Thinkpads Forum

Ok, so I surfed and shopped, shopped and surfed, and I got to "what I thought" was a really good deal (equipment only - tax not included):

$752 - X201i

i3-370
2GB RAM
160GB HD
Bluetooth
Intel 6200
Trackpoint only
6 Cell

I had 2nd thoughts about the processor, so I reconfigured the system, searched for some more deals, and came up with a mind boggling price through borders perks (40% off):

$840 - X201

i5-560
4GB RAM
500GB HD
Bluetooth
Intel 6300
Trackpoint + Touchpad
6 Cell

This didn't seem possible for a mere 88 additional dollars, so I got into a chat with a Lenovo sales rep and she took care of everything - got me an RMA for the return of my initial purchase (unopened - no restocking fee), and she placed the order for exactly what I had configured for $840. Now I'm just wondering if this is as good a price as I think it is...or are there some more deals hidden under rocks that I'm unaware of?

Sounds a good deal to me.

bacciagalupe wrote:Now I'm just wondering if this is as good a price as I think it is...or are there some more deals hidden under rocks that I'm unaware of?

Everyone's going to answer than differently. Me, I would have stuck with the X201i because I'm going to throw an SSD in there. The bigger drive has little value to me. Used memory is pretty cheap via ebay. Probably the best value resides in the outlet and ebay. I paid $600 shipped for my X200 from the outlet. There's little practical difference between a X200 and X201 except the touchpad. ebay can offer some good deals if you can be patient, but the experience can vary more widely.

Thanks for the feedback. I actually began my shopping in the outlet, but when I started comparing the refurbs to the new units with the 'stackable' discounts, the new untis outpriced them. You have to compare apples to apples. Sure I could have gotten a cheaper X200/s...but that's another topic altogether.

While I do buy 'some' stuff off ebay, I won't buy a PC their...just a personal thing. Having a PC delivered directly from the MFR has value to me.

Everything else is relative. Sure you can buy cheap RAM somewhere else, but 30 bucks here and 30 bucks their defeats the purpose.

I guess the real question is whether an i3 to i5 processor alone is worth the $88 upgrade. I thought so. As a bonus, I got a bigger HD, faster wifi, double the ram and a touchpad. Doesn't seem so bad to me.

I'm interested in hearing from others who recently purchased a new X201 from Lenovo (post Black Friday). How does this measure up to what you got?

That's a pretty good deal I'd say. I bought mine on ebay with pretty much the same spec except with i5-540m and 3 years warranty for $750. Obviously it's used, but I don't really care b/c of the awesome warranty. Slapped the AFFS mod on it and I'm happy as a clam.
I think your price is as cheap as it can get with new.

bacciagalupe wrote: I guess the real question is whether an i3 to i5 processor alone is worth the $88 upgrade. I thought so.

Do you run complex statistical calculations or physics simulations on your laptop and require the absolute maximum performance? No? Then it's not worth $88.

As a bonus, I got a bigger HD, faster wifi, double the ram and a touchpad. Doesn't seem so bad to me.

That, however, probably *does* make it worth the extra money.

ThinkRob wrote:Do you run complex statistical calculations or physics simulations on your laptop and require the absolute maximum performance? No? Then it's not worth $88.

I'm more concerned with the capability and value of the book 2 to 3 years down the road. Things like: growth, future-proofing, resale - all have value. I guess it depends whether you're looking at it strictly from an engineering perspective or a business perspective.

ThinkRob wrote:That, however, probably *does* make it worth the extra money.

So, I just should have wrote it in reverse then...

I got triple the hard drive space, double the ram, faster wifi and a touchpad for only $88 more, and an i3 to i5 processor upgrade as a bonus

bacciagalupe wrote: I'm more concerned with the capability and value of the book 2 to 3 years down the road. Things like: growth, future-proofing, resale - all have value. I guess it depends whether you're looking at it strictly from an engineering perspective or a business perspective.

Perhaps, but IMHO the Core i5 simply isn't fast enough to make for a real improvement for those areas.

I got triple the hard drive space, double the ram, faster wifi and a touchpad for only $88 more, and an i3 to i5 processor upgrade as a bonus

Aye, the glass is half full. Congrats on your upgrade, BTW.

I bought my wife's X201 on Cyber Monday, so I got it at a great price. But premium features like an SSD, a dock + DVD burner (both from Lenovo Outlet), an i7 processor, a WWAN card, and Windows 64 Ultra just about doubled the base price. I did manage to save on RAM by adding a 4 GB SODIMM from NewEgg for $50. I've been keeping careful records, and I've now spent $2,000, including a premium webcam and one commercial application (Acrobat 9). It's a lot, but the X201 has replaced a desktop that was 14 years old; after waiting so long (because wifey got attached to her creaking relic), I wanted it all. And if her Lenovo were a MacBook Pro, no one would raise an eyebrow.

