x201s First Impressions

Hi all,
I recently purchased a x201s, and I received it yesterday evening -- I haven't actually been able to put it down, and I thought I'd share my first impressions on this fantastic machine.

Body: The very first thing I noticed was how light this machine is. Reading that it's ~2.5lbs vs. picking it up and feeling that it is 2.5lbs are two completely different experiences. The lid has a carbon fibre cover, meaning there is no flex on the LCD. I picked up the laptop by the screen without much worry, and there was still no flex. The bottom also has no flex, and the strength of the chassis really shows when you handle it with one hand. So far, I've put the laptop through an acrobatic show by handling it a bit rough, and at no point has the machine given me a reason to worry about its rigidity. Cramming an i7 processor in such a small chassis doesn't render the machine too hot to use on your lap, but putting your hand in front of the heat sink on a cold morning will sufficiently warm your digits. This worries me because in maybe a year, the heat sink will require some heavy servicing. Also, the system is too reliant on that heat sink to prevent overheating. We'll see how that pans out. Overall, heat is not a problem.

Keyboard: I know the keyboard is an icon of the Thinkpad line. This is my first experience with Lenovo, and the very first time I typed on the keyboard, I thought it felt too mushy. There was a good amount of travel on the keys, but it is mushy. I'm coming from a Dell XPS M1530, and that keyboard, despite being two years old, is firmer than this one. As I'm typing this post, however, I'm realizing how enjoyable it is to type. Now, I must say that this keyboard is growing on me. For those of you interested, there is virtually no "clicking" sounds from the keyboard, and it's absolutely as responsive as it'll get. No concerns there. The keyboard doesn't flex under normal typing circumstances (and it does not require much pressure to type), but it's fairly easy to induce flex. It's not a worrisome amount of flex though. Finally, The browser forward and browser back keys bordering the arrow keys are thrilling. I've quickly gotten used to them. I'm still getting used to Fn being to the left of Ctrl, the placement of the Esc, Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn keys, but in due time, I'm sure I will have no qualms with them.

Trackpoint: My first laptop ever had a nipple mouse, and I'm trilled to be using the Trackpoint. I configured my laptop to not include a trackpad, and now that I have the machine in hand, I'm positive that it was the right choice -- there is about 1.5" beneath the Trackpoint buttons, and I can't imagine myself being happy using a trackpad in that narrow space. As for the Trackpoint itself, I experienced a very small amount of drift already, and while that's disconcerting, I know it's inherent of the nipple mouse. I adjusted the sensitivity to be very high and I set Windows to move the mouse quickly -- I didn't think the Trackpoint would be so...precise? Anyway, at highest sensitivity, I seem to be getting the responsiveness I'm looking for.

Battery: When I picked up the battery, I was amazed at how heavy the thing felt! Son of a gun, the stupid thing felt like it weighed about as much as the laptop itself. I ordered a 6-cell battery, and I received a 57Whr battery (58.7Whr according to Power Manager). Now, battery life is the primary reason I purchased the x201s, and I have to admit that I'm not thrilled! I'm sitting at around 9W idle, if I'm lucky. At 100%, Power Manager is reporting approx. 5 hrs of computing time with 0 brightness, radios disabled, and PCI Express disabled. Not awesome. I was hoping for closer to 7 hrs of battery with Windows 7. If anyone has some resources for me, I'd greatly appreciate it. I might even make another forum post on this specific topic so us new Thinkpad owners can benefit beyond what ThinkWiki offers.

Screen: No surprises here; it blows. My XPS looks like heaven with the x201s next to it. I find myself constantly adjusting the screen angle, and it's a struggle to have two people sit comfortably next to each other and share the screen. LED backlighting is brilliant at 250 nits, and I rarely increase brightness to beyond 7. Even if I do, it's to 9 brightness. I personally don't experience eyestrain with the backlight. Nothing we don't already know. 1440x900 resolution is not too high for a 12.1" screen. Windows is currently set at 125% font size, and the lower DPI, I feel, is unnecessary -- I'm contemplating reverting back to the original DPI. I'll also calibrate it in the near future to get at least some color accuracy if I can. I do photography as a hobby, and it'd be nice to use this laptop to view images on the go -- I have my doubts towards the feasibility of that considering how awful the screen has been so far, but we'll see,. Final word on the screen is the same as always: it's good enough for text editing, browsing the internet, and not much else.

