x250 experience

[Vivek Dasmohapatra-2]

So we've landed a couple of x250 thinkpads + docking stations at work, now
that the x240 trackpad fiasco has been consigned (we hope) to the dustbin
of history, and here are my thoughts on them, having had to support users
on them for a month or so:

  - mouse: An improvement from the low-point of the x240, but you need
    either some magic kernel module and mouse config to make the mouse
    buttons work (which means you can't disable the trackpad) or kernel 4.0
    or later

  - keyboard: The descent more or less continues - keys still feel
    a bit mushy compared to my trusty x220 and x201 (hell, even my
    on-its-last-legs t43p compares well) and the layout is slightly
    worse than before (@ and # are on extra small keys for no reason,
    the crazy pgup/pgdn layout madness continues)

    The non-key function key row is at least gone, which I guess we
    should be grateful for.

    The capslock LED is still missing, which has caused multiple
    "my password doesn't work" incidents.

    The splash-resistant drain-through feature that was so great in the
    old keyboards is still missing.

  - memory: Only one slot, and you are limited to 8 GiB unless
    you want to pay for a very expensive 16 GiB DIMM. No idea
    what (if anything) the designers were thinking here.

  - maintainability: All the easy access panels for memory, disc
    keyboard etc are gone. You have to unscrew and unclip the whole
    back panel to get at anything (which takes forever because it
    always feels like you are going to snap the clips).

  - misc: all of the indicator lights (wifi, blutooth, capslock,
    disc activity, suspend) are gone.

    The power connector is the rectangualar one (introduced with
    the x240? Not sure exactly when it came in).

  - wifi: Works, but if you do go to kernel 4.0 you will need new firmware
    which may or may not be packaged yet

  - docking station: This thing is terrible. You need kernel 4.0 or
    later simply to have the laptop not lock up when docked. The
    dock feels insecure as it's just a wedge that sits under your laptop,
    not a tray like before (user feedback).

    Video output through the dock is unreliable, sometimes it works,
    often it does not. And you can't use displayport as it presents
    external monitors as extra streams on the existing display,
    (aiui), instead of as extra displays, which seems to be understood
    by exactly no software.

My verdict: Not as bad (in some ways) as the x240. Definite overall
downward trend continues, but unlike the 240 it is at least livable
with, unless you need a dock, in which case avoid until all the bugs
have been worked out.

If you are in the position of needing to do maintanence-y things
like swapping out hard discs and memory and so forth, these aren't
thinkpads anymore, they're just generic laptops.
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[Uwe Brauer-2]

>> "Vivek" == Vivek Dasmohapatra <[hidden email]> writes:

   > So we've landed a couple of x250 thinkpads + docking stations at work, now
   > that the x240 trackpad fiasco has been consigned (we hope) to the dustbin
   > of history, and here are my thoughts on them, having had to support users
   > on them for a month or so:

   >  - mouse: An improvement from the low-point of the x240, but you need
   >    either some magic kernel module and mouse config to make the mouse
   >    buttons work (which means you can't disable the trackpad) or kernel 4.0
   >    or later

   >  - keyboard: The descent more or less continues - keys still feel
   >    a bit mushy compared to my trusty x220 and x201 (hell, even my
   >    on-its-last-legs t43p compares well) and the layout is slightly
   >    worse than before (@ and # are on extra small keys for no reason,
   >    the crazy pgup/pgdn layout madness continues)

   >    The non-key function key row is at least gone, which I guess we
   >    should be grateful for.

What do you mean, the keys named f1 to f12 are *also* gone?
I was going to by a X1 some time ago, till I figured out they have
removed the key row containing print break etc which I use in my emacs
keybinding widely. Now the f1-f12 is also gone. That mean I definitely
have to stick with 2nd hand X till model X210 I think. ..

[DO NOT USE]

On Thu, June 4, 2015 12:29 pm, Uwe Brauer wrote:

>>> "Vivek" == Vivek Dasmohapatra <[hidden email]> writes:
>
>    > So we've landed a couple of x250 thinkpads + docking stations at
> work, now
>    > that the x240 trackpad fiasco has been consigned (we hope) to the
> dustbin
>    > of history, and here are my thoughts on them, having had to support
> users
>    > on them for a month or so:
>
>    >  - mouse: An improvement from the low-point of the x240, but you need
>    >    either some magic kernel module and mouse config to make the mouse
>    >    buttons work (which means you can't disable the trackpad) or
> kernel 4.0
>    >    or later
>
>    >  - keyboard: The descent more or less continues - keys still feel
>    >    a bit mushy compared to my trusty x220 and x201 (hell, even my
>    >    on-its-last-legs t43p compares well) and the layout is slightly
>    >    worse than before (@ and # are on extra small keys for no reason,
>    >    the crazy pgup/pgdn layout madness continues)
>
>    >    The non-key function key row is at least gone, which I guess we
>    >    should be grateful for.
>
> What do you mean, the keys named f1 to f12 are *also* gone?
> I was going to by a X1 some time ago, till I figured out they have
> removed the key row containing print break etc which I use in my emacs
> keybinding widely. Now the f1-f12 is also gone. That mean I definitely
> have to stick with 2nd hand X till model X210 I think. ..
>

Also got an X250 when my X61 died (actually, the battery died, and Lenovo
no longer sells replacements, and the aftermarkets el cheapos last maybe
10 cycles before dieing).

