List of drives that are compatible with the x220

[Blue_Alien]

I just ordered an intel 310 40GB mSata drive to compliment the 250GB 5400rpm drive that the x220 comes with. I should receive them both on tuesday, so I will post results on installing windows 7 and drivers to the solid state.

[ZaZ]

No way ..... really lenovo ..... are they restricting us for some reason ...

People want thinner machines. This is one part of it. I look at it as a plus. You can get the mSATA drive to use as a boot drive, then a 7mm drive for storage all for a lot less than a similarly sized SSD would cost. The 7mm drives go up to 500GB. It's not like you're losing a ton of space compared to a 9.gmm drive.

[thecrafter]

People want thinner machines. This is one part of it. I look at it as a plus. You can get the mSATA drive to use as a boot drive, then a 7mm drive for storage all for a lot less than a similarly sized SSD would cost. The 7mm drives go up to 500GB. It's not like you're losing a ton of space compared to a 9.gmm drive.

Are you familiar with the metric system? Do you have any idea how insignificant 2mm is? That 2mm is no way worth the loss of choice and price hike when it comes to these 7mm hard drives. Take a look at the x220 compatible drives list here. It's like a handful, and every single one of them is quite a bit more expensive than their 9.5mm equivalents, especially the SSDs (none of which are true 7mm as well, as they require mods, and in some cases that breaks the warranty).

Lenovo made a really stupid decision by going 7mm only. Maybe they are experimenting and hoping that since there's pratically no choice for the consumer to buy outside of Lenovo, they will choose to pay the 100%+ price premium and buy from Lenovo themselves.

Would I choose to save $50+ (6-10% of laptop price) or have a laptop 2mm smaller that the human eye can't even tell... hmmm, $50/6% please!

[thecrafter]

By the way, OP, please modify and move Intel 320 to modifiable 9.5mm, because it is not 7mm. It comes with a spacer that is removable. According to the sticker on the drive, removing any screws or stickers will void the warranty, and to remove the spacer you have to remove screws (but how Intel will know... I don't think they will)

[erik]

That 2mm is no way worth the loss of choice and price hike when it comes to these 7mm hard drives.

due to reducing the chassis thickness, the drive rail thickness, and moving some parts around, the X220's design was made approximately 3.5mm thinner overall (or 1/8") by using 7mm drives instead of 9.5mm.   that, my friend, is very significant.

the industry is shifting toward 7mm drives in ultraportables.   as SSDs increase in capacity and decrease in cost, you can guarantee that 9.5mm will eventually be phased out just like 12.5mm of yore.   in six months to a year from now all the complaints about 9.5mm's demise will likely be gone.

relax.   it's not the end of humanity.

[thecrafter]

due to reducing the chassis thickness, the drive rail thickness, and moving some parts around, the X220's design was made approximately 3.5mm thinner overall (or 1/8") by using 7mm drives instead of 9.5mm. that, my friend, is very significant.

the industry is shifting toward 7mm drives in ultraportables. as SSDs increase in capacity and decrease in cost, you can guarantee that 9.5mm will eventually be phased out just like 12.5mm of yore. in six months to a year from now all the complaints about 9.5mm's demise will likely be gone.

relax. it's not the end of humanity.

erik, there's really no need to tell people to relax. It's a forum, a place to discuss and argue various merits. People disagree, it's natural. May not be the end of humanity but I'd still choose a 3.5mm thicker laptop (still not significant at all, at least to me) if it means saving me a good chunk of money and having a larger selection of drives to choose from.

My opinion of this seems to offend you. Not sure why you'd tell someone to relax for stating their opinion and disagreeing with someone else, on a public forum =/

[JaneL]

Not sure why you'd tell someone to relax for stating their opinion and disagreeing with someone else, on a public forum =/

Probably because you're arguing with two moderators which is seldom a good idea...

[thecrafter]

Probably because you're arguing with two moderators which is seldom a good idea...

What does this have to do with moderating a forum? Are you here to keep the rules or try to shun people's opinions?

I was not breaking any rules. Why do you even bring that up?

Perhaps you do not know the meaning of a discussion:

• a conversation or debate about a certain topic

We are debating the size of the laptop and how it affects consumers. Is this against the rules? No? OK then

[erik]

it's one thing to debate merits of a design change but it's another to argue ZaZ's knowledge of how to use a metric ruler.   state how something impacts your opinion without dragging others down.   that's called common courtesy.

to address your concern, i'm not offended offended one bit.   i'm glad the X220 is thinner and don't plan to waste one second worrying about any of this.   technology and design evolve with time.   if you don't like a feature on a new product then there's nothing keeping you from buying last year's model if it suits you better.   i have an SXGA+ X61T for that very reason.

so, yeah... relax.

[thecrafter]

it's one thing to debate merits of a design change but it's another to argue ZaZ's knowledge of how to use a metric ruler. state how something impacts your opinion without dragging others down. that's called common courtesy.

to address your concern, i'm not offended offended one bit. i'm glad the X220 is thinner and don't plan to waste one second worrying about any of this. technology and design evolve with time. if you don't like a feature on a new product then there's nothing keeping you from buying last year's model if it suits you better. i have an SXGA+ X61T for that very reason.

so, yeah... relax.

I've been hearing great things about the 61 series. I'd love to buy one if I could find one brand new and would have probably bought it instead of the x220 assuming it was ~30-40% cheaper. Also there's an appropriate time to evolve the design. For example it would have been a better idea to introduce a thinner laptop when there was a good selection of hard drives that its compatible with. At the same time it's also a good thing that Lenovo tries to be ahead of the curve here and there's nothing stopping people from holding off and buying it when the selection grows.