 here. Some of the Thinkvantage applications don't work but beside that it is fast and stable. It's more a matter of taste if you like the metro UI start menu or not.

 

Recently received my X230 with Win 8 Pro preinstalled through the Barnes and Noble site. Deal was just too damn good not to bite. In any case, I'm really making an effort and learning all the shortcuts with Win 8 but I'm still having concerns whether or not I'll stick it out or wipe for Win 7 Pro. Regardless, the laptop as a whole is exactly what I wanted as the all around mobile, everyday use around the house notebook while my W530 sits in it's rightful place on my desk. The screen on the x230 is gorgeous, (puts my older T420 to shame!), with the i7-3520 having no issues running Vmware workstation 9, and with the Samsung 840 pro 256Mb ssd the systems is insanely responsive. My ONLY gripe is the touchpad!

The touchpad is just so inaccurate and jumpy. I'll move the cursor along and then click on a web link and next thing I know the cursor jumped and I accidentally clicked a link for free pills! (no really, I wasn't trying to click that link).

So far I've adjusted all Synaptics sensitivity settings to different levels, reinstalled the Lenovo drivers as well as drivers directly from Synaptics, and now just called Lenovo support for a replacement palm-rest with new touchpad. Either it's just a crappy touchpad and that's all there is to it, or the drivers under Windows 8 just haven't matured yet. I wouldn't call it a deal breaker for me but it is an absolute pain-in-the- considering every other Thinkpad I've owned has a touchpad that has or does perform flawlessly. As a test, I might try installing Win7 on another ssd in the x230 and see if the touchpad works well under that environment.

Just my 2 cents for now. --Sanza

 

I was wondering about the fan noise / heat to expaect of the X230 in Windows 7 / ubuntu while doing light tasks - i.e. browsing this forum, watching non HD movies online, text editing, ... . I currently have a company's X220i (lowest specs) at home for testing. It runs a default Ubuntu 12.04 LTS distribution with all updates, but no special settings applied. With this setup, the fan already starts blowing audibly and producing a steady flow of hot air while browsing this forum; then, trying to play a youtube video sends it spinning really fast.

Is this expected behaviour and do I have to expect the same noise from a X230? If it is not normal, is there a way to fix it (i.e. it's only an ubuntu problem / special settings are needed / ...) ?

 

WIth WIndows 7 and Linux Mint 13 (only applied kernel 3.6.6) I barelly can hear the fan.
Only in youtube I start hearing (if I am on a silent enviromnet).

 

I have both X220 and X230. X230 is supposed to be hotter, but I think both are equally and pleasantly quiet under average load in Win7.

 

That sounds great, I haven't tried Win 8 yet. But I am willing to learn. I demo at the store and it's not actually that bad. It makes more focus on what I am doing, rather than multi task.

 

Just disable it and use the trackpoint, the touchpad is garbage

 

Seconded. I see people complain about the touchpad, and I'm just like, "and your point is what? are you admitting to using the touchpad?"

 

To be fair, when someone is used to a touchpad with good gesture support, using a trackpoint can be seen as a real setback. But this also depends on your primary usage. If it is mainly focused on typing (coding, shell, ...), the trackpoint is much more convenient when mastered. But when doing recreational things for which you don't need the keyboard that much (web browsing, managing photos, ...), the touchpad -or a mouse for that matter- is much more convenient. For example, I found myself really liking the circular scrolling and forward / backward gestures in the web browser. Also, in my opinion, the X2*0 touchpad is best use together with the trackpoint buttons.

 

howdy all,

i bought my x230t way back in July and have loved it. Im thinking of upgrading to windows 8 pro and doing some research before i put it on. what drivers do i need to download to a USB before a clean install of windows 8 pro? Is the ThinkVantage System Updater still reliable in grabbing the correct/ most up to date driver? Does the Stylus still work as great as it did in windows 8?

i also ran the compatbility checker with the upgrade program and received the

Im just kinda wondering what these mean in terms of loss of functionality/feature with an upgrade. has lenovo updated these drivers or firmware for download? the one that concerns me is the ISD Tablet one .

