Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review Discussion

All I know is Sony told me doing so on their laptops would void the warranty. Maybe Lenovo does things differently, but I would definitely recommend checking with them first (and get it in writing if they say it won't).

 

Sony also doesn't sell business-class notebooks that IT departments love. We in IT love them since they're so easy to work on and replace parts ourselves, while maintaining the warranty. Thinkpads are made with IT departments in mind. It would be unacceptable if we had to void the warranty to replace a small part on the user's computer.
Thinkpads have no warranty stickers that I've seen (haven't had to take the whole mainboard out of a Thinkpad, but have done everything else). You won't void your warranty.

Also, consumer-class notebooks are pretty damn hard to take apart without breaking. I tore down a HP Pavilion once...took me hours. Takes only minutes to tear down a business-class machine such as a Thinkpad. That's another big reason Sony won't just let their average customer start taking apart their laptops. Sure, an advanced user could take one apart and put it back together successfully, but I'm sure Sony would rather not deal with the people that screw it up and try to have it fixed on Sony's dime.

 

I will do my research and compare some of the prices. Any particular brand/model you can recommend? I'm gonna run 8GB of course.

I will take a look at the X25, thank you for your suggestion.

I do plan to have backup, undoubtedly. Most of the time I will likely bring a USB3 external drive to backup my photos before starting to work on them in the computer. It's just running from the SSD will make things much smoother on location. (not that it'll be any heavy post-processing, just streamlining or simple edits/views for the clients)

So does that mean I can order a normal HDD with the X220, then tack on my own mSATA SSD safe and under warranty? That would be my ideal plan, having both a SSD (as boot/app/processing pics drive) and the HDD for storage (before they go back onto the desktop for long-term).

 

Its a safe bet to order your X220 with an HDD and put an SSD in by yourself. The warranty will remain intact if past Thinkpads are any indicator.

 

Theoretically, yes. I say theoretically since it is a laptop that is not out to the public yet, and no one has tried. I have a friend with a Fujitsu laptop with a mini pci-e slot in which you could put in a mSATA SSD, but due to limitations in the BIOS or chipset, it wasn't actually possible to use a mSATA SSD in that slot.
However, since the new Thinkpads have a mSATA SSD as a factory option (not yet available, but will be in the future it is believed) listed in their spec sheets, there should be no reason it wouldn't work.
So ideally, you'd want to wait until someone else tries it and reports back.
But I'm eyeing almost the same setup as you. mSATA SSD for the OS, and a nice 750 GB HDD for storage. Looking at a X220 tablet personally at the moment though.
I'm confident enough that it'll work that I'm willing to order a X220t as soon as it becomes available. (if it were available now, I'd order one now. )

 

I would *guess* it's going to be a customer replaceable unit. The best bet would be to call and ask, I guess the sales rep, if he/she can check it up in their system.

 

Thanks everybody, my questions have been answered.

Now, the wait...

 

Sorry if this has been answered already, but rishu pepper, if you are going to replace the HD in the X220 w/ a SSD, you need a SSD that is 7mm. Intel is the only one that makes such a HD. You can buy the G2 Intel SSD and remove the spacer, making it 7mm.

 

Yes, I am aware of that. I will likely purchase the 310 mSATA SSD from Intel. Reviews have its performance along the lines of the X-25, which is plenty good for me.

 

Could you run it with the drivers updated? They always ship with beta like drivers.

 

I wonder how long it would take for the aspect ratio to reach 2.35:1 on notebooks.



Enjoy the black bars under and above the screen. It's what widescreen can do for you!

 

I give it about 2 years mas o menos.

 

I think the important part is you're getting the chance at a quality screen, not the 32 pixels.

 

I don't really worry about the 32 pixels.

I focus on the big picture: the loss of 282 pixels since 1400x1050

 

Yep. I was about to reply the same.

EDIT: Yeah, about the 32 pixels... 'They' probably figure if they don't heat the water too fast, us frogs won't jump out.
Offer us IPS to help make the medicine go down.

 

Sorry, I somehow stopped receiving my subscription emails for this thread so I didn't see this until just now. Easiest thing to do is to go to Newegg, select all 4GBx2 under laptop memory, and sort by best rating. I personally like G.Skill since it's cheap and I've had nothing but good luck with it, and the reviews are usually good to great. I would personally go with this, as it's a brand I trust (G.Skill), cheap, has tons of good reviews, and it's on sale. In fact, I may pick some up to throw in whatever laptop I get. Edit: I just pulled the trigger on the RAM, now I just need a notebook to put it in. Hurry up with the X220 already, Lenovo!

