X301 - More pre-purchase questions

[sunzi]

Hi Forum,

I am torn between X300 and the X301 model of the thinkpad series.

If I am not mistaken the fundamental differences are:
X301 has DVI port - X300 not
X301 is based on the ULV Montevina platform - X300 the LV Merom hence the the X301 has more stamina due to 10W of the µP vs. 12W at the X300 µP
X301 has a higher performing integrated graphics adapter as oposed to the X300.

What I am not sure of is the display used for the X301. In the IN there are different statements whether the displays are different and whether the display of the X301 is "superior" and to what level

Who knows for sure the differences?

If I would compare "demopool" units which are praktically new and refurbished I face a 1300€(X301)-850€(X300)=450€ which requires a solid justification.

Checking the homepage of Lenovo I got confused about the model names. Does anyone know the model name for:
2x1GB, 64GB SSD, 5300AGN, WWAN, 3-cell battery, w. DVD-drive?

Thank you for your help and congrats to this wonderfully informative forum.

Best regards from Munich,
Sunzi

PS: Whether the SU9600 will find it way into the X301 or not, I wouldn't be surprised given the easy adaptation and the option to keep price points flat by offering more value.

[elvair]

dont buy it all,

i just got my new x301 and really dissapointed cos the system is really buggy,

some keys on keyboard are making annoying clicking noise
when in complete silence machine makes some strange high pitched noise
when resuming from hibernation it becomes partly unresponsive
+ some common problems highlighted in forums:
fan is running very loud for no good reason (kinda ok for me, although im planing to adjust it with some utility)
screen is not that impressive (also ok for me though)
(never experienced it, but you may bump into that) - machine freezes after inserting USB device

if i had known before buying the machine about all those potential issues I would not go for it, cos for this kind of price I would expect nothing but perfection

[ssd_thinkpad]

The 3 cell battery gives you no battery life on the x300. Its a little better on the x301. The screen of the x301 is very bad. You can only view the screen when increasing the backlight to unhealthy levels. Read my review about that (click on the x301 link in my signature). I can not imagine that the x300 has a worse screen. If it is so, beware Do you have a monitor at home and want to use your notebook as your only computer? Then the x301 with its displayport is a must. Note that there are different ssds included in the x301 models, the best bet is to have a 64 gb slc ssd. All x300 have slc ssds. The other mlc ssds (64 gb, 128 gb) are bad with the exception of the intel mlc ssds (80 gb). I bought the x301 for its weight, battery life and WWAN. I gave it back. Now I am writing you on a no wwan included heavy T60 with nice Flexview screen but comparable bad battery life. This alone should let you think twice about whether or not buy the x300 series.

If you like to have a small computer, take a look at the x60s series with wwan included, you can put a slc ssd in it. The x60s screens are better than the one of the x300 series. They have the form factor of the x40 and good speed.

[sunzi]

@ ssd_thinkpad

Bonjour,

I totally agree on your statement about SLC based SSD. After all I am working for a pure Flash manufacturer for the last almost 9 years

As far as your observation of the screen goes this seems to be a general phenomena in that industry. What is a viable alternative?
MB Air is bad on connectivity although very stylish. The Sony VGN TT series has a smaller Display(better?) and if it breaks, well...
Other than that I cannot think of any other ultra slim NB.

Sunzi

[YW-Slayer]

dont buy it all,

i just got my new x301 and really dissapointed cos the system is really buggy,

some keys on keyboard are making annoying clicking noise
when in complete silence machine makes some strange high pitched noise
when resuming from hibernation it becomes partly unresponsive
+ some common problems highlighted in forums:
fan is running very loud for no good reason (kinda ok for me, although im planing to adjust it with some utility)
screen is not that impressive (also ok for me though)
(never experienced it, but you may bump into that) - machine freezes after inserting USB device

if i had known before buying the machine about all those potential issues I would not go for it, cos for this kind of price I would expect nothing but perfection

You got a bad one. Mine (refurbed) doesn't have any of these problems, although it is true that the screen is not particularly impressive. In fact I wouldn't say it's much better (if at all) than my T42's screen, although of course it's much higher-res.

