X230(t) Owner's Thread

I always say if you don't need the pen/touch functionality, the regular x230 is a way better choice.

 

Thanks. Just wanted to confirm.

Second question - why is the ThinkVantage button blue on this product's photo? I thought the ThinkVantage button was black?

Also, is there a better place to buy a backlight KB for the X230t? This listing seems a bit sketchy...

 

Prototype/pre-production photo. I've seen various photos of pre-production "Precision" keyboard versions.

 

Thanks. These are "used" - that was fast. Wonder if they are pre-production models? "New" ones are $200...this one and others are $50.

It's a risky purchase, IMO, but I really need a backlight.

 

Yeah, early versions of the new keyboard float around. Look up the FRU (X230 Service Parts) and order it, either from Lenovo or elsewhere.

 

I've been lurking on this thread since the X230 came out, and I finally pulled the trigger and ordered one. On the day before Christmas, I found a refurbished X230 with i3-3120m (not the i5), 8GB of RAM, IPS display and 128GB SSD for only $628 on the Lenovo Outlet website.

The computer arrived today, and I'm totally blown away by the IPS display and the speed of the Ivy Bridge chip. I usually buy a new "consumer" laptop every other year, but I had to buy at the price. The display is absolutely stunning, especially compared to the Acer AO756 netbook that I've been using as my ultraportable.

Anyway, I don't have any questions for the good people on this forum. Instead, I wanted to thank everyone who posts here! I'm really pleased with my new ultraportable.

Best wishes for the new year!

 

That's still a pretty good deal, considering a base X230i costs more than that without an SSD. Only qualm is refurb units can only have post warranty upgrades which costs 2x normal warranty upgrades.

 

When I pulled out the SSD, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is a Samsung 128Gb. The Lenovo part number is 45n8148 which I think is a Samsung 830. The RAM is 2x4Gb Hynix DDR3-1600. I look at the SSD and RAM as being "free" upgrades that I would have had to buy myself.

 

I sometimes think the Lenovo Outlet is trolling people.

I see machines like this for outrageously low prices. They are always out of stock. How can this be so much cheaper than an i3? Does Lenovo post these every once in a while only to get people curious and visit the site over and over, rationalizing a slightly higher priced machine?



I know it's "scratch and dent" but it's still wayyy lower than any other X230 anywhere on the planet. Guess it's all beat up, but I doubt it.

 

It's what it would have sold for...if it were in stock, hence probably why it went out of stock.

 

Haha, I understand that. I guess I just don't get why there is usually one or two of each model that's significantly cheaper than even lesser spec'd machines. It's like they toss up a good spec'd machine for dirt cheap every now and then, just to get people excited about visiting the outlet over and over, hoping to snag one.

I guess the crazy low price and only one/two in stock (that instantly sell out) is a confusing way of pricing vs. other similarly or lesser spec'd machines that are prices significantly higher and sit there for sale for weeks. But maybe it's just me.

 

When I found the X230i with the RAM and SSD upgrades, there were 5 available. By the time I finished creating an account and paying for the laptop (maybe 10 minutes total) there were only 2 left. The really good deals go fast.

 

Just got my x230 -- what a terrible touchpad. When I try to move the cursor, it jumps 4-5 pixels rather than a smooth 1-pixel-at-a-time. Then it jumps some more when I try to use it to click on something. Tried all sorts of fixes, disabling this and that, using the updated Lenovo and Synaptics drivers. No dice. Hate it and am sending it back.

 

Since you have bumped like 4 threads to complain about your touchpad, maybe you should just return the entire computer.

Seriously. the X220/X230 touchpads are well documented to be pretty poor. If the trackpoint and thumb button isn't working for you (pointing and scrolling) the X-series may not be for you. The hardware just isn't great on Lenovo touchpads. It does get better with updated software, but will never be silky smooth.

Edit: still looking for a backlit keyboard for my work X230t. What's the difference between FRU 04Y0528 and 04W3025?

