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Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

X100e/X120e/X130e/X140e Series
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Erare
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Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#1 Post by Erare » Wed May 27, 2015 7:29 am

I bought one new back in 2011, it was on sale and it was at a great price. 11.6", E-350, 8GB RAM. It was a nice little machine and it was my first ThinkPad. Nowadays its x1xx successors are more expensive and not as aesthetically pleasing.

Was the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad (along the lines of the X series and the T series?). Or does it belong to the lower end line of laptops like newer the E series etc, which are not considered to be real ThinkPads by older users? I ask because the x120e was selling at a low price when new and it seems they might have cut some corners. Was it worth it?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v206/ ... 0929-1.jpg
Last edited by Erare on Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

RealBlackStuff
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad?

#2 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed May 27, 2015 9:33 am

No, it's not a real Thinkpad, and will never be.
However, it does have a (valued) Touchpad and a Trackpoint, highly valued by many people.
Aside from that, yours has an AMD cpu, NOT very well liked in any laptop.

I have the newer X131e, which I only bought, because it had a BIOS-password and hence was reasonably cheap.
Removed the SVP and been trying to sell it, but no interest anywhere.
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad?

#3 Post by brchan » Wed May 27, 2015 9:51 am

My old school had many X131e laptops. Durability was decent (especially regarding the lid), decent keyboard + trackpoint. 1366x768 screen was garbage, and touchpad was one of the worst I have ever used on a laptop. Slightly better than Edge and L-series, but still not on par with 'true' thinkpads.

Not a bad choice if you are on a budget, but your better off buying a slightly older 'real' thinkpad for a similar price but with better build and performance.
Current Thinkpads: W530 (functional classic keyboard mod), X301, T61, T60, T43, A31p, T23, 600X, 770
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Erare
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#4 Post by Erare » Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:45 am

I have the laptop, even with an ssd it has become slow, I am running Windows 7. Is there any way to get things faster?

I am still looking to sell it, just curious on what the price is. For the laptop, except for the slow cpu eveytthing else is good.

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#5 Post by ElbertR » Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:25 am

Just a matter of opinion if it is a 'real Thinkpad' or not. It's made by the same company that makes Thinkpads. It's labelled a 'Thinkpad'. It has the same Trackpoint only 'real Thinkpads' have. Comes with Thinkpad software. Same support as other Thinkpads.

The X120e was an improvement of the X100e. I have both (the X100e is for sale). The X120e is a little faster, stays cooler and has better battery life. Still a great little computer if you are on the road and need something compact with a nice keyboard.

Many of the small 'Netbook' type laptops use AMD processors and chipsets, simply because they are smaller, cheaper, cooler and use less power than their Intel counterparts. On the X120e the processor and Radeon graphics are integrated into one chip.

To make it faster, make sure you are using 64 bit Windows on it, have a fast hard drive (7200 RPM or SSD) and max out the memory at 8Gb. Also keep your Windows OS clean, with no crapware installed.
2x Thinkpad W700 (Core 2 Extreme QX9300), W500 (T9900), X120e, 4x A31P (inactive)

Erare
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#6 Post by Erare » Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:32 am

I am already running windows 7 x64 and haave 4gb ram and a 64gb ssd in there.

What are the prices for your x100e?

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#7 Post by ElbertR » Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:28 am

Erare wrote:I am already running windows 7 x64 and haave 4gb ram and a 64gb ssd in there.

What are the prices for your x100e?
See my PM to you for info about the x100e and others.

To make it faster, look at upgrading the memory to 8Gb. Not much else you can do besides from keeping your Windows clean. Uninstall all programs you don't use and clean the registry with a (free) program such as Ccleaner or Wise Registry Cleaner. Disable any start-up items that you don't need (use msconfig or Ccleaner for that).
2x Thinkpad W700 (Core 2 Extreme QX9300), W500 (T9900), X120e, 4x A31P (inactive)

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#8 Post by dmdsoftware » Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:42 am

ElbertR wrote:
Erare wrote:I am already running windows 7 x64 and haave 4gb ram and a 64gb ssd in there.

What are the prices for your x100e?
See my PM to you for info about the x100e and others.