So am I understanding correctly that the X220 will only hold a 7mm hard drive, meaning you basically have almost no options for upgrading that?

Also, are you guys saying the mSATA option won't be available for a while after release? I was about ready to buy an E420s the other day when I realized they didn't have it as an option yet, or maybe it was the switchable graphics. Or maybe both, I don't remember. Point is, why do they do that? Why can't they just release all the options right from the start?

I'd also just like to say again too that I am disappointed in the i7 upgrade requirement just to get USB 3, and that may likely keep me from purchasing unless they decide to change it or the price difference isn't much (which isn't likely at all). Has anybody come up with a reason for this yet?

 

From everything I understand, yes, this is the case. There are a reasonable number of options for 7 mm drives, though, even if there aren't quite as many as there are for the more standard 9.5 mm drives.

 

I've owned a number of thinkpads and the only ones I kept are those that made little or no high pitched noises while in operation. It's the sound that has been attributed to the CPU changing power states.

I wonder if Lenovo has taken any steps to mitigate any possible high pitched noise problem in the design of the X220?

 

Can anyone tell me how well multitouch gestures are supported?

Is the trackpad synaptics or elantech or a terrible ALPS?

Does it support tap to click (not physical press to click, but tap)? Two-finger scroll?
Two-finger tap for right click?
Three-finger tap for middle click?
Other gestures (4-finger, pinch, zoom)?

I was very excited to buy my Acer 1830T, but I got one with an ALPS trackpad, and it's just been a miserable experience. I'd like to get an X220, but the deciding factor for me is the trackpad.

(Also, the speakers on the Acer 1830T are terribly weak to the point od being useless; how are the speakers on the X220?)

 

It is a Synaptics, not even sure if Elantech or Alps make touchpads with the buttons integrated into them. And I had an 1830T, installing the Realtek HD drivers and playing with settings improved volume greatly.

 

I'm really excited for this especially with the slice battery providing up to 23 hours of battery life (with 9 cell). While the screen resolution is less than amazing, another big thing is the touchpad which I feel like is useless on the X-series. I would rather have just the trackpoint like the X201 has with the touchpad as an optional addition. The non-latch thing also worries me a little but not as much as the touchpad and resolution.

 

You can always disable the touchpad, I assume.

 

I read that the i7 is a big drain on power for the x200 tablet and reduces performance. Any comment ?

 

I don't have any evidence of this, but I would suspect the i7 to have little if any impact on the battery life. It is rated at the same TDP as the other chips, and is really just an i5 with a slightly faster clock speed and more virtualization support. I could be wrong, though. Also, I can't see how it would reduce performance, being a faster chip and having more cache.

 

I'm somewhat confused about the buttons between the touchpad and the spacebar. On my t60p, though I have the "normal" buttons on the edge of the touchpad, I still can use the buttons above the touchpad (beside the spacebar) just like normal mouse buttons without using the trackpoint (presumably the red button in middle of keyboard). Is this not true for the X220 as well?

 

I've really loved my EEPC T91 except for two things. My SSD is too small and most importantly I can't see anything when I'm outside or in the car and I work outside a lot. I don't need sparkling graphics since I'll plug it into my large screen for that but when I'm out and about I need to be able to read the text on my spreadsheets or my latest Civilization IV game.

Can someone let me know about their experiences with outdoor usage? I'm looking at the X220 with either

12.5" HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna or
12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna

 

Get the Premium HD. It's an IPS screen that offers more brightness, better contrast and insane viewing angles. Direct sunlight might be an issue, but a little shade or a few clouds will greatly help.

 

On maximum brightness, and sometimes even a little less, the IPS screen performs beautifully in direct, bright sunlight. I've used it in the car and outside, both in bright sunlight, and have had absolutely no issue seeing the screen. Bear in mind, of course, that this will drastically reduce your battery life (speaking of which, I've yet to come even close to the claimed battery life with mine). As for using a large external monitor with it, be aware higher resolutions put more demand on a video card, and playing a game that way might be asking too much of the integrated graphics, leaving you disappointed. All depends on what games you play and what your expectations are.

 

Get Premium HD. It's the IPS screen. It would be a waste not to get that upgrade, because it makes more of a difference than anything. To say the least, the quality is significantly better than the meh-grade stock screen.