There's an 025 on eBay for $30. Is this backlit?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360549662727?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Edit2: some cryptic googling on FRUs indicates that the 04W3025 isn't backlit. Oh well. Not paying $150 for one, so I'll keep looking.

04W3025 2 FRU CS12-KBD USE CHY
04W3063 2 FRU CS12 B/L KBD USE CHY
04W3100 2 FRU CS12-KBD USE SRX
04W3137 2 FRU CS12 B/L KBD USE SRX
04W3174 2 FRU CS12-KBD USE LTN

USE=US English
B/L=BackLit
CHY=Chicony
LTB=Lite-On
SRX=Maker#3

 

I found a fix for the pal rest flex, simply place a 4x6 and a 2x3 Lego piece on a piece of duct tape in an express card like arrangement.

 

i just bought a refurbished x230t i7 3520m, and it comes without a pen, what kind of pen should i buy? does the thinkpad tablet 1 pen fits in the slot of x230t? and my battery can only last 1.30 hours from 100%, and the power manager said that the battery condition is good? should i buy a bigger battery? and what applications do you guys recommend for a better touchscreen experience and notetaking with the pen? and the screen seems to bit too wobbly for a thinkpad, and how do i check for defects that the machines got? any answer would be appreciated

 

dunno, but disabling the Always On USB option at the BIOS extended my battery life, try it. I have the X230 though

 

Is this an official refurb or some third-party refurb? The former should really have come with a pen I would think...

That being said, it's the same pen as that from the x200t/x201t/x220t; they're all about $25. I don't think TPT1 pen will fit the slot properly.

If you have the 3-Cell, 1.5 hours isn't that surprising depending on your config and use.

 

how much did you get from the bigger battery? and is the thinkpad tablet 2 pen will fit? cause i bought it from the official lenovo, and i dont think that this is an official refurb then, but i do get an i7 config for only 600 pounds, and can you give me a link on amazon uk or ebay uk where to buy the bigger battery, since im not sure about which fits the x230t

 

I am pretty sure neither of the TPT pens will fit. They might work with the digitizer, but they will not fit properly in the holder. You need to get a traditional x-series tablet pen.

You should get about double the runtime on the 6-Cell. If whatever you are doing gets 1.5 on the 3-Cell, then you'll get about 3 on the 6-Cell.

 

i bought this one
ThinkPad Tablet 2 Pen - Overview

will it fit the x230t slot? and do you guys have any experience with dgpu for x230t? since i now have a sony vaio s13 gt640m oc'ed and want to get rid of it

 

@kumisseksi that seems very odd - the pen should be included, that's a part of the computer, there's no reason for that to be missing, and that battery life does seem odd - although it would help to know if it's the 3 or 6-cell. I have the 6-cell and an i7, and with intense gaming it will run out in a bit over an hour (I'm talking intense graphics work, that makes the computer really hot, on Intel Turbo Boost and Lenovo Turbo Boost plus), on the other hand, watching video is about 4-5 hours, web browsing 5-6 hours, typing or note-taking (i haven't done that many tests with the note-taking, though) 6-7 hours, and if you switch on the "battery saver" option in the lenovo power manager I get intense battery life, I would be surprised to see 10 hours on that one - but it's low brightness, lower video quality, etc. If you got it from Lenovo I'd ask about the pen, and about the other things (I don't remember the specifics), they don't seem that normal either, I'd ask about those as well.
EDIT: as to the tablet programs, OneNote works really well with the touch screen and the pen (you use touch screen for scrolling, the pen for writing and editing, it's really well done), I think Google Earth also has some good multitouch stuff built-in, otherwise, I just use the normal programs with touch. Generally, it works something like this: when you start your finger motion in an up or down direction, if there is something to scroll, it will scroll it. In most other cases, it will click an drag (there are exceptions, for example in Explorer in List view it's the other way around - left right will scroll, up-down will do click and drag). If you want to scroll in any direction, put down two fingers at the same time and drag around. Do a right click by either pressing and holding until the circle draws around your finger (You can change the time it takes to do that), or by pressing down with one finger and tapping with a second finger somewhere else on the screen (although some places it doesn't quite do exactly the same thing as a right-click for some reason, I don't know why), usually best further away. Then there are the flicks, where you basically quickly flick your finger in a certain direction, and it does something - by default, these are: up - move down, down - move up (these aren't really useful for touch, because you don't need the flicks to scroll), left - forward, right - back (extremely useful), up left - delete, up right - copy, down right - paste, down left - undo. You can also change all of these to whatever you want.
When it comes to games, basically anything you do with the mouse and mostly without keyboard works - the only thing that won't work is a 3D game where you use your mouse to look around, the program will go crazy. But otherwise, many old games are a lot of fun to play on the touch screen, to name a few: DX-Ball (a bit odd with the touch screen, but lots of fun once you understand how it works with the touch screen), Colours of War, Marble Drop (in XP mode without integration features), Train Simulator, Flight Simulator should work as well. The only problem with those is that they go full screen, meaning they're stretched, and if you set the screen to maintain the aspect ratio or something, you'll have to recalibrate your screen every time you play one of those games. Otherwise, there are the PC tablet games that come with Windows 7, and the default Windows games (you'll probably have to enable them) also usually work very well with the touch screen.

