x120e Owner's Thread

1. cleaning screeen should be the same everywhere.
2. hmmm not sure can find on the product specification.
3. use lenovo system update
4. i have no idea on tips for this laptop.
5. never use any emulator. maybe other can help u.

 

I regularly play san andreas and it runs like butter.

you guys think the x120e can handle GTA IV?

 

I use it to play Crysis.....

 

I have not had another case of the above problem. Not sure what caused it but have restarted 50 times since without any issues. I have been using System Mechanic since the incident. Not sure if that helped resolve the problem?
Another small problem: I note that the left side of the spacebar on my e120 does not always produce the desired movement to the right. If I push harder it works. The middle and right side of space bar are more sensitive and work everytime. Of course during normal typing it is not noticeable as I use both thumbs on the bar.I suspect that this is not a connection issue on the keyboard,but a failing component on the keyboard itself. Not sure however Anyone else notice spacebar problems? Thanks

 

The x120e plays graphics intense games such as Crysis or BFBC better than CPU intense ones such as Starcraft 2. I'm just dreaded that it still can't play Netflix HD.

 

I just ordered an x120e.. "should arrive in a week" they told me. I'm returning my dm1z because it is made from very light weight plastic and seems very shoddy to me. I feel like it won't last very long as my primary computer.

I'm hoping the x120e will be much sturdier! Anyone play around with both the dm1z AND the x120e? Will I be happier with the x120e?

 

unplayable on GTAIV. frame rates per second were so ing low I oculd barely movie. and I have everything in lows to. what else can I do?

 

I believe I've read that GTA IV is a pretty CPU-intensive game, although I'm not all that familiar with that series of games. If so, however, you probably won't have much luck with the X120e given its relatively lackluster non-graphics CPU performance.

 

any word on the battery life...on ThinkVantage's Power Manager, it shows that my battery condition was only at 59%!

 

I don't use power manager. I did for a while, but then did a clean install and found battery life to be exactly the same if not better without all the thinkvantage products. (DO install the "power management driver" if you do a clean install, it's different.)

Anyway, I bought my x120e in May and use it almost everyday unplugged from about 10am to 4pm. I use it mostly for notetaking, web-browsing, and Word, but it lasts the whole workday, and I've noticed no decrease in battery life yet.

 

two questions for my x120e 50962ru

can we sandisk thumbdrive instead to create recovery disk?

another problem is i cant update the bluetooth enhance data rate driver, i have no problems with other drivers, only this bluetooth driver fails to install. why? i used the system update to update.

 

how do much you think it's worth now? my e-350, 4gb ram, six cell battery got a $400 offer

 

X120e for $400 dollars seems to be a fair price.

 

Agreed, that sounds like a pretty good offer for a used X120e.

 

May I seek admission to the club?
Just bought a 'gently used' e-350 model w/4gb.
to the above post - take the 400! I bought for 324

i look at it this way: the very popular AO722 model with C60 and 4GB with a glossy screen [which i cannot handle anymore] sells for over 300 no matter where you get it. the thinkpad has GOT to be worth that for the e350 [not the little brother]

I look fwd to learning from you all

 

this is something I've seen over and over with e350 notebooks ; dm1's, whatever. to be fair lets not blame netflix for anything other than being talked into silverlight by ms.
but it must be a catalyst issue - the c50 guys have decent results - not perfect but decent. flash 1080p plays well [did that myself with a freshly leaned-out ao722].

wondering if any of you have loaded windows xp, config'd it lean, and tried the 1080p exported to a big screen???

 

finally have this notebook. anyone can share how to enable AHCI if i've installed the XP ? tried with the batchscript provided always bring a BSOD

 

is the bios set correctly? typically there is an enhanced mode for 'real' sata and a 'compatibility' mode. I assume xp would not have installed unless the bios were set to compatibility mode so it looks to the os as pata.
there should be a set of notes somewhere on the web about it - the process varies a little with the chipset employed, but first do the bios and see if it boots up, if not you'll need to breakout the drivers from the hairball of the installer, and use Device Manager to update the drivers, then shutdown, go to bios, set to sata mode. it should come up and continue to install all the right components. may need one more restart after that.

