New x220 advice

[tongdakfiend]

I have been researching various laptops for quite some time and have pretty much settled on a X220 or T420. However, I will need some advice regarding mSata installation before I finally bite the bullet.

First, I would like to install a 80GB mSata. After reviewing the videos, I am a bit wary of removing the palm rest in the X220. Is installing the mSata all that difficult? I am not technically savvy so your input would be appreciated.

Second, I plan on creating rescue and recovery disks with a USB flash drive rather than DVDS. Has anyone actually done this for a X220? Has anyone done this as part of his or her installation of a mSata?

Finally, is there anything else that I should be aware of? Do I need to do or be aware of anything else to install the mSata?

I am coming from a long hiatus on the Mac so I want to make sure my transition back to Windows is as smooth as possible.

Thanks in advance.

[ausmike]

hi there
Welcome to this forum.
Sure soudns like YOU DONE your research well. Great choices. I would recommend you look at T420s - the "s" models = sleeker with the same specs as 'normal' t420 - however prices do go up a bit.I am sure you be very IMPRESSED with T420s - even coming from OSX. T420s with Optima specs even better! While x220 will get you by far the most impressive IPS-Display! (choose the Premium HD models) Also most TP models = can run (do run) linux very well.
mSata = is easy enough to do - T420s would be best bet there - but x220 is easily enough. maybe you can email/conact the FORUM SPONSORs( above link) for mSata pple - they are always very helpfull and ACCURATE INFO to boot! <nope I dont work there>I am using the 4th slot in my W series for the mSata drive (128G) and works nicely - raid 0 - but that is way different setiup to what you want.

Hope this is helpfull. Am sure other pple wil chime in with their experiances
Cheers

[lead_org]

The palmrest removal on the X220 is easier then the X200/X201 and light year ahead of the X6x machines. Just do it gently and you should be okay.

The T420s is obviously a possible candidate and it is more in line with the X30x in terms of overall toughness which is good.

@ausmike, i see you are not in a quick hurry for once.

[tongdakfiend]

Thanks for the advice! I want to purchase a TP to be my primary laptop. Hence, I am a bit wary of tinkering too much with things that I don't really have much experience with. E.g. Removing the palm rest. Given that, I'll probably hold off on a mSata drive and just replace the HDD with a regular SSD when prices come down for 256 GB drives and up.

I am leaning towards the x220 over the T420/T420s because I like the contrast on the IPS screen (based purely on reviews and YouTube videos) and the battery life so I don't have to plug in while on the couch. Although I don't really need an ultraportable, I also realized that I don't need a laptop with an optical drive as my activities are generally limited to work (Office apps but not heavy Excel work), web surfing, listening to music and some RAW photo editing. I would like to play some games, but I know getting a laptop with a decent GPU to play Civ V will be counterproductive to my life and will not go over well with my wife.

Do either of you have one of the docks? Do you think it is somewhat worthwhile? I would probably add a second hard drive to the bay if I were to purchase one.

Finally, I priced out a X220 at US $969 for the following configuration. I know Lenovo has different web sales every week. Do you know if the price is in the general ballpark of other past deals for X220s?

Intel Core i5-2520M
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
12.5" Premium HD (1366x768)
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Fingerprint Reader
720p HD Camera
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
ThinkPad Battery 29+ (6 cell)
Bluetooth 3.0
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)

[ausmike]

G'day lead* .... well I was bored stuck @ SG Air lounge.....> but glad u didnt notice those typos .lol ! ... juz a lazy @ typin so use voice type apps ...even here

HI ton*
Docks = always been crazy to get even Lenovo Sales to spec u THE CORRECT ONE.. here is a post of mine that WILL BE HELPFULL for u to choose from....

Photo-man huh! ... well your posted config ought to be fine...but I would suggest upping to i7 - the extra grunt am sure even u will appreciate later in life (not much more costs) as its not fun to upgrade the proc'sor..... SSD/mSata = easy peazy! and more so in T Series as its often a small COVER (usually over memory chips - thats where the broadband card slot is also!) ... blahblah ,, am sue u read lots of posts /info;s

My x220 = RETURNED to Lenovo = due to QUALITY issues ,,,,posted here...
so am running around with this : - posted here ....

not to make you all jelious...... but am running around with a Sleek Carbon Fibre Black ,,,of the VPCZ2190X CTO >paste...

> Internal lithium polymer battery (4000mAh) Intel® Core™ i7-2620M processor (2.70GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.40GHz 8GB (4GB x2 fixed onboard) DDR3-SDRAM-1333 Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit Power Media Dock™ with AMD Radeon™ HD 6650M (1GB ) graphics and Blu-ray Disc™ player / burner 13.1" LED backlit Full HD display (1920 x 1080) No additional AntiVirus Software 256GB (128GB x2) solid state drive with RAID 0 Black No Engraving Fresh Star < / paste


Docking S'ation = @ office
I can say ...so far its a SHOW STOPPER !! a pure joy to use and carry around on flights!!

hope this helps
good luck !