 

Does this mean, that you are able to perform gestures like forward, backward with you fingers ? Like navigating in Firefox or Windows Explorer : One site back and so on.
For me it just work with the pen and this is very very annoying!

 

It depends on what version you have - that person was asking about programs that worked well with touch, so I was assuming he had the multitouch (infity glass) screen. If you have that screen, you can use your fingers. If you have the outdoor display (gorilla glass), you can only use the pen. The multitouch screen is matte (assuming you don't have a screen protector), and the outdoor display is glossy (again assuming you don't have a screen protector).

 

assuming u have the multi touch -> afaik it is a two/five finger multi touch gesture screen...

so you can zoom in/out - page back/forward - and taskswitch (all 5 fingers) = aero ..

new tablets nevertheless have 5/5 fingers touch .. any1 knows what the difference is there? i guess u can do more gestures there, but is this rly necessary?

 

If you have the multitouch screen, yes you can zoom in and out and page back/forward. You can taskswitch as well, but in my experience that doesn't work quite as well - especially if you have a screen protector. The difference between five finger gesture (on the X230T multitouch) and five finger touch is that on five finger gesture, the screen can recognize five finger, but can't make out the exact position of the five fingers, just the approximate position - so that you can use it for gestures and stuff. Five finger touch means that the screen can tell exactly where the five fingers are.

 

I'm not sure if this is an issue but I'm hoping to get a resolution or answer before I start a warranty request. I purchased a brand new x230 about 3 weeks ago and this is probably the 7th or 8th time I've booted up the system and it ran a CHKDSK... Is it suppose to do that? I've always powered off normally via the menu. This is starting to worry me especially with a brand new laptop.

thanks

 

It should not be doing that. You probably have a dud drive, but you could try doing a system restore to eliminate any software issue.

 

I need my pen to work in Mouse Mode.

by default the Pen works in Pen Mode.

In version 5.1.1-5 of the Pen Tablet Properties (part of the wacom drivers) You could assign Mouse Mode or Pen Mode under the "Pop-up Menu" command that is an optional binding for the button on your pens.

Unfortunately the X230t that I purchased doesn't seem to have this option.. it is running version 7.0.0-29


Has anyone else come up against this issue before, it strikes me as odd that absolutely no one that I could locate on several forums has needed this option. I called Lenovo support and they didn't even know what Absolute or Relative cursor positioning was so I knew from the outset that they were going to be a waste of time...

I have tried to install an older version of the drivers from my HPTM2T (it runs the 5.1.1-5 version with the option to switch between Mouse and Pen modes. sadly, the Lenovo X230T does not recognise these drivers or more specifically the drivers do not recognise the wacom tablet features inside of the X230t.

My last resort will be to contact wacom and ask why in god's name did they remove this feature from the latest version.