 

Regarding the touch pad, I pretty much couldn't use it until I did two things:

1) I installed the drivers from this dude here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...oll-two-finger-scrolling-done-right-more.html

It looks like there's now a Windows8 version. This works so much better than what came with the computer, it's really hard to describe.

2) my touchpad had a ton of free play on the bottom "click" section. This seems to be due to manufacturing tolerances. One of my X220's had the same issue, and one didn't. Basically, the bottom part had about 2mm of travel before it actually activated the buttons. The end result was that the touchpad always felt "loose", and when using it, the touch pad would move up and down, no matter how lightly I pressed. They don't all do this, but some do. So, I removed the palm rest, shimmed it with paper and basically deactivated the buttons on the touchpad. No biggie, I prefer the buttons above the touchpad anyway. Now, the touchpad doesn't move and is nice and solid.

As far as touchpad vs. trackpad, I never really got why there's a war about this? I like and use both. It depends where my hands are. I don't feel special because I use the trackpoint, like I'm in on some secret method or something. There are things that are easier done w/the touchpad, IMO, and I've been using the trackpoint almost since the beginning. It's nice to have the option of having and using both.

 

My point is simple. The trackpad sucks. Why is that hard for you to understand? I use both trackpoint and pad. A laptop costing $1200 shouldn't have a cheap quality touchpad installed.

 

Anyone else having issues with lenovo power manager 7.11 just crashes when you try to open it? I have installed "Lenovo Settings Dependency Package". It is windows 8. The battery icon thing is working. But I can't change any settings. If I right click on the battery icon and change it to show time left instead of percentage, nothing happens. The Lenovo Settings Dependency Package pack is not beta, but the driver for power management is.

Edit: Tried re-installing the power management driver (Beta) and the dependency pack. Now nothing works. Oh happy days.

Edit2: The windows 8 beta driver seems to work with the power manager software for windows 7. It did not work well with the dependency pack.

 

Hey Lenovo people ! I have a few questions regarding this machine !

1. Is it really THAT THICK ?!?! The pictures make it look like 5 standard ultrabooks stacked.
2. Is the screen GREAT for article and book reading ?
3. Is the build quality top notch ? No plastic feel and bending all over the place ?

Appreciate

 

1. Most Ultrabooks are around .7 or .8 inches at the thickest point while the X230 is around an inch thick. Not bulky by my standards, but you may disagree.

2. The resolution is the only real let down as you see less on the screen compared to 1600x900 or full 1080p. The upside is that the contrast is really high on the IPS screen which makes reading text much better.

3. Pretty solid overall. The plastic doesn't feel cheap, but at the end of the day it's still plastic. There is no flex in the case except over the ExpressCard slot. The palmrest will dip down a little if you put a lot of weight on it.

 

Why does it matter? IMO in a laptop (not tablet), thickness when closed is probably the least practically important characteristic (within reason, of course, 3" thick is a bit much).

Weight/height/length are important, but thickness-wise laptop will fit in the same bag regardless of whether it's 0.5" or 1.5" thick. In fact, if it's too thin it becomes a disadvantage: key travel, repairability, upgradeability, HDD sizes, cooling, all have to suffer w/o any practical benefit.

 

Yea I guess.... But that's the thing, in the pictures, the X230 looks like it's actually 3 inches lol...

 

I have to take a moment to hate on the awful 6-Cell battery. If you use the 6-Cell it's very thick at max. With the 3-Cell it's a more tolerable 1-inch, but definitely by no means thin.

 

Regarding the build quality, I found my new X230 (arrived yesterday) has a lot of flex all over the place - for example on the keyboard, on the stripe with the audio and power keys, ... . That said, I don't find this flex to be bothering me at the moment. What irks me more, is that the B key isn't manufactored properly. It is angles slightly to the left and stands out of the keyboard grid at the bottom right side.

 

If you've got a problem with your keyboard, call support and ask for a new keyboard. My experience with my X220i is the opposite, it's rock solid.

 

Well, having a T42P myself and having handled the X220s at our office, I know how the old IBM/Lenovo keyboards feel. I thought, it was rather a "feature" of the new type of keyboard. Also, I figure I'll (have to) live with this for know, as I am heading off-country in a week and don't expect support to be this fast.