Lenovo Thinkpad X200 owners thread only

[Supermans]

I will be a proud owner of this paptop in about a week from now and was hoping to get some owners who have had the laptop for a few days or more what their experiences were with it. I will do the same once I get mine. Thanks...

[buckalho]

Got x200 last monday and I immediately upgraded the hard drive to SSD 64G. Guess what. when I inserted the recovery cd, nothing shows up.

I called the technical support asking for help but they said:
"we have no support if you changed the hard drive" even though there's an instruction to change the hard drive in the shipped machine.

I had to install xp first then boot to recovery cd in order to get vista running on my machine.

vista's windows experience index shows:
procesor: 5.3
RAM : 5.9
graphic : 4.1
gaming : 3.8
HDD : 5.9

[jketzetera]

Got x200 last monday and I immediately upgraded the hard drive to SSD 64G. Guess what. when I inserted the recovery cd, nothing shows up.

I called the technical support asking for help but they said:
"we have no support if you changed the hard drive" even though there's an instruction to change the hard drive in the shipped machine.

I had to install xp first then boot to recovery cd in order to get vista running on my machine.

vista's windows experience index shows:
procesor: 5.3
RAM : 5.9
graphic : 4.1
gaming : 3.8
HDD : 5.9

Have you owned an X6x-series laptop? You might be aware that there have been very mixed reports on the level of heat generated in the X6x-series. If you have experience from X6x-series, can you compare the "heat" signature of the X200 with the previous generation? (I do realize that you are running an SSD on your X200, which should contribute to less heat development compared to the previous hard disk based X6x-machines).

[Supermans]

Got x200 last monday and I immediately upgraded the hard drive to SSD 64G. Guess what. when I inserted the recovery cd, nothing shows up.

I called the technical support asking for help but they said:
"we have no support if you changed the hard drive" even though there's an instruction to change the hard drive in the shipped machine.

I had to install xp first then boot to recovery cd in order to get vista running on my machine.

vista's windows experience index shows:
procesor: 5.3
RAM : 5.9
graphic : 4.1
gaming : 3.8
HDD : 5.9

Thanks for the reply. It seems you figured out a way around the installation problems. Those Vista scores seem pretty good for a laptop with integrated graphics. In a few days of using it, let us know if you have any other issue's you run into or if it is running perfectly, then also let us know. Thanks..

[kklein]

Is anyone planning on getting an external DVD burner? I wanted to get one, but not sure what to get, I've been posting around haven't been able to get a good suggestion.

[Supermans]

Is anyone planning on getting an external DVD burner? I wanted to get one, but not sure what to get, I've been posting around haven't been able to get a good suggestion.

both of these would do the trick and be powered by the USB as well.

http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail ... ID=1146452

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/px-608u.html

[awolfe63]

I have found the Plextors to be the best. They read the most disks from other machines and they don't fail as often.

[jketzetera]

It would seem that the new Montevina chipset in Lenovos new line of thinkpads is able to significantly accelerate playback of HD-DVD, Blueray and h.264 encoded video material. The level of acceleration available from the X4500MHD IGP is so good that it *might* even be able to support 1080p material on an X301 with a 1.4GHz CPU!

However, in order for the X4500MHD to be able to accelerate playback you need to use the right player software as well as to set a special BIOS setting (PAVP set to Lite, see http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 142,00.asp )

My question to you X200 owners, is if you can locate a PAVP-setting in your BIOS and if there is an option of setting it to Lite?

[Supermans]

It would seem that the new Montevina chipset in Lenovos new line of thinkpads is able to significantly accelerate playback of HD-DVD, Blueray and h.264 encoded video material. The level of acceleration available from the X4500MHD IGP is so good that it *might* even be able to support 1080p material on an X301 with a 1.4GHz CPU!

However, in order for the X4500MHD to be able to accelerate playback you need to use the right player software as well as to set a special BIOS setting (PAVP set to Lite, see http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 142,00.asp )

My question to you X200 owners, is if you can locate a PAVP-setting in your BIOS and if there is an option of setting it to Lite?

Very interesting.. I will definitely look into this once I get mine.

[Conmee]

Folks,

I just received my X200 earlier this week (originally posted this in the X200 Keyboard Flex thread, but seems more appropriate for this thread).

I've been running various benchmarks, and setting it up. The keyboard feels great, very solid, compares favorably to my X60. I'll give the X60 a very very slight edge in terms of firmness. The ESC and PgUP keys on the X200 are the only areas that have any noticeable flex, but definitely not anywhere near as bad as what I've been reading for the T400/T500, and certainl not a deal-breaker. I verified it's the same perforated keyboard so it may have to do with more components packed tighter together suppoerting the keyboard on the X200.

And the screen is noticeably brighter with better color than my X60 or T60. Still not as bright as the Sony SZ I had, but plenty bright enough. Definitely compares favorably to recent Thinkpads and I'd call it an unquestionable imrpovement.

So far....