 

Any other X120e owners running XP Pro or home? results? I will have 2 hdd's, the original and a SSD and I'm thinking of going XP Pro on the SSD. should be quite snappy and may even eke out a higher fps on complex vid/graphics

 

this may help, though the issue seemed to be peculiar to a SSD win xp install on the x120e. skip toward the end for the victory lap
x120e SSD woes - Page 2 - Lenovo Community

its also 7 months ago - surely progress has been made since then

 

Hey all, I've been posting in a couple of other forums here lately trying to find a nice ultraportable laptop primarily for word processing and web use. Initially I thought a netbook would be best, but I'm beginning to think something like the x120e would be better because I plan to save a number of files on the machine and I would like it to have pretty good performance.

I just wanted to ask owners, do you think the x120e would work well for word processing, surfing and light gaming? A couple more detail questions--is it quiet and cool?

Thanks much

 

i'll let the more experienced overrule me, but from all I have gathered, yes--yes--yes
except I dunno about the quiet.

i do know it pays to shop around - there are deals out there, and given thinkpad quality, why not buy refurb?
here a review from amazon [the e-350 version, not the dumbed-down one]
"this review is from: ThinkPad X120e 05962RU 11.6" LED Notebook E-350 1.6GHz - Matte Black (Personal Computers)
I purchased the x120e E-350 with Windows 7 professional (64 bit) and upgraded the ram to 8 GB. The machine is a good compromise for a business user needing a portable with extended battery life. The AMD processor is able to run multiple applications with good speed, and the display is bright and very sharp.

Construction is very solid, and the machine runs cool, cooler than my prior Thinkpad. The fan is quiet, I can barely discern it. Video so far has been fine for my needs. After a week, I feel this was a good purchase and may be a good machine to reccommend to others on my team."

 

bios already set correctly. the one provided on the lenovoforum. mostly either slipstream it. or install via F6. which is not possible. since i have the xp running now using compatibiliy mode. device manager also only showing ide controller.

thinking of reformat this and install win7 instead.

 

well you're almost there, then. I misunderstood and thought you said you were having trouble getting it installed. if you have xp installed then all you need is the expanded driver files. download the AHCI exe file from lenovo, run it: it will create the folder and put the drivers in there. just quit the program once it does that first step and do not run the second executable. then go to device manager, update driver, point to the folder the drivers are in [if you're running 32 bit xp its the x86 folder], let it do its thing, reboot but hit the setup menus, change to sata. it should bootup.

 

figured it out myself . @cognus. thanks anyway.

think i want to share it here

Copy file ahcix86.sys to system32\drivers. Import this reg settings

Code:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1002&cc_0106]
"Service"="ahcix86"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ahcix86]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000021
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\ahcix86.sys"
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ahcix86\Parameters\PnpInterface]
"5"=dword:00000001

Goto BIOS, set AHCI. Reboot.


this one will only works if you already installed XP with IDE mode. no nlite no F6 update driver method.

 

Yay!

let us know what performance you get under XP. I'm going to keep two drives and put XP on one of them.

esp if you do really demanding tasks like games, vid streaming to big LCD monitor - I'm curious if the smaller load/footprint of XP will liven those up.
some of the DM1 crowd report issues with streaming 1080p and I wondered if well-leaned XP might do a better job...

 

Yes...*

Yes, the computer is good for word processing assuming you are OK with a 1366x756 (typical resolution for most laptops) on a small screen. I personally don't find the small text to be a problem though I wouldn't want that resolution on a 15.6" screen.

The CPU is slow compared to just about anything that's not an AMD C-50/60 or other E-series CPU. However, I find that for most things it's plenty fast. I do notice it when I specifically ask the computer to do encoding or other CPU intensive work. When surfing the web the computer feels no faster or slower than my CAD workstation. As for gaming, well it does play Halo 2 nicely but how new is that game.

A BIG plus for this computer is the GREAT keyboard. I personally like it better than that of the x220. So yes you can do serious work on this machine.

However, I have to "buts". First is that I don't think the computer's value is as good as it was. When it was new at ~$400 it was $100-150 more than a typical netbook and delivered a lot more. Now there are a number of decent alternatives. Target has been selling the AO 722 for $200-$220 recently. It's only a C50 (now C60) CPU but man nearly nearly half the cost of the x120e. Sure the keyboard isn't as good and it doesn't have a pointer stick but man, that's a big savings. For just word processing odds are the Acer works just as well (save for the keyboard). I've seen several other alternatives including the Acer Timeline, HP DM1Z (original and updated), Samsung's AMD based system and a maybe one or two more that are escaping my mind. Anyway, all are, on paper better computers for the money. By that I mean they either have more powerful CPUs or similar performance for less money. Of course, most have gloss screens, lesser keyboards (some slightly, some a lot) and other things less measurable things. All are cheaper. Given how I use my x120e, if I didn't have it, even knowing what I know, I would buy an Acer 722 for $200 for the nicer Lenovo for $400. For the same $400 HP offers the E-450 and a nicer track pad (the new, non-click pad). The HP keyboard isn't bad either.

