Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Review

Hello,

According to the following ThinkPad regulatory notice on Lenovo’s web site: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/45m2254.pdf, the daughter card with the FCC ID of QDS-BRCM1046 is a Bluetooth radio module.

Perhaps you can enable it using the Fn-F5 key combination on the keyboard.  This should bring up the wireless radio manager software (at least, it does on my T61p running Windows 7).

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

It’s clearly written 5.2 Ah (=5200 mAh) on the battery. :)

If not for the poor battery life on a pricey machine, this would be my next (as in this week) computer purchase. It’s not that I’m pro-Intel, but the AMD Neo chips are sad.

Great review !!!
the only bad things is the heat,and the battery life.
Can you download photoshop(i don’t care what version) on this laptop and check out if its run smoothly when editing web design PSD(i can send you one)?
and can you test the 3DMark06 test?
thx

It is really disappointing, that the AMD Neo chips can’t stand up to Intel’s CULV. I presume that quite a few potential light netbook byuers in spe (like m) would eagerly take this Lenovo, if it had any decent Intel CPU and even “only” normal battery life.

Excellent review Peter! Strange how the hardware video decoding worked only some of the time, sounds like a bug for sure, and the sort of thing which gets fixed with a bios / driver update.

Hi Peter,

Outstanding review!
Some questions always remain though :)
Which wirless chip is installed (on ubuntu try lspci)?
Could you try to find which voltage the Amd Neo processor uses at 800mhz & 1.6Ghz?

Thanks a lot!

I’d be interested in seeing dragon age framerates.  On my dv2, they’re pretty bad, but I do have the older platform, with an x1270 instead of the 3200.

Very nice review. I like the design and appearance of x100e. Like other comments, AMD CPU is the only holding point preventing me from buying one.

Thank you Peter!
I fear that they stick to 1.0V and dont drop the voltage @ idle (usually cool&quiet; reduces the Vcore to a value around 0.8V)

about game benchmarks: would be great if you could post some fps numbers from warsow (warsow.net).

I was hoping for better performance. I’d prefer this laptop to come with the Atom N450 along with Broadcom’s Crystal HD chip. This would fix the Heat and Battery issue and give it HD capabilities. It may not be powerful with Atom but would be great for office documents and web browsing. HDMI out would be great aswell.

Would instantly buy one with Intel CULV. That has bigger cache (1-2-3 MB instead of 512 kB), consumes less (10W vs. 15W) and is made on 45 nm technology not 65 nm. And yes, has more computing power…

Very nice review. You understand the advantages of this machine: Matte looks, nice keyboard and trackpoint, good build quality. You also understand the negatives: no hdmi, heat.

I see you advise not using this on soft surfaces due to obstruction of the air vent. So if I keep it on a pillow on my lap, do you think the heat will melt the computer?

Jano pretty much sums up why Lenovo’s decision was so puzzling. That and including discrete graphics on a business laptop and then not including HDMI because it’s a business laptop.

Great review though.

If you’re doing framerates in games, I’d be interested in Left4Dead, either 1 or 2.

Wonderfully review Peter!  It has really helped me decide which computer to get this year (Acer Timeline 1810T).  Thank you again and I wish you all the best in 2010!

Particularly thorough review.  Even with the heat and battery life i still love this machine!  Is it worth waiting for one of the dual core processor models?  I presume that’s only going to make the heat and battery issues worse, but I might want the speed.

Thanks.

Excellent, excellent, review.  Thanks for taking the time to do this!  I recently purchased a x100e the other day from the site.

According to their press release, a version with dual core processor is due later in Q1. Any idea how much longer we’ll have to wait? I like the idea of it for the usual Thinkpad build quality and robustness, but that processor is a deal-breaker.

World of Warcraft performance @ native resolution would be great to know.

@Peter: thank you!

I probably gonna wait for the dual-core version, the powerconsumption of an Athlon X2 (or Neo, they are identical) DualCore 65nm is almost the same as for a single core.

thx man,did you tested photoshop yet?

It was a good and very thorough review.

I have an old 12 inch X-series Thinkpad that I would like to replace, and this laptop looked good. I like the build quality and trackpoint of the Thinkpads. However, I don’t think I can live with such a bad processor/battery life.

Do you think they would put an Intel CULV processor in the x100e sometime in the future?

Hi could u try the game Warcraft 3 (DotA map 6.66)? Thank you Peter.

give Quakelive a test.

company of heroes

half life 2 game

or any game for that matter.

I am interested in seeing how this HD3200 performs in gaming.

Thanks

Unfortunatelly guys at Lenovo are clever. If they would have put CULV processors in the X100e, it would have been the very best 11,6” notebook ever. And so, nobody would buy a then slightly faster and noticeably more expensive X200. They’ve degraded performance according to price range - hence the AMD processors. (I didn’t hear this, it’s just a thought.)

Jano, the AMD processor allows used of the ATI integrated graphics HD3200. With an intel processor, you would be forced to use an intel GMA 4500 and your games would run even worse. This machine sacrifices battery life and heat performance to bring you the goods on display, graphics performance, HD play, and keyboard.

Not to mention PRICE.

Battery life is not the right thing to sacrifice when you are dealing with an ultraportable. I would pay 100-200 USD more for an Intel CULV processor if it meant that the battery life would be 7-8 hours.

Oh well, the search for a new laptop continues…

While I’m here: Anyone who can suggest an alternative that is similar to this one, but with longer battery life?

Ubuntu Question:
I’ve also installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my X100e and run into the same problem with WiFi.  The Thinkpad adapter (Realtek) appears to lack Linux driver support.  I tried manually compiling and loading a Linux driver available from the Realtek website as well as using a wrapper with Lenovo’s XP driver.  No luck!  The Linux drivers saw the SSID’s, but couldn’t successfully connect with my WPA2-enabled wlan.

