Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Review Discussion

Thanks for the wprime temperature testing, Kevin!
I hope the small machine can "suffer" similarly as my present Inspiron 1720 can (5 days 100% CPU load, constant 60°C, silent, due to undervolting).

Maybe undervolting Arrandale will be possible, soon. Although I fear the complexity of the needed fine-tuning (due to Intel's turbo boost).

 

Thanks Kevin

Have you heard anything on availability that you can tell us? I imagine that until it's officially announced, they'll just tell me they can't comment on unreleased models.

 

It looks like Lenovo is making use of higher capacity battery cells to build their laptop batteries?

Do you know if the new X201 9-cell battery is compatible with X200?

 

So what are those track point fanatics going to do now that even X200 has a track pad on it? Apparently not a whole lot of them here, but I have seen some very hard core fans that absolutely will not accept the track pad underneath the track point...

 

They can buy the X200s which doesn't offer a touchpad (that I know of).

 

I thought I read somewhere the touchpad was suppose to be an optional feature, or is it not?

 

Are you sure they can't just replace the the palmrest. The physical size looks identical and I think you could just buy an x200 palmrest sans touchpad and place it on an x201. This would probably run about $30-$50, but if disabling the touchpad isn't enough, it's a good option.


I'm a bit surprised about the battery life for the tablet. Energy consumption should be very nearly identical for the x201s and x201 Tablet assuming comparable parts (the configs are very similar). I would try checking the tablet's numbers again as <7 watts should be possible (my x200T tends to be around 6.5 with a light load). Note that actively inking will cause consumption to jump by about 2 watts as the screen powers the pen through induction.

Sad that the screens on the x201(s) are still lackluster. I really would like Lenovo to make an improvement here. Also, what is the exact panel that the x201 Tablet had? Is it the LED IPS Enhanced Multi-Touch (EMT)? This panel was rated at 270 nits for the x200 Tablet and should be the brightest of the bunch. Finally, is the tablet panel objectively warm (yellow), or just in comparison to the excessively cool (blue) panels found on the x201(s)?

All of the x201 Tablets should use Wacom digitizers (in conjunction with a touch layer for appropriate panels).

 

Hey, just wondering, never used a touchpad on a Thinkpad before... what are the X201's touchpad buttons like, material-wise? Plastic or rubbery or what? Are they like the same as the trackpoint buttons? Are they comfy?!

 

Yeah it is really a shame about the screen. I would love to move to a X201i with web cam, but its the screen holding me back from trading my Vaio TT for it(part of the reason why I got it and still keep it).

 

Does either the x201 or the x201s have a roll-cage bottom chassis and the NextGen rollcage for the LCD cover? AFAIK, the x200 did not have these features and the x201 only had the roll cage bottom, but not for the screen lid.

Do they only come with LED screens or is it still possible to get CCFL screen X201 (LED gives me an eye strain)?

 

Revisiting my question from before:
Do the X201 -/s/t all have 2.5'' harddisks?

 

Wow, that's very impressive! Now if my T500 could do 14 hours on battery...

 

Updated the review. Got home and BatteryMon is reporting 11 hours and 50 minutes at the time it shut off.

The worst part about reviewing these new notebooks is the amount of time you can't actually *use* the notebook as its running its battery test.

 

It's a shame about the lack of displayport, though this is a fairly minor update (in terms of features) so I'm not entirely surprised. They probably wanted to keep using the same chassis as the X200 as possible and just added the trackpoint because it was in high demand (and probably easy to implement too compared to DP).

Displayport will probably be in the next X series design. In a couple years there should be no reason why an 'elite-class' machine can't have both VGA and a digital output.

 

hi kevin, real quick question,
does x201s have a built-in camera at the top of the screen?
thank you!

 

The model we received does not.

 

I don't think the wxga+ screen can be offered with the webcam, only the wxga. That said, I have seen top seller models out there of the x200s where it had a wxga and webcam, so I presume they'll have that option again for the x201s. I hope so at least. They haven't allowed that configuration on CTO's since I've been looking at the X series, and it's hard to find those top seller models. I don't know why they try so hard to keep the webcam exclusive to the x201.

 

Word on the street from Lenovo is March 1st.

 

My last question is (I found the answers to the others myself ), are the x201's HDD's SATA I or II?

 

The interface will be SATA II (and support full speed on appropriate SSDs). However, individual drives may only be listed as SATA I due to a lack of need for additional speed.

 

Any info on the presence/absence of internal roll cage?

