Lenovo x121e netbook

arnold-edward · 19 Aug 2011 at 23:31

silmonli said:
I've had the x121e for the last 5 days and my experiences are as follows:

Fan noise: I suppose there is a degree of sensitivity for each person who uses laptops. Personally, I don't notice it while I'm using it but on one occasion when I was using it before going to bed (when it was dead quiet) I noticed a constant but pretty quiet whirring. it was a split second thought and then I went back to doing my work. I not tested it with movies yet.

Typing: keyboard is a good size and keys are all in the right places for me. I would say typing is slightly louder than expected. It's sounds clicky or tappy when you type and could be quite annoying in a library or a classroom. My wife has an old White MacBook (which has a quiet keyboard) and there is a definitely a difference between the two

Battery life: I've not put it under any major strain. Mainly internet browsing and Microsoft office apps. Getting about 5.5 hours.

Trackpad: I'm not a big fan of the trackpad. Too small. I like to have one hand moving the mouse and the other hand clicking but because the bottom buttons are built into the trackpad the multitouch is atrocious and resorted to the nipple which works quite well but I'm not used to this type of input. I'm use to a wireless mouse when I at a table so that's my preference.

Screen: I'm not a graphics designer so not an expert with screens. I'm satisfied with the screen and glad it's Matt instead of glossy.

Weight and size: footprint is just right for me as I'll be travelling for a year and need something small. Thickness is okay but could be thinner obviously. Weight is slightly (only slightly...) heavier than expected.

Performance: this is not for gamers. This is a good value portable laptop where people wants better (but not outstanding) performance and build quality than a netbook.

Other: Build quality is solid. Easy to replace ram and hard drive with 3 screws from the underbelly. Good selection of ports (USB, hdmi and sd card). Personally I think £360 is good value for what you get. Think about a MacBook air 11 inch... Which is 3 x more expensive but don't think you're getting 3 x the performance and other benefits such a dimensions and weight. Plus I wouldn't want to take it travelling and risk a MacBook air getting stolen or broken accidentally...

Hope this helps

Sil

Thanks for that incredibly thorough review! now that you have debunked my issues about fan noise, I was wondering if I could be cheeky and ask another 2 quick questions?

1) have you hooked this up to an external monitor? specifically a 1080p - a full hd - monitor. Because I was wondering if it could cope with running it whilst playing a film or just working.

2) Would you personally recommend this as a cheap (£400) and portable laptop to a friend?

Thanks again!

harry66 · 20 Aug 2011 at 11:46

arnold-edward said:
Thanks for that incredibly thorough review! now that you have debunked my issues about fan noise, I was wondering if I could be cheeky and ask another 2 quick questions?

1) have you hooked this up to an external monitor? specifically a 1080p - a full hd - monitor. Because I was wondering if it could cope with running it whilst playing a film or just working.

2) Would you personally recommend this as a cheap (£400) and portable laptop to a friend?

Thanks again!

I have been using mine hooked up to my Philips 234EL2SB 23" at the full resolution via HDMI and it works great - watched half an hour of Avatar in 1080p and it looked great.

I mentioned my new purchase to a friend at work (who is quite a fussy/particualr guy) and he asked me to take into show him. He loved it, the size, the weight, the performance - he is seriously considering getting one.

Oh and about the fan noise - I was demoing it to him in the office and we could not hear the fan unless we put our ear close to the laptop. We work in a open plan office - but it was Friday afternoon so lots of people at lunch / working from home and so their was not that much background noise (relatively speaking off course).

arnold-edward · 20 Aug 2011 at 16:08

harry66 said:
I have been using mine hooked up to my Philips 234EL2SB 23" at the full resolution via HDMI and it works great - watched half an hour of Avatar in 1080p and it looked great.

I mentioned my new purchase to a friend at work (who is quite a fussy/particualr guy) and he asked me to take into show him. He loved it, the size, the weight, the performance - he is seriously considering getting one.

Oh and about the fan noise - I was demoing it to him in the office and we could not hear the fan unless we put our ear close to the laptop. We work in a open plan office - but it was Friday afternoon so lots of people at lunch / working from home and so their was not that much background noise (relatively speaking off course).

Right, I am going to go and buy one now!

Thanks for the help everyone!

MrSanityCheck · 22 Aug 2011 at 08:38

I wanted to give an update on installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 on the X121e.

There is one simple, fundamental tip to making this work:
Set the "UEFI/Legacy Boot" & "Priority" to "Both" and "Legacy First" on the "Startup" Tab of the the BIOS. (See Screenshot in 1st Link below) :cool:

After doing this everything installed without issue, particularly the Wireless. My BIOS was set to "UEFI First" by default and it was this that was preventing me from getting it to work. Indeed, after the installs, I was able to set it back to this setting and everything continued to work!

I just wish Lenovo had updated their documents to include the X121e at the same time as releasing the product as I have spent far too much time googling to find a solution.