Peter, if you or anyone else here gets Ubuntu up and running successfully with WiFi on the X100e, please post how you did it!  I’m not a Linux guru, so there may be an easy fix I’m not aware of.  Thanks!

TomDogen, CULV’s GMA 4500 graphics is very nice, supports the play of 1080p videos. Read the HP dm1, IdeaPad U150 or Acer 1410 reviews.

The X100e is definitely not a gamer notebook, so choosing AMD processors because the use of HD3200 graphics is unlikely.

Why would a businessman want a thigh cooking, battery guzzling, gaming machine? I’m sure a real businessman can afford and would be willing to pay for this more favorable features. I’m convinced this is some gimmick to trick buyers into reasoning the higher end thinkpads are a better deal. This laptop had so much potential…when will they get it right?

Thanks Peter!

@Jano: You can’t compare AMD to Intel for l1/l2 Cache. They function differently (rather, they function the same, but are used in different ways).  It’s an apple to oranges comparison, and is invalid and misleading to do so.

>>Jano 01/21 at 08:37 PM
I think that,too. They would damage the “real” business models. This is an entry model. I think they want you to buy one to try out some pro features for a decent price. Then switch over to another model if you really need it.
I think that updated X200/X300 models will come up pretty soon. They updated the 14” and 15” models and have lots of consumer models with the Uxxx and Edge series now. Moreover the X200 tablet has a touch screen for a long time now, so they will want to give you first class quality with that, too. So they have to take their time to surpass competitor models which bloat the market now. ;-)
I guess the new X200 model will look a lot like the X100 but with the hardware and battery lifetime everybody expects from an Intel platform subnotebook.

hallo.
have questions:
1. how long is the x100 working with ubuntu? only office, wifi, i-net a.s.o.
2. how long is the battery-charging in h?

3. are the display-Conectors steal oder plastic?

thanks; best regards ( good feedback )

Agreeing with Dave here. You can’t compare AMD with Intel concering the L2.

AMD has had the memory controller on cpu for a long time and thus does not need an L2-cahce as big as the Intel CPUs. Only recently Intel added the MMC unit to the i7-cpus as well.

Maybe Schnorrz means the hinge connecting the body with the display.
Are they made of metal or some kind of plastic?

First of all thanks for the review. This may be the first AMD Neo based notebook without a glossy TFT Screen.

You wrote:
> Lenovo’s power mode app also shows Watt usage,
> however I’ve measured figures via external means.

Did you measure the power usage between Notebook and the external power adapter or between the power adapter and the 230V network (or whatever there is in Japan)?

The not-that-good battery life seems to be partly caused by the high cpu voltage in the idle state. There are tools that can change that, at the risk that your CPU may get instable. It’s a game like overclocking, without the risk to damage something.

Another Question: What resolutions can the VGA port deliver towards an external monitor? Is there a hard limitation like at the Intel Netbooks?

Again, thanks for the report. Very interesting laptop.

Why dont you publish the results of the Photoshop? or you didn’t tested it yet?

Thanks for the review.

I’ve looked the x100e over in a store. They keyboard, screen, and trackpad are making me want to upgrade my S10.

I had been getting worried that Lenovo had switched to the glossy screen and shiny screen that many emperors use for new clothes. In the real world, or at least the coffee shop I frequent, a matte screen and case is much better as the place is full of windows.

I wish the x100e had used a display-port, but the old men at IBM’s design team still think that all the projectors out there are still VGA; DVI with embedded VGA would have been a better choice, you know the connector the Apple uses.

I do find it strange that effort was spent on trying to Hi-Def video on the low-power setting. My Lenovo S-10-1 with a Intel integrated boat-anchor will barely play 720 at all.

It’s a shame that the wifi isn’t working under Ubuntu yet on the X100e. As I type, I am using Ubuntu 9.10 on my S10, and I am quite happy with it.

Is the MV-40 inside the x100e 64-bit, if so, it would be interesting to run some 64-bit compression benchmarks on it, perhaps Ubuntu 64?

Hello,

I installed Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 on my X100e.  No problems at all; most of the hardware was recognized; a few things that were not were provided with device drivers through Windows Update; and, of course, all the device drivers are available for download from Lenovo’s web site.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

Terrific review Peter. 

The heat bothers me as well.  Any thoughts on whether the heat can be damaging to the internals?  LIke you I prefer hot and slower to fast and loud as in the T43 and T61 Lenovos.
But a bit worried that internal life may be shortened by 120+ degrees.

pc

Why, why, oh why did Lenovo have to go for an AMD processor. If this had an Intel CULV, I’d have bought it straight away.
Oh well.

Thanks Peter,
what are you thoughts on waiting for the dual core CPU Lenovo is promising this quarter?
Would dual core make the heat and battery problem worse or better.
I thought that dual core is more efficient than single core, and therefore it should make heat and battery issues more benign?
How much more cost is the dual core CPU than the single core?
How about adding RAM to the base of 1 GIG. would that help very much?

An incredibly exhaustive review.  However, while the reporter acknowledges his lack of Trackpoint experience, he does not mention whether he touch-types, which would give more credibility to the quality of the keyboard.

