x120e Owner's Thread

Yup, or at least a couple of weeks ago you could. I've got less than $450 in mine with 4gb (self installed the last 2).

 

It looks like the author of SetFSB has included a profile for the Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 . I am not sure what kind of overclocking performance is possible though. I hope to find out if an x120e profile ever comes out!

 

I missed the no-os deal, but I got mine for $395+tax and then installed another 4gb of ram for $32 (6gb total). It is the dual core version. After you add $170 for the SSD, however, and this system is now over $600.

The only thing I wish I had changed is gotten the better wifi card. The lower card is a Realtek and capped at 2.4ghz, while the better card has the full n bandwidth (and better driver support under Linux being Broadcom).

The important thing to remember is that Lenovo's upgrades are waaay overpriced, so get as stripped down a version as possible and upgrade yourself.

 

The 2gb ram to 4gb ram upgrade is the most ridiculous thing in my honest opinion. $80 freaking bucks for adding 2gb of ram? GTFO lol

 

man I am really torn between the dm1z and the x120e!

I like the look of the x120e and the thinkpad brand better since it's known for it's reliability. I'm nervous about the touchpad though. I've never had or used a thinkpad before, will I be frustrated with it? I'm coming from a 6 year old inspiron 1501 that has a very nice touchpad and I use 2 finger scrolling extensively.

also from people who seen in person with the x120e and the dm1z, which screen is better? I watch a lot of videos so that's a cause for concern as well. I feel like the dm1z would be the safe choice but I dislike the cheaper look of the hp and think the thinkpad is a sexy little black thing.

 

I know what you mean. I bought 8gb off of Newegg for $65 (and split it with the gf). This is how business works though. Starbucks doesn't mark up their coffee very much, but they make huge margins on syrup, espresso shots, etc. Same thing here. Sell the base model for small margins and make your money on the extras (and the warranty).

The one finger scroll on the x120e touchpad sucks, but I don't have any problems with the two finger scroll (although I have heard other people have). The biggest problem with the x120e seems to be that is ships with terrible drivers. Once you replace all the drivers, either from Lenovo or AMD, it works much better. For me, I just HATE glossy screens. This is really the only Zacate system with a matte screen. Although, some time this year Asus is supposed to come out with the 1015b, which is matte, but the 1215b will be glossy.

Here is how I see it:

x120e Pros
better screen (matte, higher resolution, but could be brighter at only 200nits)
better keyboard
better build quality
better looks (I like the subdued look of the thinkpad)

dm1z Pros
better speakers
better battery life
cooler (although I would not describe the x120e as hot)
slightly lower price (although if you install your own hard drive and ram upgrades, they are about the same)

Obviously I am biased as I bought the x120e.

 

I saw a couple of sites that overclocked the E-350 to 1.8GHz, but I think nobody got it higher. Hmmm, okay, found this review that got it to 1.92GHz.

Regarding X120e vs. dm1z, for me one main reason I bought the x120e is that with a 3 cell battery it's considerably smaller and lighter than the dm1z. So it's nicer to carry the X120e around as long as you're only going to use it on battery for a couple of hours at a time. (The X120e is also smaller and lighter than the dm1z even with a 6 cell battery, but not significantly so.)

Another reason I prefer the X120e is the trackpoint.

 

Well good news for me. Just got word on Friday they upped the priority on my order, then just a few hours ago I got a TN! Still about 17-18 day wait but I'm satisfied with it on its way. Good news is I'm about to install SSD on my TZ so I'll have 3 fully functional laptops soon!

 

Thanks for the info! I've been quite busy and haven't had a chance to look it up myself. I would love for the x120e to operate at around 1.8 GHz ~ soon - I hope.

Relevant to hardware, I attempted to replace the stock 250GB 5.4k RPM hdd with a 60 GB Vertex 2. It seems that it won't let me restore a factory image onto the SSD. It will actually report that its 'complete', but when restoring the actual Windows 7 partition, it just skips it.

Arghhh.

 

minnus,
How are you trying to restore the factory image onto the SSD? I'm afraid I won't be much help to you in troubleshooting why it isn't working but I'm curious how you're doing it since I hope to do similar with a Momentus XT hybrid drive for my x120e when it arrives this week.

Also, my shipment has already reached the US which is pretty impressive. It's currently sitting at UPS's terminal in Kentucky awaiting routing on Monday morning (I assume anyway). That should mean I get it before the end of the week.

 

There is a Factory Recovery partition on the factory installation HDD. It gives you the ability to create "Recoverable Media", which in theory, allows you to return your hard drive to original factory provided state. To activate, either double-click the partition to autorun, or run the program "Create Recovery Disks" -- or something to that variation (still working on it, so I can't check atm for the exact program).

After you create the recoverable media and boot media (you'll know what I mean when you get your machine if you don't already), you can boot from the boot media, and it will provide you with options to restore the factory image. The instructions are all very straight forward and relatively intuitive.

I don't think you will have any issues ~ I think it may be related to the Vertex 2 I am using.

For now, I have given up and will be installing a native copy of Windows 7.

