x201s VS x200: quick review, pictures, and tips

Hey guys, finally i came back from Australia and got my x201s (after the long time delay in LOUISVILLE customs, it arrived on march 22, the 2nd day after i left for Australia trip)

I'm a loyal thinkpad fan, I have owned an x31 for several years, and x200 for one year, and this x201s for 2 days. In this thread i'll talk about the feeling for the new x201s, and share with you some quick tests and a few pictures. Then I'll give some tips for thinkpad optimization, based on my long-term experiences. English is my 2nd language, please bear with my bad writing. Here we go.

Visit my public album for more pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wallace998/X201s#

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Summary

x201s(x200s) is definitely worth buying. Compared with x201(x200), if you'd like to invest extra 400 bucks, you'll get lighter weight (0.4lbs or 240g) and longer battery life (about 10% increase), but you'll also lose integrated webcam and some CPU performance. Another difference is the screen(1440*900 vs 1280*800), some people love the extra space but some people feel pain for the smaller fonts, it depends.

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Specifications
CPU: core i7 640LM, 2.13 base frequency, dynamically OC up to 2.93 (turbo boost)
2X2GB=4GB RAM, Intel 80G2 SSD
Trackpoint+finger print (no touchpad)
I have 4 cell, 6 cell, and 9 cell batteries.
docking station (ultrabase) connected with wireless mice& keyboard, 24 inch monitor(displayport to HDMI), printer, webcam, power cord, sub woofer speaker, and several HDDs(in hot-swappable ultrabay) for storage.

I love the feel of "TRANSFORMERS": Just one single click I can take the detached lightweight and long-battery notebook with me anywhere; when I come back home I just dock the thinkpad in the station, it becomes a powerful "desktop". With several hard disks, you can insert different disk for different use very conveniently. Can you recall the old day with 1.44" floppy disk?


TRANSFORMERS


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My Thought

For me, smaller font size is not a problem, because i don't do much reading/writing on the go. I'm a B-school student, I take lightweight notebook in the briefcase with me everywhere. In classroom I can check email and lecture notes, that's enough. At home I have the huge monitor and external mice & keyboards for writing, reading or movies. With the transformed "desktop" I can do everything except gaming. Very luckily, as an MBA student I don't have the time for gaming

Battery
My x201s with 6 cell battery feels the same weight as x200 with 4 cell battery, but i get more than doubled battery life: perfect balance. In normal use(web browsing, email, reading) I get about 5 to 6 hours with the 6 cell battery, screen set to 9/15, CPU set to "adaptive". If you set CPU speed to "lowest" and screen to 4 (still readable), 7 hours life is easily achieved.


4,6,9 cell batteries




4 cell battery installed, flush in the back and bottom


6 cell battery installed, flush at the back, stick out at the bottom


9 cell battery installed, stick out at the bottom and the back


Keyboard
The keyboard feels softer than my old x200, and I love the softer but very snappy typing a lot. I don't know if lenovo changed the keyboard design, or maybe it's just the same keyboard but from different suppliers. (thinkpads have 3 different keyboard manufacturers)

The look is very similar to x200. One major change: Lenovo logo is gone.





Screen
If you need to compare the font size at different resolution, please download the picture from my web album (click "download photo" for real size):

1280*800:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wallace998/X201s#5457013515384606962

1440*900
http://picasaweb.google.com/wallace998/X201s#5457013543132511554

The viewing angle on x201s is better than x200, good enough for me. Because the font size on x201s is so small, you cannot read the words from too far even if the viewing angle is perfectly 180 degree. I never tried Sony notebooks (ppl kept saying that sony's screen is the best?), I don't know what a perfect screen looks like, but the screen of x201s is very crisp and bright, good enough for browsing & documents editing. Actually the full 15/15 setting is too bright, usually I use 11 or 12. If you'd like to watch a blue-ray movie on notebook, I highly recommend an 24"+ external monitor.

Fingerprint reader is improved on x201s. The red/green LED adds more fun, and the one-press-authentication will allow you start the computer, input bios/logon password by one press, very convenient.

It runs very cool and quietly. With heavy CPU load(wPrime running), the right side feels completely cool, and the left side feels just moderately warm. At home in the morning I cannot hear any noise at all!