To make it faster, look at upgrading the memory to 8Gb. Not much else you can do besides from keeping your Windows clean. Uninstall all programs you don't use and clean the registry with a (free) program such as Ccleaner or Wise Registry Cleaner. Disable any start-up items that you don't need (use msconfig or Ccleaner for that).

Agreed, top it up to 8GB. I had an average SSD in mine, swapped it with a spare Intel one that is supposed to be one of the fastest ones on the market at the time.

I run linux on mine and it runs great for simple tasks. Even a large Dropbox sync makes it unuseable, but it's because of the inefficiencies of Dropbox sync in general to blame.

I can do some light development in eclipse. Even run KODI fine.
X62 & X62s & X62T SXGA+ i7 5600u 8-16GB
Helix i7
Carbon X1 i5 UHD
W520 4x-i7
Sony Vaio P799 (8" LED 1600x768)
"Think" Ultrabook i7
LegoThinkpad 11"

in storage:
X131e AMD
X60/X60s, X61/X61s/X61T, T61, T420, X30

past:
X20-X24, 390X

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#9 Post by iMav » Sat Sep 05, 2015 2:54 pm

I had an X60s that I really like...primarily because of the form factor AND because I was able to purchase it sans trackpad (ONLY had the trackpoint...which I love).

I currently have an X120e that I too purchased back in 2011. Just recently dusted it off and installed Windows 10 on it (first time it has run windows, as I always ran some flavor of Linux on it). I had a nice SSD in it, but Win10 didn't support it, so I had to swap it out with a spare HDD I had lying around. Still is fairly snappy, considering its age. (I do have 16GB of ram in it...primarily because I pulled the ram from a laptop I was getting rid of and was curious if the X120e would support it...which it does) :)

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#10 Post by Saucey » Sun Sep 06, 2015 12:49 am

Upgrading the X140e from 2GB to 4GB RAM felt like night and day!
it has a subpar 1.4GHz AMD wherever it is, but I did not believe the difference it made.

Nah I don't think the X100 series are true ThinkPads, but the X130e was a lot more durable than I thought.
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#11 Post by axur-delmeria » Sun Sep 06, 2015 4:50 am

2GB is the bare minimum for all Windows after XP. Even an X220 will crawl if it runs out of free RAM and has to use the swap file. 4GB is almost heavenly, until you run out of free RAM again. :P
Planned Purchase: T480s i5-8350 FHD Touch
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#12 Post by ElbertR » Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:16 am

iMav wrote:I had an X60s that I really like...primarily because of the form factor AND because I was able to purchase it sans trackpad (ONLY had the trackpoint...which I love).

I currently have an X120e that I too purchased back in 2011. Just recently dusted it off and installed Windows 10 on it (first time it has run windows, as I always ran some flavor of Linux on it). I had a nice SSD in it, but Win10 didn't support it, so I had to swap it out with a spare HDD I had lying around. Still is fairly snappy, considering its age. (I do have 16GB of ram in it...primarily because I pulled the ram from a laptop I was getting rid of and was curious if the X120e would support it...which it does) :)
16Gb Ram in a X120e? Thought the max was 8gb. What kind of memory sticks do you use (brand / model)?
2x Thinkpad W700 (Core 2 Extreme QX9300), W500 (T9900), X120e, 4x A31P (inactive)

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#13 Post by iMav » Tue Dec 27, 2016 10:33 am

ElbertR wrote:16Gb Ram in a X120e? Thought the max was 8gb. What kind of memory sticks do you use (brand / model)?
Just a couple 8GB sticks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JEZ4R8/

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#14 Post by Quardah » Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:16 pm

I got one last week and tuned in up a little bit. I traded the HDD for an SSD (cheap samsung 750 evo you can get for 20$ on eBay) and installed Arch Linux.

Any apps that would run on Windows on that laptop will run much better in wine on Linux. Plus the whole experience feels fairly fast for a laptop this old. Much faster than any windows.

You should seriously consider Linux for old ThinkPads. Browsing in firefox latest is very fast for a low-tier AMD E-350 with 2GB ram (at least it's DDR3, even if it's slow 1066MHz it's better than DDR2).

Wine for old apps (such as Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete, legit the only reason i still use wine to this day lmao) runs better on these old laptops than native windows that i can guarantee.