This is all speculation but I get the feeling that :

A. They removed it out as noobs were likely swapping this around and then had no idea how to get it back so the pen worked normally.
B. The ability for the pen to work in Absolute as well as Relative modes, seems to have likely been the reason for fairly regular wacom pen "drop-outs" where the pens would suddenly swap of their own accord to Mouse mode and a restart was required to swap it back (if you didn't know you could manually swap it)

C. All of the above.


in either case, My suspicion is that the ability for the pen to go into mouse mode (I believe this is called Relative Mode .. would still be possible but may only be accessed by executing a script, macro or batch file that opens up the wacom drivers and alters the values around that control this feature. (and of cause a 2nd script to reverse this action)

Ideally if there is an older version of drivers for the pen / tablet floating around somewhere out there that work for the x230t I would love to get those installed as that will be the fastest and less messy (homebrew) fix.

If anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this issue I would greatly appreciate any available assistance.

 

Doesn't make that much sense to me to have mouse mode on a tablet PC with an integrated digitizer... have you actually seen this feature available on an integrated digitizer or just the regular USB Wacoms?

 

did a windows 8 clean install on my x230t and installed the latest wacom driver,

dunno.. sometimes there pops up an 16 point calibration for the digitizer, then its just 4 points.. there are so many information about screen calibration in this threat.. what is actually the most recent recommendation for calibtrating the screen? some1 wrote to unstall the wacom driver and do a like 50 point calibration - but thats not the best solution?

 

My X230 arrived a few days ago and I had some issues with the wifi strength. This is for the Intel Centrino N 6205 wifi adapter with Windows 8. Anyhow, my problem was an extremely weak wifi signal that frequently drops at home. The fix is to uninstall Intel PROSet in control panel. Problem solved.

Might be a useful FYI for those out there with wifi problems.

 

Actually that Samsung SSD ASM P/N 45N8148 is a mystery drive, NOT at all like the 830. It is faster (6GB/s) and it shows in the tests to be faster read and writes than the 830.
It also implements wear leveling behind the scene (same as the Kingston HyperX) which is nice, looks to the system and user like a standard HD.
The Samsung Magician software from the 830 doesn't recognize it as a Samsung drive. It doesn't need a TRIM unallocated partition (about 12GB per Samsung recommendation for the 830) to run well. Indeed the preinstalled drive from my T430s didn't have that service partition.

 

I've seen it available on many convertible wacom enabled tablet pc's

The features are exceptionally necessary for software that was created prior to the conception of absolute mouse positioning. One example is with 3D Engine software, some software does not function properly without Relative Mouse Coordinates input.aka mouse mode. makes it difficult to do game design and testing etc..

 

It is likely your power management settings.. I know on Windows 7 it by default does not route maximum performance / power to the wifi and this gives frequent drop-outs / poor signal quality.

you can change this under advanced power management settings and it should help hopefully.

 

guess u wanted to quote the next post

 

I am looking to get an x230t when my tax money comes in. Im looking to get it with the following specs:
I7 Processor
4 GB Ram but plan on installing 16 GB Ram myself because its alot cheaper
Backlit keyboard
Fingerprint Reader
Webcam
320 GB Hard Drive but plan on installing 500 GB SSD
6 cell batt with 6 cell slice
Centrino Advanced Wireless Card
3 Yr Warrenty with accidental damage and
Thinkpad Case sleeve
My question is will this be good for being an engineering student with all the programs i might need to run and will it last?
Oh yeah the Ram im getting is Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10) and the SSD is Samsung Electronics Samsung 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 500 sata_6_0_gb 2.5-Inch MZ-7TD500BW and are these good? Im not knowledgeable at all with computers and id just like some input as to if this setup will and if im getting my moneys worth?

 

Well, that "backlit" X230 keyboard I bought on eBay ended up not being backlit. I'm pretty certain the seller knew they were selling regular keyboards and hoping buyers wouldn't notice. I contacted them and they asked me to send photos...took photos, sent to them. They said "gee, sorry, we made a mistake - will $15 shut you up?"

Me? Nope. I want my money back as I already have a regular non-backlit keyboard. They said sure, just return it.

