New X301 on the way

[Greg Gebhardt]

I tried the X301 w/1.4 processor when it first came out and it was a little sluggish, but was on Vista. The X301 seems to lock up for 10-20 seconds at a time, do not know if it was the processor being over worked or the OEM SSD having problems.

The new unit will have the faster 1.6 processor and be running Win7 Pro 64bit which I am betting will be better on Win7 than bloated Vista.

The new X301 with have the 128gb SSD. I have an Intel 80gb SSD in the drawer. Which drive will perform better. With WIN7, Office, and some other software I should still have more than half the 80gb drive free, with the Intel 80, which should provide more than enough head room.

Would you pick the Intel 80gb over the OEM 128gb Samsung? Anyone use this Intel drive in a X301?

[visionviper]

The Intel drive will be faster. Also, you might be surprised how quickly you will fill the hard drive. My 128gb SSD drive is over half full and I don't have much installed except Windows 7 and Visual Studio.


Also, there were lock up issues with the older X301 you used? I used Vista for awhile on my X301 with the 1.4ghz processor and I didn't have any issues like that. I'm just giving my experience, that's all.

[globalgmcd]

I have the x301 with a 1.4 processor and 128SSD samsung drive.

I have upgraded to windows 7 (32bit) from vista, installed a new firmware for the ssd, that was just recently available, and I have to admit that my machine runs super fast. I mean really fast. It's like my 2.6ghz desktop.

Vista did run much slower before all the upgrade to win 7.

I have 4GB of ram, my x301 now boots up in less than a minute and shuts down in less than 20 seconds.

So for most business functions, it is terrific. I don't have any complaints.

[ThinkPadTablet]

I have the x301 with a 1.4 processor and 128SSD samsung drive.

I have upgraded to windows 7 (32bit) from vista, installed a new firmware for the ssd, that was just recently available, and I have to admit that my machine runs super fast. I mean really fast. It's like my 2.6ghz desktop.

Vista did run much slower before all the upgrade to win 7.

I have 4GB of ram, my x301 now boots up in less than a minute and shuts down in less than 20 seconds.

So for most business functions, it is terrific. I don't have any complaints.

Where did you get updated firmware for your SSD ? Was it from Lenovos website or from System Updater ?

Do you have Samsung SSD from Lenovo ?

[Greg Gebhardt]

The Intel drive will be faster. Also, you might be surprised how quickly you will fill the hard drive. My 128gb SSD drive is over half full and I don't have much installed except Windows 7 and Visual Studio.


Also, there were lock up issues with the older X301 you used? I used Vista for awhile on my X301 with the 1.4ghz processor and I didn't have any issues like that. I'm just giving my experience, that's all.

I do not know what was wrong and why I was getting a hesitation, I was not the only one as many others were experiencing the same thing. It did get better with time and feel most of the problem was maybe the processor was being overworked at first with file indexing. Like I said it did get better with time.

As far as drive size, I run Office Business, Quickbooks Pro, Quicken and Photoshop. I still would have 30-40gb free on a the 80gb Intel drive as I do not carry all of my office files or gigs of digital images on my laptop. Some of the other posters seem to think that a new update for the 128ssd Samsung might improve it's performance.

Wish someone would post test results of each but I have till Tuesday to make up my mind.

[Greg Gebhardt]

I have the x301 with a 1.4 processor and 128SSD samsung drive.

I have upgraded to windows 7 (32bit) from vista, installed a new firmware for the ssd, that was just recently available, and I have to admit that my machine runs super fast. I mean really fast. It's like my 2.6ghz desktop.

Vista did run much slower before all the upgrade to win 7.

I have 4GB of ram, my x301 now boots up in less than a minute and shuts down in less than 20 seconds.

So for most business functions, it is terrific. I don't have any complaints.

VERY interesting. If, with the "update", it will bring the performance up to the Intel 80gb, I would stick with the Samsung just for it's size though 80gb is plenty for me. The new X301 comes with XPP installed but has the full restore disks for Win7 so I will likely just pull the OEM drive right off the bat and keep it for when I resell the unit and use the Intel drive.

What kind of performance are you getting with the Samsung? What kind of performance should I expect from the Intel drive? Choices, choices?

I am REALLY looking forward to Win7. Booting in a minute and shutting down in 20 seconds is what I want on my X301, too! <vbg>

I thank everyone for their input, additional is welcome!

[globalgmcd]

Where did you get updated firmware for your SSD ? Was it from Lenovos website or from System Updater ?

Do you have Samsung SSD from Lenovo ?

