might be changing my mind about x200

rather i might be getting the x201 since i found some good deals where i can get a lenovo x201 with i5 520m, 2gb ram, 160gb hdd, bluetooth, fingerprint reader, touchbad, 6200 wifi with the LED screen and webcam for around 920 + tax. my question though is are there any known problems with this model?

i've heard on the lenovo forums that a few people are having problems where the screen might change brightness on it's own. is this just a few people or does it happen on all x201.
I've also heard that i would not be able to return the laptop to lenovo if there are problems, is that true?
would the i5 processor take a bit more from the battery life then the P series processors? would it run hotter then the P series processors?
Is the LED screen noticeably better quality then the screen on the x200 in terms of picture quality? not brightness

thanks guys. i know i've been asking a lot of questions about my decisions but i should be buying within the next week haha

 

My screen changes brightness. It dims a couple settings on my x201. I thought it was a dimming option to save battery power if it wasn't being used. It gets brighter when I use it again.

 

oh yeah i do know that it dims when it is idle but i have heard it just randomly changing brightness on its own.

damn for some reason i can't get back into the spp site anymore. it just says internal server error. is it just temporary?

 

Just select the cheapest i5 option, it should not use a lot more power than the P series CPU.

 

I'd say unless you can get an X201 close in price to the X200, it will offer you little marginal value unless you've got a specific need for the i5, which in my opinion most do not. The other reason to get the X201 is if you dislike the pointstick.

I thought the screen on my X200 was serviceable. I've not seen the X201, but I did see a X200 with the LED. I personally wouldn't describe it as significantly better or worse.

 

Personally I'd prefer the x201 for the latest version of the Intel graphics. Not too sure if there is any of the CPU whine that I've read about regarding the newer "Core i" processors. I'd also get the i-540 b/c I've read that it offers great performance vs the other CPU choices.

 

thanks what about lenovo's return policy. what happens if there is a problem with the machine. will i be able to return it for a refund (minus restocking fee) or is my only choice to get it repaired under warranty

 

I'm not too sure. I've never done a return before. I'm thinking that YMMV with whoever the Lenovo rep is when you call.

 

turqoisegirl08,

I'm seeing some discussions from a few people noticing the whine on i5 equipped systems in the Lenovo forum - seems to be reported on T510 also, but there aren't that many people noting it so I'm not sure if it has more to do with individual systems or differences in the ability of individuals to hear certain frequency ranges. This only seems to be reported when running on battery.
Subjectively, I don't know this is more or less than what people have reported on earlier systems like the X200, T400/500 and even the T and X 60 and 61 models.

Kevinf,

If you buy from Lenovo directly, you can return within 21 days based on policy at time of this posting. 15% restocking fee applies unless there is a confirmed technical problem and you have contacted service and gotten a case number and elected to return rather than repair the unit.

I think you'd be happy with either, but I think if the money is similar, I'd go with the newer technology.

Best regards,

Mark

 

They can't charge you a restocking fee if there's any "problem" or defect. And I agree about the new Intel HD ingtegrated graphics on the X201 -- it's much better than the previous one (on the X200).

Some will tell you there's not much difference in the various Core i(x) processors offered but I have both the i5-520m and the i7-620m and I do notice a performance difference between the two. I don't regret getting the i7 with my X201. I wish I had the same CPU in my T410.

But that's just me, I like CPU power... it's a priority with me.

 

thanks mark. is there any where on lenovo's site where i can read the return policy? i could only find the terms for warranty. also are there any scarcity in parts that could delay the shipment of x201. i want to try to avoid those parts if possible

radabruce: do you have any heat problems with the i5 or the i7? what kind of battery life should i expect to get on a 6 cell for i5.

if i want to extend my basic 1 year warranty, would i have to wait until the 1 year is up or can i do it anytime? is it possible to upgrade to the onsite or accidental damage protection plan later on if i wanted to?

 

The X201 has never gotten "hot" on me, even in maximum performance mode and under stress. The air from the exhaust port will get warm, yes, but not alarmingly so. So, "heat problems" ?? No, not with mine.

I have a 9-cell with my X201 and the battery runtime varies wildly depending on what I'm doing and which power settings I'm using. The "time remaining" estimate can go from 12 hours to 4 hours just by changing power settings, brightening the screen and doing CPU and/or GPU intensive tasks. I have the 6-cell in my T410 (i5-520m) and I average about 4 hours, but that's not an X201 and has higher power requirements (more ports, features, WXGA+ screen, etc.).

 

alright i found the return policy but it seems a bit conflicting:

it says i can return it within 21 days with 15% restocking fee but at the end it says that any authorized return must include the product and all accessories in the unopened original packaging. so i am not sure what it is trying to say here. can anyone clarify that for me

 

You have it in writing upthread from Mark. That's about as official and clear as it gets.

