An excellent little machine

[jvarszegi]

I chose the "Windows Classic" theme, which I also use on Windows XP. I wish I could make the start menu behave the exact same way, but I haven't figured that out yet. Icons are set to "small" and I hid the ThinkVantage Toolbox toolbar, and the taskbar is set to auto-hide. ClearType is turned off. Google Chrome is installed as the default browser. Response time is quite snappy with these settings and the 2 GB of RAM in the machine.

Load time for some programs is not instantaneous (IE being a good example, taking a portion of a second), but I expect this to improve after I install the X25-V 40 GB SSD I bought on sale. Once programs are running the response time leaves nothing to be desired for my office / web tasks. I don't see a noticeable difference between this and my T60 or T61 for the things I will use the machine for. (I am sure I would sing a different tune if I were to use Photoshop, but I will still use that on my T61.)

Useability is top-notch. The keyboard is perfect, probably my favorite of all the laptop keyboards I've used; I actually prefer it so far to the T series keyboard even though the key travel is less. Speed and accuracy are excellent, and the responsive feel gives one the confidence to go fast. I cannot feel or see any keyboard flex whatsoever. The layout and key size are excellent as well. Even the downsized arrow keys are easy to use. Great work, design team!

I could not have been as happy, personally, with an X61 due to the lack of a touchpad. This one is excellent.

The machine feels very sturdy. I would personally have preferred an opening latch, and it felt a little awkward to open the laptop the first couple of times. The hinge feels like any other Thinkpad hinge, i.e. like it will last for a long time, and holds the opened lid/screen in sturdy fashion even during movement. The machine feels rigid picked up by a corner.

In the end, I feel that the only thing that would really improve this machine would be a better performance/battery life combination. I would have paid a bit extra for this same machine with better battery life. Hopefully someone will offer a slightly higher-capacity battery. Until then I am happy enough.

[emtee3511]

Waiting for mine -- just got email Lenovo shipped today -- From your description, sounds like I will be pleased --

got a question -- maybe you know -- when I received my ship notice this morning, it listed the specs and this was listed --

44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR --

Don't remember adding any upgrade except ram and bluetooth -- maybe I forgot something -- does anyone know what that notation refers to?

Anyway, congrats on your new machine -- enjoy

[Vempele]

Wireless Wide Area Network upgradeable.

[jvarszegi]

Yep, mine had this line too, and I chose no WWAN upgrades:
44C7950 SBB INT WRLSSWDAREANTWRK UPGR

[emtee3511]

Thanks very much -- My 60-yr-old brain is getting very forgetful, and I could not remember adding another upgrade -- but I do now remember the upgradeable part -- appreciate the quick answer -- by tomorrow I would probably have forgotten the question

[jvarszegi]

I am having no trouble getting well over four hours of battery time doing actual office/productivity tasks with some light web surfing in Google Chrome, having gone through three battery cycles and gotten 4:15 or more each time, the last time over 4:30 after tweaking my settings (after this I will only use the battery as I need it). I have the screen set to medium brightness, but set to auto-dim after one minute. The machine is set to go to sleep after five minutes of inactivity, but otherwise the screen is not set to shut off. The power scheme is "power source optimized", which results in generally snappy performance.

This is before my SSD upgrade, as I still have not received the new drive. I am interested in underclocking the video card, but the supplied Catalyst driver and/or interface don't seem to support it as far as I can see thus far.

I think the difference between my results and those of others is that I am not multitasking much. I am not even listening to music as I work, something I used to do in the old days but not since law school (too distracting). I am certainly not going to watch movies while I work.

I am thinking that all the reports of terrible battery life are due to either 1) people not using the latest BIOS; 2) people intentionally running movies etc. continuously to dramatically shorten the battery time (which will happen to any machine) in order to triumphantly report how terrible it is in comparison to netbook theoretical maximums; 3) people doing heavy multitasking as part of their bona-fide work process, which again will not present any machine at its best or even at its average; and 4) people who simply regurgitate what they read without using one in real life.

[miketoro]

Everyone seems really happy with this little machine.
I wish it was the other way around.
As it stands, I want one!!!

[fooyc]

Hi jvarszegi,
I'm from Malaysia, I just pop by at my usual Thinkpad dealer shop, the X100e in our country are ONLY AMD equipped. & seriously, the bottom base is really sizzling hot. I'm in a tropical country, so heat can be quite annoying to me. Do you have the heat issue ? Overall, I do find the X100e, quite a decent proposition nonetheless for its price. I'm looking around for a Thinkpad for my young child.

[jvarszegi]

Hi jvarszegi,
I'm from Malaysia, I just pop by at my usual Thinkpad dealer shop, the X100e in our country are ONLY AMD equipped. & seriously, the bottom base is really sizzling hot. I'm in a tropical country, so heat can be quite annoying to me. Do you have the heat issue ? Overall, I do find the X100e, quite a decent proposition nonetheless for its price. I'm looking around for a Thinkpad for my young child.

Hi, fooyc. The bottom never gets more than mildly warm, no more so than my wife's T61 or my T60. But I don't discount the reports of heat. I guess that what may be responsible for your hotter results is the video card. I have Aero Glass etc. turned off and am using the Windows Classic look and feel. I imagine children's software, at least if it involves graphics-intensive stuff (3D etc.), may stress the video quite a bit and cause extra heat; I just don't know how much.

Sorry... I don't even have a thermometer so I have no way to convey precisely how (un)warm mine is, but I really think no one would find it objectionable. But I know AMD processors do tend to run hot.

[fooyc]

Thanks jvarszegi. Yeap, good enough information, my wife is still having a company issued T61, so I can relate the relative heat level like you mentioned. Thanks again. I'll give the X100e another visit.

[dnihilist]

Hi jvarszegi,
I'm from Malaysia, I just pop by at my usual Thinkpad dealer shop, the X100e in our country are ONLY AMD equipped. & seriously, the bottom base is really sizzling hot. I'm in a tropical country, so heat can be quite annoying to me. Do you have the heat issue ? Overall, I do find the X100e, quite a decent proposition nonetheless for its price. I'm looking around for a Thinkpad for my young child.

Make sure you have PowerManager installed. Malaysian X100e's are configured "differently".


BTW I agree with OP