I think that Peter’s review is extremely interesting and useful.
I don’t really think that the x100e would be an ideal computer for someone who has had no experience with the Trackpoint, and is not interested in using it. It seems to me that the Trackpoint would be a principal attraction of this notebook, so an evaluator who is not interested in its principal attraction in the first place would not find the entire computer very attractive. Ditto the keyboard and other aspects.
This computer is a niche market computer for those who definitely want a Think Pad with a Trackpoint in a very small portable computer, that until now was only available in a much more expensive computer.
It is not a computer for folks who need to spend 12 continuous hours in a coffee shop during power blackouts, because the battery on this one is not designed to run full out for 12 hours without recharging. It is not a gaming computer, nor primarily a computer for high end performance uses, not primarily for HD video downloads. And not a computer for those who are into an arms race for performance, battery life, and that sort of thing.
This is a computer intended primarily for those who would like a Think Pad at a much more affordable price than the x200, with a similar keyboard and Trackpoint, etc.
A sensible evaluation would be against the x200, on a cost/benefit analysis basis, and against other computers of the same screen size at the same price.
It is true that some Intel CPUs are much more efficient and powerful than the AMD in this rig, but those CPUs are only in notebooks that are much more expensive than the Think Pad 100e.
So it is a bit of an apples and oranges comparison.
The thing that would really be useful and interesting is comparing the x100e to the x200, and to other computers of the same size and price as the x100e, because that is the real world decision that customers are making. Price is important to some people. And particularly anyone who would even consider a x100e has got to be price conscious. Its the cost/benefit for the specific purposes for which you want to use the computer that counts.

Hi Peter,
I have experience with a Thinkpad X40, and the Trackpoint is nice for me because I find it more convenient than a Trackpad, and/ an external mouse. Not everybody feels that way I understand, but for some of us with positive experience with a Trackpoint, the Trackpoint on the X100e is a major attraction. If I had no positive interest in using the Trackpoint, I doubt whether I would even consider the X100e myself. So for me the issue is whether the rather obvious limitations of the X100e (that you point out) are worth putting up with just to get the Trackpoint. An evaluator having no experience or interest in a Trackpoint, absolutely nothing wrong with that, would not be able to offer advice on that issue.
It is a little like someone with no experience or interest in standard shift cars evaluating a standard shift car. Nothing wrong with not having an interest in standard shift cars, but its hard to evaluate a standard shift car if you have no experience or interest in them.
For Trackpoint advocates, the Trackpoint is not a trivial attribute of a notebook, especially a very small notebook.
The other major question that you raise is the competition from
“cheap CULV” notebooks.
Please keep in mind that the X100e is definitely being marketed on a price basis; it is an entry level price for this size computer.
Are there CULV notebooks out there in this size notebook that compete with the X100e in price?
My research shows that the CULV notebooks in this size notebook are selling for approximately 75% to 100% more than the street price of the X100e, and price is the charm of the X100e. It is definitely being marketed to those of us for whom price is important, rather than to the “price is not an object” folks. If price were not a problem, of course the CULV CPUs are the rather obvious choices over the X100e.
This is why I say comparing the CULV CPUs with this economy X100e is an apples and oranges comparison.
Isn’t it like saying that a luxury Accura is recommended over a base level Honda Civic? That is not the choice that most consumers have.

The single most important thing with this computer is the Trackpoint. Until now I have been unable to buy a netbook since every model on the market only had touchpads, something i simply refuse to use after getting used to ThinkPads.

I am sad that Lenovo branded it as an X-series Thinkpad when it clearly is not. It lacks the 7-row Thinkpad Keyboard, a metal roll cage and the ThinkLight. It is even available in other colours than black. Heresy!

(Dont even get me started on the Thinkpad Edge…)

David, CULV notebooks are actually cheaper or have the same price as the X100e, but offer more performance (often dual core CPUs) and longer battery life.

I love Thinkpads and especially the Trackpoint, and was really looking forward to get the X100e - finally a small notebook with trackpoint for a good price!

But a computer is always the whole package - and Lenovo made a really bad choice with this weak CPU and the terrible battery life. Having a trackpoint would be great, but it’s useless when I can’t use the notebook as a mobile device because it runs out of battery too fast.

Lenovo has to switch the CPU for a better (CULV) one, then this might become interesting. Otherwise, a CULV notebook from the competition is a far better deal.

“My research shows that the CULV notebooks in this size notebook are selling for approximately 75% to 100%”

You’re doing some terrible research or some terrible math. The Acer 1410 is cheaper than this and is a dual core with better batterylife. Acer 1810tz/Dell 11z both have SU4100s with 7+ hours of batterylife and cost ~$470-550. The Dell Vostro v13 is slightly larger, thinner and gets similar battery life and build quality.

However, most of them don’t have the build quality of the x100e and don’t have a trackpoint, but you gotta weigh those pro and cons for yourself.

Peter, I was able to get wireless working on the ThinkPad X100e in Ubuntu 9.10 by following the instructions here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/Realtek_8172

Here are the steps in summary:

Apparently the sudo su bit is important. I learned that the hard way. Anyway, after doing all of the above, I rebooted, and wireless is working like a charm.

Hi Peter, Im using ubuntu 9.10

I got this message: ‘No bluetooth adapter present’ under System -> Preferences-> Bluetooth

How did u get the bluetooth to work?

I have been unable to get 720p to work for my H264. I have tried endlessly to fiddle with the different options on my x100e. The settings are set to Max Performance. I am playing many different types of 720p videos only to have them stutter. I am using VLC. the CPU seems to be running at 100%, perhaps I have not enabled some hardware acceleration?

Peter, thanks for your previous input.

I have another problem.

When I plug in my headphones I get sound from both the speakers and headphones.

Do u have any idea why is this happening?

I think many posters here whom say it should have a Intel processor is missing one the big point of the AMD setup… And that is the fact that you get a decent graphics card. Having this does drain your battery faster, granted, but it also enables the laptop to be more then a type writer, which I think many people are looking for.

The laptop, still waiting for mine to be shipped, is exactly what I was expecting it to be so far, based on your review. I wasn’t expecting netbook like battery time, as I rarely find myself without a power socket for 8 hours or something else equally silly. If that really is needed, I can’t help but to think that a 2. battery would be a obvious solution.