General Feel: With 4GB, Win7 x64, and Core i7 620LM, this thing flies. I haven't really stress tested this much, but the 5400RPM HDD seems quick enough -- I'm dying to throw a SSD in here so I don't need to worry about moving parts while I flail it around. As for raw performance, I've been happy with the near-instantaneous response while I'm booted. Core i7 is definitely beastly. 1080p Youtube videos play without jitter at ~45% processor load. Word opens in ~3 seconds. Firefox opens in ~1s. Sleep and resume times are ~2s, which I think is phenomenal and in large part thanks to the almost-blank hard drive. Over time, I'm sure that will slow down (but I'll get a SSD in there before that!). From pressing the power button to the desktop, it takes around 1.2 mins, which is admitted slower than my XPS which uses a 7200RPM HDD. Shut downs are also slower (x201s averages around 15s and XPS averages around 7s). This "Lenovo Enhanced Experience" thing is certainly a gimmick. However, the little features on this computer make it a joy to use, like the ThinkLight and InstantResume. Who knew that a small white LED can help with productivity so much? And holding onto the WiFi connection while recovering from sleep? Oh god, that's such a no-brainer.

Immediate Issues: I typoed my Win7 user password (twice) when I first set up the machine, and after the first reboot, I was locked out of my new computer. I thusly got a chance to experience Lenovo's factory restore feature. It was not the speediest thing ever, but in about 15 minutes, my computer was back to its unboxing stage (it was unboxed maybe an hour prior to that, but y'know, that's how the cookie crumbles). After the factory recovery, however, ThinkVantage Toolbox kept crashing for a good hour. I somehow got around to updating the Win7 update for the Toolbox (it was a struggle), but that seemed to have fixed the problem. Another issue that is unresolved is that closing the lid does not put the laptop to sleep. It's a shame, but it's not a dealbreaker. If someone knows how to fix this, that'd be great. Otherwise, I think I'll live.

I have very little to complain about aside from the battery life, and I'm very impressed with this computer. I will be loading Ubuntu on it soon, and I'd be happy to update this post with how out-of-the-box Ubuntu runs on the x201s if people are interested. In the meantime, I would sincerely and truly appreciate advice on how I can extend my battery life. Cheers.

 

For the Lid thing: Control Panel->Large Icon View->Power Options->Change Plan Settings->Change Advanced Power Settings->Power Button and Lid

I'm surprised your keyboard impression is so different from my x200s though. I think the thing is pretty snappy and has a nice click to every key. I've used a Dell XPS 13 and that thing was complete mush.

 

So you're saying that the Windows power options is conflicting with Lenovo's Power Manager? I guess that's feasible...

As for the keyboard, I definitely have to say that the x201s's is softer than my XPS. I'm typing on my XPS right now after using the x201s for a bit, and the keyboard on my Dell is definitely firmer -- less travel, but firmer. Perhaps I got an unlucky keyboard?

 

I think it's just that the m1530 is very different from the XPS 13 I tried out, I wouldn't worry about it.

And the setting I mentioned could probably be found in Lenovo's Power Manager, the two are practically the same, it's just that Lenovo's offers a few more options to do with timing and also tighter timings on some settings.

In Power Manger, under Advanced View, on the Power Plan tab, it's under Events

 

How is the sound from your speaker? Wifi reception and speeds good?

 

The speaker is, as you know, mono. It's decently loud in a small room, and the sound quality is good enough for casual media playback and presentations. I played a few songs, and I could...recognize the songs, but it truncates the highs and lows. To my surprise, the speaker was not as tinny as I thought it would be. Definitely invest in a pair of headphones if you want any kind of auditory satisfaction from this computer though.

