Worth putting money into?

[ThorOfAsgard]

I've got an x220 tablet that still works well. It has 6GB RAM, a 320GB HDD, and an old 6 cell battery that probably lasts about half its expected life (which is enough for me). But I was considering buying a new 3 cell and an SSD. The 3-cell is hard to find--found one on Amazon that I believe is genuine for $87. And my local Microcenter has a Crucial BX200 240GB SSD for $69. So that would make for roughly a $160 investment.

Before I consider it any further, I'd like to get some feedback. Does it seem worthwhile? Better part choices out there? Better sources?

Also, I've been trying to find the little rubber screen stops that go on either side of the keyboard, to no avail (If anyone has an idea, please let me know. The hardware maintenance manual wasn't helpful).

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

Before I consider it any further, I'd like to get some feedback. Does it seem worthwhile? Better part choices out there? Better sources?

If you like the machine well enough, then it's a worthy investment. The price for the battery seems a little steep though. You may want to place a WTB (want to buy) ad in the forum's Marketplace and see if anyone around here could offer you a better deal, and check feebay as the last resort as well.

Happy upgrading.

[hhhd1]

The Crucial BX200 is a new drive with very little reviews on its reliability, i would wait to see more reviews first before investing in it.

and it is based on TLC, and not MLC like all other Crucial drives.

[BillMorrow]

The Crucial BX200 is a new drive with very little reviews on its reliability, i would wait to see more reviews first before investing in it.

and it is based on TLC, and not MLC like all other Crucial drives.

uhmm, huh..?
TLC..? MLC..?

okok.. i know google is out there just waiting, but please shed a little light on those acronyms..

[RealBlackStuff]

This link gives you exactly what you are looking for (SLC/MLC/TLC): http://www.speedguide.net/faq/slc-mlc-o ... drives-406

[rkawakami]

TLC: Tender Loving Care As in, that's what you have treat your SSD drive with when using TLC NAND.
MLC: Moderate Loving Care. Slightly more forgiving than TLC NAND. You can beat on it a little bit more before it cries "uncle!".
SLC: Scarce Loving Care. Getting harder to find large-sized SSD drives using SLC NAND. And if/when you do find one, it's Significantly Larger Cost.

ref: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 21#p770921

[ThorOfAsgard]

Just found on the laptop will take an mSATA drive, and allow me to keep the HDD. Might go that route.

[hhhd1]

The Crucial BX200 is a new drive with very little reviews on its reliability, i would wait to see more reviews first before investing in it.

and it is based on TLC, and not MLC like all other Crucial drives.

uhmm, huh..?
TLC..? MLC..?

okok.. i know google is out there just waiting, but please shed a little light on those acronyms..

in short:
SLC, stores one bit per NAND flash cell,
MLC, stores two bits per cell,
TLC, stores 3 bits per cell,

this allows doubling the size of the SSDs while using the same amount of NAND cells, and that comes with the price of decreased performance and reliability.

some TLC drives have shown significant slow down over time, and complete data loss in some cases, like for example the "Samsung 840" and the "Samsung 840 evo".

Crucial BX200 have slow performance in some cases.

Some TLC drives appears fine, but it is too early to tell.

[ajkula66]

Just found on the laptop will take an mSATA drive, and allow me to keep the HDD. Might go that route.

Just bear in mind that the mSATA port in these machines is limited to SATA II speeds, where the main bay is SATA III.

With that being said, I've utilized that type of setup in many of my past *20 series ThinkPads and was happy with it. Obviously, YMMV.

Happy upgrading.

[bluefruit]

Also, I've been trying to find the little rubber screen stops that go on either side of the keyboard, to no avail (If anyone has an idea, please let me know. The hardware maintenance manual wasn't helpful).

You have to buy a whole new bezel for it. Personally I wouldn't bother with it, mine came off in 6 months and I've seen many X220/230 tablets without the "stops" as well. Just make sure your display stay straight when moving it around and you should be fine.

Also, I own a 3 cell which is around 29Wh, a 6 cell will provide about double the capacity. However the 3 cell is great for making the X220t more compact if you're always on the go and have ready access to a wall outlet.

[ThorOfAsgard]

I ended up picking up an mSATA Crucial MX200. It seems to work well, and performance is definitely improved. But if I keep having the problems I've been having with the mouse buttons, I may return it and scrap the whole thinkpad. I've dumped a ton of time recently into putting Win10 on here (more than once) and then going back to Win7 just trying to solve the mouse button problem (posted in another thread).

I think the SATA II speeds will be fine. The speed difference shouldn't really be noticable except in instances of sequential writes.

I did find another place selling the 3-cell battery--$60 shipped. But I'm going to wait and see how this mouse button issue turns out before I put any more money into this.

[ThorOfAsgard]

Also, I've been trying to find the little rubber screen stops that go on either side of the keyboard, to no avail (If anyone has an idea, please let me know. The hardware maintenance manual wasn't helpful).

You have to buy a whole new bezel for it.

Seems like you could just rip them out of another unit and glue them in with some CA. Or maybe find a comparable piece of card rubber to fashion a couple new ones out of...not sure.