Hello X-ers,

I am thinking of going hunting for a used X301 to compliment my two heavyweights.

It appears that used 1.4GHz models are relatively easy to come by compared to the 1.6GHz models.

Honestly, I don't really do anything that requires a lot of performance, but at the same time I detest waiting for my computer... to that end, I'm wondering whether the 1.6GHz machine is noticeably "zippier" just launching apps and futzing around on the internet. Either is going to have plenty of battery life for my needs, so I'm not bothered about any additional power consumption... are there any other drawbacks to the 1.6GHz model?

In any case, I'd definitely be dropping in 8GB of RAM and would investigate whether a more modern SSD would make things zipper...

Thanks for any input!

edit: forgot to mention I would like to be able to watch 720p x264 video... would be nice if the machine doesn't kill itself trying to do this... Task Manager reports that this uses about 10% CPU on my T9900 (when using CoreAVC), so hopefully it'll be no problem!

I believe all X300 and X301 came with SSDs. Some later had the SSD swapped for a platter drive, but it was not sold that way. Unless you're pushing the CPU frequently, the SSD is more likely to make the system seem faster than the CPU. The SSD in the X301 is the 1.8" variety, which limit your options to upgrade.

SSD for sure...... I imagine the best thing that'd fit is an Intel 320. I wonder if that's appreciably faster than whatever these machines came with...

I'll max out the RAM as well.

In my experience, that would be a no. The benefit of a SSD is the latency, how fast data can be found and read. Since the latency for all SSDs is .1ms, they're all fast. The throughput, how much data can pass through the controller in a given moment in time, which is often used as benchmark for SSDs, has little effect on day to day usage because typical tasks like Office, Media and Internet don't put much of load on the controller.

Interesting point! Thanks.

In any case, I guess maximum transfer speed isn't much of an issue on these SATA-II machines...

Hrm, just occurred to me that probably the most intense thing I do on my computers is watch 720p x264 video... can these things hack it??

Jeff,

I have a couple of the 1.4GHz X301 models. I watch 720p videos, mainly motorsports, on them in full screen with no problems. I will pull one out, fire it up, throw on a vid and check the cpu usage. Will post results later.

EDIT: I am watching a video of the BBC highlights of the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix. Codec is H264-MPEG-4 AVC, resolution is 1280x720, frame rate is 25, AC3 audio codec@48000Hz w/bitrate of 192 kb/s. The cpu usage is running between 35-45% with dips to 28% and spikes to 52%. Video and audio playback is smooth with no problems.

Hope this answers your question about 720p video viewing.

Awesome! Many thanks for your post.

You are welcome. I hope you enjoy the one you buy as much as I enjoy mine.

The majority of x301 machines did come with a SSD, mostly Samsung 64 & 128gb drives, but the Lenovo firmware was never updated to support TRIM.
The Samsung firmware was updated but putting it on a Lenovo drive is a very involved process and not always successful – sometimes fatal.
There was also a 160gb drive available and would guess it was an Intel x-18 G1.

But some versions did come with a Toshiba 5400rpm HDD.
The x301 from the Microsoft Store blowout sale (2777-MSU for ~$900) had that drive.

I’m sure you’re aware the x301 uses a hard to find and increasingly expensive 1.8” drive.

Enjoy, it's still my favorite all around Thinkpad.

Yup, I'm aware of the 1.8" thing. I can easily get an Intel 320 1.8" SSD. The 80GB version isn't ridiculously priced and is probably more than I'd ever need on such a machine.

edit: mklym -- I can't say I'm up to speed on modern F1, but I am quite fascinated by engine design and EFI, so I found this video on the development of the Ford/Cosworth TEC turbocharged V6 most interesting!

My x301 that I bought second hand came with Toshiba THNSNC128GAMJ. Not sure if it was swapped by the previous owner or it came like this from Lenovo. Performance is good enough for me. I had in an earlier laptop a Corsair HDD that was basically the 1st gen Samsung and this Toshiba is quite a bit faster.

Here is the Crystal diskmark benchmark of the disk:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 209.018 MB/s
Sequential Write : 144.987 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 172.842 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 92.862 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 14.380 MB/s [ 3510.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 34.583 MB/s [ 8443.2 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 22.155 MB/s [ 5408.9 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 75.517 MB/s [ 18436.7 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [C: 57.5% (68.4/118.9 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2013/03/31 13:25:30
OS : Windows 8 [6.2 Build 9200] (x64)

I can't comment on the difference between 1.4Ghz and 1.6Ghz, I just remember the old maxim of buying the fastest you can afford or in your case you can find. So with that in mind I bought the 1.6Ghz - then upgraded to 8GB ram and a 256GB SSD (Samsung). I also installed a dual micro sd card reader in the space for the WUSB so I can install 2x32GB Micro SD cards when I need the extra space.

I have no problem watching 720p videos but to be honest if I'm watching a video I'm not doing anything else. For light use ie, word processing, Outlook, Excel, surfing the net and reading ebooks on - I think this is the perfect companion. I got an X201 first but the screen size was a tiny bit too small so the 13.1" makes a big difference.