As for WiFi, I have the Centrino 6300, and that 3x3 matrix helps out a ton. I haven't done any benchmarks for speed, but I did not notice much difference for general browsing and video buffering speeds between my wired connection and WiFi (my wired connection is T3, wireless is 802.11n). The x201s has exceptional signal reception though. I compared an Inspiron with Dell B/G, XPS with Intel 5300 (but not a 3x3 antenna matrix, to my knowledge), and the x201s in their ability to pick up weak WiFi signals. The x201s far surpassed the other two laptops...My go-to WiFi access point is about 200yd. from me, and I get ~30% signal strength on my XPS. My x201s has ~80% signal strength for the same access point. What's even more impressive is that the x201s can connect to an access point that's across the street (definitely over 300yd.)...Yeah, I am thoroughly surprised. I hope that gives you a rough idea of what the WiFi is like.

 

@aznguyphan: I already set the lid close event to sleep, but it didn't work. That's what got me annoyed in the first place.

 

Ah, Ok. The problem is beyond me then, maybe a system update will help, updating drivers like System Interface and Power Management might help

 

Hi.

Sorry to hear about your poor battery life.
I really believe Lenovo has pulled the wool over our eyes with their high
estimates. ( maybe in thier lab, with zero screen and zero radios, and everything off can you hope to come close to what they claim.)
In the real world, under real conditions, no way.

I have an X201 with the i7-620M and it seems I am getting close to your battery life.

I have gone thur the Power Manager, and found ( for me anyway) The best setting for longiest battery life is " Power Source Optimized " with screen set to 7. processor on low to 50% max.
For some reason, it gives me more of a stetch than " Max Battery"
Hope this helps.

P.S. you can go to MSCONFIG in your run bar and disable some start-up programs, I did and it now boots up in 35 seconds to full desktop.

Nick.

 

Well, it seems that people have been getting the claimed battery life (and perhaps more) on their x200s -- there has to be something I'm doing wrong. I changed the power management option in the BIOS to maximize battery life. Now, I'm sitting getting 6 hour estimates. I'm still looking for holy grail of battery life (driver update, some little-known setting, tweaking wake-ups).

It'd be great if someone can point us to a dummy's guide to saving power.

 

It has to be a driver conflict. I've got an old 6 cell battery that I'm using with my X201s. I'm getting about 6-7 hours with wifi on and screen backlight on medium.

Two things - I do a clean install with the basic drivers. Only lenovo utilities I put in are the hotkeys and the fingerprint reader.

I also have an SSD (Intel M-25 160gb) which probably extends the battery life a bit.

 

You don't use Power Manager? Also, where did you find the drivers? I'm not sure I trust the default Windows drivers to be optimized like the Lenovo drivers. It follows that I would need the Lenovo drivers utility...I'm also inclined to keep the recovery partition as I find that quite useful in case I do something horrific to my kernel (quite possible). When you installed your SSD, did you manage to keep the recovery tool? If so, how did you image your drive?

 

Adding to the impressions...

The keyboard is making squeaky, creaky noises. Particularly, the spacebar is the biggest culprit. Not sure if I just have a bad egg, but it's definitely something to take note of.

 

I still get the drivers from Lenovo such as their power management driver. I just don't install their thinkvantage software solutions.

I removed the 160gb hard drive from my Lenovo and replaced it with the Intel SSD. No recovery partition. Once I have a clean install completed, I use Acronis (or I guess I could use Win 7 Backup) to make an image that I can restore from.

 

On my T61 using Windows 7 power saving solutions yields better results than letting Lenovo's solution take over. Try that?

 

It looks like my expectations are too wild for the x201s. The x201s grandly falls short of the x200s in terms of battery life. For example, the x200s performs for >10hrs on a 9-cell battery while the x201s gets around 8 hrs. That two hour discrepancy seems to follow for all batteries -- the 6-cell gets 5.5 hrs on the x201s whereas the x200s gets well over 7 hours. Much to my dismay, I had my friend pit his x200s against my x201s on the same batteries only to find that his computer lived longer than mine on a charge. Now, I purchased the x201s to be an all-day computer, and I even returned a brand new (unopened) x200s in favor of the x201s. I can't say I'm disappointed with this machine as a whole, but I'm kicking myself in the nads for returning a new x200s when my intention was to have a computer that can last all day. Looks like the Core i7 is quite a hungry beast.

Stay tuned for what kind of battery life savings we'll see when I pop an Intel SSD in there

 

Yes that will be interesting re the SSD. I am not suprised its more power hungry. The chip is considerably faster in testing (maybe up to 50%) so its inevitable. Wish the x201 series could run a slice battery.

