X230(t) Owner's Thread

How bad is the flex?

 

I will get my new x230 (no t!) with a ssd and a hdd. next week but without windows 7 preinstalled (I have access to MSDNAA).

I have prepared a usb stick with a bootable windows 7 pro installation and going to use that to install the os. Are there any hints for this task or is it just about selecting the ssd drive to install win 7 and that's it?

Also, I've heard there is some special program by lenovo that will download and install all the right drivers for me (SSD, Graphics, FirmWare?). Can you provide a link?

Thank you!

 

Is there a GPS in this laptop?
Google Translate
Or is the GPS a part of the mobile broadband card for europe?

 

So little I would not have noticed it. If I press right in the middle of the xpressslot, midway between the keyboard and laptop edge, I can depress it between 1/32 and 1/16th of an inch...you need to apply some pressure, though. The right side has no such flex.

 

It's just selecting the ssd and that's it. I did it with a Windows 8 preview...took 15 minutes total.

the program you are looking for is the Thinkpad System Update tool...you will need to install the network driver though first, if it does not autodetect, and then the software (available on the Lenovo support page under driver downloads look for THINKVANTAGE SYSTEM UPDATE

 

part of the mobile broadband card

 

Thanks, just downloaded WLAN and Ethernet drivers and THINKVANTAGE SYSTEM UPDATE

 

windows likely has the wireless and certainly had the lan driver, so you may not need it, but having it beforehand is a good idea.

 

Sounds good, thanks for the info!

 

So I got my laptop back today...
They did a bad job replacing the screen...

There is now a fraying plastic screen protector or something around the edge of the screen that can't be removed and the bottom plastic part of the screen is really loose.

Really disappointing.

I phoned up the number they gave with the repair sheet and they said they would fix it again but I said I wanted a replacement or a refund so now I have to phone sales tomorrow and talk to them.

I was hoping for something better when I chose a Thinkpad...

 

The THINKVANTAGE SYSTEM UPDATE for the x230t doesn't work as well as it did for my w520 and not all the drivers are listed on the x230t download page. I had to download a few of the drivers manually, notably the ThinkPad Enhanced Multitouch Driver for Windows 7
ThinkPad Enhanced Multitouch Driver for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) and XP - ThinkPad
and the Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate Software for Windows 7
Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate Software for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) - ThinkPad

note that for some reason it also installed a bluetooth mic that interferes with the actual one, I had to "disable" it in the device Manager to get the microphone to work again.

 

I had this issue as well, have you tried the newest driver? it made a world of difference for me. ThinkPad Enhanced Multitouch Driver for Windows 7
ThinkPad Enhanced Multitouch Driver for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit) and XP - ThinkPad

I don't have the adobe products but in Gimp I just had to change a setting in the preferences to turn the pen features on, and then restarted the app. Works great after tweaking the pen options in the control panel.

 

I reinstalled some older Thinkpads recently. For the T500 the System Update offered everything. For the X201i only part of the needed software and drivers was offered, the rest had to be downloaded manually.

I don't know if this has something to do with the maintenance Lenovo performed on the support site this previous weekend, but it sure is annoying.

 

Is anyone else bothered by the way Lenovo arranged the ports on the X230? It looks like a jumbled mess to me.

Also, does anyone still use the D-Sub out port? Seems like outdated technology that should be gone.

 

I think VGA connector is still somewhat popular for hooking to projectors. The only thing I don't like about the ports on my X220i is the two of the USB ports sit towards the front, but it's minor.

 

I have a 24" display at home that has two inputs, one VGA (D-Sub) and one HDMI. It is very convenient to hook up two notebooks at once, without the need to switch cables.

D-Sub is just too widespread for it to disappear overnight. Also, as ZaZ pointed out, a lot of times projectors provide VGA only. So it is very good for a business notebook to provide that, maybe even for another few years.

The fact that projectors only have D-Sub cables is changing, but very slowly. I have been giving presentations at the same event every year, and this year was the first time I was actually offered a choice (DVI or VGA). Until now it was always VGA only.

 

I am interested in knowing how your conversation with sales goes. This friday it will be two weeks since I sent my X230T in for a motherboard replacement and they still don't even have an ETA for the motherboard & LED cable.

You were right to expect something better when you went with a thinkpad and its sad to hear the kind of shoddy service you have received.

 

ok, *FINALLY* managed to order my X230T

Its been a tough ride in the UK, it is the only model that Lenovo still havn't released and their sales people keep claiming it isn't being released on their website until mid September.... not sure I believe this, but I've been waiting since 5th June already so....

Anyway, a reseller called Hemini ( Welcome to Hemini.com Website for all your I.T. requirements for those also looking to buy in the UK) got stock in today for the i5 models and are expecting to have i7 stock in the next 2-3 weeks.

I was initially holding out for the i7 version but looking at the pricing estimates it looks like for an identical spec i7 system it will be around £250-£300 more and I'm not sure that is justifiable considering how close the chips are.
Hemini had the exact spec I wanted (but in i5) on a pre-configured system... in-stock... available for next day delivery... so I buckled and threw some money at them

i5 3320
4GB (I have 16GB in my drawer already)
500GB (I have a couple of 500GB SSDs (yes one is 7mm ) already)
IPS Multitouch (2x2)
WWAN
Backlit keyboard
3 year ONSITE WARRANTY (just in case).