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Tests

The new core-i7 cpu is awesome! My i7 640LM has base speed of 2.13g, turbo boost will shut down one core and overclock the other core speed based on your task, up to 2.93g! With Intel turbo boost monitor gadget, I found out that the speed kept changing frequently. I feel that the actual CPU speed I can get is about 2.4G on average. Turbo boost works only on AC mode--it won't overclock on battery mode.

My x200 is configured with P8600 CPU(2.4 core duo), 4g ram, and 7200rpm HDD.


At first I did some wPrime tests. The default setting is 4 thread. In 4 threads scenario, the speed switched between 2.26g and 2.4g.

X201s X200
32M 24.4s 37.1s 52% faster
1024M 775s 1166s 50% faster

In order to test the potential of turbo boost, I set the setting to single thread manually. In this scenario, the speed switched between 2.79g and 2.93g.

X201s X200
32M 50.5s 71.3s 41% faster

In single thread scenario, CPU frequency of x201s is 19% higher than x200(x201s 2.86g average VS x200 2.4g), but the actual speed is 41% higher!!


I also compared Windows 7 system rating:

X201s X200
CPU 6.6 6.0
RAM 5.9 5.9
Graphics 3.4 4.1
Gaming 4.8 3.4
Disk 7.5 5.8


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Problems

x201s with 24" external monitor@1920*1080 (ultrabase docked, displayport to HDMI converter) starts very slowly, often stuck at the windows 7 welcome screen, sometimes the screen went totally black. the display driver crashed/recovered several times. I believe this problem is caused by the display driver. The driver from Lenovo website is not the latest (Version: 8.15.10.2025 Release Date: 2010/01/29). I downloaded the latest one from Intel(Version: 8.15.10.2086 Release Date: 2010/03/04) but I couldn't install it properly.

I tried many other ways, even re-installed the whole system. At last I found a setting in the BIOS "Config---Display---Boot display device", the default setting is "thinkpad lcd", i changed it to "Digital on Thinkpad (displayport)". The slow booting problem is solved, but the screen went black during the booting process for a few times. This is the best solution at this moment. Since Intel's generic driver won't install, we have to wait for lenovo's new driver.

 

Tips

You cannot drive as fast as Michael Schumacher even if you have the same racing car. It's the same case in computer. With similar configuration, some computers runs snappy but others run very slowly: it depends on who use the computer. With proper optimization and regular maintenance, a newly purchased laptop can run very well for more than 3 years, or even last for 5+ years. My 2003 purchased x31 is still working as the home server without any problem.

General Rule
Clean install. Only install necessary softwares, stop unnecessary services/functions. Always keep the system as slim/neat as possible. Run SSD(intel toolbox) and HDD(defragmentation) maintenances regularly, update drivers once every 6 months, keep system and security software updated, often delete temp folders/cache. But don't over-optimize with some 3rd-party optimization utility, which employs regedit or other tweak/hack methods (some may function, some are just "pseudo-science" but dangerous). Newly purchased computers are powerful enough for several years, over-optimization often causes problems and side-effect for stability, I believe it's a totally waste of time.

Clean Install
The first thing I'll do immediately after I get a new computer is always to get rid of the hidden recovery partition. Pre-installed bloatware is only one reason. By manual clean install, you'll also understand things under-the-hood, which will help you in many cases. Do you know that the BIOS/drivers of your newly-purchased laptop may be outdated? Here's my findings: my x201s pre-installed power manager is 3.11a (released on 2009/12/18), not the latest version 3.12 (released on 2010/01/08).

Computer is designed by humans, human can never be error-free. BIOS/drivers updates does improve the performance and fix bugs. Clean install with latest BIOS/drivers available from lenovo site (and keep them updated manually later on) is highly recommended! I assume that you know how to boot from dvd/usb and clean install a new windows system manually, I also assume you have a copy of your operating system. Clean install means: for newly-purchased system, boot from dvd/usb and delete all the partitions and reallocate spaces for 2 to 4 partitions with proper size, then install a clean system on 1st partition; for old computer with personal data on the disk you can just reformat the 1st partition and install the operating system.

System partition 40gb-60gb is recommended, depends on your usage. If you must install many large softwares or keep tons of data on C:, increase the size of C:, but no more than 100gb. Leave more space for storage partitions (I call it static partitions, means those data is not necessary for any running programs, such as movies, music, copies of drivers/softwares, downloaded stuff, books, pictures, DVD backup images, etc..)

