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    Can a X201 satisfy my needs? :D

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by ghitty, Mar 12, 2010.

  1. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, I am comtemplating on whether to get a X201 for my studies. I am going overseas to Australia to study this coming July.

    The reason why I choose the X201 is because:

    1) It's a thinkpad! I don't want my laptop to die on me when I am overseas. Plus the one I am buying comes with 4 years international warrenty

    2) It's lightweight and easy to carry around

    3) Since I am going to be typing alot (That's what you do most on a computer right? Besides using the mouse), I want the legendary thinkpad keyboard :)

    4) I am getting it at a good price of SGD1498 (which is around USD1074)

    BTW, I am getting the i5-540m model.

    However, there are a few things I need to confirm before spending the moolah . I really appreciate all the help I can get from the good people of this forum :)

    1) I need to run photoshop once in a while. Just to do a little drawing, nothing intensive like editing on RAW images. So... will photoshop run smoothly on this nice machine?

    2) I will do some light video editing as I plan to send videos of Australia and my life back to my family. I will most likely be dealing with 720p or maybe 1080p videos, running either Adobe Preimier or some other lightweight video editing program. Can the X201 handle it?

    3) I have a habit of opening a lot of tabs in firefox or chrome (around 15 tabs), so the laptop need to be able to handle it.

    4) How is the integrated webcam on the X201?

    5) Although I don't really do a lot of gaming (at least not when I am studying), I do enjoy the occasional older games like Warcraft 3 or Deus Ex or some Gameboy or Playstation Emulator. So how does the X201 fare in this?

    The reason why I am getting the laptop this cheap is because there is currently a student offer in my country! And it ends on this coming Tuesday, so I need to know this few things fast! Please let me know your honest opinion and thank you soo much in advance :)
     
  2. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    1) Photoshop is more CPU, Ram and HDD intensive (so yes the i5 model X201 should run it fine).

    2) CPU does the encoding so yes the X201 should handle it reasonably well.

    3) I can do that in my T60 with slower CPU, so no problem in X201

    4) not sure, but from past experience with other Lenovo integrated webcam, they are okay but nothing great.

    5) Don't worry you could run those games in Pentium 4 computers like 8 years ago, so i don't think your X201 would sweat much.
     
  3. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    None of those tasks should pose any problem.

    The webcam on my x200T is decent, but doesn't perform well in low light. The new generation of ThinkPads are supposed to have a slightly improved webcam (better in low light) and I believe this extends to the x201 as well.
     
  4. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sounds great! I will be getting my X201 next week and I'm so excited! :)
     
  5. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    When you receive it, please do post some pictures and feedback! :)
     
  6. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sure! I will definitely give some feedback on the X201 when it's here :)
     
  7. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    I think you're fine. The only way you're going to get significantly more processing power is to bump up to a quad core, which means a 15" notebook. Do you want to carry around a 15" notebook?
     
  8. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    well.... i guess as long as the laptop is portable and not too heavy (2.0kg or less), something that wouldn't cause a strain on my shoulders when carrying around, I think I should be pretty OK with it. Actually there is another student offer for a Thinkpad T410.

    The Specs are:
    -i5-540m processor
    -4GB ram
    -500 GB 7200 SATA HDD
    -NVIDIA Quadro NVS 3100m 256MB DDR3

    And it's around 2.1kg. It is selling for the same price as the X201 I am getting. Do you think this will be a better laptop for a student?
     
  9. jonlumpkin

    jonlumpkin NBR Transmogrifier

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    Not in my opinion. The difference between the CPU is little to none. The T400 offers a moderate boost on the GPU, but in my opinion it's not worth it (definitely not for your stated needs). Finally, the additional size/weight of a 14.1" over a 12.1" laptop seems like a bad choice for a student in my opinion.
     
  10. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    i think the X201 with the i5 CPU is more than fine for most uses. I still use my T43 for lot of simple Photoshop touch ups and light CAD work. SO i don't think you would be short of processing power for your moderate use.

    Also, you would appreciate the weight saving of the X201 over the T410 when you carry the laptop all day long.
     
  11. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    OK, considering what I require, I will get the X201. I will be back to post feedbacks and answer any questions!

    P.S
    Is the Quadro card really just a moderate boost on the GPU?
     
  12. ghitty

    ghitty Notebook Enthusiast

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    Alright! I got my X201 yesterday and I finished charging it today. The keyboard feels reallyyyyyy good :) The i-core processor feels snappy as well. However, I feel that some of the ThinkVantage are not very useful except for the power management. What's the forum's people opinions on the ThinkVantage softwares. Do you all think I should keep them? Or should I do a clean installation?

    Oh! And if any of you have any question about X201, feel free to ask, I will try my best to check it out for everyone :)
     
  13. Khallis

    Khallis Newbie

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    Here's a question Ghitty.. :eek:

    How are the graphics on your X201... While u were rendering photos on photoshop or videos on premiere pro, any difference?

    Any other disappointments so far?

    Thanks, c :)
     
  14. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

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    apart from rescue recovery, power manager and active protection system, i don't use any other Thinkvantage softwares. As Windows OS have many of these functions already catered for.