Only downside is the horrific 6cell abomination. But I think I will order a 3cell as well next week.

Only thing left to do is place my order for:

ViDock - Village Instruments : ViDock

and

Desktop Nvidia 670 GTX - MSI GTX 670 OC Edition 2GB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDMI.. | Ebuyer.com

Happy days incoming (hopefully!)

(lol - spent more on RAM, Solid state Disks and external graphics cards than I did on the X230T... /win)

 

Damn 4th of July so they are closed...
Will try again tomorrow.

 

hidevolution.com did as promised and I got it today. Joy!
About 2.5 weeks ago I paid for it. It looks good, it booted. I'm happy. If it dies because of a bad motherboard, I don't care. I'll just get it fixed here in Norway. I'll post more stuff when I have gotten the SSD and more RAM. God it's such a nice machine!!!

 

Got my X230t yesterday and I've been configuring it since. I'm moving from a X201 and have to say I'm not much liking the touchpad. I do a lot of edge scrolling and it pretty much sucks on this. AND I do miss the discrete mouse buttons. The keyboard is great, btw. I have no problems with the "chicklet" and think Lenovo's implementation is one of the best. So mixed bag so far.

 

Just a question about the screen flickering problem I mentioned- I Tried changing the screen refresh rate from 50 hz to 60 hz, and the problem was gone... except that I know that an incompatible refresh rate can harm a monitor-does anyone else know if this screen is compatible with a 60 hz refresh rate? 60 hz is listed as a refresh rate, but I want to be sure.

 

Hey Guys,

Do you know if it's possible to boot from the USB 3.0 ports?

 

Just receive my X230 and it's sweet!

 

Roughly 12 hours until mine gets here.

 

june driver--interesting--thanks! i don't have a multitouch screen--i wonder if it matters?

Adobe are annoying. they always blame the hardware, but they only support the "deprecated" windows pressure/tablet tech. i shouldn't have been surprised.

 

I can't say with certainty, but it seems likely.

 

I am planning to buy a usb3.0 flash drive to install Linux, and starting to learn it.

 

Yes. I don't know if you will get usb 3 speeds though...that may require enhanced driver support. I installed Windows 8 from a usb stick, but it was a usb 2.0 flash drive.

I have since used a usb 3.0 flashdrive for data transfer, and it is screaming fast, but I did not install it from that flashdrive so booting from it may be slow.

 

Mine installed at 60hz by default. As it is, I don't think it matters to your LCD--60hz refresh rate applies to the way old CRTs created an image on your screen (essentially, drawing your screen from top to bottom many times per second.) An LCD works differently. Instead, the pixels that make up your screen are switched independently via electrical current. For a while there, they were using the term "response rate" for LCD displays, which described the amount of time it took for a lcd pixel to change from white to black.

The refresh rate, I think, only applies if you hook up to a crt external display--though I am buggered as to why you are seeing a difference. I see no difference at all between the two settings. What drivers are you using?

 

I too, miss the discrete buttons. I have multiple x200 and x210s laying around the offices I work for and picking up the first x220 was a shock to the system.

FWIW, the x230t has a better touchpad than the x220 I sometimes use.

 

Thinking about ordering one of these... Anyone care to report on the 6 cell / 9 cell's actual battery life?

And any of you try running Linux on this guy yet? How's the battery? I'm looking for a thin linux laptop with superb (8+ hr) battery.

 

Any one notice the area below the screen is a little lose. When I press it, it starting to show some backlight bleed. It won't do a thing as long as I leave it there.

 

So I phoned them up today and asked for a replacement or refund and the lady requested a replacement for me.
Apparently it has to be approved by someone senior and it takes 3-5 business days.
She was quite nice about the replacement though.

Hopefully it goes well...

 

60hz stock for me as well. One can also drop it to 50hz after a period of inactivity to save batteries in Power Manager profile settings.

 

I pulled the trigger on an X230T for university and I'm really pumped to get it but... I checked the order status and I have to say, me no gusta. Did anyone else get stuck with their X230T being in production like me? I have to wait like a month to receive it which isn't the best service, as I thought they would have stock on hand.

 

evening chaps,

Ok, got my X230T. Thoughts (in order of occourence):

1) smaller/lighter than I was expecting
2) for the love of god... someone needs to take the guy who designed the 6 cell abomination and "have a word".
3) screen is a bit more "bouncy" than I was hoping. I guess will see on the train tomorrow.
4) The anti-glare finish on the screen seems a bit rubbish I can see the digitiser sticking out slightly on the top right. Its not a smooth surface. I blame shoddy build quality sadly.
5) As others have noted, mine came with some white powder residue coating much of it. I suspect Lenovo are using these laptops to smuggle large quantities of illegal substances in through customs, then taking the special contents out at their regional distribution offices before putting the units back together and shipping them to us. Conspiracy? I think not, it would explain both the white powder and the shoddy build quality ;-)
6) I should point out for legal reasons that I do not suspect Lenovo of drug smuggling in my laptop ;-)
7) The keyboard is outstanding! top notch. No worries here.
8) Windows 8 works a treat on it.