I suggest keep booting partition slim for several reasons. If you use a HDD, smaller size means less defragment / less defragmentation time/frequency. If you use backup software (like norton ghost), smaller booting partition means less time and less size. I suggest keep static files on non-booting partition because once your system crashes you can easily re-install or recover the operating system without losing any personal files.

Things to do before a clean install
Download all the latest drivers/bios from and only from LENOVO official site. (if you cannot open the link, go to lenovo.com, select "Support"---"Downloads & Drivers", select your type/model with proper operating system). Then double-click and extract every self-extractable .exe file but don't run it. They're all extracted to C:\DRIVERS\.

Why not download drivers from other sources, like intel site for wifi/display driver? --------Very often those generic drivers are not designed for a specific laptop. The generic driver/software may not work properly or work under optimal condition on your laptop. Lenovo's driver/software is optimized and test only for thinkpads, thus they're more reliable.

Only download/install necessary drivers/softwares. How can I tell if it's necessary but not bloatware? Well, I'll give you the necessary list later.

Why not "System Update"? ------------Like I said, automatic install is easier but not the optimal solution. By manually installing the drivers/softwares you can control everything flexibly and know things better. System Update needs certain amount of disk space, and considerable system resources, increasing the booting time. After the installation System Update won't delete the original package (the self-extractable .exe file), in the long-run it'll eats up much disk space. I see it as a waste of resources. More importantly, like I said (and you'll agree if you continue the following sections), some software has prerequisite requirements, thus you must install them in certain orders. System Update doesn't install those softwares in necessary sequences.


The LIST

People always ask "which software is useful, which one is bloatware?" I got the same question when I got my 1st thinkpad. In these years, I tried all of those "thinkvantage" things and unfortunately, I'll say most of them is bloatware for common personal users. Fore example, if you don't have special needs for network settings, you don't need Access Connection at all, Windows 7 can handle it. But several things are very essential and you MUST have them installed in a certain order. Why follow a logical sequence to install drivers? Be patient and go on your reading



I always keep a folder with all necessary drivers in proper order. Everytime new drivers come out I just copy/replace the old one with the new one; if i have to re-install the booting system, I can easily follow this order to install all of them, without forgetting anything. I'll explain all the details below, "*" means the importance, and "frequency" means LENOVO's update frequency and suggested update frequency, "restart" means if it requires to restart before go to next step (restart is also very important because of prerequisite reason)

1. INTEL INF (the Chipset Support). Importance: ******* Frequency: Once a year. Restart: Yes
Install method: just double click the infinst_autol.exe file, and restart! Don't install this INF and the 2nd storage driver together without restart in between them.

This always comes the 1st!!!
Microsoft releases new operating system once several years, but Intel releases new platform(new chipset/cpu) almost every year. Operating system usually contains the support for older platforms, but if your platform is released later than the operating system, you have to install it by yourself. And Intel does improve the performance or fix bugs by releasing newer versions, but Intel/Lenovo doesn't release this very frequently because it's so important that they've already done intensive test before every release, so it's relatively bug-free.


2. INTEL Rapid Storage Technology or Matrix Storage driver. Importance: ******* Frequency: Once every 6-12 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: Device Manager----IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, you'll find several items here, double-click any one of them and then "Drivers"---"Update Driver", choose the destination folder.

This package installs the software to enable the storage controller on the chipset or improve the storage performance. Many people often ignore this software because windows can function without it, but actually it's critical for performance/stability. Intel updates it very frequently, performance does get improved and bug does exist! Regular update is necessary. I suggest update it every time lenovo releases a new version. You must restart after the installation. Some systems require restart twice after this installation, please follow the dialog box on the screen.

3. HOTKEY. Importance: ******* Frequency: Once every 6-12 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run setup.exe, and restart!

Previously "On Screen Display" "FullScreen Magnifier" and "System Interface Driver" are three separate softwares. Newer HOTKEY version is 3 in 1 package. On screen display is the indicator bar of the sound / brightness/ thinklight; System Interface Driver is Lenovo's thinkpad interface driver, it's a prerequisite for many softwares such as power manager & access connection, many important functions work improperly without it; "FullScreen Magnifier" just zooms in the screen(Fn+space key) by lowering your resolution rate to 800*600, the enlarged screen looks very bad, and even if you need to amplify something you can usually do it other ways, such as CTRL and + in a browser, I recommend don't install it.