[sunzi]

Just out of curiousity.
For how much does a refurbished X301 sell in HK, approximately?

I just learned from a dealer that most new ones have MLC SSD's. Reason is that the die size needed is 2/3 of SLC (normally 50% but you need a more complex state machine to manage the Flash) which equates to cost.

Thanks

[ssd_thinkpad]

Be aware that private resellers do like to take the slc ssd out of the x301 and put a mlc ssd inside. That's what happened to me. My "refurbished" model was provided with an alternative original mlc ssd. I am pretty sure there was a slc ssd inside before. I write this on a T60 Flexview with my few years old slc harddrive. I'd take a look into the x60s models. They have superior battery life to the macbook air with the small battery included (1,4 kg) and superior screen quality compared to the x300 series. With the 8 cell battery they are heavier (around 1,6 kg) but they have as much battery life as an x301 with 6 cell battery and 3 cell bay battery and 1,6 kg (which is a bad combination as bay batteries tend to die very fast - they are always the first batteries in order that supply your notebook). Very few x60s models come with wwan included. You want to find some of these models if you like to go wireless using umts in europe. Today its not so easy that money can not buy you the most light, quiet and battery longlife model with a good screen you want. You have to be creative to really know your most important thing for notebooks. My were the screen and I am extremely happy with the advanced docking solution of the T6x / Txxx models. At home you plugin your notebook and use all your stuff at home at once: large display, keyboard and mouse, network, sound, printer.

[sunzi]

Bon Soir,

I will take your comments under consideration.

MLC Flash is comparably slower to write to and to read from apart from a worse data retention. But they are "cheaper" and the only way to produce high density SSD's.
The displays give me the biggest headache. Is the X301 display really comparably so bad? At this price tag one expects well designed products, right.

Sunzi

[ssd_thinkpad]

You definitely do not get the display you think of getting for a notebook this pricey. Also notice that in two years the x300 models will be very cheap. I mostly gave the x301 model back because of its display, it was just bad for my eyes. I have worked with both a x40 and x60 model before and both models had "good" displays. Not comparable to my T60 Flexview which provides me with a picture of nearly desktop display quality. The x301 display was choosen because of its very high dpi. Some users are not so happy with the extreme dpi resolution, you want to decrease its dpi resolution in windows 7 (best capable of changing dpi resolution), vista, or the for this task less capable xp. If you need a computer for word processing or internet surfing, the vertical space is to small at least for me. The x6 series is superior regarding this (1 inch more vertical space). It is not that expensive, but looks better in my eyes. The extreme bezels are somewhat looking like notebooks from last century where panels were that expensive.

[YW-Slayer]

Just out of curiousity.
For how much does a refurbished X301 sell in HK, approximately?

They don't - I bought mine off eBay from the ibmoutlet (that's what it calls itself) seller of refurbished Thinkpads on eBay. Having said that all they sell is Thinkpad stuff so I suspect that they have kept it stock. Even if they haven't, the SSD, whether SLC or MLC, is more than fast enough for my needs (it is a 64GB model but that doesn't mean it's SLC apparently). Plus the 301 has an integrated optical drive, which is very important to me.

The price was very good though. US$1650 inc. shipping to HKG, whereas a new 301 here goes for around US$2700.

I have not done any "serious" work on the 301 yet, only installing programs. The screen can get very bright. The colour fidelity is not superb, but the same went for my T42's screen. I think it should be OK for my purposes, since I don't use it everyday. FYI I will only use it for email checking and document editing on the road, along with checking the focus/sharpness of pictures DLed to the notebook and my external HDD. Maybe watching some movies that I have backed up off my DVDs. If you're that interested, I will let you know as visiting Tokyo over Easter and plan to do all of these things.