Seems like the perfect partner for my requirements.

re. battery life: it may be possible to improve this bit through:

—latest bios (some reports mention an extra 30 minutes plus improved performance)

—rmclock (or similar app.) to tame the athlon a bit voltage wise

—SSD disk (good ones have lower power consumption compared to standard HDs)

—high(er) capacity battery (have not checked out avalibility, though)

@Marc

“a CULV notebook from the competition is a far better deal.”

I have two words of advice for you:

non-glare display

;-)

@Jano

“CULV’s GMA 4500 graphics is very nice, supports the play of 1080p videos. Read the HP dm1, IdeaPad U150 or Acer 1410 reviews.”

this is true, but it is not on par with the ATI HD3200; NotebookcheckDOTnet writes:

“Compared to other modern integrated graphic cards like the Nvidia GeForce 9400M (G 102MNVIDIA GeForce G 105M) or AMD ATI Radeon HD 3200, the GMA 4500M HD [is] noticably slower and provides less optimized drivers for games.”

Peter et al,

I just wanted to report back a few findings on my x100e:

- As mentioned by several commenters, I concur that my primary attraction to this machine was the trackpoint…in fact, the only laptops I own that do not have a trackpoint are my Dell Mini 9 (now a hackintosh) and my Dell A90 (running Ubuntu 9.10 beautifully)—and I only purchased these netbooks because at the time there were no other netbooks that did have a trackpoint.  When the Sony Vaio P came out, I was very tempted to pick one up until I tried it in a store and was very disappointed with the feel of the machine (and the trackpoint).  So, to my knowledge, the x100e is the only machine smaller that an X200 that has a decent trackpoint.  To be fair, I am a huge thinkpad fan, and use an X200 for work, as well as a W500 and R61 at home…and I wanted a netbook to use around the house that had a trackpoint.

- In terms of the speed, I was not very impressed with the processor, but after some updates I have managed to make the machine suffice for my needs.  Again, as mentioned, I am willing to accept less than ideal performance in order to have a trackpoint available.  I immediately replaced the OEM ram with 4gb of corsair value ram and replaced the HDD with a corsair X64 SSD.  I’ve installed Win7 Pro x64 dual-booted with Ubuntu 9.10 32bit.  The Win7 runs like a charm now, and even runs Outlook 2007 well while browsing or doing other misc tasks.  The Ubuntu works, but is a little gimpy and definitely not my preference on this machine at this time.

- Re: Ubuntu—I was able to get the Realtek wifi driver to work following a method similar to the one recommended by Justin Watt above, by downloading the Linux driver from the Realtek website, compiling it and running make install.  However, each time I load Ubuntu I need to disable the driver and re-enable it before it functions properly.  I could probably trouble-shoot this…but I have simply found that running Win7 on this machine is my preference for now, until Ubuntu catches up, hopefully by 10.4 coming in a few months.

- My Win7 WEI score for this machine is 3.2, with the processor as the weakest link…graphics are second weakest at 3.4 (however, gaming graphics are at 4.8).  Other than that, memory is at 4.9 and HDD is 7.4.  Although, for my purposes, this machine is sufficient for using around the house…I wouldn’t feel comfortable traveling with only this machine if there were any chance I would need to do work.  It just doesn’t have the power!  That being said, I also ditched my Dell D430 because of anemic ULV performance.  The X200 is the only machine I’ve found that I feel truly has both enough power and portability.  I wish Lenovo had offered an option for a machine of this size with a more powerful processor…clearly the price point would be higher…but if it were at least an option, the x100e could have had more serious potential.

buy or not?

ben see: “I wish Lenovo had offered an option for a machine of this size with a more powerful processor”

Lenovo has said there will be versions of the X100e with more powerful cpus (dual core) soon. Unfortunately these will still be AMD cpus, so no hope for good battery life…

Marc: Yes, it seems like the AMD experiment may only prove that it should never be the ONLY processor option available.  Even single core, the machine runs fairly hot and the battery life is never more than 2-3 hours.  It’s 80-90% the size of my X200 (which is super-fast and still gets at least 4-5 hrs of battery life), so it must be possible to offer a more powerful (Intel) design in an 11.6” chassis…which in my opinion should at least be an option (ie, cost extra)...that way they can fill the low-price-point niche they are trying to define, but still give the many Thinkpad loyalists willing to pay a premium a machine they can take a bit more seriously.  They shouldn’t worry too much about cannibalizing the X201/X210 market…b/c 12” is still the sweet spot for small and usable—I wouldn’t really want to work for long on the X100e even if it was faster…but I’d like to know the power was there if needed.  To sum up: although I am happy with my X100e, it doesn’t have my respect as a business tool, so to speak.

lenihopi: In my opinion, this is a definite “buy” for Thinkpad or trackpoint fans who want a small supplemental machine for not-quite-serious use (though you may want to wait for dual-core).  For everyone else, you probably won’t be disappointed—b/c the quality is still very good—but if you could take-or-leave the trackpoint there may be other options to consider.

How’s the battery life on Ubuntu?
Do you think installing Ubuntu remix would be better?
What’s the major difference between Ubuntu and Ubuntu remix?

i need your suggestion: should i choose x100e or acer timeline 1810T or MSI x340 slim or Toshiba Portege T115-S1100?

since all of them are in the range of below US$525 in Indonesia’s Market….

i want to buy a new notebook for daily business

thank you….

I waited for this x100e for so long, it came out, and unfortunately I had to buy an ASUS EeePC 1005HA.

The battery lifespan is very crucial to me, I hate to bring along the adapter.

Hope the next gen of x100e will be having 10+ hours of battery life, then I will buy this ThinkPad, sell my current Eee.