4. ThinkPad Power Management driver . Importance: ******* Frequency: Once every 3-6 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run setup.exe, and restart!

It installs power management support for ThinkPad computers. It's a prerequisite for Power Manager, functions like a "link" or "detector" between the battery and the power manager. If you don't install it, the power manager will function improperly, and you'll find a "unknown device" in device manager.

5. Power Manager. Importance: ******* Frequency: Once every 3-6 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run setup.exe, and restart!

Power Manager utility program is the best TVT software, ever! Some people argues that it's not necessary because windows 7 integrated power management is very good. But there're a lot things Windows integrated tool cannot do! For example, with Power Manager utility you can easily know how much power (in watts) is consuming in real-time, you can set fan speed to adapt to different scenarios, set the charge threshold; and the convenient function "Instant Resume" requires Power Manager. Furthermore, you can get detailed information about your battery, such as capacity, cycle count, temperature, etc... Please do check out every details of this utility, once you try everything in advanced mode, you're gonna love it!

6. Display Driver. Importance: ****** Frequency: Once every 3-6 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run setup.exe, and restart!

Display driver improve video performance/fix display related bugs. Frequent update is strongly suggested. Though windows 7 installs display driver automatically for older systems (x200, t400, etc..), you should still install the latest version after the clean install. Don't get generic version from Intel site. For the newest generation thinkpads(x201,etc), sometimes LCD brightness level does not increase/decrease by one, double-click LCDBright.reg (contained in the extracted folder) and restart the system if you have the problem.


7, Monitor driver. Importance: ** Frequency: Once for ado. Restart: No
Install method: Device Manager----Monitors, double-click it and then "Drivers"---"Update Driver", choose the destination folder.

In most cases Windows can function properly without the latest monitor driver, but you'd better install it once for all, just in case.

8. Trackpoint or Ultranave driver. Importance: ****** Frequency: Once every 3-6 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run setup.exe, and restart!

Many people don't install it because the pointing device does function normally without it. But it's necessary if you want better control with the thumb: some functions don't work without the driver, such as the trackpoint+middle key to scroll.

9&11. Wifi driver (and ethernet driver). Importance: ***** Frequency: Once every 6 months. Restart: No.
Install method: Device Manager----Network adapters or Network devices, double-click it and then "Drivers"---"Update Driver", choose the destination folder. Don't run the setup.exe or install.exe file, because by doing this you'll install both the driver and the advanced control software (provided by intel), which is not necessary for most users. From the device manager install you'll only have the driver, but not the control software.

wifi/ethernet drivers improve performance/fix bugs, but frequent update is not necessary. Though windows 7 installs wifi/ethernet driver automatically for older systems (x200, t400, etc..), you should still install the latest version after the clean install. Don't get generic version from Intel site. For the newest generation thinkpads(x201,etc), windows 7 cannot install the driver automatically, you must install it manually.

10. Audio driver. Importance: *** Frequency: Once every year. Restart: No.
Install method: Device Manager----Sound, video and game controllers, double-click it and then "Drivers"---"Update Driver", choose the destination folder. Don't run the setup.exe or install.exe file, because by doing this you'll install both the driver and the advanced control software, which is somewhat meaningless for notebook users (you don't care the quality of sound on your thinkpad, do you?). From the device manager install you'll only have the driver, but not the control software. I found that some audio control software even starts with the system boot, it's totally unnecessary.

12. INTEL AMT Management Engine Interface driver. Importance: * Frequency: Once for ado. Restart: No
Install method: run setup.exe

AMT is totally useless for most common users, unless you work in a large corporation and the IT department of your company requires this function. If you don't need it, you can disable it in the BIOS, but even if you disable it, there'll be a "unknown simple PCI device" with a yellow question mark appeared in the device manager. You can ignore it without any problem. If you're a perfectionist like me, just install it to get rid of the yellow question mark Another TVT software CSS (Client Security Solution) requires AMT & fingerprint reader, if you like CSS, you need to install both No.12 and No.13 before you install CSS.

13. Fingerprint reader driver & control software. Importance: **** Frequency: Once every 6 months. Restart: Yes
Install method: run fprx64_592_5980ww.exe (file name may be different)

I disabled the FPR in the BIOS setting on my old x200, because I don't use CSS, and the hit rate is too low, I found it usually takes longer time than password authentication. But the FPR improves on latest generation thinkpads, and I like it a lot.