Reference Links
http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/guides-and-manuals/detail.page?DocID=UM006576
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo-ibm/577665-lenovo-publishes-legacy-bios-clean-install-document-uefi-next.html
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/X-Series-ThinkPad-Laptops/X120e-ABGN-Driver-issue-in-Windows-7-Pro-x64/td-p/395209/page/3

Hope this saves time and frustration for you all!

harry66 · 22 Aug 2011 at 10:21

MrSanityCheck said:
I wanted to give an update on installing a fresh copy of Windows 7 on the X121e.

Hi,
Notice any big improvements after doing this?
I have done a fresh install for my previous Thinkpads - but on this occasion I found the bootup quite nippy for the X121e as there does not seem to be as much bloatware (I already use Norton as my IS of choice) so I have so far resisted....

Cheers!

Baxtor · 22 Aug 2011 at 19:46

Just ordered one of these

Was wondering if any of you guys got hit with a customs charge as they come from China ?

I ordered it from the UK Lenovo site and it is a UK model,
so really would not expect to be hit with one...

Art · 22 Aug 2011 at 19:57

Baxtor said:
Just ordered one of these
Was wondering if any of you guys got hit with a customs charge as they come from China ?

I ordered it from the UK Lenovo site and it is a UK model,
so really would not expect to be hit with one...

I got a Thinkpad X220 delivered last week and didn't have any problems at all with that. Far as I know because you've bought it from a UK retailer Lenovo is responsible for that, so they'll already have it factored into the cost: Lenovo is importing it, not you.

arnold-edward · 22 Aug 2011 at 20:14

Could I be very cheeky and could someone try a few games on http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ ??

It would be great if you could, I was just wondering about whether Dungeon siege 2 and heroes of might and magic V (main game of expansion) works according to the site.

Thanks for any help!

MrSanityCheck · 23 Aug 2011 at 09:03

arnold-edward said:
Could I be very cheeky and could someone try a few games on http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ ??

It would be great if you could, I was just wondering about whether Dungeon siege 2 and heroes of might and magic V (main game of expansion) works according to the site.

Thanks for any help!

Dungeon Siege 2: Pass All (Minimum & Recommended)
Heroes of Might & Magic V: Only GPU fails, although even their report says spec is higher than required. Odd!

...plus some others
Eve Online: As with HOMMV, only GPU fails despite every piece of spec being higher.
FIFA 11: Again, as above!

MrSanityCheck · 23 Aug 2011 at 09:08

harry66 said:
Notice any big improvements after doing this?
I have done a fresh install for my previous Thinkpads - but on this occasion I found the bootup quite nippy for the X121e as there does not seem to be as much bloatware (I already use Norton as my IS of choice) so I have so far resisted....

Cheers!

To be fair, the base install on the lenovo is fairly clean with only Office 2010 and Norton littering things up. However, the SSD would make anything look fast. I'm now in the mindset that any Laptop deserves an SSD.

nero120 · 23 Aug 2011 at 13:06

Just ordered mine! Which 7mm ssd are people going for?

arnold-edward · 23 Aug 2011 at 15:34

MrSanityCheck said:
Dungeon Siege 2: Pass All (Minimum & Recommended)
Heroes of Might & Magic V: Only GPU fails, although even their report says spec is higher than required. Odd!

...plus some others
Eve Online: As with HOMMV, only GPU fails despite every piece of spec being higher.
FIFA 11: Again, as above!

Thanks, that is very kind of you.

I am sorry to be so annoying with all of these questions but I am 3yrs into a 6 year degree and spending the last of my student loan on this, so I am really anxious about screwing up.

But could I just ask one more thing?

What does everything think of the screen? is it pleasant to watch films on or not? I know its matt, so do colours look awful or good? Thanks once again.

harry66 · 24 Aug 2011 at 12:22

arnold-edward said:
Thanks, that is very kind of you.

I am sorry to be so annoying with all of these questions...

What does everything think of the screen? is it pleasant to watch films on or not? I know its matt, so do colours look awful or good? Thanks once again.

Yes you are extremely annoying :eek:

- just kidding - only to glad to offer my 2p worth.

My main reason for getting the X121e was to watch films/tv shows around the house without hogging the main tv using something less bulky than my current Thinkpad T400.

Watched a 720p episode of Breaking Bad (IMHO the best tv drama ever) the other day with the X121e and was perfectly happy with the picture quality. Obviously something like this is a very subjective opinion and I really dislike glossy screens....

Threebie 3 · 24 Aug 2011 at 12:49

Had my x121e for a few weeks now, as a replacement for a 2007 MacBook.

I'm very pleased overall, I upgraded the RAM to 8GB and installed a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD with no problems. Although the x121e will only take a 7mm SSD, and the M4 is 9.5mm it was quite easy to modify and remove the spacer - I didn't have to sand down or cut the screws, I simply removed the screws and the spacer and used some electrical tape to secure the metal SSD lid back to the SSD body. Fedora 15 now boots up and is usable within 20 - 30 seconds.