I like the conveniece of the touchpad, but ended up disabling it because I
kept getting false triggers from letting my palms rest on the palm rest.
Key to getting the trackpoint mouse buttons to work is to configure for a
ps2 mouse rather than defaulting to the fancy imsa mouse (or whatever its
called, google it),

Similarly, the function keys default to volume up/down and the like,
requiring holding down the "Function" key to get F1 to F12. However, there
is a magic key combination (doesn't anyone read the docs anymore?) to lock
the Function key function so default is F1 - F12 and you need to hold down
the function key to get mute, volume, etc., just the way it used to be.

My biggest gripe is the lack of indicator lights for key statuses such as
caps lock, AC, and low battery.

Vince

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[Vivek Dasmohapatra-2]

> What do you mean, the keys named f1 to f12 are *also* gone?
> I was going to by a X1 some time ago, till I figured out they have

No, the non-key "softkeys" are gone, replaced by real keys again.

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[Uwe Brauer-2]

>>>>> "Vivek" == Vivek Dasmohapatra <[hidden email]> writes:

   >> What do you mean, the keys named f1 to f12 are *also* gone?
   >> I was going to by a X1 some time ago, till I figured out they have

   > No, the non-key "softkeys" are gone, replaced by real keys again.

Good, but the second row (containing pause print etc) is still gone?
And more important caps lock was well? (Which I map to hyper)
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[Timothy Murphy-4]

On Thursday 04 June 2015 20:45:07 DO NOT USE wrote:

> Also got an X250 when my X61 died (actually, the battery died, and Lenovo
> no longer sells replacements, and the aftermarkets el cheapos last maybe
> 10 cycles before dieing).

If you really have an X61, and the only problem with it is the battery,
I would be happy to take it off your hands ...

--
Timothy Murphy  
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin

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[Stefan Monnier]

> Also got an X250 when my X61 died (actually, the battery died, and Lenovo
> no longer sells replacements,

Really?  I just got a new battery for my T61 and didn't realize that
they were already discontinuing support for those things.  This sucks.

> and the aftermarkets el cheapos last maybe 10 cycles before dieing).

Actually, my experience with third-party batteries for the X30 and the
MSI Wind is pretty good.  The main problem I've had (which does not
affect the X30 since at that time 2200mAh was apparently the best you
could have) is that third-party batteries invariably use the cheap
2200mAh cells rather than the higher capacity (e.g. 2800mAh) ones.

Another option might be to refill your battery.  I've done that once for
the X30 battery and it worked well.  Also, the guy who did that also
could use higher capacity cells (at extra cost, obviously).


        Stefan

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[Martin N-2]

Lo,

At 15:35 08/06/2015, you wrote:

> > Also got an X250 when my X61 died (actually, the battery died, and Lenovo
> > no longer sells replacements,
>
>Really?  I just got a new battery for my T61 and didn't realize that
>they were already discontinuing support for those things.  This sucks.
>
> > and the aftermarkets el cheapos last maybe 10 cycles before dieing).
>
>Actually, my experience with third-party batteries for the X30 and the
>MSI Wind is pretty good.  The main problem I've had (which does not
>affect the X30 since at that time 2200mAh was apparently the best you
>could have) is that third-party batteries invariably use the cheap
>2200mAh cells rather than the higher capacity (e.g. 2800mAh) ones.
>
>Another option might be to refill your battery.  I've done that once for
>the X30 battery and it worked well.  Also, the guy who did that also
>could use higher capacity cells (at extra cost, obviously).

I have been running my x61 only off third party batterys.
I got it second hand off ebay and the lenovo one last 20 odd minutes.

The 3rd party last hour to 1 and a half and i have cycled them tens of times.

Martin

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to
purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)

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[Vivek Dasmohapatra-2]

> Good, but the second row (containing pause print etc) is still gone?
> And more important caps lock was well? (Which I map to hyper)

I don't have one in front of me right now - there's a caps lock but it has
no indicator light (a pre-existing stupidity from the x230 or x240 onwards?)

It's a 6 row rather than a 7 row keyboard, so yeah, the layout is still
broken.

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