Thinkpad X220, Inbuilt USB 3.0 ports and express cards

[Core Share]

Hello,

I have a need to obtain some more old-school, classic, ABDF design (Ain't Broke Don't Fix) Thinkpad hardware, caring not for the Apple macbook design singularity that most laptops seem to be heading into, including alas, tragically, the latest Thinkwads (errm, sorry) Thinkpads.

May sanity and sensibility be restored on the *450 iteration, or soon thereafter, but I digress...

As a consequence I have been looking around for a second hand X220.

I am enquiring with the vendors of some promising i5 models, as to whether there is an inbuilt USB 3.0 port in those particular models.

However I am more generally wondering about the efficacy of using (say) a three port USB 3.0 54 mm express card with an i5 X220 to have some USB 3.0 functionality in addition to, or in lieu of, an actual USB 3.0 in the i5 X220 models concerned.

Am I dreaming?

Any assistance most gratefully apprised!

Thank you.

[dr_st]

At length:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=114961

In short:

Built-in USB3.0 only exists on i7-equipped X220. Since both the USB3.0 controller and the CPU are soldered, you will not find an i5 with USB 3.0 combination, unless it is a physically modified board.

You can use ExpressCard to achieve USB3.0 on i5-equipped X220. It may even outperform the built-in controller on the i7, in some cases, but there are downsides:

* Use power if plugged in, even if idle --> leads to battery life reduction
* Some of the controllers on these USB cards have various performance issues / glitches
* They are not bootable

Specifically, if you get one of these 3-port 54mm Expresscards (which I never used myself), don't expect to use 3 ports at once. First of all - they are too close to each other. Anything you plug in will block an adjacent port. Second, the ExpressCard will not be able to power all 3 devices (unless the devices have their own power). Probably 2 is already pushing it.

[Core Share]

@dr_st:

Thank you very much for the excellent discussion link and I do apologise for not doing proper due diligence!

With the hard won wisdom of unerring, assiduous, 20/20 hind-sight, I should have bought two X220 i7 (4290-2VM) laptops, when I had the opportunity at a very good price!

Little did I realise, at the time, that sacred Thinkpad design principles, were about to be driven off the cliff, but I digress.

Clearly "Renesas uPD720202" chipset, flush-mounted, USB 3.0 expresscards are the ones to seek out.

And thanks for the note on battery performance issues.

Thank you.

[dr_st]

Clearly "Renesas uPD720202" chipset, flush-mounted, USB 3.0 expresscards are the ones to seek out.

Please read the earlier part of my review (Part 2), if you haven't had the opportunity, because there are some issues with these Renesas cards in the X220 that require certain persistent workarounds. I actually started some emails with Renesas trying to get to the bottom of it (this is still in progress).

Also, as the card is not flush, but actually recessed, it may cause difficulties plugging in certain devices. Overall, these are not really good adapters, because while they give great performance when everything works well, getting them to work well is not trivial.

[Core Share]

Thank you dr_st, caveats noted.

Thank you for that magnificent series of research Parts I .. V.

[mikemex]

I still don't understand the need for USB 3.0 when there is gigabit network on all modern machines.

[dr_st]

Is there also gigabit network between your machine at home and your machine at work? Or your the machine of your friend who lives 200 miles from you?

Not to mention the facts that:

1) There isn't Gigabit on every modern machine - some don't have wired LAN at all.
2) Even when there is Gigabit, it is rarely connected. Perhaps in your home you can run wires from every room to every other room, but on the go - it is simply not practical.