 

Speed has nothing to do with power consumption necessarily in an absolute relation...

But, yes, apparently the i7 packages use more power.

 

Surprising that your x201s can't match what NBR managed to get on their tests. They actually got 7 hours out of the 6 cell. They even ran theirs on Balanced mode. Maybe you're doing more draining tasks?

 

You thought a Core i7 was gonna give you longer battery life over a C2D?

 

wow! I wonder if the SSD in my machine is giving me one additional hour. Laptopmag's review syncs up with your evaluation very well. I wonder why Notebookreview's hours are so high?

 

It ashame the the keyboard on the x201s is mushy, I like clicky keyboard.

 

i think you have a lemon. The keyboard doesn't seem any different on my X201s than the X200s I used to have.

 

@cn_habs: The integrated GPU was what left me hopeful. Maybe combining the GPU onto the same die would reduce the overall consumption, but alas, that apparently has no reasonable premise.

@utdeep: You may be right -- I could have a lemon. I played with the same x200s I tested, and I found that keyboard to be firmer. Interestingly, however, I still find my XPS keyboard to be significantly "clickier" than even the x200s. It struck me as odd, and perhaps I got lucky with an exceptional Dell keyboard (ha!). I also ran into a R60 fifteen minutes ago (fellow downstairs was working on one), and I asked the owner if I could type a few sentences. I found that keyboard to be closer to my x201s than the keyboard on the x200s. I don't know how R60s' keyboards are supposed to compare against the X series's, and I realize my sampling is disgustingly myopic, but those are my thoughts regarding keyboards. Take it with a grain of salt.

@utdeep (again): I found that laptopmag review you referred to, and I'm glad to find agreeable results. For those of you interested, I linked to it at the end of this post. I'm still sporadically looking for tweaks in Win7, but I'm starting to think it's a lost cause. Onwards to Linux and kernel mods! I'd like to mine ThinkWiki and other Lenovo forums for all they have, but some hacks maybe beyond my expertise, haha. I'd be thrilled if a SSD will give me an additional hour. Something tells me I don't do enough read/writes to actually see a huge difference in battery life, but I could be mistaken (let's hope I am).

x201s laptopmag review: http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/lenovo-thinkpad-x201s.aspx

 

I am still stock that the Dell XPS have a better keyboard than the Thinkpad. Lenovo have three manufacturer for their keyboard. NMB, ALPS, and CHICONY. Who made the keyboard on your X201.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=44310

 

I have an ALPS keyboard, according to that post. I really enjoy using my XPS, and the keyboard is more than satisfactory.

Edit: I realized my original post ignores my sentiments towards the ThinkPad keyboard. I still find typing on the x201s to be a pleasant experience. I'm just surprised at the discrepancy between my expectations and the actual product. I also find it a bit silly that the keyboard makes squeaky sounds.

 

Keep us posted

 

I *just* finished installing my SSD after receiving it earlier this morning. FWIW, the lowest idle power usage I've seen thus far is 5W (!), and I'm comfortably sitting at 6hrs at 80% with 0/15 brightness, no radios.

Is anyone interested in a play-by-play walkthrough of my installation experience? I'd be happy to write another long-winded post chronicling the hardware installation, problems I had, how I fixed them, and dealing with the lack of a CD drive Just let me know!

 

I'm not interested in the guide myself, but I'm not against you contributing to the community with a guide (considering how many SSD topics there are on the forums)

 

What SSD did you end up getting? What are your boot times?

 

yes, please do.

Thank you.

 

I got an Intel X25-M 80GB. My boot-up is around 40s (same as my XPS with a 7200RPM HDD) and my shut downs are about 5s. I'll write up a walkthrough later this week...In the meantime, I need to figure out how to install Ubuntu onto this machine.

 

Wow.. 40's with an SSD?? That's pretty slow for a notebook with a new SSD.

 

Criceto,

how's typing given the short palm rest area? This was an issue listed in several reviews but I'm curious how you find it.

 

It really took me a while to get used to it, given I have relatively large hands. However, I've gotten used to it now. There's just enough room to rest my palms around the area where there are stickers/ThinkPad logo. Definitely takes getting used to, but it isn't a dealbreaker.