 

From the review;

 

As someone has said, I wish if it has a smaller bezel - it looks like this laptop takes as much space as 13.3 laptops. Otherwise, it seems to be very nice laptop, though - probably a best laptop from Lenobo in recent times.

 

wow... the wprime numbers are faster than my desktop =(

 

Does the keyboard still clatter on the x201s in the vicinity of the Fn button? Are Fn/Ctrl BIOS-swappable now?

 

What they'll do is... buy an X201 or X201s with just a trackpoint . The touch pad is configurable - you don't have to have one if you don't want one.

 

Thanks for the review Kevin. Great evolution of the X200 series. With the latest refresh X201 is my new favorite, best performing and best built ultraportable on the market.

However not enough to have me replace my current X200 with SSD which is plenty fast and more than capable for my needs.

 

Save some cash boys and girls and go for the HP TM2t tablet pc instead. When is notebook review going to review the tm2t masterpiece from HP?

 

I have an X300 and hate the trackpad. It's small, unresponsive, no-multitouch and worse of all, is very sensitive to accidental brushing.

I use Fn+F8 and turn it off most of the time.

 

This is not clear at all: which "T series counterpart"? There is no T200, obviously, and the new T410 does not have a lid roll cage, while the T510 still has it. Besides, neither the T410 nor the T510 has "alloy chassis", but a magnesium endoskeleton (i.e. inner) roll cage.

 

I believe its a magnesium alloy chassis (endoskeleton) but I've been wrong before. I really liked this new 12" thinkpads, sadly I have enough with my 2530p (built like a tank )and my t400 to justify an upgrade (added to the fact I don't have $1500 for the x201s)

 

hey guys any one has any inside news/scoop at to when is Lenovo putting in the Core i5 520um or Core i7 620/640um in x201 Series...?!?
__________________

 

The X-series gets its strength from its metal shell. The T-series gets its strength from a metal chassis with plastic cladding covering it.

 

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the amazing test, I might be tempted by the x201s.

I think there is a typo in the X201s' price. Lenov has listed a starting price of $1599
http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1319

 

I will reconfirm with our Lenovo contacts on the pricing. The prices we listed were given to us for each configuration we received... something might have changed from prelaunch to launch in pricing me thinks.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Does both the x201 and x201s share the same cooler? That would be good since many people complained about noise and temps from their x200s's. Thats one of the details of he 2530p that bug me. My t400 is the most silent laptop I've ever used.

 

Or not. The X201's have more powerful processors than the TM2, weigh more than a pound less, and have longer battery life.

 

I have to agree. While I like the all metal chassis of the TM2, the design pattern is IMHO dreadful, and it uses a low power processor. If they upgraded it to arrandale I might consider it, but I really think the x201 is a much better system over all (from what I can see on this side of my monitor).

 

Have you checked out the settings in the UltraNav control panel? You can adjust settings that prevent accidental brushes.

I too would like to know this - any chance of some shots of the internals of each of these fine laptops, Kevin?

 

Anyone got the benchmarks of the HP tm2 tablet to compare with the X201 tablet, in particular 3D mark scores?

Also does the X201 tablet have a fingerprint reader and webcam ?

 

The HP tm2 is still running Intel's ultra-low-voltage Core 2 Duo processors, so it will be outperformed by the X201t. However, the tm2 does have the option for a Radeon HD 4550M, so it will likely have superior graphics capability.

I would expect the tm2's battery life to fall far short of the X201t's, though, and will probably run hotter/louder - haven't used either, though, so it's just my speculation.

 

yea sure it will also probably have firewire, esata, and usb 3
but who really knows.

this one doesnt have firewire or esata does it?

 

Ports and Features in the review says 3 USB ports, VGA out, LAN, ExpressCard/54, audio jacks, and a modem jack. So, if you want firewire or eSATA, you'd have to get an ExpressCard solution.

 

If you really want a touchpad on your X201s... the palmrest with touchpad from the X201 easily swaps over and is fully functional on the X201s

Windows detects the touchpad instantly and works like it was original to the system. The speakers should also swap over from the X201 but to hear one of the drivers you would need to drill holes or slots in the chassis since the X201s was not designed for the other speaker.

 

The X201 and X201s do not share the same cooler. They look different and have a different part number.

 

Kevin, can you swap it onto X200 ?

 

If someone could give me a X200 or get some REALLY exact measurements with pictures I could probably tell you.

 

The x201 with 9-cell is the perfect notebook IMO. I just picked up a used X40 with SSD and I can't believe how much I like that thing.

 

I'm also interested in the interchangeability of the new palm rests and high capacity batteries into the x200s.

It would be great to be able to buy a 94whr battery when my 9 cell dies.