Lenovo ThinkPad X220 Review Discussion

[Rockrz]

KewL... you da man!

Thanks for the links!

Now, I did not opt for the WLAN thingy in my X220, so do I have room for a second hard drive?

[ALLurGroceries]

Do you mean WWAN that goes in the spare full-height mini PCIe slot? If you don't have a WWAN/3G card you can put an mSATA SSD in there. You have to remove the keyboard and palmrest to get to it. http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub...df/0a60739.pdf

There are some expensive SATA3/6Gbps mSATA drives that are out now, but the X220 can only do SATA II/3Gbps. I have an intel 310 in mine.

[Rockrz]

OK, someone was telling me that if I did not order the WWAN for the laptop, I could a sata drive there.

I could have sworn I saw an article somewhere on how to put a sata drive where a SSD would normally go. Is this not possible?

[ALLurGroceries]

The WWAN slot is for mSATA, which is a mini-pci express form factor with SATA signaling.

You can shove a regular 9.5mm HDD in the 7mm bay without the rubber caddy, but you will not be able to remove it and the plastic will bulge. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/leno...s-x1-x220.html

Alternatively you can remove the plastic housing ("spacer") from some 9.5mm SSDs to get them to fit correctly, but it may involve voiding the warranty of the disk. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/leno...ible-x220.html

In any case, you can have a maximum of one drive in the bay plus one mSATA SSD in the WWAN mini PCIe slot. Many people use this as an mSATA SSD + 500GB HDD setup and it is pretty awesome to have it in such a small package.

[ZaZ]

I have to agree, the mSATA + HDD is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

[Rockrz]

I hate the crap that's on it that Lenovo put on there. It didn't come with just Windows, it has numerous manufacturer programs that I don't want on there.

So, I called Lenovo and gave them a song-n-dance about how I needed the Windows install discs in case I ever needed them (I got the guy to admit that a few years from now they will not support this thing anymore).

So, do you think the Windows install discs will install just Windows only being that these are the Lenovo install discs?

There are two other discs that are labeled "Recovery Media for Windows 7 Products", so I figured these are the ones that install all the Lenovo crap.

I just want straight Win 7 Pro 64 bit on there and then I'll build my software collection as I want.

So whaddya think... should I try using the Lenovo install discs, or plan of buying a retail version of Win 7 Pro 64 bit? (I'm buying a larger HD and will leave the OE drive unchanged so I can always put that back if needed.)

[ALLurGroceries]

Don't bother. Just get a legal/genuine ISO and throw it on a USB stick with the Microsoft USB download tool.

LEGAL Windows 7 Download Links (Just like Vista before!!!)

Use the license code on the bottom of your laptop, call microsoft's automated hotline, and you're good to go.

[Pseudorandom]

This guide has everything you need for clean install
http://forum.notebookreview.com/leno...-thinkpad.html

Also, no need to buy. The machine came with W7Pro64 originally, just get the clean iso (legally) here
Legal Download from DigitalRiver: Windows 7 SP1, 13 languages

[Rockrz]

Useful for anyone who:

- Wants to perform a clean install to get rid of all software that came preinstalled with the computer. Don't forget to get the needed drivers.

OK, this describes me... so where does one find all the needed drivers?

Wouldn't that be included the Win 7 installation?

If not, how will I know what drivers I need and where do I get them?

[ALLurGroceries]

Go to device manager after the install, anything that is unknown or has an exclamation point needs a driver. Add to this what you know is inside your system based on its hardware config.

Drivers and software - ThinkPad X220 & X220i