Lenovo x121e netbook

Thinking of ordering 1 of these to replace my netbook

Was thinking of upgrading the ram and HDD myself to 8GB of Crucial, and a Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD, would the SSD fit and work fine?, also as anybody tried Ubuntu 11.04 on it?, if so how was it?

Is there anyother small laptops around same price and performance out there?, been searching last 2 weeks and haven't realy found another
 
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will13 said:
Thinking of ordering 1 of these to replace my netbook

Was thinking of upgrading the ram and HDD myself to 8GB of Crucial, and a Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD, would the SSD fit and work fine?, also as anybody tried Ubuntu 11.04 on it?, if so how was it?

Is there anyother small laptops around same price and performance out there?, been searching last 2 weeks and haven't realy found another
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Remember you need a 7mm SSD - most HDD's & SSD's are 9.5mm

I have a 500GB Seagate 5400.6 I normally use in laptops but I can't fit it in my x121e :(
 
If you're not worried about losing your warranty on your SSD then you can take it out of its housing and plug it straight in. I've done that with my Vertex LE 50GB and just used some electrical tape to shield it where it rests against the casing on the end.
 
Borden said:
If you're not worried about losing your warranty on your SSD then you can take it out of its housing and plug it straight in. I've done that with my Vertex LE 50GB and just used some electrical tape to shield it where it rests against the casing on the end.
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:eek: don't wanna be doing that to a brand new £150 SSD lol
 
Well I got my i3 X121e last night, fitted Crucial 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM no probs and it flies! Well happy with it, I think the build quality is great, screen is absolutely fine, and trackpad I have no problems with (after tweaking the settings a bit). The only negative is the fan, which even with TPFanControl on smart comes on noticibly when not doing anything particularly taxing, perhaps I need to fiddle with the settings a bit.

Considering the fact that it's pretty much as fast as my Lenovo T410i which I spent over £1200 on, this is probably the best £400 ever spent! Well happy. :)
 
MSTRBKR said:
I'm watching mine on its way from Shanghai on the UPS website, it's currently in Korea and heading for Castle Donnington today - must be East Midlands airport. Quite exciting :) The protective sleeve I bought with it is a day ahead and is on the van for delivery today, so hopefully the laptop will arrive tomorrow 1 week after ordering!

Edit: Just landed in Kazakhstan.
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Oooh which sleeve did you get?
 
MSTRBKR said:
Got the one that was offered on the accesories tab when configuring the laptop on the Lenovo shop. Link below.

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...D31ED47BDA13EC8&&hide_menu_area=yes&ds=direct

Glad to hear someone is getting on with the trackpad finally, I hope it's okay. Which SSD and memory did you get? The Crucial SSD on overclockers is 9.5mm, I thought it had to be 7mm?
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Ah didn't see that one, I'll order it at some point.

I just used the system check on the crucial site to determine which ssd and memory to get. The drive is 9.5mm but it is in a plastic surround which you can unscrew (voiding the warranty) to make it fit. I used electrical tape to secure the bottom of the housing to the ssd board (which secures the ssd board into the case) as I didn't have any extra hard drive screws lying around. It's been absolutely fine so far though.
 
I'm really torn between the Acer Aspire One 522, the 121e C-50 or whether to pay extra for the i3 121e. It's pretty much a lounge laptop for web browsing only so I don't want to spend a lot on a laptop just for this use. I do tend to end up with several tabs open and I'd like it to be responsive though.

The Acer has the same C-50 CPU but only 1GB RAM and the main selling point is it's just £200.

I've owned ThinkPads in the past (x30, x40) and I love the nipple and the matte finish screen.

I'm really, really sensitive to noise. The PC I built runs fanless (and I do mean fanless - even the PSU is passive) until I fire up StarCraft 2 and switch on a single rear exhaust fan. I have an SSD and my storage drive powers itself down after a few mins.

I'd love the Asus Transformer with doc but just can't justify that price for what I'll use it for.

Any advice? :confused:
 
Had the i3 x121e for a while now. Plugged in 8 gig of Crucial the day I got it. Performance seems great, love the look of it - at least externally. It's simple and understated in a good way. It's still a relatively fresh system so I'm enjoying quick boot times, and return from sleep even on the non-SSD drive. Definitely recommend the memory upgrade over 2gig.

A few minor things that bother me. I don't think it feels as solidly built as I imagined - there's a bit of flex on the screen when it's closed - which might just be the rubber feet spacing the screen. I'm coming from an m11x though, which was built like a tank by comparison.

