Thinkpad X201 12.1" 320GB

Long story short: this is an amazing computer with very few, forgivable, flaws

I spent a lot of time looking into the X201T because I'm someone who likes to buy computers rarely. The last computer I bought was a Thinkpad R61 in 2004, it did me well for six years and my wife uses it to this day. I have little doubt that the X201T will do the same.

The X201T is less a computer and more a collection of functions, which are made possible by the many ways to provide the computer with input. You have two mice (a red dot and a touchpad), two keyboards (a fantastic real one and one on the touch screen), a stylus (which is both a mouse and a keyboard), and your finger (the most intuitive way to operate Windows or use the internet, even if you're using the built-in keyboard). If you get a set of Bluetooth headphones/microphone you can even do a lot of things with your voice (the pre-installed speech recognition software works better than I expected), and you can control music from your ear. With such a wide range of options, interacting with the computer is smooth and natural.

Good thing too, because it can do so much. My work requires me to read and write, all the time, and the X201T is perfect for that. It is a great word processor all the more so because editing Word documents with the stylus is quicker and easier than the mouse/keyboard combination. Instead of keeping a pad of scratch paper around for ideas, I just run OneNote in tablet mode. If you work with pdf's, the X201T will become your library and your filing cabinet. Having used the tablet to surf the internet, I am now convinced that the web was not meant to be accessed with a mouse. The X201T has all the same functions as an iPad, which makes it an extraordinary media player I hook up my Bluetooth headphones and play the thing from my bag. If you want a television, the widescreen is actually pretty big and very bright (even without the extra brightness upgrade), and you can always hook it up to an external monitor. Of course, this thing destroys email, spreadsheets, and other normal computing tasks.

The computer isn't cheap and without a few accessories and upgrades it's not worth having. The docking station is a must, and Lenovo's tablet bag is critical if you want to work on the go. The multitouch option is a necessity; the 8-cell battery provides a little less power than I'd like (~ 5 hours of full functionality and about two more without internet or Bluetooth) but it's a heck of a lot better than the 4-cell battery; you'll want 4 GB of RAM (expandable to 8); and the 2.13 GHz processor is worth the investment. The upgraded warranty (the one that covers accidents) makes sense for me. That said, I was able to get all of this for about 2K in August 2010 sellers on eBay buy these packages in bulk and undercut the manufacturer.

A couple of relatively minor downsides: forget about gaming (though Halo 2 works well on an external monitor), Windows Media player sometimes skips when I have the computer in the tablet bag and I go up or down stairs, it sometimes gets hot on the bottom when it runs for a long time in tablet mode, and multitouch capability is not built seamlessly into Windows. (You can zoom in Word, but only in 10% increments, and many Windows options are too small to touch with your finger. That said, Windows 7 is very well suited for a touchscreen on the whole.)

Overall, I'm looking forward to the next six years with my new computer. I have no idea what we'll have by then, but I do know that the transition from notebook to tablet has reaffirmed my admiration of technological progress. The experience was similar to the one I had in 2004 when I moved from a desktop to a laptop. If you want to invest in a serious (and seriously fun) piece of technology, dump the iPad and pick up an X201T.

I bought this computer for college my senior year with the idea that I'd keep using it once I became an architect, as my old poor hp laptop (which served me well) was woefully past its prime. What attracted me to this computer was of course the tablet, but I also wanted one that was portable, and strong. My professor had a lenovo, so I looked into the brand. And after a lot of research (and agonizing over my decision) I decided to buy it.

It has worked beautifully.

The tablet works just as one would expect, the pressure sensitivity working well for photoshop and illustrator drawings. And with a few memory/ram upgrades I have used and abused this computer every day, in an environment where other students may be working on sanding a wooden model, or having pencil dust from drawings flying everywhere, and this computer keeps on going despite all that dust.

I've had the internet (3+ tabs), photoshop (easily multiple drawings at once), and word (for that 10 page paper) going on it at the same time. It starts to whine and heat up a bit, but does the job just as well. Oh, and google chat on it as well as of late, with additional screen capture software. that's 5 programs guys, and it does it just fine. In fact, I opened all of that up just now to make sure it still works... yup, going strong!

The graphics card SUCKS, NOT A GAMING COMPUTER which means I can't play most of the new games unless I put up with a lot of lag at lowest settings (starcraft 2 at lowest settings works ok, but that's already pushing it), but if I wanted a gaming computer I would have gotten one. for a computer used to sketch/draw/finalize drawings this is perfect. The speakes are also underneath the laptop and not of great quality, but still louder than my roommate's macs and with headphones it's not a problem.

Overall, 5 out of 5, does everything I want it to and more. I'm not sure why so many people here complain about the pen, but this thing is a breeze to draw with, and it has yet to disappoint. I bought this computer hoping it would last me 4 years (otherwise the investment wouldn't be worth it for me) but it looks like it will easily last me 6.

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I bought this computer for "inking", using a stylus to write as one would write on paper.

After doing some research, I narrowed my options down to this "high-end" machine, and "lower-end" machines which were literally less than half the price.