In terms of fan noise, it does spin up quite frequently - but the noise generated is barely noticeable and certainly wouldn't attract any stray glances in a lecture theatre or library.

The touchpad is, quite frankly, abysmal - and I'm not yet adept at using the nipple.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

harry66 · 24 Aug 2011 at 12:58

With regards the touchpad someone has posted over on the HKUD forum their answer to resolving the touchy touchpad (no pun intended)

Their solution as follows (have not tried it myself cos I use the nipple thing) :

Go into Control Panel > Mouse
Select last tab 'UltraNav'
In the TouchPad section, go into Settings

Now these are the settings i changed:

Pointing > Touch Sensitivity: extreme left - Light Touch (adjust this to suit)
Edge Motion > Edge Motion Speed: set it to Fixed Speed, then i have set the speed approx one-third from Slow.
Scrolling: i have the slider approx half-way.
Scrolling > One-Finger Scrolling: all three option are selected.
Scrolling > Scrolling Region - i have increased both the vertical and horizontal regions. This made quite a difference for me!
Finally...the big one...
Smart Check Settings > Edge Tap Filtering - make sure that 'Enable Edge Tap Filtering' is selected. This is what stops the touchpad from being fooled when you leave your finger in the left/right-mouse button area. I have left the regions as default as they work perfectly for me. This has totally transformed the touchpad for me as it does not jump around now at random.

sandys · 24 Aug 2011 at 14:06

OK so my AMD version has arrived today.

Didn't get a UK plug which was very annoying, was that my fault, should I have specced it at order?

Not had it long enough to fully evaluate but initial findings are

Touchpad - crap as stated in thread, I will try fiddling with setting.

Lenovo nipple - love it, not used one before i like it, might be my solution to dodgy touchpad if I get on with it after editing some files etc

Build quality - doesn't feel as good as my trusty eeepc 1000H

Screen quality - pretty good the extra res over my 1000h is lovely, colours and screen viewing angles decent enough, don't think its as bright as the EEEPC which might make outdoors use in sunshine trickier.

Keyboard - looks nice, feels cheap and is noiser than the upgrade chiclet keyboard I fitted to my eepc. nice to have page up and down buttons

Fan noise - not noticed any yet, runs cooler than my eepc, I have it set on High performance.

Performance - Seems adequate its clearly not going to be as strong as the I3 but feels leaps ahead of my N270, I can now handle full screen video yay

Memory - 2Gb of RAM doesn't seem enough for Win7 as GPU takes a fair chunk, I intend to run Ubuntu which was fine with 1Gb on the eeepc, so no problem for me.

sandys · 24 Aug 2011 at 15:07

arnold-edward said:
Could I be very cheeky and could someone try a few games on http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ ??

It would be great if you could, I was just wondering about whether Dungeon siege 2 and heroes of might and magic V (main game of expansion) works according to the site.

Thanks for any help!

Ran this on the AMD, all pass min but fail recommended on the following

HMMV : CPU rated at 2.24, Recommended 2.4Ghz

Eve Online: failed on CPU speed again on the Recommend, plays OK though even with my restricted RAM, I've never seen it before so thought I'd have a go on the trial, 15fps ave at the mo, not sure how it might be as you get deep into the game as there was the odd dip to 11-12. text is very small in this game on that screen

sandys · 25 Aug 2011 at 00:20

Be very careful opening this laptop ensure you don't have too firm a grip or exert even the slightest bit of pressure my LCD just cracked

As I said above, poor build quality compared to my old (current :rolleyes:

) Asus EEEPC.

nero120 · 25 Aug 2011 at 10:16

sandys said:
Be very careful opening this laptop ensure you don't have too firm a grip or exert even the slightest bit of pressure my LCD just cracked

As I said above, poor build quality compared to my old (current ) Asus EEEPC.

Ouch that's not good! All my Thinkpads have excellent build quality, I'd not be impressed if my x121e is any less.

sandys · 25 Aug 2011 at 12:09

Might just be unlucky I use 3 laptops regularly my main one is the eeepc 1000h (the x121 was supposed to replace) , my work one is a Dell E6510 and the missus' one which is a Sony E series, I handle them all in a similar manner and treated the x121e no differently.

Pretty disappointed, considering we travel a fair bit and the little netbook goes everywhere I couldn't be convinced that the x121 is going to last me in place of the eeepc (which is built like a kids toy, indestructible !) even if its replaced, if I had dropped it then fair enough so it goes but this was just handling.

That is of course if Lenovo replace it or claim its my problem, we shall see I guess, you get a good measure of a company by how good there customer support is.

Part of my reason for going for the Lenovo over the dm1 was because the old Thinkpads in work were solid, this one is not so good.