The only thing I havn't managed to get working is the hardware buttons on the screen to rotate the screen when it is in tablet mode. Anyone got any ideas on this?

More thoughts to come tomorrow once I've had some more time with the system.

cheers

 

I received my x230 today and I couldn't be happier. Someone asked about battery life and I'm getting roughly 12 hours from the 9 cell.

 

12 hours? nice, i ordered mine with a 9cell, too!

Can't wait, maybe I get mine on monday

 

Does anyone have a picture of the X230 with a 4/6/9 cell battery? Preferably with the computer upside down. I'm curious on the protrusion difference.

4 = flush
6 = a bit extended (~2 inches?)
9 = a lot extended (?)

Its amazing how Lenovo manages to hide this.

 

Probably going to have to wait until Win8 is official released. That's software driven

 

Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but the 6 cell and the 9 cell are both 3/8 of an inch thicker than the body of the laptop. I just looked at a x230 with the 6 cell and the bottom is identical to my 9 cell. The 9 cell extends 7/8 of an inch from the back of the laptop though.

 

Thanks. So basically there isn't a compelling reason not to spring for the 9-cell at a $20 ($40 over the 4-cell) premium. Sounds good.

 

Alright, I'm confused. This 9-cell battery looking like the 6-cell is for the X230 and NOT for the X230T, right? I have the X230T with the 6-cell and I'm getting about 5 1/2 to 6 hours and I'm set on Energy Saver. If there is a 9-cell for it that isn't the slice version that fits under the laptop and if it looks the same as the 6-cell, then where can I get the 9-cell or what's the item number?

 

It's listed here, but I'm not sure if it's actually Lenovo's part number or the part for that site:

ThinkPad X230 > Lenovo Quick Pick

Edit: The X230t uses different batteries. The 9-cell for that model has a giant hump underneath it. Not sure if I'm any help here, but I believe they are two totally different designs (i.e. the X230 / X230t don't use the same battery design).

Edit2: So back to my original question. Is there an under-body protrusion on the X230's 9-cell as compared to the 4/6 cell? I think it's a wise upgrade but not if I have some giant hump underneath the laptop. If that's the case with either the 6 or 9 cell, I'll just get the stock 4-cell. I cannot stand the laptop being elevated on a flat surface (like the hideous 9-cell X230t).

 

Ok, it makes sense. Thanks! The ThinkPad Battery 44's are for the X220 & X230 (non tablet) and the ThinkPad Battery 67's are for the X220T & X230T. So the 9-cell for the X230T is the "slice" battery that sits on the bottom like a docking station. Too bad the batteries are not interchangeable between X220/X230 and their tablet counterparts, because I would like a 9-cell that fits on the back like my 6-cell.

Regarding your original question of the size of the 9-cell comparied to the 6-cell for the X230. If the 4-cell sits flush and the 6-cell sticks out a little, then I'm betting the 9-cell looks like the bigger one in this picture http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/05/20/lenovo-offers-extended-battery-warranties/

 

As I said before, the 6 cell and the 9 cell seem to have the same hump underneath. (3/8 of an inch.) The 4 cell is completely flat on the bottom and doesn't raise the laptop up at all. If want the laptop to be flat as possible, your only choice is the 4 cell as the 6 and 9 cell are going to raise the back of the laptop up.

 

I must have mis-read your post. Thanks.

 

Turns out its not a massive issue, installing the beta drivers of the hd4000 provides the ctrl-alt+arrow shortcut keys to rotate the screen. That will do until they sort the official win8 driver.

 

anyone else having a few issues with the GPU performance?

disclaimer - I realise this is not a gaming rig. But I do intend some low resolution/settings gaming on things like WoW when I'm on the road. I've organised an eGPU for when I'm at home or at a LAN party.

I've got WoW up and on low settings and 1366x768 native res I'm getting around 20fps. A quick check using hardware monitors and the GPU clock rate seems to sit at 350Mhz at idle but is only clocking up to 650Mhz while I'm trying to play my game. If this was on battery power I would find it acceptable but I have the 6cell battery and the unit is plugged in (65w Adapter) and NotebookCheck's review of the X230 (non tablet) said they found ZERO throttling with the unit.

I ran some trace over about 5mins and it clocked up to 800Mhz once, but it rests at 650Mhz about 90% of the time. As the max clock is 1200Mhz that kind of sucks...

I'm willing to accept this is a Win8 issue and fortunately I replaced the original HDD with my SSD so I might swap them back later and try gaming in Lenovo's Win7 install just to compare. Can't do that until tonight though and thought I might see if anyone else can run a few tests (Win8 or Win7 - don't mind) to see what they get. I've seen some fairly decent framerates on people's youtube videos, so hopefully something is wrong here.

P.S - I've configured the power settings to "maximum performance" and tried enabling Lenovo turbo boost just in case. Little to no difference.

Cheers all