The keyboard is a bit hit and miss. I find it looks a bit fisher-pricey with over-sized keys and the curved key bottoms. I have to be pretty accurate with my key press to get a response. For example the top right of the H key doesn't easily register - although a lot of the keys suffer from this (or it's just my typing). I'm struggling to get through sentences without a lost keystroke - I'm sure I'll compensate eventually.

The most disliked aspect for me is the cursor key setup. It makes quick navigation a pain, through text especially. Maybe if the cursor keys had a different texture to the PgUp/Dn keys it would be easier to use them without looking, or a raised dot on the down key. However the keys seem freakishly small to me, when you compare them to the rest of the keyboard especially. How anyone with normal sized fingers manages I don't know.

That and the keys are a little louder than I'd hoped - if you get up to speed then it can get pretty loud especially when trying to compensate for the keys not registering by being a bit firmer.

Fan noise... no real problem with it. Wouldn't have noticed it if this thread hadn't drawn attention to it. Wouldn't be worried about taking it anywhere, and it only becomes noticeable in an entirely silent environment. I guess it depends on your sensitivity as to whether it'll bother you.

Lastly, I wouldn't recommend the accessory neoprene sleeve listed by lenovo. I'd hoped for something a bit higher quality, but it doesn't quite sit right on the device. It does the job, don't get me wrong but I may end up looking for something else.
 
BIOS headache

Got my hands on my Intel x121e today.

If you are going to install fresh Windows 7 to the X121e - don't forget to set the BIOS at startup to UEFI/LEGACY -> Both and LEGACY FIRST

If you forget - you will have to reinstall windows 7. Without the upper setup Intel 1000 Wifi card will not work (although the system sees it), also its not possible to update BIOS from windows (I cant believe that problems like those can exists in 2011).

I dont know if its just my machine or factory default - my x121e came with BIOS security tab USB off - so it was a bit hard to find out why I cannot install windows from an USB DVD (I bought a lenovo USB DVD writer).

When the windows is already installed, its a bit hard to get the BIOS understand that you want to boot from the CD. Another problem - it seems that you cannot boot DVD from every USB port (right_up seemed good for me).

If you install windows - get ready to download a GIG of drivers from lenovo. Drivers works fine.

SSD - intel S320 works like a charm after removing spacer for 7mm height (and thus avoiding warranty). The bigger intel you buy, the better speeds you get. Other 7mm SSDs are available, but I trust Intel.

Overall feeling - nice, but not robust enough - I think it would not take _any_ dropdown. No leds - that is not good, I am missing the winchester led.

Its a little bit hard to push the keys, touchpad is in the way for me when using the stick, will disable if possible.

The system seems to work nicely, fast boot time with SSD (presently I did not see any bottlenecks). As far as I can see the WIFI antenna is very sensitive.

Nice video playback, good quality at youtube.

Overall nice, but I did not plan to spend a whole day on a misterious wifi problem.
 
azazil said:
Overall feeling - nice, but not robust enough - I think it would not take _any_ dropdown. No leds - that is not good, I am missing the winchester led.
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I took mine with me on a trip to the in-laws last week. Dropped it near the bottom of the stairs :eek: - bounced off two carpeted steps before I caught it.
No signs of damage and working fine so far. Phew...
 
azazil is right though - they don't feel robust enough. This is the flimsiest feeling Thinkpad I have ever owned (owned plenty over the years). My wife is still using her old T42 (6 years old I think) and she does not like the X121e at all. I recently bought her a 2nd hand Edge 13 off Ebay which she has given a quick once over and she finds that acceptable - but still not T42 standard!
 
harry66 said:
azazil is right though - they don't feel robust enough. This is the flimsiest feeling Thinkpad I have ever owned (owned plenty over the years). My wife is still using her old T42 (6 years old I think) and she does not like the X121e at all. I recently bought her a 2nd hand Edge 13 off Ebay which she has given a quick once over and she finds that acceptable - but still not T42 standard!
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Remember it's a fraction of the cost! My T410i which I bought last November cost me over £1200 and is built like a tank, but I wouldn't expect the same build quality in a £350 netbook. Overall, I'm more than happy with the X121e after a week of solid use.
 
My EEEPC 1000H was £300, its the most robust bit of kit I have owned, sure its showing its age but low price shouldn't be used as a excuse for low quality design, even with the cracks in the hinge it feels more robust than the x121.
 
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