Hi Peter, great review :D

can you test League of Legends game on this x100e?
im very-very interested about this x100e, especially with the incoming dual core..

the thing is i travel a lot, and i like an 11” notebooks, the only problem is i cant seem to find which one is better, the new atom 330 + ION or this x100e with the ATI 3200, the terms are of course in gaming.. somehow i always relate a performance of a notebook by how it performs in gaming situation. (maybe because im not too good with this >.<). so can anyone enlighten me on this?

and can i boost my gaming experience if i go dual core with this x100e?

Thanks a lot Peter :) hope to hearing about those league of legends fps test very soon..

hi peter,
thank for your nice review… :)

I want to ask something….

1.there is any mic for video cal or webcam without using headphone? or we must using headphone for video call??
2. I want to know if this thinkpad have problem or slow for running NetBeans IDE?

Thank b4, n sorry for my bad english… :)

thank for the answer Pet, :)

i’m still waiting for neo x2 until march,
do you know when exactly x100e with neo x2 will release?

and what about battery life,
do you think with neo x2 will make the battery life more longer?
or just make it sorter?

thank b4 again pet :D

I, too, am anxiously awaiting the dual core processors.  Can you explain the difference and give a preference for the Neo dual core versus the Turion?

Thanks.

more question pet,
how about battery life with ubuntu 9.10??
which one is better, win 7 or ubuntu 9.10?

thank again.

I was looking for a netbook upgrade (from Dell Mini-9/Ubuntu) when I ordered my x100e.  This looks more like a super-netbook than a dumb business machine.  I’m getting netbook price (maybe high-end), netbook weight, and maybe not-quite netbook battery life (but as much as my mini-9 gives me now).  On top of that, 11.6 inch, MATTE display (woo-hoo!), great marks on build quality, and Thinkpad keyboard and trackpoint.  This seems like a great coffeeshop-table machine for browsing but also for my light typing/office needs.  Anyone think that I missed the mark?

The x100e will have the Neo dual core and the Turion dual core as options soon.  Which is the better CPU?

Is there any word as to whether they will offer a more powerful battery on this thing?  The 3 hours on the current release is a disgrace.

@Nate, if the BIOS is upgraded to the latest version, the battery life under use apparently instantly increases to around 4 hours.  You need version 1.10 or whatever, according to what I’ve read.

I am a long-time Thinkpad user, and I have always hated the Trackpoint, personally.  The main drawback of the X60 et al. for me was the lack of a touchpad. 

I just ordered one of these.  The main selling points for me:

* price
* build
* ergonomics, esp. keyboard and matte finish
* touchpad
* support (I got three years of on-site service for around $100 on sale, and I have had good experiences with them in the past; whether right or wrong, I am leery of no-name third-party warranties)

I have no doubts whatsoever that with 2 GB of RAM the machine will be powerful enough for my needs.  The battery life is the only drawback I can see, but to keep things in perspective, I would have been happy enough with four hours years ago and it is sufficient for me now.

The air intake on the bottom is a design booboo in my opinion.  People like to use these machines on their laps etc. (at least I do) where a bottom intake may be obstructed and/or pick up dust and lint.

Undervolting sounds interesting.  But if it seriously degrades performance (remembering that the performance is already at netbookish speeds at 800 Mhz) or reliability, I will give it a miss.

For those looking at this laptop, the dual core versions may actually have longer battery life. The Neo X2 L625 is also in the Toshiba t135D runs for 5-6 hours in every review I’ve read and that laptop comes with a 5600mah battery, but a bigger 13” screen (the x100e has a smaller 5200mah battery but also a smaller 11.6” screen). Not saying it’ll be a guaranteed increase, but it’s certainly possible.

I was looking at a fairly cheap Intel-branded SSD that claims power consumption of 75-150 mW.  After looking at some representative 5400 RPM 2.5” drives, it seems like the power savings would be 2 watts or more, which I estimate (with the 4-hour battery life under BIOS 1.10 and the stock drive) would get the laptop up to around 5 hours of battery life in the medium or power-miser modes.

Is that accurate?  I don’t want to spend too much on upgrading the machine, but if an SSD will address both performance and power at once, it might be worth it.  I don’t have large data-storage needs.

thanks for the review, do you know x100e model with no stick out battery?

The 3-cell battery is called “ThinkPad Battery 17”, product number 57Y4558. You can get it from shop.lenovo.com and also other retailers.

Problem is: it’s relatively expensive, and also practically useless with the current X100e model (low capacity battery + high power consumption = only deskbound use recommended).

Thanks for the great review.

I received mine today - build quality is much closer to the Ideapad S10 of mine than the X200 I used to own. I almost bought the Edge, but was concerned with the reflective screen. The X100e screen is as clear and bright as I could have hoped for.

Ergonomics are very good. Looking forward to the arrival of a RAM upgrade. So far, so good!

Thanks for the great review.

Mine has horrible video performance

even standard def YouTube or downloaded iTunes clips jerky

Can someone advice what I can try to resolve this problem?

For starters, how can I ensure it’s always running 1.6 ghz even on battery only?

Thanks in advance!

Thank you for your great review!

I bought mine x100e in Frys today. I put in another 2GB ram. (Totally 3GB ram)

I tried Street Fighter IV and I can played it smoothly ONLY with the LOWEST quality. (640x480, No background, Low or Off on Texture Filter, Model Quality, Soft Shadow, Self Shadow, Motion Blur, Particles, Extra Touch) But I still love it !!!