Not on my dime. I am very close to opening up a dispute if they don't pay for return shipping. I hate eBay sometimes.

Edit: dispute opened. Not going to play the back and forth with broken English emails from this shady seller.They knew they sold me a non-backlit keyboard from the start. Plus, the ThinkVantage button is blue whereas the production version is black. It's a LiteOn version and I'm guessing is either fake or an engineering sample. Either way, it was mis-represented and I am not going to pay to return it. They will pay for return shipping and refund my purchase 100%.

 

It should be good enough for an engineering student. If you want a DVD with it, you may want to consider a T430s.

 

I'm gonna get an external USB disc drive. I really wanted the x230t to take my notes on it.

 

haha yes, indeed.. I've recently made some power management adjustments in my bios and now when I leave my pc alone it drops to standby mode and the hours left on battery have gone up from a max of 4 hours to 7.5 approx. as the new maximum.. when I begin to use it again, it goes back to the normal usage time remaining but this is a great power saving so that I get more usage time when I'm actually using the computer.

regarding the points of calibration, I would recommend using more points calibration than less as this will provide more accurate tracking though you will not be able to avoid the edge of screen drift often found on tablet Pc's caused by the magnetic fields being emitted from the actual screen that seem to distort tracking on the borders... I've gotten use to working with the central real estate to overcome this problem though initially on my first tablet pc it was a bit disappointing to find out about.

I've never heard of any 50 point calibration, that sounds inaccurate and overkill if the goal is to avoid edge tracking drift (impossible to avoid as previously mentioned). As I only use windows 7, I'm not sure if windows 8 deploys a different set of drivers, though can' imagine they would need to just yet.

 

i am running w8 on my lenovo x230 Tablet.. just in case u guys want to upgrade to windows 8.. the official webcam driver for windows 8 from the lenovo website did not work on my system.. even the metro camera app did not recognize the camera (although the led blinked green) -

if u go to your device manager u can replace the lenovo driver with the standard windows 8 driver - now it works fine!

i used this guide:
Ticklish Techs » Blog Archive » Lenovo Integrated Camera again working on Windows 7

cheers

 

I purchased a used X230 in excellent condition about two weeks ago and have been very happy with it. I went ahead and ordered the Samsung Pro 256GB SSD to replace the 320GB HDD.

The previous owner installed a clean Win 7 Ultimate on the HDD and provided me with the DVD and key which I authenticated on the current system. It also came with the Lenovo drivers etc which he installed himself. However, I have removed several of these bloatwares since. I would like to do a clean install of the Win 7 on the SSD and then install the drivers and few essential programs myself.

1) I have noticed several posts saying that one should make a recovery DVD etc. Why does this matter? If I am doing a clean install of Windows on a new SSD, I am basically starting from scratch, which is what I want to do. Making a recovery DVD and going back to what you want to get rid of sounds counter productive, Can someone explain this to me.

2) Since I will only be using a 256GB SSD for OS/programs/storage, will the Windows make appropriate partition? I am not very experienced at this and wanted to make sure that Windows files are not *scattered* among all the other files. Will Windows automatically take care of this during fresh install?

3) I went to the link below to look at the X230 drivers and there are a number of drivers/software etc. The list is quiet overwhelming. How do I know exactly what I have in the system and exactly what drivers I should install after installing Windows?

4) For those who have done fresh install and manually installed software from the Lenovo site, which software do you recommend? Which are essential and useful? I am trying to avoid useless/bloatware software.

5) I was told that I need to make some changes in the BIOS if I am running a SSD. What changes exactly? I was also told that Samsung SSD comes with a software which takes care of these? So the software would take care of the BIOS changes that would be needed?

Thank you

 

It's nice to have the recovery discs for when you sell the machine.

When you install Windows with a Windows disc, you make the partitions. You may do one or several, but all the Windows files will be located in the Windows folder on the C:\ drive.

When you put Windows on the machine with a disc, you will have Windows and nothing else. You'll need to install the drivers from Lenovo's website or you could use System Update.

