Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I have used this as my main work machine, doing office / productivity work, for about a month now. It is a great small laptop, especially for the price.

Build quality is superb. The X100e does not have a roll cage (i.e. internal metal skeleton) like some higher-priced X and T series Thinkpads, but you'd never know it, probably because the small size makes it largely unnecessary. The case is nice and stiff; the hinges are superb; and in general the build quality seems to be a cut above the T6x series, at least. However, I do miss the slightly rubbery paint from my other Thinkpads; this black matte paint is smoother. Still nice, but not as nice.

The keyboard is the best I've used on a laptop. It is superior to the ones on my T60 and T61, previously my favorites.

The touchpad is also superb.

I've disabled the camera, partly because I'll never use it and partly to save on battery life.

The screen is very nice and bright. In fact I have to turn it down from the brightest setting sometimes indoors, as it can hurt my eyes due to the extreme brightness. The resolution is just fine for doing research, writing, etc. After a quick period of adapting, the screens on my T6x series feel huge and overly tall by comparison. It is enough resolution to dock side-by-side windows and work with dual documents, barely.

I haven't had any problems with heat. I think this may be because I don't stress the video card much if at all. The bottom gets quite mildly warm under prolonged use.

Performance is just fine in my book. With 9 windows of Google Chrome open, two Word documents, one Notepad text file, Windows Media Player playing an HD movie, two Windows Explorer windows, Adobe Reader 9 opened to a large PDF file, TrueCrypt drive encryption running, AVG, and Warcraft III-RAM usage was around 1.2 gigs, and processor use hovered around 60-70%.

I am not a big gamer. Playing Warcraft III against my 4-year-old, though, at full res with all eye candy turned on runs smoothly.

Going further on the performance angle, the AMD MV-40 is often roughly compared with a Pentium M 1.6 GHz or thereabouts. That is probably pretty accurate, but my machine feels a bit faster than machines of that rough vintage, such as the T4x series. This is probably due to the SSD, faster RAM, faster better everything else etc. in the X100e. So you would essentially get a better-than-X41 performer in the X100e in my opinion, for a budget price. Not bad for doing productivity work at all, though it is no speed demon by today's standards.

I spent roughly $100 to upgrade to an X25-V SSD, which noticeably improved performance. After the upgrade, my Windows boot time is 25 seconds, shutdown time is under 10 seconds, sleep/standby mode time is 4 seconds, and resume from sleep/standby is 2 seconds. The 160 GB drive my machine came with went into an $8 enclosure and now serves backup duty.

Battery life easily goes beyond 5 hours for the type of work I do (before the SSD upgrade it was generally around 4:30). I have the processor set to max out at 60% in battery mode, and the screen is generally set to around 5-6 brightness, which is usually enough.

I still don't have Photoshop loaded on this machine. I think that's where the processor's shortcomings would be most noticeable, processorand ram-hungry applications like that. But this is not a slow machine IMHO.

I also don't think most people would need more than 2 GB of RAM, unless using something like Photoshop where they wanted better performance. Simple multitasking that most people would do probably wouldn't need more than 2 GB. Even with music running in the background, a slew of browser windows, etc. I just don't see how it could stack up to 4 GB. It seems to be an increasing practice to load a machine with 4 GB or even 8 GB of RAM, but I wonder how many eager buyers realize that the RAM they're buying will never be used.

Of course, I am running Windows in a minimal way. I guess some OS features could consume extra RAM, although I wouldn't know what they are. I tend not to like a lot of junk running in the background, unless it will actually help me run my programs or the machine.

The machine is very attractive and professional-looking. People constantly ogle it, and I've received many questions about it. I personally prefer the size to that of the X200 (the X100e is noticeably smaller).

The lack of an optical drive is definitely a negative for me. It makes it much mroe of a hassle to install things. If you don't already have an external drive, take this into account.

The lack of the Thinklight is also a downer. It is one of my favorite Thinkpad features, and I wonder why Lenovo couldn't have charged an extra 25 cents or whatever it costs for a single LED light and a bit of wire. I suspect it was intentionally left out to differentiate the X100e more from the X200.

Another really disappointing drawback, for me, is the tiny half-size media card reader. An SDHC card will only insert halfway, meaning I cannot have a built-in, always-ready backup device for my most important files. I understand the machine is tiny, but they still could have squeezed in an extra few millimeters for a bigger card reader. The card reader also has no documentation, apparently, meaning I have no idea if any of the formats it supports (which I cannot figure out) would fit completely inside the reader. I plan to follow up with technical support on this.