Hey Peter (I am Peter as well… hahaha)... Just a comment with regards to the performance on this computer on playing youtube HD video… The reason why you don’t get hardware acceleration even with Flash 10.1 beta 3 is because the driver shipped with Lenovo is out of date… The driver shipped with x100e is version 8.663, but in order to support flash hardware acceleration under 10.1 beta, you need at least driver version 8.680 or above and also you will need Catalyst 9.11 or above… So you will need to update your driver… By default, Lenovo block any non-official driver update… however, there is a wary around it by doing it manually… go to this AMD link:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/integrated_vista32.aspx?type=2.7&product=2.7.4.3.3.3.1&lang=English&rev=9.12&ostype;=

From there, go to option 2, Download both the driver and the Catalyst Control Center software… extract the driver files (you can either extract it by clicking on the driver file, it ask for an extract location, and once it is extract, it will try to install, you can cancel the install, you just want to extract the files, that’s all you want from it… so you can cancel the installation… alternatively, you can extract it with a third party program like WinRaR)

Now, Open up your device manager under Control Panel… find your video card (Radeon HD3200) and right click to get properties… you can check the driver version… currently, it should read version 8.663…  then go update driver… select install from your own location… then select pick from a list of device… then click “have disc”... From there, you will need to navigate to the driver file that you have extract earlier, to find the INF file… The correct driver INF files should be store under the location that you have extract it to… default location is: C://ATI/10-2_vista32_win7_32_dd/Package/Drivers/Display/W7_INF/

Once you have selected the INF file (either CL_95692 or CW_95692 is fine)... It will load and now you will now be able to choose from a list of driver that you can install… find “ATI Radeon HD3200 Graphics”... there should be two of them… you can choose either one, they should both work… once you have install this driver, restart your computer… the driver version should now read version 8.702…

Once you have done that… install the Catalyst Control Center (the second file that you have download earlier)... once you have done that, restart again…

Once you have done the second restart… open up Catalyst Control Center… you will need to set it up again… then go to advance setting… select Infomation Center… It should now read…

Driver Package version: 8.702-100202a-09569C-ATI
Catalyst Version: 10.2

If you have that… try going onto Youtube now and watch any HD content… even at 1080p, it will run extremely smoothly as hardware acceleration is now in place ;)

I just hope that Lenovo will come out with a driver update soon because the default video driver is crap and you will need to manually install a better driver to make this work! Once you got this working, the machine works like a dream on HD video!

Also with regards to other performance issue… I highly recommend getting ride of ThinkVantage Access Connection… and ThinkVantage Power Management… Just uninstall them… however, do not uninstlal the Power Management Driver (Windows 7 can still use it)... The ThinkVantage software is a bunch of resources hog… if you get rid of it and just let Windows 7 management your internet connection and power management, your computer will feels a lot faster… I am sure benchmark wise it will be the same or similar, but from day to day use, it will feel much faster! I almost was going to uninstall ThinkVantage toolbox as well, but I stop short or doing that as it does offer a few advantages to have that running… Anyway, let me know how it goes!

Henry: If you are running the ThinkVantage Power management, you can set Max Performance… if you did that, it SHOULD run at full speed regardless on AC or battery (if not, you might have to go into the detail setting and select Max CPU performance even in battery mode)... however, if you perfer performance over battery life… I strongly recommend uninstalling ThinkVantage Power Management and just let Windows 7 manage your power setting… You can uninstalling in Programs in Control Panel… when you are uninstalling… make sure you are just uninstalling the ThinkVantage Power Management software and leave the Power Management Driver install… the power management driver is what Windows 7 will use for the thinkpad smart battery charging…

Also, as I suggest on my previous post, I will also get ride of Access Connection (the wifi and WWAN program)... If you are not using WWAN anyway, you might as well just let Windows 7 manage your Wifi… it is a much smaller resources hog compare to the ThinkVantage Access Connection…

Also, if you have the default Norton Anti-Virus install… make sure you run it… and make sure you allow Norton detect those files it can skip scanning every time… it is a new function in the past few version of Norton where it skip repeating scanning the trusted software to make their software taking up less recsources…

If you done all of that, you will notice your computer run a lot faster!!! Also, try my driver update on my previous reply if you have youtube video problem as well (all of us should have this problem if you have the default driver installed instead of the updated driver)...

Just a side note, there are many other things you can uninstall, especially all the junks that comes pre-install with the computer…
Examples will be:
1) Message Center Plus
2) All the stuff associated with WWAN if you are not using a WWAN card or no WWAN card is installed on your computer… there are a lot of them… AT&T activation… Verizon activation… Gobi 2000 driver… Huawei 660 driver… there one more WWAn card driver as well… but anyway… these are the three driver set for the 3 compatible WWAN card for this machine but if you do not plan to have any WWAN card install, no point of having it there…

There are a few of them that SHOULD NOT be uninstall:
1) ThinkPad UltraNav Driver & Utility… from reading it, you will though this is associated with GPS or something… but it is the driver for your keyboard…
2) Lenovo System Interface Driver
3) Realtak Ethernet
4) Realtak USB reader
5) Rescue & Recovery (Unless you do not plan to use it, but I highly against uninstalling it)
6) Both of the Registry Patches…
7) ThinkVantage Active Protection System
8) ThinkPad Bluetooth
9) ThinkVantage Toolbox (Optional, if you feel you don’t need it, you can uninstall it as well, but I kept mine)

After you uninstall anything… make sure you restart your computer to get max performance…

Finally… Microsoft Office 2007 60 day trail should be pre-install as well on some machine… if you already have your own copy of Office or if you do not plan to run office… get rid of it… it constantly run on the background to try to get you to sign up and it is again hogging resources… if you have your own version of office… uninstall the 60 days trail and install your own full version…
Alternatively, if you do not plan to use office… just get rid of the 60 days trail…

A lot of the time, I just wish computer maker stop pre-installing all these junks onto the computer…

Just my two cents…

Thanks for the help on getting the Wireless working in the X100e. I have a weird issue. Same setup as you, but the wireless stops working after 5 minutes or so. Wireless works great in windows 7, so it has to be related to Ubuntu. Any ideas?