Maryland, USA wrote:I bought my wife's X201 on Cyber Monday, so I got it at a great price. But premium features like an SSD, a dock + DVD burner (both from Lenovo Outlet), an i7 processor, a WWAN card, and Windows 64 Ultra just about doubled the base price. I did manage to save on RAM by adding a 4 GB SODIMM from NewEgg for $50. I've been keeping careful records, and I've now spent $2,000, including a premium webcam and one commercial application (Acrobat 9).

That's a lot of money. Good call on the RAM, and I hope you didn't get the SSD from Lenovo...

I guess Windows cuts into one's budget quite a bit too. I'd forgotten how much licenses cost these days (Linux on my personal machines, free licenses from TechNet for work.)

ThinkRob wrote: I hope you didn't get the SSD from Lenovo...

I did, for a premium of $260. I didn't see how buying it elsewhere would save me money. And I would have had to save at least $50 to spare me the time, trouble, stress, and fear of installing it myself and transferring the original image.

Maryland, USA wrote:I did, for a premium of $260. I didn't see how buying it elsewhere would save me money. And I would have had to save at least $50 to spare me the time, trouble, stress, and fear of installing it myself and transferring the original image.

I typically advise against getting an SSD preinstalled for a couple of reasons: 1) it costs more 2) installing a new drive yourself takes all of 2 minutes and 1 screw -- and that's if you're being slow and cautious 3) Lenovo tends to be about a generation behind current SSD tech.

That said, if you don't want to bother cloning your image and are willing to pay for the convenience it can be worth it. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

That X201 sounds great, though, and if I needed a new dev. box I'd probably get something not too dissimilar. Enjoy!

ThinkRob wrote:I typically advise against getting an SSD preinstalled for a couple of reasons: 1) it costs more 2) installing a new drive yourself takes all of 2 minutes and 1 screw -- and that's if you're being slow and cautious 3) Lenovo tends to be about a generation behind current SSD tech.

typically that set of rules does hold true.   in this case MD scored a 160GB intel X18-m G2 w/ 2.5" adapter for $260 with next-business-day warranty replacement.   that's a very good deal.

the lenovo FRU version of this drive comes with lenovo-specific firmware optimizing it for use in a thinkpad.   plus, it can be safely secure erased from the BIOS once the feature is enabled in the system.   i personally prefer the lenovo FRU version over the retail for these reasons and own two of them myself.

erik wrote: typically that set of rules does hold true.   in this case MD scored a 160GB intel X18-m G2 w/ 2.5" adapter for $260 with next-business-day warranty replacement.   that's a very good deal.

the lenovo FRU version of this drive comes with lenovo-specific firmware optimizing it for use in a thinkpad.   plus, it can be safely secure erased from the BIOS once the feature is enabled in the system.   i personally prefer the lenovo FRU version over the retail for these reasons and own two of them myself.

All excellent points.

I use FDE, so I never worry too much about securely erasing -- I can just nuke the LUKS header and all is well -- but if you don't, then that's a very valuable feature to have.

And yes, in light of those specs I'd say it was a good buy.

I believe in this context secure erasing refers to resetting the written state of all the SSD memory.

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

harrigan wrote:I believe in this context secure erasing refers to resetting the written state of all the SSD memory.

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

Yep. But if you use LUKS then (barring a break the cipher you use), you don't need to worry about erasure of anything other than the LUKS header (and even that's technically unnecessary.)

LUKS has you covered from a data security point of view but with an SSD the ATA Secure Erase command has the nice side effect of restoring the write speed on a well used drive. I don't believe LUKS currently supports pass-through of TRIM commands so secure erase is still useful for resetting a drive.

For my uses, secure erase is kind of a misnomer because when I used it I wasn't concerned with security.

harrigan wrote:LUKS has you covered from a data security point of view but with an SSD the ATA Secure Erase command has the nice side effect of restoring the write speed on a well used drive. I don't believe LUKS currently supports pass-through of TRIM commands so secure erase is still useful for resetting a drive.

For my uses, secure erase is kind of a misnomer because when I used it I wasn't concerned with security.

Fair enough. Fortunately, the random read/write speeds of the X25 series don't suffer much even when "degraded", so TRIM support wasn't an issue for me.