 

To create a Windows 7 factory install, you will need to create recovery media from the recovery partition. Double click on the partition, and you will be prompted to use either 1 CD + 2 DVDs or a blank flash drive to create the recovery media.

Alternatively, you can use ABR to save the activation information and then do a Windows 7 clean install, which is what I did on my X120e. See this thread for more information on how to do that.

 

Is battery life really 6hrs with the six cell battery?

I could get the x120e dual core amd, 4gb ram, and 6 cell battery for a bit over $500. This will be my primary machine for school, web, and lots of video for the foreseeable future. What do you guys think?

 

Does anyone have a good SSD recommendation for the x120e? I was looking at Intels because they advertise low power consumption, but honestly I think I'd prefer a faster drive with a still low power consumption. I really wanted to buy an OCZ Vertex 2 for a long time but now with the whole 25nm fiasco I'm really stuck as to which one to get. For what it's worth, I want 80-120gb.

 

in youtube reviews of this, the colors on the screen are kind of washed out looking? Any way to fix that?

 

I've heard you can adjust the saturation in CCC...problem is CCC won't open for me so I can't verify

 

I've recently discovered an issue where any time I attempt to install Realtek Gigabit Ethernet drivers, windows 7 has a BSOD. Anybody else experienced this or have a solution?

 

I had the problem. I just installed the driver from Realtek instead of the Lenovo driver:

Realtek

(or, just go to realtek's site, go to downloads, then Communication Network ICs, Network Interface Controllers, Gigabit, software)

 

Worked perfectly. Thanks!

Now I just need to figure out how to get my wifi driver installed (error code 10), bluetooth driver (can't find bluetooth device), and FN+F5 and OSD to work (I have hot key and video driver installed).

EDIT: Solved everything but the error 10 with the a/b/g/n card. Any tips?

 

Just ordered my first Thinkpad.

x120e
AMD Fusion E350
4GB Ram
6-Cell Battery

paid ~$550 including taxes


god I'm nervous....

First laptop I'm buying and although it's relatively cheap, for a frugal person like me it's a big person lol. I've been using dell inspiron 1501 for about 5+ years now so this will be a huge upgrade.

hope I made the right decision :/


WHAT ARE THE FIRST THINGS I SHOULD DO? DO I HAVE TO REMOVE OR INSTALL ANYTHING?

 

I put an Intel 510 in mine and it's very fast.

 

Lol no. I meant drivers and such. I plan to install microsoft security essentials and remove any bloatware immediately.

 

Lenovo's standard install isn't too bad, and actually, with Enhanced Experience 2.0, it boots at about the same speed as a clean install.

You may also choose to do a clean install (it's not hard)--the easiest way would be to follow the instructions on this thread and load Windows from an SD card (I've done it on the X120e, so I know it can boot from SD). Then, install the necessary drivers (particularly WiFi) and ThinkVantage tools that you want, and you're golden.

 

I wonder if there's any option for overclocking on the X120e. Let me know. Some E-350 boards have options and some don't.

 

Thanks for the link MidnightSun ~ made my Windows Installation a tad easier. The x120e is definitely super snappy now with the SSD addition.

 

how does the x120e handle ie9? does it make better use of the battery life since the browser is more incorporated into the os?

man I'm so excited for this thing to come already!

 

IE9 runs with GPU rendering enabled by default, with no problems. I am using it now alongside Opera 11, and both are very snappy.

 

i have a very low processor wei score of 3.4. yes i know people dont go by it but surely it scoring low must mean it wont use full power hence it been low. also after setting the machine to full power. i re run the rig. i got 6gb ram in it now and an error is coming up and wont update the score. i do not think the ram is problem because i re-ran it with it and it update ram score fine without the processor going up.

also when i reinstall this. if i do not back it up. will the os be different because this looks different to windows 7 although it is....but like a lenvovo version.
it also boots different to win 7 traditionally with its blue log on. its almost like your on the desktop screen where you put your name and password
(i like this look as it is different)
what are the essential software to load?

edit:i ran my score again a few hours later this time it works for some reason and went tup to 3.8
however on the sony yb i seen the desktop graphics with a score of 4.6 compared to our 4.1 they must have better performance then?

 

Still no movement! My x120e is still in process and hasnt even been shipped .ordered last night. uggggh I'm so impatient!

hows everyones battery ? Would you buy the x120e again?

 

On the 6 cell I get 4.5-6.5 hours of battery depending on brightness and usage. For the $380 I got it for I'd definitely buy it again. Full price would make me think a bit harder about it, as that's almost in real thinkpad range.

 

With the 3-cell battery, I can get about three or three and a half hours depending on brightness levels and what I'm doing. I got my x120e for about $330 after taxes, so I would definitely say I would buy it again. However, if I bought it again, I'd definitely opt for the 6-cell, as on the website the 3-cell is stated as 40Wh, but in reality it's only 32.

 

Losing screen real estate doesn't bother me much; if I need it, I plug into an external monitor, and the places where I would need to I have a few 20-22" LCDs around.