At the same time the x220 has dipped to $600 from time to time. That's a configuration that might require some labor on your part but the x220 has some big perks. MUCH better color quality on the screen. It has at least an i3 CPU so it's no longer "weak, hope you don't notice". The Sandybridge graphics are better than those of the E-350. The x220 has better battery life with the optional 9 cell battery. The x220 basically is a full power laptop in a smaller box vs what some might consider a super netbook in a slightly larger box. Then again, even the cheapest x220 is $600 or so and they quickly climb from there.

The other but is the computer really isn't that powerful. I do notice the slow CPU when doing compiling. I don't do much of it but some and the speed difference is really noticeable. I do wonder if in a year or so a new ap I "must" have makes the computer feel just too slow.

Finally, Skype and the camera don't seem to like each other.

Sorry this is long and wishy washy. Like I said, I can't say for certain I would buy one today but if I knew I would type on it a lot I definitely would move it near the top of the list because the keyboard really is good.

 

well i do like it better in xp. running with 2GB ram. i find it smooth with no problem.

 

with my ssd, my old celeron M cpq nb with a really streamlined XPP boots in about 45 seconds, and that's to a browser window "on the air". Shutdown in slightly under 20s. gotta love that. my daughter's T-pad with hated Vista takes about 4 minutes to become useful, and inexplicably about 5 to shutdown, and I've tuned it and tuned it. gag.

 

Did your ThinkPad X120E come with a MS Windows 7 COA Sticker on it?
I fear I got a tampered-with thinkpad. the good news is it is under warranty.
no recovery patition
strange behaviour in windows 7 - will not show activation status or product key in system Properties, will not run the activation wizard. hmmmm

 

The sticker should be in the battery well (remove the battery to see it). Did you buy your X120e second-hand, from a retailer, or from Lenovo?

 

secondhand. it checked out ok serial-wise through lenovo and the lady I spoke with verified the warranty status as in-force. the OS is not right, however. somethings been butchered and I haven't sorted it out yet.
I'll pull the batt shortly. thanks

 

Thank You, Midnight.
good COA for Windows Home Premium, which is what I read in the specs.
problem is, the well-intenioned effort to destroy all data before shipping - the prior owner is a bit of a hack apparently, nuked, reformatted drive and installed exactly WRONG copy of win 7.
he/she installed win7 home basic. no way to make that legit. so now I either send to lenovo as a support ticket or pay them an obscene amount for restore media [hp does not], or find a way to do it myself.

 

You won't be able to get a "factory install" without the recovery media, however, you can still do a clean install as long as you have the W7 HP key. Download the installation files here and follow the clean install instructions (for an installation without a current OEM activation).

 

Midnight or others of you that have actually done this clean install....
Is there some peculiarity about the bios that it only likes certain USB devices? I have made a bootable 8GB SD card sitting in a USB 'carrier' - reader/writer [targus] that will boot on other machines but not on the x120e. it apparently does not see a boot track. I force it from F12, select it, it tries, fails, returns to the menu.
So I am going to buy another Flash Drive/stick/key and figured I would get a Kensington that is popular with nerds as it gives them no trouble.

The Microsoft Windows 7 USB/DVD/Drive utility does not like the SD either. I couldn't get it to format correctly, so instead I formatted the SD bootable with the HP boot utility - it worked. But it won't boot in the x120e...

all advice gladly accepted!

 

I did the clean install using an SD card, booting from the X120e's built-in SD card reader. That should work properly. Do make sure that the boot order is set to use the SD slot before the primary HDD, though.

 

though I'm done now and successfully, I'm curious about this because i did not see an option anywhere to use the reader/slot. did you pull this up as a "boot order" arrangement in setup or did you just force the temporary boot device? maybe a later bios update as that is the one thing I did not mess with.
at any rate, using the ms win7 boot-maker util, after multiple failures I got it to work. not sure why, but AFTER running the HP makeboot util on my SD card, I finally gave the MS tool one last shot and then it worked. so , picked the win7 home premium iso, fed to the MS util, then it apparently completely reformats the 'drive' and preps the iso. whereas the x120e failed to boot anything at all from the hp prep, the MS prep worked like a champ.

 

re: BIOS update
on bios updates, how are you smartguys handling? I have an iso file and want to stick it to a SD card. what utility to use???
it assumes floppy.... not!!

