Buying an X200, RAM OS and Screen questions.....

I've set my sights on the X200, and am not only having trouble on which version, but also the configuration.
I can get a totally upgraded X200 with a 64gb SSD for $1250 (w/ CCP and a coupon) but for $200 more I can get a reasonably configured X200s, and for the same price as the S I can get the basic X200t maby with a processor upgrade.

Now one main thing is how much RAM should I include.
I know the X200 uses DDR3, but I read about Triple Channeling... Does that use three sticks or is it upgraded Dual Channeling?

I plan to go with a 32 Bit OS, but cant commit 100%.
32-bit can only See 3gb of Ram, but on the Config page for the laptop it says 3GB of ram is 2 DIMMS, which means one DIMM is 1GB and the other is 2GB.
Since they are both different sizes that means they will not work in Dual/whatever channel mode correct?

SO what if I get 4GB of Ram, for the 32 Bit OS, which can only see 3GB.
Would the computer use
1.5 GB (out of 2GB) and
1.5 GB (out of 2GB)
In Dual Channel mode?
I know the extra GB is a waste but I want to maximize the available memory AND the speed that it could potentially reach.

I'm trying to make sure I can get at least 2 years outta this thing as I am off to college and want to have the highest possible level of productivity.

Also I don't know wether to go 64bit or not. My only concern, is that I like to play RA2, and IIRC that has a 16bit installer, and I don't feel like jumping through hoops to get the new RA2 which has a 32 bit installer.

But I am concerned with the programs. I use Thumbdrives and Portableapps(.com) to launch apps from the thumb drive. Also like the extensions in Firefox. I know it sounds dumb but I remember when XP-64 hit the streets and it was basically useless since there was little hardware support (drivers) and most software had to be special 64-bit compatable.

I plan to throw the Samsung SSD in there, get as much RAM as possible, and deff put in at least a 16GB SD Card or something to offset the storage cap of the SSD....

Has anybody done any internal mods? Is there any room for a small small USB hub so I can wire in the innards of a few Thumb drives for even more solid storage?

My problem is that I don't know if I should go with a top of the line X200 with lettuce and tomatoes, or throw out the Ultra Bay and SSD and go with the X200s simply because I heard the X200's screen isn't that good.

I wish I could get the tablet but the reason I'm getting a laptop is because I hate handwriting things, and I have some arthritis when I write. So the tablet only appeals to me because of the viewing angles, and LED screen. I just hate the fact that it dosen't have the P8600, and carries a $500 premium..

 

what's the coupon that you're using for CPP?

 

I don't think that you are going to see a noticeable difference if you can't run in dual channel mode. To run dual channel, you will probably need identical pieces of RAM. I'm not sure if Intel has made any advances in dual channel with different sized RAM modules.

For vista, you need 3GB of ram to run well and have some room left over. If you are going to be using 64-bit programs, then by all means get x64. Mainstream 64-bit programs are still far away.

And yea, what coupon are you using?

 

Yeah but in my post I asked can you run dual channel in a 32 bit OS with 4gb of Ram.
The OS only "sees" 3GB, so will it then run the 3GB it "sees" in DC Mode?

I DONT plan to use 64 bit apps.
I mainly use Firefox and make calls over Skype. That's about it sadly.
Oh and Bittorrent.

I think the Coupon expired yesterday or something, I'm in China so I'm like 13 hours ahead of eastern time, and i did it last night...
As for the CPP code just google it its on like the first coupon website..

 

Do you need the weight savings of the x200s? Do you want the better screen option? Do you need the wireless options in the x200? The webcam? I think if you are happy with the x200 weight then that is a great option because you can afford the SSD. But if the screen matters more then go with the x200s. The x200 screen is very mediocre.

Regarding ram...there is no triple channel for this. That refers to the new core i7 architecture stuff. Get 4gigs if you want. Investigate 64bit for your drivers for your devices and your games beforehand. Regardless having 4gigs is a good idea even if the OS only reads 3gigs...3.2gigs or 3.5gigs. It is just helpful and you get your dual channel (probably not that big of a difference like someone said). The tablet weight is entirely different. And the screen might be the best x200 series option...however the weight difference is fairly large for an ultraportable in comparison (though pretty light for a tablet!).

