Lenovo Thinkpad X220 & X230 - Description, BIOS, drivers, modifications
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☢ Drivers for ThinkPad X220 W7 / 10 64-bit -LINK
☢ Drivers for ThinkPad X230 W8.1 / 10 64-bit -LINK

⌨ Specifications
☉ BIOS for ThinkPad X220 / X220T / X230 / X230T

☕ Purchase of accessories for the X220 / X230

✅ Enthusiast toolkit

☯ Reviews and background information

♲ Experiments and Handicraft

⌛ Video reviews

♝Reviews from real users






Post has been editednoteMASTER_11 - Yesterday, 15:52

Recently they gave out such a machine at work, they gave me different books, but for convenience this one can only be compared with a macbook. So please share your opinion about him. To begin with, with a weight of 1.3 kg, the case is made of polycarbonate, that is, slightly improved plastic, no gloss, everything is matte and as practical as possible, except for the outer surface, here is a very nice soft touch coating. Remembering the weight, I want to immediately note that this is a competitor to zenbook and macbook air, but the processor here costs 35W, which means it has not been cut back in any way, while it’s working 6–9 hours (although I managed to land 3 hours at full processor load) . There are many necessary connectors right on the case: vga, ethernet, 3 usb (2 usb 3.0), display port and even the ancient pci express card! The forward ducts are an ideal combination for work and home, competitors nervously smoke white sea on the sidelines! The logic of choosing the display port and pci express card I really understand a little, but the ancient vga still stands on a pile of office monitors.

Let's move on, usually in modern laptops they put glossy matrices, and for lenovo they are still of mediocre quality, right there is a matte mva, or ips like I have decent quality. The viewing angles are excellent, the brightness of the backlight also pleases, it can be seen even on the brightest day, no glare and mirror effect. The pixel density is also on top - they simply can’t be seen, the image is very clear, but the resolution let us down - 1366x768, in 2013 it was possible to move away from it, but for a laptop with a diagonal of 12.8 inches it will do. The next element is the keyboard, at the 2012 release there was a diode near the vga camera, in 2013 we began to set the keyboard backlight on all models, the backlight has only three brightness adjustment modes, and it cannot be done with software. There are physically buttons on the device’s case, which is a big plus, since most people working in the office are comfortable, there is a switch to switch to air mode (turn off wireless communications), adjust the volume and mute / unmute, as well as a microphone. It is noteworthy that with two microphones at least on windows 7, the interlocutors on Skype barely heard me, and this is a strong minus, you never know where the business trips will go. There is also a fingerprint scanner, it just works, there is no joy in using it like on hp dv6.

separately I want to say my word about the ergonomics of input devices, there is the famous red joystick, it is quite convenient to use it, if you master it you will not want to return to the touch panel. With the touch-pad, everything is more complicated, it is small and quite sensitive, it always comes out that it is not necessary, in a word, and here it will not work without training. An interesting solution was the introduction of a button under the touch panel, two of them on the left and right edges, if you get used to it, too, is convenient. The keyboard is standard, the key code is long but accurate, although sometimes my hands get tired of typing due to the curved shape, I probably really didn’t like the location of the fn and ctrl buttons, one on the left and the other right behind it, which breaks all the harmony of work, because all the combinations The keys have long been in the spinal compartment.

Now the weekly sys-admin, disassembling the laptop is quite simple, the cooling system with the processor is located directly under the keyboard, unscrewed six bolts and do what you want. On the side of the hard drive bay, it also changes quickly, pulled out, screwed in two bolts and everything, about RAM, I’ll say that it is not soldered like some representatives of this segment, it supports up to 8 GB in two slots, i.e. 16 GB in total, I wanted to put more , wanted less, very valuable for the same business. For those who are afraid for security, there is an encryption system for information on hdd, its speed does not suffer much from it due to the fact that it has a ssd of 13 GB, although it is felt only on windows 8. Of the whole pile of company rubbish, I want to note the lenovo update program if you install it, she will download all the latest drivers and install them, even if the site contains older ones. Docking stations from the current and previous generation x220 are also supported, I don’t know about others, I didn’t check, but with the docking station in the office it is also much easier, you can immediately abandon the stationary PC by connecting everything you need and instantly taking out the laptop to go about your business. I think many people now like me use a laptop as a hospital, so they understand how it looks, and it’s also convenient to take the place of another employee.

About performance ... There is nothing special to say, they put standard chipsets from Intel, processors are also not standard i3, i5, i7 35W, no video cards except hd4000 are provided, but we don’t have to play games, and applications like autocad and photoshop work decently, the amount of RAM is different, I have 6GB (alas, different modules with different timings). For the test, so far I only launched war thunder, at low levels of 60-100 frames per second (despite the fact that I set two symmetrical strips of 4GB each), virtual machines stretch the same way without tension. Drivers, if there is at least one program or driver from lenovo, it is not realistic to install something signed from the intel website, installers write that they are not tested by lenovo with my beech model, alas, until the problem is overcome, if you find you can write me a PM. The cooling system never makes noise even at high loads, but I have not yet found how to regulate it. It didn’t work to start a clean or bootable Mac disk, I don’t know what prevented it, but we don’t work with wi fi from intel and in any case, to change it we need to break the BIOS to remove the wi fi equipment’s white sheet, which isn’t on the working machine conveniently.

The verdict is an excellent laptop with all that we love with low weight and a long-lasting battery worth $ 900.


Post has been editedkomok1965 - 13.01.14, 11:18

Updated photo.