14. APS (airbag protection for HDD), or Intel SSD toolbox (for Intel 2nd generation SSD) Importance: ***** Frequency: Once every 6 months. Restart: No.
Install method: run the executable program.

APS is a MUST for HDD (it'll also serve as a orientation detector for tablet). If you have the latest Intel SSD, the toolbox utility is highly recommended.


The above 14 drivers/software is all a common user needs. From my snapshot you'll find other sub-folders without an order in the name, they're my other devices drivers, for external mice/camera/keyboard, etc.. You don't need to follow certain orders to install the drivers for these kinds of devices. Install them after the above "core thinkpad drivers". I don't use integrated bluetooth and modem, so i just disabled them in the BIOS, but I still keep a copy of the driver just in case one day I need it.

I'll talk about other so called "ThinkVantage Technologies", aka TVT bloatwares in next section. I call them "bloatware", because they're almost useless for common users, but eat up disk space/increase booting time/waste system resources. But it depends on your scenarios, you'd better try them by yourself, just keep it if you really like it.



BLOATWARES

Access Connection
CSS
RNR
System Update(TVSU)
Access Help
PC Doctor
Thinkpad messege center/toolbox



...to be continued tomorrow. I didn't imagine it takes so long time to write for the tips. I just finished less than 50% of the tips sections. Many thoughts in my mind but I don't have more time today. I'll keep this post updated later. Thanks for all your replies!

 

The viewing angle on x201s is better than x200, good enough for me. Because the font size on x201s is so small, you cannot read the words from too far even if the viewing angle is perfectly 180 degree. I never tried Sony notebooks (ppl kept saying that sony's screen is the best?), I don't know what a perfect screen looks like, but the screen of x201s is very crisp and bright, good enough for browsing & documents editing. Actually the full 15/15 setting is too bright, usually I use 11 or 12. If you'd like to watch a blue-ray movie on notebook, I highly recommend an 24"+ external monitor.

 

Great review..

X201s is no longer on the Lenovo site in the US..

 

Love the review! Is nice to see such a powerful small laptop.

 

Good review!
+ rep!

How are the max CPU temps?

 

Nice writeup, and the first confirmation that the old 9 cell fits in the new models. Hopefully the reverse is true too.

 

That difference really is closing, isn't it?

You and I have different idle wattage (and my slider is to the far right!). Prior to my SSD upgrade, I was seeing far worse battery life than you. With a SSD, I'm approaching your times...

Fantastic review. I think you've successfully inspired me to manually install drivers. Do you know if the default BIOS in the x201s is the most recent?

 

I prefer factory disk image and just uninstall unnecessary drivers.

What I found is , factory disk image is more stable than clean install . But it's just my opinions

 

OP your room is a mess.... haha just like mine...

 

Same here. That's why I didn't post any pictures when I got my laptop...LOL

 

Hey Wallmage -

Thanks for posting. It's too bad your X201s didn't arrive before your trip, but you had a nice present when you got back, no?

I been liking my X200 too. I'm still getting used to the trackpoint, but I'm getting better. One thing I noticed is the hard drive noise is much worse than my R60. I have my 500GB Seagate in there now. It was very quiet in my R60, but is more noisy in the X200. You notice that too?

 

oh yeah, great review thanks ! , i will consider to buy one !

 

From the Hardware Maintenance Manual, it shows that the X20x has only two different keyboards part #s 42T3737 and 42T3671. (I know for the T4x series there were 3).

Anyway, I just wanted to ask what keyboard do you have on your X200 and X201s?

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?template=/partslookup/partsLookup.vm

TIA

 

i have the Sprinter Trueno AE86

 

wow, thanks alot!

One question, do you have the old or new 9-cell battery? And how many MAH does it have?

 

my 9 cell batt is the old one, purchased in last year.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...F20B94413B5AD6E684D2848E9&&hide_menu_area=yes

design capacity: 84.24

 

is this the new or old battery in the link? How do you calculate the design capacity? I cant find it in the specs..

 

this is the old one.

Nine-cell, rechargeable system battery, 10.8 V, 7.8 Ah



10.8V times 7.8Ah equals 84.24WH