ThinkPad X220 (i/T) Owners Thread

[chaosphoenix]

Where is watt usage located? Thanks

It shows in the middle when you're on the baisc layout.

[pindar]

Are there any special instruction for doing so or is it just as simple as running the recovery thing on the usb? Can you use an external hard drive? Thanks.

I haven't received my machine yet, so I cannot give you definite answers. Someone else will need to verify. However, I doubt there would be special instructions for making a recovery USB stick, since there is no internal ODD with this model. As for an external hard drive, I think a third-party disk-imaging program, such as Acronis, would be your best bet.

[lhleet]

Oh WOW. On my old Acer 1830T, the NBR scheme is blue, and almost indistinguishable from the vBulletin Default scheme.

I set both the Acer and the X220 to NBR scheme, and used the ColorZilla color picker to verify.

Apparently I've spent the better part of a year looking at the world through blue-tinged glasses.

WOW. Half the web looks different. Wow. Just another reason never to buy an Acer again.

Edit: and the Firefox 4 default theme is gray, not blue!

this made me lol so hard. are you sure you didnt set up the colors like that on the acer?! my mind would've been blown if it happened to me.

[mil2]

this made me lol so hard. are you sure you didnt set up the colors like that on the acer?! my mind would've been blown if it happened to me.

Many laptops have blue-tinted LCDs. My x201 and t61 (14" widescreen) definitely do. You get used to it. Also, it is possible to adjust this to tolerable levels through calibration.

[Pastyrie]

Running for 15 minutes straight. A bit of throttling, but nothing more than 1 sec. Still running at 3200/1300.

Could this be a power issue? In Lenovo's power manager, it shows that the system is currently drawing around 50 watts running this test. With a 65watt adapter (which may or may not be designed to supply a full 65 watts continuously) maybe the system downclocks because of this? Wasn't that what the whole "my system clocks down to 800mhz when I remove my battery" issue all about? Could this be a similar manifestation of that.. except now we're drawing more than what the battery and adapter can supply..?



Running on 25 minutes now. Every time I open the HWiNFO32 Sensors panel, within 5-10 seconds it gets throttled to 800 and stays that way until I close the sensors pane. Immediately after closing the Sensors panel it clocks back up to 3200 (as in within ~1 second EVERY time I've done it).

I get the exact same results as ChaosPhoenix and I have a X220, no tablet, 9 cell, 65 watt charger. I only noticed it go down to 800Mhz a few times throughout the hour, and only for like a second each time. Phew, I think I'm lucky. If you guys want to know anything about my setup then just ask.

The only downsides to my X220 is the slight hum of the fan (but I guess it's consistent and not that bad), the trackpad (not too bad, tap and movement isn't bad but scrolling with one finger vertically works only about 20% of the time, two finger works about 80% of the time when I'm using it on a desk), and the webcam crashes on some programs (Windows Live Movie Maker = Crash, Google Talk = Crash, and the worst part of the webcam crashes is that I lose sound completely and I have to reboot the computer to get sound back. I think Skype works though.)

[gauden44]

Many laptops have blue-tinted LCDs. My x201 and t61 (14" widescreen) definitely do. You get used to it. Also, it is possible to adjust this to tolerable levels through calibration.

It seems to be only LED LCD screens have this blue tint. I think this is because white LEDs are actually filtered blue LEDs and the purer white an LED is, the more expensive it is.

[spam123]

jran123,

if you're asking about reverting to factory install on your C300 SSD;
1. there's an executable at your Q: drive that will create the factory recovery;
if i remember correctly;
- first it unpacks and then creates a boot disk to your usb or whichever media that you choose;
- then it will ask you if you want to create a data disk (i think this will be the factory image for your model)

Notes -
2. You can only burn the image ONCE; I suppose there's a hack somewhere that will override this but I haven't bothered to investigate

3. the total size required is about 9 to 10GB; so 16GB stick is necessary;

4. the original factory install didn't boot for me; and I was limited to only creating 1 image, so I created a new bootable 2.5" HDD according to this
How To make Bootable USB
then copied the contents of the usb stick onto the HDD

5. Someone commented that the factory image properly aligns to the sector *for SSD*
I've no experience with that and would suggest you
Beginners Guide | The SSD Review

Are there any special instruction for doing so or is it just as simple as running the recovery thing on the usb? Can you use an external hard drive? Thanks.

[floz23]

Those having problems with one finger scrolling, try this:
Control Panel
Mouse
Ultranav
Touchpad Settings
Smart Check Settings
Disable: Scrolling Region Filtering

[tpdi]

I've had my X220 in my hands for jst short of 24 hours; this is mu initial summary:

Best laptop EVAR.

Especially in comparison to my terrible Acer 1830T.

Highlights: great keyboard, tactile response but not too noisy. Real keys, not chiclets. Love that the "Fn" key is to the left of "Ctrl". And the keyboard and trackpad together utilize all the available depth of the laptop's chassis. No wasted space. The little depression or finger well in front of the arrow keys? Great attention to detail. (Though I would swap the back and forward keys with the home and end keys.)

Great trackpad, my only dissatisfaction being that two-finger tap isn't supported (two-finger click is, which minimizes the issue.) Otherwise, everything JUST works (in great contrast to the 1830T's terrible ALPS pad). In particular, two finger scroll is effortless and immediate. Including three-finger swipe to go back and forward in the web browser!

But best of all, the screen! Incredibly bright and clear. And the colors are correct. As I noted in another post, on my Acer 1830T, the "NBR" theme on this forum looks blue, it was only after using the X220 I realized it's green.

On the X220, the color white is a clear bright white very similar to the light from a "natural white sun light" light bulb. It's just a joy to look at.

That said, I've gotten a series of Windows Blue Screens of Death, mostly while using an ad hoc wifi connection and Windows networking to copy my user data from the Acer to my X220. I'm hoping this is a matter of drivers not being up-to-date.

My only other complaint is that the positioning of peripheral ports seems haphazard, and most are farther to the front on the machine than I'd like. Most of this seems to be a result of making the hard disk so easily removable; its hatch takes up most of the space on the right side of the case.

I can't really estimate battery life yet, but it's looking to be at least 5 hours on the 9 cell, at full brightness and with a USB WWAN dongle.

I haven't measured the temperature, but it's barely noticeable at all when I put my hand to the bottom of the case; the Acer 1830T, on the other hand, is almost painfully hot. (Edit: Core Temp says that max temperature is 59 C.)

And the case and hinge feel very solid. I can't see why I'd need a latch, and I wouldn't want one.

Overall, the X220 is just a joy, so far.


And having the trackpoint is a nice addition.

[tpdi]

this made me lol so hard. are you sure you didnt set up the colors like that on the acer?! my mind would've been blown if it happened to me.

My mind was blown. The difference is so stark, I put it down to to some difference in Firefox configuration from one machine to the other.

I reset all the color configs on the Acer to the default, and green is still blue.