 

does anyone know if there will be any delay in building the x201 because of scarcity of a certain part or are most parts readily available? what's the average wait from ordering to receiving it in my hands. i live in california

 

Mine was custom built and I received it in about 9 days. 2 day shipping wasn't kidding about two day.came from china to wisconsin in less than 48 hours with a delay from engine failure!

 

As far as I know, Lenovo's not making any new X200 laptops - all of the existing ones are already manufactured. Unless you mean the X201 - in which case I wouldn't expect the delay to be very long, as it's been out for a while now, and parts availability isn't much of an issue anymore.

 

lol yeah i meant x201

 

Shipping time is very unpredictable. One poster here got his in two days (accounting for international dateline). Mine took 9 days from the moment they gave it to UPS (even though I paid for 2-day shipping). It all depends on whether U.S. Customs decides to poke around the container that has your laptop in it, which will delay it for 1 to 3 days. Mine went from Shanghai > Anchorage > Ontario, CA(lifornia) > Portland, OR > Seattle, WA. So it flew right over my head to CA from Alaska. Go figure.

And I didn't change the default configuration offered at all. If you do, expect to pay more and probably wait longer.

 

what do you mean by default configuration? the configuration in your sig was changed from the default components weren't they?

also i still have question about upgrading the warranty. would i be able to upgrade my 1 year standard warranty when it is almost over? or is it anytime? would i be able to upgrade the warranty to a onsite or the thinkpad protection warranty?

 

It's the same on my X201 (i5-520m) as it is on my T60 (T7400), which is to say totally unnoticeable in normal use. However, if I listen for it specifically to check for whine, I can hear it. It is much more likely to occur on battery power, and only happens during certain times (i.e. loading a program, so it's not constant). AFAIK, based on personal experience and what I have read, this is true of all of the multi core processors, though I'll have to check my brother's T500 next time I visit him.

 

When Ray got his, there was a bundle config which is the config he got. He made no changes to the bundle config.

Mine shipped after about 10 business days IIRC, and then took a handful more to get to me (I think 6 business days...I'll look it up if you really want me to), but I live over on the east coast so it had a longer journey to make.

 

Correct. ^^^^^

I ordered the "Limited Time Offer" they had a few weeks ago (Core i7-620m, 9-cell) and didn't change anything about the configuration.

The poster here (forget his name) who got his in 2 days lives in Maryland. I don't think it matters where in the U.S. you live. I had Customs delay mine plus there was the 4th of July weekend in there too.

 

It doesn't matter where you live if you get 2 day. I got ground, hence mine taking 6 business days (and there was a weekend in there).

I like that the package was light enough that the UPS guy said "is this like an ipad?" And when I said it's a laptop he said "oh I know what you mean, you're talking about one of those little netbooks."

 

Ha! Yeah, I had someone in a coffee shop ask me what kind of "netbook" my X201 was. They got quite an education from me, as you can imagine. This is about as far from a netbook as you can get in the 12" screen size. The CPU alone has about 10 times the power of any "Atom" processor. I had a couple netbooks -- the performance was so bad I ended up using them for target practice. (A shotgun works well on a netbook when hurled to a height of about 15 feet.)

 

Hmmmm...now if only I could find some spare netbooks and figure out a way to load them into the throwers we use at the club....

 

lol can anyone answer this question for me?

 

It is. I don't know for how long it is possible, but I know I have the option to upgrade when I go to think Thinkvantage Toolbox on my X201. The regular warranty I know can be extended for as long as you have warranty remaining on the system, but I don't know how long you have for the thinkpad protection.

 

@Raydabruce.

What sort of performance difference are you noticing, i.e. with video encoding, etc. Or with just normal applications like web browsing.

@KevinF.

The warranty and onsite warranty coverage can be upgraded anytime during the laptop's lifetime, but the price is usually better when you upgrade when you purchase the warranty when you configure the laptop online, as you would enjoy the coupon discount. Also, if you do it later, there is sometimes a lapse of sometime between the purchase and the when the database register the upgrade. So i recommend you buy it when you get the laptop.

P.S. The thinkvantange protection can only purchased when you configure the laptop, or within 30 days of purchasing the laptop. So if you need this, you should purchase it with your laptop when you order.

 

Thanks for adding this! I am beginning to sway towards the decision to purchase an X201 in the future

Small size, cute.. but powerful, and me being in school... all these factors make for a laptop to work towards!

 

I don't do any video encoding but certain processor-intensive apps that do encryption/decryption and compression/decompression run noticeably faster with the i7-620m vs. the i5-520m. And overall, the computer with the i7 is more responsive no matter what I'm doing.
It's not a huge difference but is clearly evident to me.