I'd rather have the better battery life & GPU performance. To be honest, my desktop and MBP are my main machines. The T61 is somewhat of an alt, and I feel like I could replace my Acer 1410 and T61 with one of these.

 

So after using 32 bit for a week i decided to convert to 64 bit. The thing i noticed after removing 32 bit that came originally installed is the fan noise. I suspect it is a driver issue. Has anyone gotten around this, either with a fan control software that works with 64 bit or found a fix?

 

any difference in performance between the 32 and 64-bit? thanks.

 

my first time into the foray and 64 bit and its much faster as far the the Windows iNTerface goes, things are much more snappier, windows exploer is faster. Office loads faster. My WEI CPU score went up from 3.7->3.8 as well. So i definetly like the upside that 64 bit has.

Btw, to save trouble to those doing a fresh install, the CD Key is found when the battery is removed....spent 2 hrs figuring this out by calling Lenovo and Windows Activaiton centre....BS

 

Question about the fresh install. What Windows CD did you have to use in order to use the key that came with the computer? Retail, OEM, Lenovo OEM etc?

 

You can create a Windows CD (or USB) from here: clicky

 

Hey can somebody upload there calibrated display profile? I'm having trouble getting the screen perfectly calibrated. If can, i can also upload this program called 'displayprofile'. That app allows you to switch display profiles a lot easier then the windows default way.

 

Here's my profile, calibrated using an i1Display/LT @ 6500K: Download Monitor_3-17-2011_1.icc from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Just a warning, but if you're not accustomed to 6500K displays, it will look fairly reddish compared to the default, which is rather cool.

To set it up, go to the color management control panel. Go to the advanced tab, click the "Change System Defaults" button at the bottom. You'll see what appears to be the same window pop up. Go to the advanced tab again, check "Use Windows display calibration". Close the window, then on the first window, go back to the Devices tab. Hit "Add", then "Browse", and select the profile that you downloaded. Finally, select the profile and hit "Set as default profile". If you don't like it, just select the default profile, probably "Lenovo Thinkpad LCD monitor", and set that as the default.

 

Ordered 3 days ago.

Would you guys purchase this laptop again?

I'm really nervous

 

Thanks man the profile is pretty good. better than my own try at it with ccc and windows default calibration. guess i'm spoiled with the quality of my envys screen. Its a damn good screen maybe on par with ips? Or dreamcolor?

Back to the x120... Screens alright. It'll pass for non-color intensive tasks that I do and will definetly come in handy when that machines is tied up with other tasks. Its bright enough as well despite being 200nits. Ill post more thoughts on this little guy later.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for a BluRay reader / DVD burner that would work well with the X120e? Prefer those that don't need an A/C adapter, but don't mind those that need to plug into two USB slots.

 

Oh I'd like to know the same thing mosaic!

 

I got an HP refurbished from ebay. Its uses 1 USB port. I think the one I have is meant for the DM3. But there is a slot load as well. That one sold with the Envy. The part number is HP 584384-001. Since it is 1 port only, it requires a pretty stable connection. If its for a Lenovo, I may suggest looking at getting one from them.

 

Newegg will run the ASUS Newegg.com - ASUS 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 8X DVD-ROM 24X CD-R 16X CD-RW 24X CD-ROM 2MB Cache USB 2.0 External BD Combo Model SBC-06D1S-U/DBLU on sale every so often, in the 70 to 80 dollar range. Right now it is 80 after MIR.

Pretty much any of them should work.

There are some older model bare drive, LG CT10n on ebay for 70, plus would need a cheap enclosure @ approx 15.

Also noticed a Panny UJ240 (blu burner/dvd burner/cd burner) bare drive for 120, would also need an enclosure..

 

Anyone have another calibrated screen profile? The one posted before was a little too red for my taste. I calibrated myself and I would say I got it pretty good, but there's still a slight red tint that I'd love to get rid of if possible.

 

Do the regular un2420 gobi 2000 cards work straight or whitelisted aswell?

 

hey guys, all I expect from the screen is that it be an upgrade from my current screen. My current laptop is a dell inspiron 1501 that I've had for the last 5-6 years so for the x120e to be an upgrade shouldn't be that hard. is the screen an upgrade? here's the specs for my dell
Documentation

 

The reviews I found for the Inspiron 1510 start from the end of 2006, so I guess that's when it came out, making it 4-5 years old, rather than 5-6. Anyway, the X120e has a slower CPU. If you had the Sempron version of the 1501, then at least the X120e will have more cores, but if you had the Turion version then the X120e will simply be slower. It will have much faster and more modern graphics, though.

Regarding the screen the reviews mentioned bad viewing angles for the 1501. My guess would be that the X120e's screen will be at least as good, but you're looking at quite a different size, and a much denser screen. Don't know how this will affect your view of this screen.

 

ahh ok so I've had this laptop for 5 years. seems so long I couldn't remember haha
I have the sempron version. I'm fine with the smaller screen, I was just hoping that overall quality of the screen was an upgrade. so far I know for a fact keyboard, build quality, performance, and portability will be an upgrade. just unsure on screen and touchpad...

man I wish the thinkpad would come already! lenovo estimates it will arrive apr 13