Thinkpads Forum

I have an X301 available to me for 120EUR, with a core 2 duo 9400, 3gb of ram, and an 80gb SSD.

Ive heard that the display is very [censored]? is that true? Also how would it preform in basic tasks (Debian, web browsing mostly)? Also how is the debian support if anyone is using it? Or am i better off with a X201?
Thanks in advance

The X300/X301 are extremely well made and have the only solid speakers since the A30/A31 from the early 2000s. There is very little flex and they don't have wobbly hinges like so many other Lenovo Thinkpads. On the X201, build quality is still good but it will be a step down.

As far as performance goes, an X301 will still be suitable for the tasks you mentioned. Although I haven't tried Debian, Arch Linux runs great and there are no compatibility issues. The X201 will be more than twice as fast (almost 3 times if you get the i7) cpu wise, but will run hotter and you won't have the optical drive (if that's important).

The display isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Mine is actually sharp, clear, and very bright. Lenovo wasn't kidding when they said the LCD is 300 nits. The only real issue is that the contrast and viewing angles are pretty poor. CR doesn't look much higher than 100:1.

Also remember that all X301 models come with 1440x900 screens, while only select X201s models come with 1440x900. However, you can take the entire lid assembly off of an 1440x900 X201s and put it on an X201 without problems. The X200/X201 can also be modded with a 1280x800 IPS screen. This is possible on The X300/X301, but it is very difficult.

brchan wrote:The X300/X301 are extremely well made and have the only solid speakers since the A30/A31 from the early 2000s. There is very little flex and they don't have wobbly hinges like so many other Lenovo Thinkpads. On the X201, build quality is still good but it will be a step down.

As far as performance goes, an X301 will still be suitable for the tasks you mentioned. Although I haven't tried Debian, Arch Linux runs great and there are no compatibility issues. The X201 will be more than twice as fast (almost 3 times if you get the i7) cpu wise, but will run hotter and you won't have the optical drive (if that's important).

The display isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Mine is actually sharp, clear, and very bright. Lenovo wasn't kidding when they said the LCD is 300 nits. The only real issue is that the contrast and viewing angles are pretty poor. CR doesn't look much higher than 100:1.

Also remember that all X301 models come with 1440x900 screens, while only select X201s models come with 1440x900. However, you can take the entire lid assembly off of an 1440x900 X201s and put it on an X201 without problems. The X200/X201 can also be modded with a 1280x800 IPS screen. This is possible on The X300/X301, but it is very difficult.

Thank you

Yes I can confirm the same experience as "brchan" regarding the display. I actually love the 13,3 inch size and as he said apart from slight contrast issues it is ok for me but YMMV.
Also you won't be looking at it at wide viewing angles but it doesn't adversely affect my viewing experience. I played with display calibration settings with mine and at the moment I am running W10 and I have brightness set to 0%.
I have the X201 also with the I5 540m but this either sits on the shelf or is used by my partner but it doesn't have the 1440x900 display.

I use the ultrabay on the X301 for a spinning 500Gb drive which is handy IMO. Mine is the 9400 CPU and I normally only run it at 1.2Ghz but I have throttle stop and dual IDA bios which will lift the CPU to 1.6Ghz if I need.
At the right price I don't think you can go too far wrong with the X301 . Originally they were very expensive and they probably didn't live up to the hype of that price tag.
Even though I am happy with the performance of mine I hope there will be an upgrade from 51nb for the mobo in the future and with technology advances it is certainly possible. One thing is for certain the X301 will still last as they are very sturdy for a thin and light package.

Welcome to the forum!

IBMEGG wrote:I have an X301 available to me for 120EUR, with a core 2 duo 9400, 3gb of ram, and an 80gb SSD.

Ive heard that the display is very *****Expletives removed by Moderator*****? is that true?

LCD on these machines is bright and precise, but with very weak colour reproduction and viewing angles. There are several profiles floating around that makes using one of those somewhat bearable.

Also how would it preform in basic tasks (Debian, web browsing mostly)? Also how is the debian support if anyone is using it? Or am i better off with a X201?
Thanks in advance

Although I haven't touched Debian in years, I can't see X301 having any issues with the daily performance of light tasks.

In truth, X30* series were one of Lenovo's finest moments. They were expensive systems and still feel that way. Two weak points were the aforementioned LCD quality and battery life which is not great for something that was envisioned as an "on the go" machine. Other than that, the build quality is truly outstanding by any standard, by far surpassing newer and faster models including the X201 that you've mentioned.

Be aware that the X301 comes with a 1.8" drive, which works very well, but can catch some out if buying or trying to use your old 2.5" drives.

I use Debian in one of my X301 and it runs like a champ! No issues whatsoever and everything works ootb, I only needed to install ThinkFan and TLP to have a cool and quiet X301.

I'm using it with a mSata to 1.8" SATA converter, as mentioned above 1.8" SSDs are getting rare and more expensive than the 2.5" and even the mSata siblings.

The biggest cons to me are the CCFL screen and the dual core SU7300 isnt really competitive in Windows and I would guess, the heavier mainstream unix distros, ie. Mint and Ubuntu.

Msata and 1.8 converters cover the drive options. I'm not sure I'd buy an X301 given I now have a T400s which is about the same but that 0.6" bigger but with a faster cpu.

TonyJZX wrote:The biggest cons to me are the CCFL screen and the dual core SU7300 isnt really competitive in Windows and I would guess, the heavier mainstream unix distros, ie. Mint and Ubuntu.

Huh...X301 sports a LED-lit LCD, and the CPUs were SU9400/9600...not very fast, but definitely fast enough for what OP has stated as his intended use...

Additionally, there is a bios mod for these models that enable dual IDA, allowing you to get an extra 200Mhz with throttlestop. The SU9400 and SU9600 will run at 1.6Ghz and 1.8Ghz, respectively. I haven't tried it myself since its tricky on Linux, but people have reported a noticeable performance increase.