One persons junk is anothers treasure. I would suggest googling anything you're unsure of to see if it's something you'd want to have on your machine. Personally, I only use hotkey, drive protection(you won't need this with a SSD), ultranav and power manager.

You shouldn't need to make any changes to the BIOS to use the SSD. I did not and mine works fine. Good luck and welcome to NBR.

 

I have a new X230 with the 320 GB HDD and a 16GB SSD mSATA. I know the mSATA works as a cache drive but I have no idea how. Assuming I want to replace the HDD with an SSD, and assuming I wanted to pull the HDD, put in the SSD and clone it using Acronis... Would the mSATA drive still work the same way, and given the speed of an SSD is it a good idea that the mSATA works that way?

Otherwise stated: how do I replace the HDD with an SSD in order to maximize the speed and storage benefits of the pair?

 

Yes. No.

1. Replace the stock HDD with a new SSD and disable (and physically remove) the mSATA cache.

2. Alternatively, replace the mSATA cache with a larger mSATA SSD (say, 128GB). Disable the cache so that the new mSATA SSD is seen as a regular drive. Clone the stock HDD onto it. Change the boot order to have the mSATA SSD on top. Format the stock HDD and keep it in the main bay for file storage.

 

Hey guys, how'd I do?

ThinkPad X230 Tablet

Model Highlights
Condition
Scratch & dent
Processor
Intel® Core™ i5-3320M Processor (3M Cache, 2.60 GHz)( )
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English
Graphics
Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Memory
4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz SODIMM Memory
Display
12.5" HD WXGA (1366 X 768) IPS, MultiTouch LED backlight"
Pointing device
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Hard Drive
320GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
Optical Drive
No Optical Included
Battery
ThinkPad Battery 67+ (6 cell)
Network Card
Intel® Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
WWAN
Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Finger Print Reader
No Fingerprint Reader
Warranty
1 Year Standard Depot Warranty
Form Factor
Tablet - Black

I got the system for $525 shipped from Lenovo Outlet, as well, people are saying the system comes with the Outdoor screen which only works with the digitizer pen, does that make a big difference? What exactly does it mean? Anyone have one like this and can comment?

I am new to the higher end models of the Thinkpads, I usually stick towards the Edge series, since they are much cheaper. So any advice would be great.

 

Hi guys, does anyone here have a calibrated screen profile (icc or icm) for the X230 IPS Screen?
The ones from Lenovo have 8years, no way they are calibrated for this screen.
I've only found for other models in the web.
I am thinking of getting a colorhug screen calibrator, but I'd like to try first some pre made setting to see if it worth the money.

 

I once bought an X200 tablet and it was scratch and dent and it was in perfect condition.

 

Guys, I'm interested in getting this deal from Lenovo for $490 but wanted to ask a few things.

First, here are the specs:

ThinkPad X230T

Model Highlights
Part number: 3437CTO
Condition
New
Processor
Intel® Core™ i3-2370M Processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz)( )
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 - English
Graphics
Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Memory
4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz SODIMM Memory
Display
12.5" HD WXGA (1366 X 768) MultiTouch LED backlight"
Pointing device
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Hard Drive
320GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
Optical Drive
No Optical Included
Battery
ThinkPad Battery 67+ (3 cell)
Network Card
Intel® Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)
Bluetooth
No Bluetooth
WWAN
Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Finger Print Reader
No Fingerprint Reader
Warranty
1 Year Standard Depot Warranty
Form Factor
Tablet - Black

I really wanted a backlit keyboard but don't know if you can upgrade and how hard it is?
Can you just pop one in and can the backlight be turned off and on and again, is it as simple
as just popping one in?

I also would like bluetooth but would internal bluetooth be the same as just getting a small dongle?
What if I want bluetooth OUT so to speak? Ie, I want it to send sound over bluetooth to say, my car stereo,
how can I do that?

Someone said something about warranty upgrades for refurbs (although this is new) being twice the cost. I don't quite understand that comment.

So, how good is this deal?

How good is the IPS panel compared to most other screens in this size and compared to the outdoor panel I had on my X200 tablet which was freaking awesome?

Thanks

George