Eventually, due to my good experience with Thinkpad (back when it was IBM Thinkpad) and due to what I read about the Wacom digitizer technology integrated into in this product, I favored this more expensive option.

Some of my experience with this product:

The digitizer feature (used for "inking") is inaccurate, and is almost useless in some parts of the screen. According to Lenovo, there is some driver from Wacom to fix this. But had Lenovo's technicians tried this fix themselves, they would know that it is incompatible with the X201t. This problem is not limited to my machine: it has been observe in at least two machines of this model, but so far Lenovo does not seem to share my concern about this issue.

Lenovo's preloaded software seems to take a lot of memory and slow down my computer. For example, the password manager slows down access to password protected websites. Furthermore, Lenovo's software apparently disables some useful networking functionality of windows 7. One might find "Start-> Control Panel -> Uninstall a Program" useful.

Finally, let's just say that the Lenovo's support for the Thinkpad is not what I expected on any parameter. Fortunately, windows 7 reinstalls relatively fast, so I could undo the damage that bad advice did to my machine. Unfortunately, The tales of Lenovo support's telephone switch are beyond the scope of this review.

Update: some more details for people who asked:

The pressure sensitivity problems:

When you try to write using the pen (for example in Office OneNote), the "ink" turns up in the wrong place, shifted from the actual position of the pen. This shift is different in different parts of the screen. It does not appear in the other side of the screen, but it makes the inking difficult.

In addition, in some parts of the screen, the inking resolution is lower, things just don't look sharp.

The Driver:

Having installed the Wacom driver several times, I can say that it causes a worse problem: when the computer is in tablet mode, you put the pen in one part of the screen and the cursor shows up in another. It seems like the Wacom driver wasn't designed for this machine. Lenovo support tells you to install it, they must have never tried it. I ended up reinstalling my machine (more than once).

Truth?

Indeed this seems like a crazy story about what is supposed to be a high end tablet computer. Those who wondered must be right, those of us who got what is supposed to be a productivity beast really have nothing better to do with our time than spend hours trying to get through Lenovo's telephone switch without it hanging up on us, just to explain the problem yet another time, just to be told to install the Wacom incompatible driver again and call back if it does not work.

Update: Memory:

The 2GB that come with this computer are really not enough (probably because of the Lenovo software that come with it). Extra memory speeds up the computer considerably.

Sleep mode:

For some reason the X201t takes a lot of time to wake up from sleep mode (compared to a 3 years old laptop with Win7). This turns up to be a nuisance when you try to use this computer as a notebook.

Jan 2011 Update:

To my understanding, Lenovo knows that there is an accuracy problem in some areas of the screen in this model. Since some areas of the screen are ok, they don't plan to fix the problem.

Sounds crazy, I know.

Beware of Lenovo quality.

May 2011: Tip

You know how your Lenovo shuts down unexpectedly? It turns out that Lenovo forgot that CPUs need cooling. Assuming that you don't live in liquid nitrogen environment: set your processor speed to low.

Thought you paid for a fast processor? More like you bought a fancy intel sticker for your computer (That sticker wears off too).

Consider the new Asus tablets (eee Slate) before you decide to buy computer. If I were buying a tablet PC now, that's what I would get.

June 2011: update

The integrated camera goes offline very often. After a year of using this machine, the camera now goes offline very often. I had to get an external camera to replace the built in one.

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Lenovo is selling this laptop without proper driver support. And they don't seem to care whatsoever to fix the issue. Search the internet yourself and see; search for "x201 pressure" and see for yourself that many people have had issues with the pen functionality (for over a year now!) and how Lenovo has failed to provide an answer, much less a working software driver. I called their customer support under warranty, and their response was "Your best bet is to search on google to see if anyone was able to resolve this issue"!!!! Great customer service Lenovo!

There are many issues I've experienced depending on what software driver I've installed: pen stops working after the computer comes out of standby; pen is recognized as a mouse device and handwriting recognition etc won't work; pressure sensitivity and touch don't work together (if your screen has the multitouch option), older drivers are terrible at calibration (where you touch on the screen and where you see the pointer are 5mm off depending on which corner of the screen you press, and this is NOT fixable by recalibrating the device); pen loses its smoothness on older drivers and everything you write/draw looks rather blocky.

I'm giving it a 1/5 star because of pen functionality and customer service; everything else is great about it, but most people who spend extra money to buy a tablet expect the pen to actually work; this doesn't. If you sketch/draw, you're better off buying a Wacom USB digitizer (this tablet's screen is made by Wacom too but after contacting Wacom, they told me that Lenovo is responsible for putting together a proper driver package). If you expect to use the pen in programs such as Photoshop, corel Painter, SketchPad etc, don't bother buying this.

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From the get-go this computer has not been worth what I paid for it. It has always had ongoing issues with the network card periodically shutting off which is an enormous pain when you need to convert out of tablet mode to turn it back on. The absolute worst thing is the customer support from Lenovo. I was disgusted that I couldn't even get someone to tell me the part number for a broken part (the plastic latch) since my computer was no longer under warranty. The individual claimed it was company policy not to provide information to someone with an expired warranty. I have bought many Lenovo products in the past but I will be moving onto other brands for any future purchases.

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