Also to call this ThinkPad not a true ThinkPad is a little disrespectful to the product imo; it's very, very well built, it has the exact same BIOS (i know because i followed a guide for X220 to clear EPROM), the exact same look and feel and is very sturdy. The keyboard also is a little different than regular island style keyboard but it's cool really.
Daily driver : P16s AMD Gen1 Ryzen 7 6850u Pro - Arch Linux.
HTPC : T540p 3K Screen - i7-4600M - Windows 11.
Have : X120e, X24.
Had : T420 - 240 - IBM i Series type 1171

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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#15 Post by Omineca » Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:53 am

Quardah wrote:
Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:16 pm
You should seriously consider Linux for old ThinkPads. Browsing in firefox latest is very fast for a low-tier AMD E-350 with 2GB ram (at least it's DDR3, even if it's slow 1066MHz it's better than DDR2).

Wine for old apps (such as Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Complete, legit the only reason i still use wine to this day lmao) runs better on these old laptops than native windows that i can guarantee.

Also to call this ThinkPad not a true ThinkPad is a little disrespectful to the product imo; it's very, very well built, it has the exact same BIOS (i know because i followed a guide for X220 to clear EPROM), the exact same look and feel and is very sturdy. The keyboard also is a little different than regular island style keyboard but it's cool really.
This is fairly close to my experience too. I bought mine new in 2011. A couple of years ago, something went wrong with Windows Update on Windows 7, and the laptop ran one core full out all the time, with the attendant heating. But a netinstall of Debian with LXDE has made it a very usable laptop again. I should have put Linux on it sooner than I did, but I needed one Windows computer around the house for a few things.

I haven't used WINE on this one, but I do on my 390x (also with Debian/LXDE), and MS Office runs well on that machine.

As for the X120e being a real ThinkPad, I agree that it is, even though it's obviously not a 'classic' ThinkPad. The keyboard is good, build quality is fine, and it is well-designed in terms of repairability. Oh, and it has a horrible TN panel. So you just know it's a real ThinkPad!

It also has quite possibly my least favourite trackpad of all time: very small with a weird sensitivity. I think I might buy one of those trackpad stickers for the later series, cut it down to size, and see if that helps.
Home: L440 | R500 | X120e Server
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Re: Is the x120e considered a "real" ThinkPad? and the laptop is slow, how to speed up?

#16 Post by Quardah » Tue Feb 13, 2018 3:42 pm

Omineca wrote:
Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:53 am

This is fairly close to my experience too. I bought mine new in 2011. A couple of years ago, something went wrong with Windows Update on Windows 7, and the laptop ran one core full out all the time, with the attendant heating. But a netinstall of Debian with LXDE has made it a very usable laptop again. I should have put Linux on it sooner than I did, but I needed one Windows computer around the house for a few things.

I haven't used WINE on this one, but I do on my 390x (also with Debian/LXDE), and MS Office runs well on that machine.

As for the X120e being a real ThinkPad, I agree that it is, even though it's obviously not a 'classic' ThinkPad. The keyboard is good, build quality is fine, and it is well-designed in terms of repairability. Oh, and it has a horrible TN panel. So you just know it's a real ThinkPad!

It also has quite possibly my least favourite trackpad of all time: very small with a weird sensitivity. I think I might buy one of those trackpad stickers for the later series, cut it down to size, and see if that helps.
I also feel the trackpad is weirdly designed. It was obviously created with space-saving in mind and turned out to be a peanut to small imo. BUT you get TWO sets of buttons (!!) and it has a regular trackpoint, therefore it is not deprived of much usability.

I've been running the thing TrackPoint only (cuz im a trackpoint-guy, i legit buy thinkpads mostly for this) and the experience overall on Linux is great! I use i3 mainly because on small screens i prefer tiling WM to use the screen at maximum capacity at all time.

Overall i am pretty glad with the purchase so far; it's so weightless i can bring it legit anywhere. Since i left university last year, i do not need much power on the go, therefore it's a little better option when i just go out to repair a tablet screen or on a field trip to Toronto than the big T540p. Still love the T540p but as every powerhorse it has its weight.
Daily driver : P16s AMD Gen1 Ryzen 7 6850u Pro - Arch Linux.
HTPC : T540p 3K Screen - i7-4600M - Windows 11.
Have : X120e, X24.
Had : T420 - 240 - IBM i Series type 1171

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