I find myself grabbing the X201 much more often that the T410 when heading out the door. The T410 has become my "desktop" computer due to the additional ports, DVD drive, WXGA+, etc.

 

I would understand that the intensive encryption and decryption would be better with more higher speed. But for normal use, the difference in speed should be imperceivable.

Do you have the exactly same programs installed for both laptops?

 

Same programs, yes, but the Windows Edition is different (see sig). Actually, now that I think of it, the T410 has several programs installed that are not on the X201 which means that a few extra services and libraries may be loading that are not running on the X201.

I dont' know what differences, if any, there are between the i5 and i7 other than the obvious ones (L3 cache size & clockspeed). But just doing my normal things does seem speedier on the X201. Perhaps it's just my imagination. Then again, the X201 has fewer pixels to deal with -- that's another consideration.

 

Because from my personal experience using my friend's T410 and T510 with the i5 and i7 that you got. They seem to be pretty much the same, only when you consistently have high CPU usage tasks, do the difference in speed become noticeable.

 

Since I got my X200, I've pretty much lost much any interest I had in having a larger notebook. Even just lazing on the couch with the X200 is a better experience.

 

Part of my perception of the i7 being noticeably faster may stem from the fact that I often open/close the same half-dozen programs several times during a session. The larger cache in the i7 probably comes into play there because subsequent startups of the same programs is nearly instantaneous -- but then, the cache difference is only 1 mb between the two CPUs which shouldn't make that much of a difference.

If the T510 you used is the one with the i7, it may have more pixels to deal with depending on resolution. That could partially account for it's performance seeming identical to the T410 if that has the i5. So many variables to consider, it's pretty hard to make a clean comparison without two truly identical computers -- identical except for the CPU.

 

I'm with you there. I might sell my T410 and use part of the money to get an Ultrabase. My only real beef with the X201 is no video output other than the standard VGA. The Ultrabase would give me a Displayport as well as a DVD drive/burner and pretty much eliminate the need for the T410.

 

You can get the ultrabase through outlet.lenovo.com for very cheap. If they run out of stock get it through ebay, there is some serious discount to be had.

with the new x20x laptops, the ultrabase is worth having due to the DP out.

 

Can I assume that the DP out on the Ultrabase will carry sound as well as video through a DP > HDMI adapter or DP > DVI-D adapter?

 

also why do i hear so many people receiving their x201's with one of the speakers not working. is this just software issue or is it actual hardware. does it happen to a lot of people?

 

not sure whether the DP on the Ultrabase carries sound for the X201, it is a definite no for the X200 model that i have.

 

gonna be ordering monday afternoon. pretty excited. just hope that theere are no problems with the x201 and that i get it quicker

 

VGA isn't that bad and IMHO I don't think the Ultrabase is worth it just for the DP output. You can do greater than 1080p with VGA...

 

I think it does carry sound from what I've read elsewhere. It has to do with the new chipset in the X201 that comes with the Core i5 & i7 processors and is not dependent on the Ultrabase itself.

As far as comparing the Core i5-520m to the i7-620m, they appear to be nearly identical. Same number of transistors, etc. See the link below, the highlighted rows are the only differences:

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=47341,43560,

 

is there any advantages or disadvantages with using paypal checkout?

 

My understanding was that this was an issue with the first x201's shipped and was fixed in a subsequent BIOS release. As long as you're running the latest BIOS, your x201 audio should work fine from both speakers.

 

Join the club Since I got my hands on my first X61 a couple of years ago, I've been hooked on ThinkPad ultraportables. Being a frequent traveler and often working in bed, there is no substitute for my X61(s) and X200.

 

woot! finally ordered
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can't wait to get this system in my hands. hopefully it will be excellent and won't disappoint!!

 

What amazed me was how quickly it happened. I had my R60 and I was quite happy with it. Plenty of performance, gorgeous FlexView, well built, great keyboard, etc. Then I happened on the outlet sale and a X200 for dirt cheap was too good to pass up. Almost overnight I lost any interest in my R60. It's just too big and heavy. I ended up selling it because I wasn't going to use it. Sure some days I miss the resolution, but I'd trade that for half the weight.

Kevin, I'm sure you're going to love yours as I do mine. Congrats on the machine.

 

I put my T410 up for sale on the local Craigslist. I never use it since getting the X201. I bought an LG external DVD drive/burner to use with it.

Today I received the 4-cell battery I ordered for it. What a difference in weight compared to the big 9-cell! Now it's really light and has a straight rear edge.

Most places I go have AC available, so the 9-cell was becoming a burden... but it will be good to have for traveling or whenever I know I'll be somewhere where I can't plug in.