 

Thanks for info about screen in daylight. I I couldn't see my screen then it would have been a deal breaker because that's why I'm buying a laptop. I've got a perfectly good desktop for when I'm sitting in nice office lighting.

I've heard good things about the microphone but nothing about the video conferencing. Looking at the options, I don't even see an integrated video. Is there a camera?

Talked to sales today and the only way to get the Core I-5 processor with an integrated webcam is to talk to a sales representative.

My three major programs that often bog down my current EeePC are PDF Annotator, MS Outlook and MS Access. In addition, I want to be able to play WOW, Champions, and Civilization IV beyond the sword at LOW video settings occasionally on this new laptop. I am getting the 128g SSD and the IPS display screen. Should I spend my remaining dollars on :

6 gig of RAM and the I5 2.3 ghz processor or
3 gig of Ram and the I5 2.6 ghz processor

If I'm not particular about graphics (don't want to stutter or rubberband) has anyone used this computer to play WOW, Champions, or Civ IV when connected to a large monitor? I have a Dell 24" 1024 x 768 monitor.

 

Memory can always be upgraded, cpu not so much. However, I'm pretty confident even the slower cpu is more than capable of those tasks, tho I'm not 100% positive. I'm also fairly sure you're going to have pretty poor performance with only 3gb of ram for gaming, ESPECIALLY considering the integrated graphics has to use system ram. I would hesitate to game on 3gb even with dedicated graphics. One thing to remember is not to upgrade ram through lenovo. It's far cheaper to buy some from newegg. I bought 2x4gb (8gb total) for about $70, which was somewhere around the cost of half that through lenovo. Most, if not all, laptops are like that. If your budget allows, I would go with the faster cpu (as long as it's not a huge jump in price) and add more ram later if necessary. If you absolutely can only afford one or the other, I would say go for the ram.

You could also save money by buying the ssd elsewhere and installing it yourself, or by getting a smaller one (remember, you still have the platter drive for storage space). And finally, remember that for most games, only one core of the cpu will be used, so it will enter turbo mode and run at a faster speed.

 

@Jerry

During your battery testing, you used Windows' balanced profile. When I tried this, the display turned off after about one minute. Does this mean that for the duration of the test, minus the first minute, the monitor was off? I'm trying to figure out why with the 6-cell battery AND the slice battery, my backlight at half what you had yours on, and doing practically nothing with the computer (no refreshing of web pages or anything to use up excess battery), I'm only looking at about 11-12 hours of life. The only differences between my setup and yours are that I have an SSD, which should increase battery life, more RAM, and the i7. I can't believe the i7 would make that much of a difference, especially since it's rated at the same TDP as the i5.

Update: After running the two batteries down to about 75-80% doing next to nothing, the calculated total runtime was about 10-11 hours. I then proceeded to play a few games of Risk II, NOT a demanding game by any means, and I was down to about 5% battery within a total of 5 hours from when I started at 100%. This means that I would probably only get about 4 hours if I had been doing this the whole time. Keep in mind, this is with BOTH the 6-cell and the external slice battery, and with the backlight at 5/15. The whole reason I bought this laptop was because of the supposed great battery life, but either I am doing something seriously wrong, or the X220 is not all it's cracked up to be.

 

Bump...I would really like to know what is going on with my dismal battery life, and someone I know who got the X220T about the same time is very disappointed in his battery life as well. What's the deal?

 

I'm thinking of getting an x220. It has everything except a discrete GPU. However I need some information before taking the final decision. I'd really appreciate if X220 [32 Bit] owners can reply to my following queries:

1. Do I get the OS disk seperately like Dell. I don't like those recovery disks that come with Sony, Toshiba (and probably others) that force me to install all the useless stuffs as well.
2. I'm a bit confused which one to take that gives me IPS screen and maximum number of antena.
3. Can it cope with heavy and simultaneous use of MATLAB [hours long simulation], R [Stat & Math tool], Adobe PS/Lightroom and BBC HD live clip? FYI, I'll be using it wth HP's LP2475w (H-IPS panel) monitor. This means Ill need to use the DisplayPort.
4. Can it cope with a USB 2.0 (or USB 3.0) based BluRay drive? USB 2.0 BDRom drive price is relatively lot cheaper than 1-2 years ago.
5. If I move to another country will I be able to change and use the after sales service in the event of any Hardware problem? Also does it have an international warranty?
6. Any other issue I should worried about.