I just realized something on the x100e. There’s no num lock!

For the people who have upgraded their ram on their x100e, will it, the x100e, accept ddr2 800 Cas 4 latency ram? Or ddr2 667 Cas 4 Latency?
I have ordered mine, and will upgrade ram and hard drive to a SSD. I would like to install the fasted RAM the thinkpad can handle. Thanks!

i just received mine, after doing clean installation of windows and its driver (downloaded from ibm website), when I run the Windows experience index assessment, it gave me error message. However, it couldn’t specify where is the error. Can anyone advise what to do ?

Run “winsat memformal” from the command line and look at the output there.
If you see an error message concerning msxml6.dll then re-install MSXML6.

Hi Marc,
thanks for the reply.

I’ve updated its bios with the latest version from IBM, and it worked perfectly now.

hi pet, last saturday i finally bought this x100e :)
so far so good…

thank again for your review

Thanks for the great review(s) Peter. I found this site as I’m searching for a new small laptop.

Having changed jobs last month I’m now without a laptop I can use at home. I travel quite a lot peronally and with work, and need a unit that’ll undertake my limited tasks.

These are; internet and BBC iPlayer, word + excell, google picassa and occasionally photoshop elements for some light photo editing.

Battery life is not the most essential aspect, as I rarely use the laptop for hours at a go, only when I fly - and most of my flights are less than 3 hours. That said, I would not want to HAVE to plug the x100e in all the time to do mundane tasks.

It seems a toss up between the 1810tz and this Lenovo x100e.

Given my needs, which of the two (1810tz / x100e) would you suggest as being the better for my needs?

Thanks Peter.

I’ve found a decent deal for the 4gb model with 160GB harddrive: I’ll go for that one.

Having read your review again, the x100e performance in battery mode would become too much of an issue for me.

Cheers, Craig

bason switch to EVR-Custom in MPC-HC under;
view->options->playback->output

During playback in MPC-HC if DXVA support is present in GPU it should display “Playing [DXVA]” in the status bar.

Quicktime if installed will be invoked in MPC-HC if the media is within a .MOV container for compatibility reasons - lots of legacy Apple formats are not supported by open source.

If the file is just H.264/AAC rename it to .MP4 and MPC-HC will no longer use QT to decode the video.

If it still doesn’t work after that you may need to update the display driver.

I’ve seen the dual-core going on sale (although not in stock until March 31st) with the AMD Turion Neo X2 L625 at 1,6 GHz and a slightly bigger drive (320 gb). Everything else in the spec is the same, down to the 5 hour battery time. The price has been hiked from about €610 for the single core, to €740 for the DC.

I am not sure if the DC will be significantly faster and if that alone is worth the price.

I looked again and the date for delivery has been pushed forward to April 22nd, so no need to hurry… :-)

It was over here:
http://www.dustinhome.se/pd_5010393423.aspx

bason - yes you should install the CCC.

You might want to try the newest drivers direct from AMD/ATI’s website but I dont know if Lenovo prohibit installing them or have any special hooks in the ATI driver they supply, maybe Peter can help.

http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=win7/windows-7-32bit

Q1- i just purchased a x100e a week ago. So far so good, but i am concerned about future upgrades i might do to it later on, mainly involving the processor. Will there be upgrades and around what price ranges am i looking at to get those upgrades?

Q2- this is actually my first laptop or notebook, or what ever you call it. This sucker gets pretty hot, i read in the review that it is known to get hot, but should it be of any concern when going about my business? lets say i have several apps open and it is getting hot… should i close a few of them? or just dog it? will this do damage to internal components?

...sorry im a noob

-jon

Thank you for a very thorough review and for all the follow-ups, Peter - I have a strange question, one that’s probably not asked by most:
How did you get your hands on the Japanese keyboard model? (It would be too bad if the answer is “I’m in Japan, duh.”) Having a Japanese keyboard would save me some time in typing (since I wouldn’t have to type 2-3 letters for each letter—this seriously makes me consider Macbook Pro, since you can choose from 4 languages incl. Japanese).

Also: Do you have any idea when Lenovo might come out with x100e w/ the better processors? Q1 2010 is almost coming to end but I still only see the Neo Single-Core MV-40 version on their website (-_-) I wonder if they are trying to sell off the old ones first… I called Lenovo to ask but the sales rep kept mum.

Hahaha, now I notice that your time stamp says “from Tokyo, Japan.” Doh! I guess I should’ve known… Oh well.

So they started showing up in Europe, you say. Figures… we always get cool stuff last, seems like.

Thanks for responding! (^o^)/

@Peter Wong
thx peter for your tutor about GPU video acceleration,
i downloaded the latest CCC 10.3 and installed it on my x100e,
but it actually install nothing, and my driver still using “ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)” driver, and no CCC installed, is it buggy?

now i’m back with lenovo stock driver…. and i cant get 1080p video smooth on my x100e til now

Street Fighter 4 benchmark.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgA467Bs8aU

Above video is using 1280 x 720 with model quality to High.
Performance will improve when scale down to 800 x 480 resolution and model quality to Mid.

Nice review Peter,
I’d just received mine one week ago, and i sure love this notebook. I’d installed Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit version. everything worked okay (wifi, webcam, touchpad, card-reader, ATI, sound) except Bluetooth.

I’m sick of tired for this. Ubuntu still can’t recognized the bluetooth. lsusb, lspci, etc gave me negative.

Does anyone have the answer for my problem ??

Hi Adee, this is because the x100e is having bluetooth OFF by default setting.
Try press FN+F5 to enable it. As for me, it’s not working, therefore I installed Win 7 and then need to install this: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-74261.html
After that, only I got FN+F5 key working in order to enable bluetooth

If u don’t wanna install Win 7, u can try install WINE in ubuntu and run the EXE file. Good luck!

