Lenovo ThinkPad X100e: When Build Quality Matters Most
by Dustin Sklavos on September 3, 2010 6:40 PM ESTBut Is the Battery Life Improved?
Battery life is a notorious Achilles' heel in AMD's Congo platform, and word on the street (and by the street I mean the internet) is that Nile improves it dramatically. But the strangely rarefied Turion Neo X2 processor in the ThinkPad X100e does have a trick up its sleeve, able to dynamically reduce its voltage to lower specs than Athlon Neo MV-40 was able to hit. AMD's spec site is unhelpful in trying to determine any details, and Wikipedia is questionable, but other reputable sites have reported substantially improved battery life with the Turion Neo X2.
The other wrinkle is the testing with the SSD. There's a myth that SSDs improve battery life—period—and that's not true; certain ones like the otherwise excellent Kingston SSDNow! V2 post power consumption on par with 2.5" hard disk drives. But the Intel X25-V 40GB SSD is well known for having extremely low power consumption characteristics under both load and idle, so we can take this opportunity to measure both the allegedly improved power consumption of the Turion Neo X2 and the potential improvements from adding a low-wattage SSD.
My first reaction is to joke about how the Fujitsu hard drive must not be drawing much power because it doesn't actually work very hard, but nonetheless there is a minor but measurable improvement in power consumption with the SSD, and a more substantial one (nearly an hour) in our internet test.
Taken in context with our other Congo-based notebooks, the Turion Neo X2 L625 produces superior relative battery life in every instance. It still loses to the Nile-based notebook (and nearly anything with the word "Intel" on it), but at least we're getting decent running time out of the X100e overall. Its closest competitor thus far has been the MSI Wind U230, but in every instance we get at least twenty more minutes of running time and in the idle test we get nearly an hour more. Once you account for the slightly larger screen in the MSI (11.6" vs. 12.1") it starts to feel like more of a wash.
Add the extra RAM and switch to an SSD, and several scores are nipping at the heels of Nile; in fact, we actually get better relative battery life in the Internet test. Obviously, we could make the same low-power SSD upgrade to the other laptops and boost their battery life, but it is noteworthy just how much the SSD helps in certain scenarios.
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yuhong - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I wonder when will the Nile version arrive, though.skrewler2 - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I've used almost exclusively Thinkpads throughout the years. Their build quality is incredible. I've dropped my T61 on tiled floor or it's fallen from server racks too many times to count, and it keeps chugging on.My only wish is that they still came with DB-9 ports.
Aellynh - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I still use them to this day with virtually every modern access control security system. Low speed 9600 baud DB-9 port and if you're lucky.. I mean really lucky, you MIGHT find one that has an optional network module at 10/100Mbps. Not even gigabit yet! Long live the serial port.Flunk - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
You guys have to realize that that's a niche market, and you still can get notebooks with DB-9 ports, just not most models since the space can be more effectively used by a few USB ports or video outputs.If anything expect less serial ports in the future. At some point you're going to have to walk around with a 10 year old system to interface with those old integrated systems. They're only going to be replaced when it's impossible to interface with them at all.
hausdave - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
I just use a USB-Se3rial converter. Even works with minicom in limux.The keyspan works with everything.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
tobrien - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I've got a Dell E6400 (the current-gen Latitude E6410 might be worth looking into reviewing :)) and it's got the single panel on the bottom that's also removable by undoing a single, captive screw, it's so nice!I see friends' HPs and Toshibas and Acers and see how they've still got a million screws that hold the bottom panel on. I'd be interested to know who implemented the "single screw bottom panel" idea first, not that it matters though.
But AT should consider reviewing a Dell Latitude E-series. I've owned by E6400 since it came out in 2008 and it's never broken in any way. I upgraded the HDD and RAM but that's it. I love mine!
ThomasA - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I've owned Thinkpads over the years and found them reliable. For the last 6 mos. I've been doing business on my Dell E6400 (bought from the Dell Outlet). Exc. value and also a solid tool.ExogenBoy - Monday, September 6, 2010 - link
A bit off-topic but are you guys kidding with the build quality comments of E6400? I've had mine for one and half years and I would be surprised if it will hold together for another half a year or so. I paid a premium price for this and it has nice features but solid is certainly not a correct word to describe this machine. Plus the Intel Matrix driver problems causing audio pops on Vista, a problem which still exists after various driver updates. Luckily their on-site support is premium at least here Northern Europe, the only thing truly premium related to this laptop in my opinion.Stuka87 - Tuesday, September 7, 2010 - link
The E6400 was a good attempt by Dell to have a notebook that looks like a business class machine (ie: A ThinkPad clone). But the quality certainly does not match a ThinkPad. And Dell has major issues with using their docking station and a pair of external monitors. We employ a lot of them here, and many have this issue.But with that said, its a huge step up compared to the previous generation Latitudes which were utter junk.
Devo2007 - Saturday, September 4, 2010 - link
About the only thing I'm not sure on is whether it makes sense to pin the improved battery life on the swap to the SSD. Moving from 1GB of RAM on Windows 7 to 4GB is bound to have at least some impact on battery life in itself, since it wouldn't be accessing the swap file as much on the HDD.Don't get me wrong, I love my SSD (Intel X18-M 80GB), but it seems the editor was focused more on SSD performance than the benefit from adding more RAM (PCMark Vantage's HDD test aside).