Faced the problem of installing windows 8, I finally decided only with the recovery kit, the key is not entered during the installation, the problem is known by Microsoft and lenovo. Installation with recovery disks takes approximately 3 hours.

There is also a very handy program from Lenovo downloading all the drivers in one click.HaoZip_v4.0.1.9380 (x86-x64) .exe(9.1 MB)


Post has been editedRC_Gremlin - 21.11.13, 16:59

Good afternoon. Going to buy this machine. When searching for the right price \ configuration is confused in the characteristics of the laptop.
I want to buy a core i5 \ i3, with an ips matrix, free DOS, so as not to overpay for too much. The essence of the problem: ThinkPad X230 NZALFRT. This equipment in Moscow costs about 27 tr., All is well, BUT on all sites there is different information about the type of matrix. On the ixbt forum, they write that this model comes with an ips matrix, on many sites there is information that this model comes with a TFT TN matrix, for exampleherewho to believe? Maybe you know a proven site where you can buy this laptop with an ips matrix at an affordable price (~ 27 tr.)
I would like to hear your opinion on the choice of the matrix, is the ips matrix really more gentle to the eyes? I will spend most of my time in front of a laptop (study, work, movies).
Thank.

4920961,
The laptop just comes in different configurations, when they ordered it at work, the last time I found out about the version with ips by phone, respectively, there was also a version with dos. I can only say that for some laptops similar the quality of this matrix is ​​worse in viewing angles and colors, apparently the manufacturer is different, which one you get is unknown. But it may be better to turn to more expensive brothers from metal at least, since they work easier and longer, this laptop can withstand somewhere between 3.5-4.5 hours from 8.1. The processor here is already outdated, haswell will be better, there the video was greatly updated and the autonomy was increased. You can turn your eyes to the asus zenbook, the screens there are also ips and higher resolution + metal and weight.

Having read about the super comfortable keyboards, the excellent quality from Lenovo unwittingly tuned in to purchase this device, as I do not really feel about super thin laptops bending in the wind, laptops with an ozu soldered on the board, and it’s scary to look inside, all of a sudden this puzzle) In general, the h230 is impressed, 100% satisfied, there is one thing, 100% of positive impressions are taken from forums and reviews, there is no personal opinion about the device because of its absence)

4920961,
I do not argue, the laptop is old-fashioned and is repaired easily + plastic is of normal quality, more precisely carbonate, you can pick up the passenger in the subway and he does not care. But still it is outdated. Well, if I did not dissuade you, there is a last attempt, take a closer look at u330 or 430, there are many modifications with good displays, and most importantly a new one, very convenient form + metal case and a long time.

I use just this. The hard drive pulled out and inserted only 128 Gb mSata ssd. Everything works fine (OpenSuse 13.1) loading is fast, battery life is long (at least 4-5 hours). Excellent device for office and a little more difficult work. Among others, one of the most attractive options. I liked including the presence of docking stations. Put at home, at work. I came and just put the laptop in the dock, and everything was connected and ready to go. : happy:

veisong and what can you say about haswell?

Well, for me, so old Klava, like x220 is better. More keys, for example, the x230 does not have a pausebreak button and there is no number block for the Fn key. And infuriates PgUp and PgDn next to the up arrow = /.
For the rest I am satisfied with the model. Especially weight. Because I often travel on business trips.
Before that, HP was purchased from us - after which I have a strong dislike for HP laptops because of the build quality, materials, hardware problems and cooling problems.

Alfred777
If it's not a secret, what equipment do you have, and do you have enough?
Under my office tasks I plan to take i3, but I still want, as they say: "faster, higher, stronger": blush: And then the struggle of this very interest and toad begins

I have i5; 4Giga RAM; HDD 500Gigov
What is the matrix - I honestly do not know, but it seems not IPS.
This notebook is enough for me for: SAP, Excel, Word.
But if you have to deal with the development of printed forms, where there are many windows and work areas - difficulties may arise - the screen is not large.
But all this can be forgiven for the main plus - it's weight and size.

This problem is solved by beautiful docks! : yes2:

I talked about this hat:


With this kind of things on this screen is not very comfortable to work.

Post has been editedkomok1965 - 27.01.14, 13:21

Alfred777,
I meant that I solve such tasks at work with the help of a dock + monitor.

Unfortunately, I do not have a dock, as well as a stationary place, because our work is related to business trips.
Still forgot, one not unimportant minus to mention - CapsLock is not identified in any way ie There is no "light bulb", because of what it is not clear whether it is active or not, which can be annoying. One gets the feeling that the developers have completely forgotten about this moment.

Alfred777,
In meyans caps, the lock seems to light up, but so far it has moved to the corporate 440p, more happy, especially the touchpad, but the case materials do not appear. Wait topics here.

Post has been editedRC_Gremlin - 25.01.14, 21:27

4920961,
It is better to take with the IPS matrix, the difference is too great in quality to turn a blind eye to it. They come only with i5 processors (or only in China).

RC_Gremlin,
It is the docks, and even what docks) For me, this is a very important point. Dock un-dock does not cause any amazement or kernel panic and other things in gnu / linux. As you like, you can insert and remove it (during power on, before, after, during operation ...) and this does not affect the performance of the system. This is a tangible plus.

I do not understand what you mean, I have Linux in a virtual machine)

I agree, after the IPA of the matrices it is not customary to look at the screens, although the IPS matrix can be ordered from the taobao and replaced at home, 3500-4000 rubles will be released.

And who got rid of the white list on our laptop?