[ausmike]

ton*;
might want to look @ this site,,,, some bargins around but stuff goes FAST!!

[tongdakfiend]

According to posts, however, the i7 appears to have throttling issues. Are those all solved yet? Would I need to get the 90W adapter?

[ausmike]

ton*... most of the issues seems to be with SSD related .....for my one I couldnt spend any MORE TIMES replacin SSD ( did change 3 in 3 weeks!!) ..... However I still do have the "outdoor' version of x220T (i7+ssd) - seems ok SO FAR !!!

[asiafish]

I had SSD issues in my X220 as well. Mine came with a 128 GB Micron SSD that went bad, and was replaced by a 160 GB Intel that also went bad. Not sure what was going on, but both SSD drives went from nice and fast to completely unusable (blue screen or hang on boot, no CHKDSK errors, Win 7 Startup repair error "Drive Bad") in about two weeks.

Rather than try a third or have a repair, I got RMA to Lenovo and bought a second MacBook Air 11", now I have one that is OS X and another than is Win 7.

[tongdakfiend]

I had SSD issues in my X220 as well. Mine came with a 128 GB Micron SSD that went bad, and was replaced by a 160 GB Intel that also went bad. Not sure what was going on, but both SSD drives went from nice and fast to completely unusable (blue screen or hang on boot, no CHKDSK errors, Win 7 Startup repair error "Drive Bad") in about two weeks.

Rather than try a third or have a repair, I got RMA to Lenovo and bought a second MacBook Air 11", now I have one that is OS X and another than is Win 7.

I am not looking for a Mac. I have used Macs for a long time to realize that they also suffer from the same maladies that PC users often complain of. It's just sometimes the luck of the draw. Additionally, my Macs have suffered from annoying case dings, cracks and chips despite handling them with kids' gloves. There is no perfect laptop. I have done enough research on these forums to know that Thinkpads are not perfect either (I have read your previous posts). However, I always wanted a Thinkpad and prefer the keyboards on Thinkpads more than than other laptops. Sony Vaio Z is another laptop that would be at the top of my wish list but for the fact that it costs a good $400 more than I want to spend.

[asiafish]

Never said Macs were perfect, far from it. I do think that there is some sort of issue between either the MOBO design on the X220 and SSD drives or one of the Lenovo drivers and SSD drives, which is why I gave up and bought another MacBook Air.

That second MacBook Air, by the way, is not a Mac as it does not have OS X installed and is exclusively Windows 7 Professional, as I need for military use. Yes, I could dual boot with Boot Camp, but I prefer to completely separate my work and military computers and like having an Extra laptop.

[ThinkRob]

FWIW, a friend of mine recently rolled out a bunch of X220s with Intel 320s with absolutely zero problems. It is worth noting, however, that all of the drives were updated to Intel's latest firmware prior to first use.

[tongdakfiend]

@TRob

That's reassuring. I don't want to buy an external DVD drive (despite how cheap they are now) just yet since I am thinking about purchasing a dock for the X220. Is it easy to do factory restore (using the recovery media) from a USB thumb drive?

I am particularly confused by this consideration listed on a Lenovo Rescue and Recovery support page:

"You can use a USB memory key to rescue files in the Rescue and Recovery workspace. However, you cannot boot from a USB memory key." Does this mean that I can still install Windows 7 on a mSata in the factory state using a USB thumb drive?

See http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub...r431_011en.txt

[ThinkRob]

That's reassuring. I don't want to buy an external DVD drive (despite how cheap they are now) just yet since I am thinking about purchasing a dock for the X220. Is it easy to do factory restore (using the recovery media) from a USB thumb drive?

No idea, I'm afraid. My friend imaged them with a custom image (they were business machines), so I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to reconfigure with Lenovo's preload. My bet is fairly easy, but I'm just guessing. I haven't run Windows seriously since XP was shiny and new, so I'm afraid I'm way out of my element there. Sorry!

[tongdakfiend]

Just decided to pull the trigger.

It was not worth the stress and time of mulling over the perfect laptop for another week. Before taxes, my order below came in at $899, which I think is a decent deal. Now, I just got to figure out step-by-step instructions to: (1) copy factory restore disks on to a USB thumb drive, and (2) installing a 80GB mSata.

Thanks for the advice!

Intel Core i5-2520M Processor (2.5GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64
12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna
4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Fingerprint reader
720p HD Camera
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Battery 29++ (9 cell)
65W AC adapter
Bluetooth Bluetooth 3.0
Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN)
Integrated Mobile Broadband - Upgradable