 

The principal difference between all three models is the screen. The x200 regular has a CCFL WXGA screen that is fair at best. The horizontal viewing angles are decent, vertical viewing angles are awful, and color representation is only fair, it is reasonably bright though and adequate for non-graphic tasks.

The x200s has an LED screen that is brighter and higher resolution. However, I am pretty sure that it is still a TN panel and suffers from the same general problems of the x200 screen. The x200s is also slightly lighter and gets battery life due to the LED/ULV.

The screen on the x200 tablet however is fantastic. It is an LED backlit, IPS, AFFS+ screen. You can view it from any angle, indoors/outdoors, and it has great color representation. It is a little bit slower than the x200, but I don't miss the speed (the graphics card will buffer you in games before the processor). The tablet is more expensive, but if you want a good screen, I would say it is definitely worth it. The pen input is also surprisingly effective (I never had a tablet before), and if you get it, you will use it more than you think.

I have noticed very few problems with Vista 64 bit. About the only thing which didn't work was a 5 year old HP Laserjet (although a 10 year old one worked fine), this may have been a general Vista error however. There are a few oddities of 64 bit as well. Namely that a 64 bit application (e.g. Virtual Dub 64) can't load 32 bit processes/dlls/etc., however, you can run 32 bit applications just fine on 64 bit Vista. You are correct that 16 bit support has been removed, however I don't know what (if any) applications still use 16 bit components (32 bit has been standard since Win95).

I believe dual channel only has a very marginal (<5%) performance benefit on the new Montevina chipsets. If you mix a 2GB and 1GB, I believe you do get some kind of mixed dual channel with most of the benefits, small as they may be, of using dual channel memory.

I highly doubt you will be able to find any internal space to wire extra USB drives. However, you may be able to get a small SSD in either a 34mm express card format, or a mini-PCIe format (like the ASUS eeePC uses) for another 16-64GB of storage. However, this will cost you some expanability in the future by eliminating ports, and the mini-PCIe one may not work (designed for the eeePC).

All of the x200 variants are capable machines. They share identical keyboards, chipsets, graphics cards, port selection, etc. However, they all have slight advantages/unique features.

x200 - Fastest, cheapest, webcam/WWAN, fair screen.
x200s - Lightest, midprice, good screen (bright/hi resolution), great battery life.
x200t - Heaviest (not by much), expensive, fantastic screen (words cannot describe), tablet functionality, webcam/WWAN, stereo speakers, dual array microphone, better balance due to more uniform thickness (extended battery doesn't lift the computer up).

If you can afford it, I would highly recommend the x200 Tablet. The screen is extremely good, and if you are using this in university the tablet functionality will be very useful (some things are hard to represent with text). However, all three are good choices, and will fit your needs well.

 

Good final summary jon .

 

Yeah that was great thanks, if I can work it in my budget I will deff get the Tablet, if not then the X200.

I originally wanted to get the EEE PC, or the N10, but I went to a computer store here in China and they let you play with everything and I decided that it was a little too small for me (I'm like 6'4" and my hand is bigger than the computer.) so I decided to go with a regular PC since they are faster and get better battery life lol. But I like the EEE strictly for the modding possibilities. people have 1.8" ZIF SSDs, and like Raid 0 with flash drives or something and huge SD cards wired in and all that.

 

the viewing angle on my AspireONE is horrendous, as is the Atom CPU and SSD. its the only hardware design i really dig beside Apple though

does the x200t's stock LCD use LED? or is it CCFL? i should have gone with the upgrade based on jonlumpkin's raving!

 

There are 3 different screen options available for the x200 Tablet (there is only one for the x200 [WXGA/CCFL/200 nits], and one for the x200s [WXGA+/LED/250 nits], although Europe seems to have x200s laptops with x200 screens). The 3 options for the x200 Tablet are as follows:

WXGA/CCFL/190 nits FFS, frameless, active digitizer
WXGA/LED/285 nits IPS, framless, active digitizer (my model, most likely a Boe Hydis AFFS+, this is an improved version of IPS [faster response time, viewable in direct sunlight])
WXGA/LED/230 nits IPS, touch/digitizer

All three of these screens are very good. They all use IPS or FFS technology as opposed to the inferior TN panels on most notebooks (x200/x200s included). The primary advantages of IPS/FFS is improved color accuracy and much better Vertical viewing angles. This is important for a tablet, because when you put it in portrait mode, the vertical viewing angles become horizontal. Non-tablet notebooks are rarely used this way, so cheaper TN panels are frequently used.