Yes, it was from Lenovo website. See link below. And yes, my samsung ssd is from lenovo as well.
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-69806

I think the speed of the x301 is due to windows 7 primarily. However, I have to admit that when I did the upgrade to windows 7 from Vista, I began noticing the improvement. I shortly did the firmware upgrade and since then, everything works very quickly. I can't tell how much more the firmware upgrade did, all I can say, is that I am really happy with the performance and speed of my x301 ( using 4GB ram and 1.4Ghz processor Centrino 2 - Vpro )

Also, I started to do a defrag on my SSD and then stopped as I found out there is a lot of debate that defragging on a SSD could slow down the performance of your hdd and your computer. Diskeeper doesn't agree, so its a techie nightmare to find out who really knows. So for now, I won't defrag the SSD until it becomes clearer that there is benefit.

In any case, so far, I am very happy with this notebook.

Cheers.

[ThinkPadTablet]

Thanks for your reply. But please tell me one more thing: did you get the firmware by TV Sys Updater or manually from Lenovos website ?

Do you know if you have older or newer Samsung SSD ?

Thanks

[stylinexpat]

I have the x301 with a 1.4 processor and 128SSD samsung drive.

I have upgraded to windows 7 (32bit) from vista, installed a new firmware for the ssd, that was just recently available, and I have to admit that my machine runs super fast. I mean really fast. It's like my 2.6ghz desktop.

Vista did run much slower before all the upgrade to win 7.

I have 4GB of ram, my x301 now boots up in less than a minute and shuts down in less than 20 seconds.

So for most business functions, it is terrific. I don't have any complaints.

20 seconds is fast?? My Macbook Pro shuts down in 3-4 seconds. Would be nice to see the X301 shutdown in 5 seconds or less with Windows 7 on it.

[visionviper]

Also, I started to do a defrag on my SSD and then stopped as I found out there is a lot of debate that defragging on a SSD could slow down the performance of your hdd and your computer. Diskeeper doesn't agree, so its a techie nightmare to find out who really knows. So for now, I won't defrag the SSD until it becomes clearer that there is benefit.

It's because the people at Diskeeper realize their market is starting to slowly dry up. SSDs are designed to operate fragmented, it is how they work, and in a SSD every piece of data can be accessed in (more or less) the same amount of time as all the other data.

The only thing that can make a SSD faster is improved firmware.

[Greg Gebhardt]

It is against ALL of my nature to not use a program like DiskKeeper but after reading here and do alot of research on the Internet, I will no longer defrag my SSD disk.

Of all the arguments, there is little to support defragging a SSD disk and more info that it can even hurt performance. I am not too worried about wearing the drive out as it will last much longe than I want to use the hardware.

Looking forward to my new X301 arriving tomorrow.

What is everyone using to test drives these days? Is there good sfotware to do it?

[Greg Gebhardt]

Well the X301 arrive3d so I made recovery disks for the XXP it came with and then used the included Win 7 Pro disks to change the OS over and all I can say is WOW!

Win 7, even the 32bit version blows XXP and Vista out of the water.

It makes me reaize what a resource hog that XP and Vista had become.

I would rather had the 64bit Win 7 but I am not sure if it is even available in restore disks from Lenovo. No matter the 32bit is fantastic!

When ever I have changed an OS nad installed all new software on a laptop, it has suffered from alot of HD and CPU activity for hours afterwards. Not so with Win 7, settles right down and is ready to get to work! Has MS learned from MAC or what?

[Edmond Dantes]

I have the x301 with a 1.4 processor and 128SSD samsung drive.

I have upgraded to windows 7 (32bit) from vista, installed a new firmware for the ssd, that was just recently available, and I have to admit that my machine runs super fast. I mean really fast. It's like my 2.6ghz desktop.
...
I have 4GB of ram....

Hi

I did the SSD firmware update. I have a X301 1.4 GHz 4GB Ram with Win 7 32 pre installed on it and a SSD HD from Samsung.
I confirm that after the firmware update the laptop seems to have gained much speed, both at start-up and in the normal operations. I would say +20% at least.

Regards

Edmond

[Greg Gebhardt]

Just a follow up on my X301 purchase.

I could not be more happy. The stock 128gb SSD is working very well!

I must say that the slightly faster processor had less to do with the performance than the Win7! It is about time that WIndows got some of the junk out of it's software. I have never seen my laptop boot or shut down faster. I never thought I would be happy leaving my W500 but the X301 does more than I could ask with less weight and more speed with Win 7