Configuration advice on a new X201?

[edbatista]

Having worked with (and loved) refurbed ThinkPads for the last 7 years, I decided that it was finally time to treat myself to a brand new machine, so this morning I took advantage of Lenovo's latest sale and bought an X201 with the following specs:

- i5-560m
- Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit
- 12.1 WXGA
- 4GB RAM
- 500 GB 7200 RPM HDD
- 9 cell battery
- Ultrabase with DVD drive
- Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 adapter
- MS Office Home and Student 2010

Any configuration advice? I've heard about the AFFS mod, but I suspect that the stock display will be sufficient for my needs (although we'll see.)

[ZaZ]

If you've already bought it, what's left to configure? The X201 is a fine machine. The AFFS is gorgeous in either matte or glossy form, but not everyone's willing to make the leap. You don't have to do it right away. Check out the screen you get. You may like it. I didn't think the Samsung screen I got on my X200 was all that bad.

[edbatista]

If you've already bought it, what's left to configure? The X201 is a fine machine. The AFFS is gorgeous in either matte or glossy form, but not everyone's willing to make the leap. You don't have to do it right away. Check out the screen you get. You may like it. I didn't think the Samsung screen I got on my X200 was all that bad.

Thanks, Fred. "Mod advice" or "post-purchase advice" is probably more accurate than "configuration advice"

I've replaced cooling fans and keyboards on ThinkPads, so I'm comfortable unbolting things, but the AFFS would definitely be a step up for me. I've used (and adapted to) a lot of different displays over the last few years, so I'm happy to wait and see if the X201's stock display works for me.

But I was also thinking about the fact that this will be my first Lenovo ThinkPad, so I don't know what craplets it'll be loaded with or what other software I should be thinking about adding or deleting--like installing TPFanControl on my T43 to insure that the fan doesn't run 24/7. Any thoughts along those lines would be very welcome.

[sanjuro]

SSD will make your X201 even more responsive with a shorter boot up time and faster software loading. Difficult to go back to regular HD after getting used to SSD.

A fresh installation of Win 7 will get rid of all the crapware. Using a reinstallation disc will put them back.

[edbatista]

SSD will make your X201 even more responsive with a shorter boot up time and faster software loading. Difficult to go back to regular HD after getting used to SSD.

A fresh installation of Win 7 will get rid of all the crapware. Using a reinstallation disc will put them back.

I'd love an SSD, but I ultimately decided that Lenovo's deal on the 500 GB HDD made it worth living with slower bootups for a few years.

How do I do a fresh install of Win 7? (I've only had refurbed ThinkPads, so I have no idea what I'll get with the new Lenovo.)

[ZaZ]

One person's junk is another's treasure. You're going to get some bloatware like the Office Trial or Picassa, but it's still a lot less than a consumer machine. You could through the ThinkVantage Tools and dump anything you don't like. I personally don't use much, mainly only power manager. I don't really have use for the rest.

With my X200 I noticed it can be more noisy than my tablet at higher CPU settings. The tablet has a LV CPU. Running in low power mode will help some where you can will help.

[sanjuro]

I'd love an SSD, but I ultimately decided that Lenovo's deal on the 500 GB HDD made it worth living with slower bootups for a few years.

How do I do a fresh install of Win 7? (I've only had refurbed ThinkPads, so I have no idea what I'll get with the new Lenovo.)

If the level of crap/bloat ware isn't bad, then it may not be necessary do a "clean" installation of Windows.

If you intend to restart with a clean HD, you'll need a disc of Win 7. With the COA on your X201, you can legally install the generic Win package. Then you can download the necessary ThinkVantage stuff from the Lenovo support site. As FredGarvin has noted above, don't need the most perhaps other than the power manager.

[penartur]

If the level of crap/bloat ware isn't bad, then it may not be necessary do a "clean" installation of Windows.

If you intend to restart with a clean HD, you'll need a disc of Win 7. With the COA on your X201, you can legally install the generic Win package. Then you can download the necessary ThinkVantage stuff from the Lenovo support site. As FredGarvin has noted above, don't need the most perhaps other than the power manager.

1) Lenovo pre-installed Vista is full of crapware, so it really worth a clean install. However, i'm not sure about amount of crapware in pre-installed Win7; and they say that preinstalled Win7 is someway optimized (Enhanced Experience) so that performance and battery life might be much greater than that on clean install.
2) I'm not sure whether it is legal or not, but manufacturers do not activate windows with that keys on COA. Instead, they flash some certificates in BIOS, and then unpacking self-made Windows image on HDD, which has an appropriate certificate embedded into it, so that windows will check against existence of such certificate in BIOS and whether BIOS allowes that windows edition to be activated. There are tools that are installing said certificates in Windows, so, if one will install an appropriate Win7 edition on a thinkpad without entering the key, and then installs thinkpad certificate into windows, it will check itself against bios and will activate itself, just as if it was installed by manufacturer (of course that trick won't work if your PC didn't came with preinstalled OS). AFAIK all thinkpad BIOS certificates that allow Win7 usage also allow Vista usage, so if someone prefers Vista over Win7, they could install and activate an appropriate edition of Vista in such a way, and, although i don't know whether it is really legal, it will be legal in a common sense, and will be indistinguishable from legal manufacturer installation. It also applies to people who have purchased laptop with preinstalled windows, but then have lost their COA.

[Maryland, USA]

Add a 4GB SO-DIMM from NewEgg for just $50 shipped. I did, yesterday. The Windows 7 benchmark rose from 5.9 Memory operations per second to 6.9. Nothing else improved, but I'm happy.

If you do any amount of videochatting, I urge you to install an external webcam, for several reasons: Unlike a built-in camera, an external camera can swivel (pan), tilt, show color that's more true, show a clearer image in low light, send a higher-resolution image, send a 16:9 image, and display a wide angle (about 75 degrees on select models by Logitech, Creative, and Microsoft). You won't find all these features in one model, but the tiny, low-cost Microsoft HD-6000 comes close; it clamps securely to the top bezel of my wife's X201. The very top model from Logitech, Creative, and Microsoft can't swivel, but Microsoft's top offering (the Lifecam Studio) has a tripod mount so you can swivel it on a ballhead. HP's new top model, the HD-4110, does swivel but doesn't claim to be wide-angle.

If your X201 will spend most of its time docked, you'll have to decide what makes more sense: to mount a webcam on the bezel, to mount a webcam on your desktop LCD, or to use two webcams--say, a Lifecam Studio when docked, an HD-6000 when not.

Finally, there's sound. Good as the X201's speakers are, it's thrilling to hear big, rich sound emerging from a clip-on speaker like the Logitech Z-205 or the AQ Amigo, wherever you go.