weird details on pre-customized x220

Just picked up a refurbished Lenovo X220 from the outlet. It didn't have IPS, but the price was too good to be passed up (~$500). Looking at the details though, it looks like the x220 was pre-customized, and I was wondering if any of the experts here could let me know what the details mean?

Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2350M (2.3GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
Memory: 6GB (2GB & 4GB) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
Hard Drive: Lenovo/Samsung 128GB SATA 1.8" Solid State Drive
Battery: 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (Up to 2.5 Hours Run Time)

Specifically, my concerns are the mismatching RAM, the lack of TurboBoost on the i3, the performance of the Lenovo/Samsung SSD, and the fact that the battery says "2.5 Hours Run Time" (typo??).

I'm hoping to play some old/low-end games (Counter-Strike 1.6, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, Left 4 Dead, Portal 2) and watch HD movies. Would the i3/2+4GB RAM be able to do this?

 

mismatching ram is normal. dual channel doesn't really make that much of a difference. none of the core i3 processors have turbo boost. the battery life sounds a bit off, maybe they copied/pasted incorrectly.

all of those games should run. CS and l4d should run fast at native resolution. notebookcheck says half life and l4d run at high, but they don't say what resolution. HD movies should be okay too.

 

Don't worry about the battery run time. Recently I ordered mine through the Outlet and it said 2.5 hours as well - for the 9-cell! I got mine and I can assure you, it's a little more than 2.5 hours .

If you're really concerned just take a screenshot of the order page.

 

1. Probably a typo. Can't say anything about the 6 cell battery, but my 9 cell can regularly exceed 10hr with 8-9 being practically guaranteed for web browsing and basic office tasks. The 6 cell is approximately 2/3 of the 9 cell.
2. Older/Low end games run fine. I don't play L4D and haven't tried Portal 2 on my X220 yet, but TF2 runs fine at native resolution.
3. The i3 is fast enough for most things. I don't have any problems with it and if the most intensive tasks you are running are games, I wouldn't worry about the CPU limiting performance.
4. Be warned that the i3 lacks VT-d (it has VT-x though) and hardware AES instructions.
5. Wouldn't worry about the lack of dual channel. It supposedly increases graphics performance by a bit, but with what you are running, you should be fine without dual channel.

 

Mismatched RAM: Won't be an issue, although matching will help a (little) bit with integrated GPU performance. It'll be simple to buy a 4GB stick (~$15) and replace the 2GB module.

Lack of TurboBoost: Won't be an issue. Already, the i3 outperforms the Core 2 Duos, which packed plenty of punch. The difference between a SB i3, i5, and i7 dual core is minimal.

Samsung/Lenovo SSD: It's a Samsung-sourced SSD. Hopefully, it'll be a relatively current model, ie Series 470, but you never know with the CTO SSDs.

Battery: My guess is that it's just a 6-cell. You could call Lenovo sales and check, though, just to verify that it's not actually referring to a 4-cell.

 

the mismatching RAM - you can't notice the difference between symmetric and asymmetric dual channel unless you run benchmark.

the lack of TurboBoost on the i3 - again, you probably cannot notice the difference between i3 and i5 on a laptop unless you run benchmark.

the performance of the Lenovo/Samsung SSD - the Samsung SSD is proven to be one of the most reliable SSD, what can you ask for a laptop SSD? The Intel 320 Series is prone to be bricked into 8MB even after the firmware update.

the fact that the battery says "2.5 Hours Run Time" - this must be a typo that mis-used the data of the 4-cell battery. Ask the seller to confirm if it is 4-cell or 6-cell.

 

What do you mean with Intel 320 SSD being bricked ? I didn't read anything about this as I seeked what SSD to chose along my X220.

 

Anyone else had a repeat 8mb brick on 320 ssd AFTER firmware update.

It's the dreadful 8MB error. Once you are caught, all the data is done. There's still a small chance that any Intel SSD can encounter this. Though it looks like these people are having hardware issues rather than a firmware bug. (Note that these people didn't mention to reproduce the 0x13x error code.)

 

Thank you for the link provided. I chose this SSD because of Intel's lowest RMA rate among the other manufacturers and the extended warranty.
Hopefully, Intel will provide a proper fix. Though this was planned, I'll double make sure my data is safely backed up.
End of off-topic.

 

This happened to me on my x220 with the updated 320 firmware. No hardware issues, no forced shutdown (which was said to trigger the problem with the original firmware). The machine was up and running, and suddenly the SSD stopped responding. After a reboot the drive was 8MB with the infamous BAD_CTX error message.

What bothers me the most is that Intel apparently doesn't even consider such drives broken, instead telling people to just secure erase them, which brings them to initial state (even the SMART counters get reset). I filed a problem report with Intel when it happened to me (months ago), and they didn't even bother to respond.

Since then, I'm doing automated daily backups to an HDD in the docking station.

 

Just curious, what was the serial number after the "BAD_CTX" string? This is very important, as we are interested if Intel has fixed the specific "BAD_CTX 0x13x" or not. If it was other code for you then that's a bit relaxing.