Pros
------

Screen - (Although it's wide-screen, I'm getting used to it, this is a good resolution for the size... and it's centered, though the bezel is noticeably larger and so my eye isn't used to seeing so much bezel real estate... not a deal-breaker and not annoying, just getting used to it)

ThinkLight - (Centered above the keyboard)

Keyboard - (I like having the full-size keyboard and flex is minimal only at the corners)

TrackPoint with no TouchPad/Fingerprint Reader and color-coded buttons! lol - (I might have ordered the FingerPrint reader if it were centered below the TrackPoint buttons like my X60... as it is I prefer not having the FPR underneath my palm all the time while typing)

Size - (Seems smaller and definitely lighter than pictures, it's very portable IMHO and something I'll probably take with me more often than I took my T60p)

Noise and Heat - (I have it set to max performance running 3DMark, etc, palmrest staying cool compared to X60 and air not nearly as hot coming out of vents as the X60/T60, actually would call the air luke warm to warm v. hot from the X60/T60)

Performance - (The CPU and Memory and hard drive make Vista really pop... I haven't even put the 250GB 7200RPM drive or additional 2GB RAM in yet and it's also running Vista Home Basic, but very peppy out of the box)

Network Connectivity - (So far Wireless G has been flawless)

Cons
------

Video Performance - (I knew what I was getting and for my uses and the few games I play, it's sufficient, but I get only 50%-65% of the performance of the FireGL V5200 under 3DMark2003/2005... more psychological disappointment seeing the low figures from the benchmarks...lol... but Vista itself is very responsive and so are the apps and games I play, so it's not really a "con" lol)

Hard Drive Access via Acronis - (This is annoying. I can't boot an Acronis USB key and see the hard drive or drives in Ultrabase. It launches and then hangs and doesn't show the drives, even when setting the BIOS to "Compatibility" for drive access. I launched an older version of Ghost via a Win98 USB key and it sees the drives fine. Perhaps there's an Acronis update or something, since offline backups from internal HDD to USB or Ultrabase HDD are not possible at the moment)

One Stuck Pixel - (Normally this would be a major deal-breaker and drive me OCD crazy, but it's a stuck grey pixel directly beneath the "M" in the lower right of the Task Tray beneath the time. Granted I see it every time I look at the clock, but it's surprisingly not as annoying as I would have thought, although this is the first ThinkPad in a good long while that I've received with a stuck or dead pixel... good news is that it's far enough out of the way to not be a bother for me)

Battery Wiggle (Just a very little movement for the battery... I'd prefer a batter with six latches that doesn't move at all in any direction, but this is super minor and it's not even close to as loose as some of the Sanyo batteries on the T4x and T6x could be)

Noise/Interference From Ultrabase Audio Out (I noticed that that the audio out jack appears to be picking up interference from the motherboard. If I put my ear to the keyboard, I can hear high-pitched electrical static/whine occasionally from the cpu/fan/other, and this sound is amplified over the external speakers, when plugged into the Ultrabase audio out. When the speakers are plugged into the audio out on the X200, no such interference. This didn't occur when the speakers were plugged into the X60 Ultrabase. Not sure if this is a design issue or faulty Ultrabase. In either event, disappointing.

----------------------------------

If I come across additional things to whine about, I'll let folks know. lol So far, though, so good. I haven't tried out recording in from the mic jack, I'll probably plug a CD Walkman into the jack and see if that captures stereo (unless someone else has done that). It's not that big a deal to me, but I am curious to know if it records stereo in or not.

Here are the Vista Home Basic SP1 out of the box scores.


Windows Experience Scores: 5.3 5.8 3.9 3.7 5.3 - System Score: 3.7

3DMark2001 - 5524
3DMark2003 - 2409
3DMark2005 - 1511
3DMark2006 - 931

I plan on upgrading to 4GB and Vista Ultimate this weekend.

Daniel.

[Supermans]

Thanks for the reply.. Lenovo has delayed my order further now and say by next week it should ship out. I am very OCD when it comes to expensive new products and especially laptops. This will be the third I own and both of the other two had dead pixels which caused me to return to the store and exchange them. I really don't want to have to send this one back in for that so I hope I get lucky. The other thing that would annoy me is if the speaker is crackling under normal usage because it isn't situated properly or it has a defect. I know the parts they use for the speakers in all laptops for the most part are the cheapest/crappiest quality items on a laptop (yes, even the ones with a brand name usually..you just pay more for a name) However I do hope I get lucky on that as well.

The positives you mention sound good. My friend who got his early is not using it as much as I will and says he has installed a few games on it for testing. The older 2 year old games run fine on lower resolutions which is enough for me since I will mainly be using this for travel internet and typing on word. (playing games too ) I will install MAME on there which should run great considering it is proccesor intensive.

Also, I am curious, Why are you installing Ultimate? thanks

[nesnet]

I would agree with the overall positive opinion about the X200.

So far, aside from the Intel 5300 AGN wireless card dropping connectivity frequently (frequently means multiple times daily), it has been a machine that I would recommend to others.

No bad pixels and a fast SSD priced right.

I have had mine for about two weeks (ordered on the first morning of free SSDs for all)... and my question is: why is your X200 taking so long to ship. What configuration is holding it up?