The only other thing I did to mine was add the bay battery - but again the amount of time I'm away from an A/C socket is very small. Not sure I can think of any drawbacks that have not already been mentioned eg screen - which I have not found to be a problem.

This has been a very good purchase for me. I'm sure if your needs are as stated then either model will be satisfying.

Good Luck

Thanks for your input, u751920. I generally operate under the same maxim, especially when buying used. I tell myself I'm "saving money" by buying the best used thing I can and then maxing it out if it isn't already. However, in this case 1.6GHz for sale models seem somewhat more elusive...

As the CPU cannot be changed it is sensible to buy the most powerful one possible.

One annoying issue I have run into is that drivers don't get updated for the X301. So when I upgraded the SSD I decided to download a copy of windows 7 from MS and then install it via a USB and then download all the drivers from Lenovo - a very simple procedure. However I found that my WWAN card (F3507g) is dropping out after a minute of connectivity and there is no up to date driver for it. As I made recovery disks from the first SSD I guess I will at some stage find the driver it came with and install that one. Although a minor inconvienience at the moment it will need rectifying.

The only other thing I might consider if I was in your position is a tablet. I have my eye on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 but can't quite justify the current price tag - but we shall see.

I am just not a tablet sort of guy... I really like a good keyboard (he says whilst lovingly glancing at the Northgate OmniKey on his desk...)

I've placed a wanted ad in the marketplace for a 1.6GHz X301. Let's hope it bears fruit!

So, I grabbed a local Lenovo-refurb'd SU9400 machine in fabulous condition save for one dead pixel for CA$400... hopefully not too shabby a deal. Still has almost 9 months of warranty left.

Got a few hours on it today getting it all set up. This is certainly the nicest ultraportable I've had my hands on, though the colour and contrast on this screen compared to my big bruisers is really brutal... on the bright side, the screen is fabulously bright in comparison (ha ha), and the keyboard is of course full size and feels pretty darn nice. I have forever shunned my colleagues' ultraportables due to the lackluster typing experience, which just isn't an issue here! Additionally, 1280x800 totally doesn't cut it for me, so it's nice to have 1440x900 in this size... I wish the PPI was a little more dense like my W500, but this'll do. Performance seems OK, save for a bit of sluggishness on stupid flash-heavy sites.

I'll have my eyes open for a decent price on a bay battery, as well as a 160GB X18-M or 320 SSD.

Maybe if I can get something near a full day out of this thing without going near a plug, I'll be inclined to stop hauling around the W500, which will be awesome when I'm cycling to work when the weather improves!

At this point, I can report that the 1.8" 160GB Intel 320 SSD certainly makes the machine feel perkier than the stock 64GB Samsung.

I found wireless performance with a 5300 to be a bit lackluster compared to my similarly-equipped T61p and W500, a deficit I assume is caused by lack of space for bigger antennas in the smaller machine. Throwing caution to the wind, I flashed a whitelist BIOS and threw a 6300 in here, which has put a significant dent in that problem, with the bonus of using less power == longer battery life.

I'm into this thing to the tune of just under CA$900. I'm super-happy with it and it has been fun tweaking it up to spec. I don't find myself hurting for the extra 200MHz. Never worrying about hitting a plug no matter where I go all day is really nice and has changed how and where I work!

Since getting the X301, I've really noticed how crap the resolution is on most new machines this size. I'm not aware of anything quite like this still on the market. What a bummer.

edit: had a good point made via PM about the modern MacBook Air. A lovely machine, to be sure... but the keyboard is hugely inferior to the X301, and there's no TrackPoint. I do an awful lot of rapidly switching between keyboarding and mousing, and I'd love to know how much cumulative time the TrackPoint has saved me over all my time on ThinkPads...

edit2: I think I could see cramming into a X201s if I needed more power.

Just finished rebuilding a trashed 1600 machine and the WEI is 4.6 compared to several 1400s at 3.9.
Feels slighty faster but it's so slight as to be unimportant for my uses.

Interesting.

Here's what I get:
Processor: 4.4
Memory: 4.9
Graphics: 4.1
Gaming graphics: 3.4
Primary hard disk: 7.7

My W500 uses the same chipset and when the ATI FirePro is switched off, the same integrated graphics. That gets:
Processor: 6.6
Memory: 6.6
Graphics: 4.1
Gaming graphics: 3.4
Primary hard disk: 7.7

Perceptively, I barely notice a difference between the two with anything I regularly do... the best demonstration of the difference I've experienced so far was doing Windows Updates yesterday on both at the same time -- the W500 blew the X301 out of the water.

By using a Dual-IDA BIOS the SU9400 can clock at 1,6GHz, a SU9600 come in at 1,86GHz. It it also possible to pinmod the X301. Combined with the Dual-IDA BIOS a SU9400 would achieve 2,13GHz and the SU9600 2,4GHz.

You can get the BIOS here: http://thinkpad-forum.de/threads/131099 ... g+CPU-Last.

Translated: http://translate.google.com.au/translat ... CF8Q7gEwAg

For a color profile that makes the X301 Display comparable to the X220 IPS when it comes color reproduction, just PM me.

Proof that the X301 display shows better colors than the X220 IPS: http://imageshack.us/a/img266/3690/img1451iv.jpg