The main advantage of the 2nd/3rd option vs. the 1st is the LED backlight. This improves brightness and reduces power consumption. All of them should be perfectly useable indoors though. I believe that the touch variant uses the same screen as mine. However, the extra touch layer reduces the brightness to 230 nits (again, only a problem in direct sunlight).

 

So you can't use "touch" on the middle brighter screen?
How is it using your tablet with your fingers? is it responsive or does it just not recognize the input?
That's that I hate about these Tablets, it's like 1200 for the HP whatever 2222p tablet, but inorder to use your fingers, you have to pay for the $350 dollar screen.

 

Wait so what is the MultiTouch + MultiView option for the third, more expensive screen? Specifically MultiView.

 

Multiview implies that the screen is wide viewing angle and vieweable outdoors (AFFS+). The same tag really should be applied to the second one (285 nit LED) as well, because it has great viewing angles and can be used outdoors.

Multi-Touch for a ThinkPad tablet has nothing to do with Multi-Touch on a Mac/Iphone. You cannot use multiple fingers to perform gestures, nor can you use a pen and finger simultaneously. It is a dual mode active/passive screen. It defaults to passive (finger) input, so that you can touch the screen to control things. However, it is also able to detect the digitizer pen at about 12mm. It will then switch to active mode, disable finger input, and allow for very good subpixel precision with the pen. Only the Dell with N-Trig supports iPhone like Multi-touch, although it has had its share of problems with the technology.

If you get the digitizer model only (like mine) the screen does not respond to fingers at all. You can touch it all you want and nothing will happen. Similarly, you will get the same response if you use a normal pen or other device. The screen uses electromagnetic induction to detect a matching digitizer pen (supplied with the x200 tablet). It can detect it from about 12mm, move the cursor without touching the screen, and offers extremely good precision. This is the same Wacom technology that you find in standalone graphics tablets. I have not used a touch based panel, but personally don't believe it to be worth the expense due to the limited accuracy you can get with finger input (you can touch large icons, but that's about it).

 

Ok, so Screen #2 is roughly the same as Screen #3, the only differece being that you can't use your fingers? When I think about it it kinda seems dumb to be touching a laptop screen with your fingers, I understand a smaller screen like in a car or something for GPS, but not configuring your antivirus or picking which bookmark to go to...

I probably will go with X64, and order some crucial RAM from newegg... $200 gets you the 4GB from Lenovo, or like $150 from Newegg, plus money back from selling that 1GB Stick of DDR3 which might be like $25 or something...

How is your battery life with the 8 Cell and the tablet stuff? I was reading that people were only getting like 7 hours or so when Lenovo quoted 10, especially since the processor was ULV and the LED screen....

 

Also another question, do they make any heat sinks for the DDR3 RAM? I know the differences in heat would be minimal but it's nice to know that it's there.

And what would be the best CAS Latency to go for?

 

Aftermarket RAM usually is the way to go. It is far cheaper that way. I ended up getting a single 2GB stick in mine from Lenovo and will add another 2GB, or ideally 4GB, DDR3 module when they come down in price (there is still a big premium for DDR3 over DDR2). 7ns seems to be the standard CAS latency for 204 pin DDR3 RAM, due to the higher core speed it is able to perform as well or better at 7ns than DDR2 at 5ns. I doubt that there any DDR3 heatsinks available that will fit in the x200 (the bay is pretty small). I wouldn't bother though, because the RAM runs cools, and overclocking is probably a bad idea in a product whose goal is battery life.

Battery life is a bit all over the place and is heavily dependent on your usage pattern. At first my battery life was poor (≈5 hours) but it has improved after I let Vista break in for a week. Under ideal conditions (0/15 brightness, slow processor, typing a word document), I can get my x200t down to 6 watts ±0.5 watts (this works out to 11 hours with the 8 cell). If I turn up the LCD to a mid level brightness I am looking at about 8 watts (8.5 hours). Maxing out brightness is about 10 watts (6.5 hours). The digitizer pen is about 2 watts just by itself when actively inking (drops to low power as soon as you pull the pen away).