 

try ultraiso. it can burn to USB. well i always use winflash to flash BIOS inside the windows itself. it works.

 

actually, my question stemmed from my mistake! i hit the wrong link and dl'd the make-floppy version. nothing needed.

so today I installed the OS on my crucial ssd and we're up and flying.

I must say that, given the modest expectations I had of this notebook, I am very, very impressed. the combination of features is enough, not too much, the performance is excellent with my setup, and when 'docked' with my 22" 1080 monitor, which is plugged into my audio rig, and using my keyboard, it outperforms my aging desktop which is a p4 3.4 running x64 ultimate with a fat and hot nvidia card. For the $315 i paid, this just kills the other net/notebooks I've seen in that pricerange. Yes I wish the screen were a bit better, I wish it had usb 3.0, and I wish it had a battery life like the vostro v131, but for the money, it ain't bad.

the only other thing I'm adding is another 4gb to match the one installed.

the video has been excellent - espn3 football games on saturday streamed out to the big screen, movies, 'tubes, whatever... it has had no issues.
and I love the keyboard except for the inverted Fn/Ctrl placement..

do any of you game with this little jewel or otherwise have need to tweak vid performance to the nth degree? I would be interested in notes on which drivers/settings deliver the goods on demanding apps.

 

friends would some of you tell me exactly what ram you added to your x120e? the part that is in here is an oddball crucial pc3-8500f and SIW is telling me the bios is misreporting some of the memory data. not sure what that is about, but I couldn't find the same crucial part very easily.
For that matter, what part is lenovo shipping from the plant with this unit? [4gb part, that is]

 

I added a gskill F3-10666CL9S-4GBSQ. No problems with that.

 

this page thread ha got fat since i last posted here. anyway. wanted to know if anyone has tried and successfully put an msata drive/ssd inside it?
its the difference between purchasing a lenovo product with wwan or without it. i dont need 3g but would love to put an ssd inside.

 

not sure I comprende' the english, but I have a ssd installed with clean win7 config.

the diff it makes in Win7 is not as dramatic as in win XP. but very short bootup and shutdown times.

 

Sorry if this has been asked.

Just got my X120e and would be happy if................

The pointer/cursor would behave itself.

It has a life of its own. When scrolling it copies text. When trying to move the pointer it will suddenly select whatever it's passing over. There are various other crazy things.........minimizing screens, selecting websites without asking, etc.

Is there some Control Panel gizmo I can adjust or, maybe, something in the Lenovo installed software that alters the sensitivity.

AAARRGGHH!!!, it's selecting blocks of text as I try and write this.......It's driving me nuts........

Once again, sorry if this is old but I'm at work and (this website just shut down, just restored it ) I need a quick answer to move on.

 

You need to either re-install UltraNav drivers and adjust trackpoint sensitivity or disable press to select if x120e has one or make it less sensitive or you just got faulty keyboard.
I had my keyboard replaced on T410 when I had the same problems, I reinstalled drivers, fiddled with settings but that never solved my problems completely, new keyboard did however.
But make sure its not driver/settings issue first before calling Lenovo for keyboard replacement.
You have to go into Mouse settings and look for Ultranav settings.

 

I don't have that problem, but you might try uninstalling ultranav and/or synaptics drivers, then go to windows update, look for "hardware" updates in left pane, see if one is offered, install that. if you still have the problem, then the foregoing advice is right - send it back. the service is pretty good.

 

Don't worry yet. Before you reinstall things check the Ultranav settings. One of the settings lets you tap on the touch pad to "click". It's likely that you have this set to some very light setting and the computer thinks you are clicking as you are sliding along.

 

Many thanx for replies.

As commented above I will check out drivers/updates and Ultra Nav and see if there are any sensitivity issues.

Ha! The damn machine wont switch on at all now.........hang on, reinstalled the battery and it's fired up(no, I didn't drop it)........looks like my Lenovo experience is going to be entertaining.

 

I tried all the fixes in the "known issues and solutions" thread with regards to the trackpad-- I went into the Ultranav settings and disabled all the stuff I was supposed to disable-- and there really is no improvement in the trackpad. Two finger scrolling is absolutely impossible.

The screen really kinda bothers me. I've been spoiled by a really good monitor. Tried the color profile that was posted on page 14 or so of this thread and it made everything extremely pink-- I think my screen might be different than the ones that work with that profile.

Anyway, if I can't resolve the trackpad issue I don't know that I'll keep the computer. Thanks in advance if anyone has any good ideas.