​

Thanks for your time.

Ash

 

@ash_bd:

1.- No, unfortunately, you do not. You burn the recovery disks from the recovery partition yourself, and the disks created are basically just disk images of the factory install. You can, however, easily do a clean install.

2.- For the maximum number of antennas (3x3) and IPS display, choose

Code:

12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna

Note, however, that with the 3x3 antennas, you will not be able to add a webcam. Also, you should then choose the only card that can take advantage of all three antennas (Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3 AGN)). With a webcam, the option you should choose is

Code:

12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna

And choose the desired WiFi card.

3.- Yes, I would expect so. The SB Core i_ CPUs can handle quite a lot.

4.- Yes, there should be no problems.

5.- Depends. I believe some Thinkpads have international warranty service (IWS) while others do not. It depends on the model number, I think. I don't know all that much about this issue, but if you ask around in the Lenovo/IBM subforum, I'm sure there are others who are more knowledgeable on this.

6.- Just look around the Lenovo/IBM subforum

 

Thank you very much for your detailed and helpful response, MidnightSun.

 

I forgot to ask, is the DVDRom/Burner for X220 an external or internal one? If it's internal, is there any 3rd party internal BluRayRom (BDRom) drive available in the market? Sorry if this has been addressed before.

 

External, the X220 does not have an internal optical drive. Any USB ODD will work, including relatively inexpensive Blu-Ray-reading drives.

 

I would like to know how the reviewer was able to get 8+ hours of battery life at 70% brightness and refreshing a webpage every 60 seconds. I have not been able to get anywhere CLOSE to that using the 6 cell.

Can anyone else replicate the results of the battery test in the review?

 

people still buy the x220?

throttling and overheating finally fixed by lenovo? well I saw people in the official forum who said it got fixed, then there are still people saying even the bios update did nothing.

 

Battery Life Sure i Wish Had A Battery Life About Between 6-8 Hours Battery Life is Sure important Especially When On A Long international Flight And Would Like To Watch A Few DVD's

 

Lowering the screen brightness is the best path to better battery life. I've got the six-cell and I'm getting six plus hours of battery life with teh screen at 10/15.

 

Screen at 10/15 (2/3 brightness) is plenty bright, atleast for me.

 

4.6-5.2W idle, 10:53 (historic - web surfing) with a 97Whr 9-cell accomplished with a 12.5" HP 2560P. Uses the same QM67 chipset as a X220 with a i5-2540M, SF1222-based SSD and TN LCD set to 3 bars brightness. What software settings are required?

After doing a fresh Win7/64 install I set all devices set to maximum battery and loaded the Intel RST AHCI SATA driver. Then applied the power management reg hacks here under section 1. enable hidden settings “power options”.

The important ones being the reg hack to make visible the Harddisk AHCI Link Power Management. I set these options to HIPM+HIDM and 100ms respectively as shown below:



Then I altered the CPU management where can enable core parking, which I did for cores (3 HT get parked when on DC). I later found this was unnecessary as cores are set by default to park when not in use.

The important part is to set the maximum CPU % to 5% so it runs at the lowest VID. Then also install flashblock in Firefox so flash pages don't kick up cpu/iGPU utilization.

Very impressed by Intel's latest tech. I get the same or better battery life that my miserly L9xxx 2530P got. 22nm Ivy Bridge (IB) will improve things yet again. Appears socketed systems like a 2560P will be able to be upgraded to IB.

 

Yay!

Got mine today....

 

How does this work without buttons?

If I wanted to right click and save as...how would that be done without buttons?

 

There are 3 buttons (left and right click and a scroll button, which you press then move the TrackPoint around to scroll) directly above the touchpad. I still don't know why it's called buttonless. I personally don't even use the touchpad, in fact, I have it disabled. I just use the TrackPoint and the buttons.

 

OK...I'm used to using a mouse on my desktop and on my Dell Laptop I use a mouse...but I suppose I need to quit using a mouse on my laptop so I can get used to going mouse-less.

Been doing alot of reading on the ThinkPad X220 and I think this is the one I'm going to get as it's small, pretty fast, and it has a CD-Rom drive

How hard it it to add 4 more gigs of RAM?

 

A 12.5" X220 has no internal optical drive. A 12.5" HP 2560P does.

 

Loosen two screws on the bottom and remove the panel from the bottom. Replace memory.