@Peter Wong,
i cant update my HD 3200 driver, dunno why, i downloaded ATI CCC 10.3, seems it not supported?
can u give me some advice to update the driver?

@Robby,

Did you follow the exact instruction from my comment / post? (you can find my comment above)

Because you can not just do a straight update as any unapproved drivers are blocked by Lenovo. You will need to follow my instruction step by step in the exact order, or else it is not going to work.

Peter Wong

yes, i follow it, the only difference is i used the most up-to-date ATI CCC driver 10.3

i have disk the driver from this path
C:\ATI\Support\10-3_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu\Packages\Drivers\Display\W76A_INF\ either C7_96979.inf or CH_96979.inf is fine isn’t it?
but none of these inf file works for me….
have you tried this new CCC 10.3?

@Lau :
Fn+F5 didn’t work in ubuntu, i’ve try ur suggestion to run the exe from Lenovo in Wine, but an alert came out “This program does not support this system”.

nope, i won’t install Windows on it. I’d try to boot WinXP Lite on USB (Reatogo), install all the driver on it, but still won’t helping me much.

I read some comments from the internet, many said to try to patch the kernel with “thinkpad_acpi”.. would u (or anyone else) explain to me how to patch the kernel? i’m really a newbie on this..

thanks before, my friend..

Getting closer to the shipping date for the DC version here in Sweden. :-) A lesser SC version has also been advertised, the one with XP Home and 1 gb mem and and 160 gb HD, going for 540 euros.

Has anyone seen any reviews of the DC version, or had one delievered yet?

Wow, 540 Euros - really? Poor guys in Sweden…. In Germany the single core X100e is selling for 399 Euros (2 GB RAM, 160 GB Harddisk, Win 7 Home Premium).

Marc,

399 euros sounds like a much better deal! That’s about what I would like to pay. :)

Hello,
Would you get the U150 with su7300( Intel® Core™ 2 Duo SU7300 Processor,  1.30GHz 800MHz 3MB )or the x100e with (AMD Turion Neo X2 Dual-Core L625 (1.6GHz, 800MHz, 1MB L2) ?

I was enchanted by the silver (thought it was white) keyboard. Sucker punched. I’m not crazy about the U150’s cheap keyboard. The keys aren’t molded well and look like they came from a toy. The silver keys have the alphabet imprinted on them in what I will refer to as a light contrast. The letters should be printed in black. How are we supposed to see them?

The x100 appears to have better keys (chiclet). I want a light keyboard 3.3 lb and the 11.6 screen. The other issue is having to talk to someone in india everytime I have a question. My first computer was a Dell 386 laptop. We live in an imperfect world. Would you go with the U150 or the X100e?
thanks,
jim
cherry hill,nj

I think I would go for the X100e if you need a matte screen and a good keyboard. The graphics card is better in the X100e (Radeon 3200 vs Intel 4500 GMA in the U150). The time you get out of the U150 on battery is probably better if you need that.

Nice review. It looks like a good netbook for a decent price. Only the battery life isn’t that high. And that’s something that I find important for netbooks.

Intel has advanced cache power reducing scheme - they flush and disable dynamically blocks from their large cache and thus it gets smaller when the processor isn`t under 100% load. I don`t know whether it could completely disappear at the lowest power setting.

Thanks for the review! My x100e should be arriving in a few days.

Thanks so much for the review!
Since I’ve got a X22 thinkpad for 6 years, still running fine
(8 sec to start with windows 2K pro optimized).
I wanted to replace it for the hd video capacity.
the only concern I’ve got is the screen size:
it’s a 11’6 but it’s seems larger on picture , is it a 16/9 or 4/3 like I have on my X22?
Could anyone can help me, and mesure the actual size of the inner scren:
for example, X22 was 24.5*18.5cm
(sorry to ask, but there is nowhere to see it “live” in france)
Moreover, does anyone has ever tested the x100e fitted with the ATI 2200?

thank’s

You can do the math yourself: Display resolution is 1366x768, so that’s 16:9.

Sorry about that, I read somewhere that it’s a widescreen that was nearly the same size as the X200, my mistake.
I think I’m going to buy a X61s with still 6 month warranty , cheaper than the basic X100e.

I was wondering what the latest video driver is for Windows 7 64-bit? Currently, the driver version I have installed is 8.632.1.2000. I went onto the AMD site to find an updated driver and install it the way Peter Wong instructed, but there were none found for Windows 7 64-bit (only available for the 32-bit version).

Patric you can find the latest driver here, NO PATCH needed.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-5_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-5_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc.exe

Thanks Solutor. Worked like a charm!

Peter—thank you so much for your hints on updating the (lame) video driver packaged with the x100e.  Just what I was looking for!

is there a new driver 10.6?
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonmob_win7-32.aspx

To me this is a sensible alternative to a kindle/ i mate

Perfect for my use ie Web Surfing,Research,email,Skype !

Quality construction,Classic Thinkpad ie no cheap looking glossy case or glare reflecting screen.

Great keyboard and joystick !

is it better than asus?

Valuable blog article, it was quite interesting nice work. I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing your post.

High specification of laptop. I certainly enjoyed the way you explore your experience and knowledge of the subject! Keep up on it. Thanks for sharing the info.

Ati 10.7 drivers further improved flash playback

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-5_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc.exe

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-5_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe

Sorry

Wrong links !!!

CORRECT LINKS HERE :

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-7_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc.exe

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/10-7_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe

Typical Class product from the IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad line.

Superior to your average netbook.

Does what it’s designed for very well.

Thinkpad matte finish is MUCH better than a glossy glaring screen !

Win 7 takes a bit of getting used to but it’s an improvement.