The ordering process was not so smooth. Lenovo customer service sent me an .xls file, telling me to update it and send it back them to start my service contract. Eventually they caved on this, after I griped. It just didn't seem fair to make people install Microsoft Office or similar program to get what they bought, and in any event I didn't have an office program installed at the time. The machine itself was back-ordered and took weeks to produce, and the status was seldom updated. The machine and accessories came piecemeal: first the extra power supply, followed weeks later by the machine, followed later by the neoprene sleeve.

However, I am really glad to be able to take advantage of Lenovo warranty service. I bought next-business-day support for three years. I have never been anything but impressed with IBM or Lenovo warranty service, and since this is my work machine I needed it.

All in all, this is my favorite notebook, ever. I would buy a Thinkpad netbook if they made one, but this is not a netbook. Netbooks are characterized by super-cheap price, excellent battery life, poor performance, and usually by poor ergonomics and durability. This machine offers perfect ergonomics, great durability, enterprise-class service options, middling battery life, and middling performance. I'm not bothered by the "netbook" name some apply to this machine, but I would not, could not do my everyday work on a netbook. This machine, I can.

The single biggest drawback, for me, is the battery life. But if I wanted longer than 5 hours of battery life, and wanted better performance and even better durability, I would have saved up for an X200 series. For what it is, this machine is perfect for me.

After having the computer for a week, I was about to toss it out the window it ran so slowly. I know this model isn't the same one you'll find on most review sites, since they removed a lot of the available "upgrades" to get the price down to $399, but they really shouldn't have skimped on the 2nd gb of RAM. I highly recommend this little guy, but only if you spend the additional $25 (that's how much I spent at Crucial.com) for 1gb of ram. I've never installed hardware on a laptop before, so I was a bit concerned about any traps the manufacturer may have laid, but it was super easy to remove the plate and snap in the gb!

Buy Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

Nice little netbook style laptop. Too slow without additional memory which I pumped up to 4 gig and needs bigger hard drive. Functions well though runs kinda warm as do most laptops so nothing unusual. I bought it mainly to have something to take on the road and this will meet my purposes. I like the small lightweight size. Who needs an IPAD.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

I bought the Thinkpad X100E when my regular computer needed extensive work for some period. It's a bit slower (a good bit less memory), but it seems easier to use, and the keyboard is more comfortable. I don't miss my old Toshiba at all. I did have to get an accessory CD R/W unit, but it works well. One nit It requires re-entering the password after each time it goes into sleep mode, and I can't find a way to diasble that feature. And it runs slower if I don't clean out history, etc. daily. But, a great unit for it's size.

Want Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

In the world of 11.6 inchers, those that are not quite laptops & not quite netbooks, the Lenovo

Thinkpad X100e stands head & shoulders above the competition.

I ordered the bare bones, matte black model, running 2 GB mem/ 160 HD.

It came standard with Windows 7 Home premium, Window's best operating system to date, which is also

leagues beyond Windows 7 starter (which is featured on just about all netbooks).

The screen is a non-glossy matte, yet it's absolutely gorgeous!

The screen is HD, backlit, and very bright & clear.

The machine itself is built like a tank: Solid, extremely durable, albeit a tad on the heavier side.

The keyboard is among the best i've ever used on any Laptop or netbook, for that matter.

If you like to write, or type, this is the portable machine for you!

I had read about problems with the unit running hot & a noisy HD or fan, but mine seemed to run cool & quiet, right out

of the box (mine was a Refurbished model in almost new condition).

When i ran multiple applications, it would run slightly warm, but nothing beyond that.

It streamed video (both HD & regular youtube) fine.

I downloaded a couple movies & video clips, all which looked great on the standard Windows media player.

Also of note are the speakers!

These are fairly loud & full sounding, compared to other laptops & netbooks.

For a small machine, it does put out a decent level of sound.

After a week of use, i can honestly say i love this machine.

For about fifty dollars more (or less, i got mine for $315.00), you can get a compact laptop that runs circles

around any netbook on the market, in both build & function.

The only minor thing to consider is, because of Lenovo's attention to quality & overall durability, this machine

is heavier than most netbooks & 11.6 laptops.