Lenovo ThinkPad X100e hands-on impressions
By Joanna Stern 
posted January 4th 2010 2:51PM
posted January 4th 2010 2:51PM
You won't find Lenovo calling the $499 ThinkPad X100e a netbook, but at first glance you can't avoid thinking that's exactly what it is. From the outside it looks like a shrunken ThinkPad T series, though its matte lid is available in both traditional black and red. Yes, you heard it: a ThinkPad in red. The 11.6 inch screen gives it a wider body than most 10 inchers, yet Lenovo has managed to fit the same gratifying, chiclet keyboard as the ThinkPad Edge 13. And even despite the limited deck real estate there's a good old red pointing stick and a nice sized touchpad. So, why not just call it a netbook? Well, that'd be because it has stronger performance parts than the typical Intel Atom CPU. Instead it's one of the first ThinkPads to have AMD processor options, including single and dual core Althon Neo and dual core Turion processors. In our brief hands-on we couldn't gauge much on performance or battery life (though it does have a protruding six-cell on the back), but in the meantime you will have to feast your eyes on the gallery below and hold tight for our full review.
I see that they still show fingerprints like no tomorrow.
@x181
No kidding. I was thinking that a matte finish wouldn't show fingerprints. Now I know that in fact, it does, and it's actually hard to wipe off!
@LloydChiro
it's hard to wipe the oily residue left by greasy fingers on some plastics
Anyone want to buy a firstborn child?
I LOVE the thinkpad styling, i want it............now...........
@Sheppard
You can hold on to your first born! It looks like this can be bought for less than a week's wages.
@Sheppard You only get one first-born child. I'll use it for the X210.
@Sheppard As for specifications, there’s nothing definite at this stage, but they’re putting their neck out and tipping either AMD’s Athlon 1.6GHz Neo processor with ATI Radeon HD3410 graphics or Intel’s Centrino 2 ULV 1.4GHz processor paired with GMA 4500MHD graphics.
More details: http://bit.ly/lenovo-thinkpad-x100e-specs
I'm mostly curious about heat output on this thing. Not exactly expecting the most economical performance out of AMD mobile processors, but if it's anything like the last Turion X2 I used, it'll be like a hair dryer.
@Leindurstit Yeah... I use AMD in my desktops but the Turion in my laptop absolutely sucks. I don't know if the more recent ones (Puma series I believe) are any better, since I got my laptop 1.5 years ago, but mine is slow and hot and not that economical with the battery, although the nVidia chipset is partly to blame. Unless I see an AMD laptop with 6+ hours of battery life, I'm going to be using and recommending Intel CULV chips in laptops from now on.
@Leindurstit It seems like this thing will be Lenovo's version of HP's dv2/dv2z in Thinkpad styling. All the reviews for the dv2 were pretty good for heat, so I would assume that this one would be too.
no thinklight no care
I really like the new design direction that the 100e is taking. As a big Thinkpad fan with 3 Thinkpads over the years, I welcome the changes. Everything looks modern, yet still understated in the Thinkpad style. If they can bring some of the design touches to the more traditional Thinkpads while still keeping their durability features, I think Thinkpads will get many new customers; most of the complaints I hear from people who I recommend Thinkpads to are about their design.
Any news on a ridiculously glossy screen?
Sounds good, especially since it's using Turion, nice!
QUESTION FOR JOANNA STERN, or Engadget in general
does it get warm on any surface, as warm so it becomes uncomfortable to have it on the lap.
Or are the temperatures at a normal level (like most other thinkpads?)
@creepin
hah, like most other thinkpads? my T41 singes my leg, and the previous generation X-series was even worse. TP's haven't been the coolest laptops temperature-wise...
that said, looks like this turned out really well, but i'd be hard pressed not to get an Edge 13 for another $50?
@KK
lol, i can only speak from my T400 with dedicated Graphics..
It remains cool even when gaming, compared to my ex- Macbook Pro, on which i could fry an egg on.
with bacon.
and hash browns.
i guess i don't know too much about the other models, but i know mine stays pretty cool compared to other laptops..
@KK
My T400 runs very cool. Even when rendering video, all I feel is a faint, warm breeze out the side. Right now, all I feel is a slightly warm spot where the fan is, but everything else is room temperature.
Does anyone know if I can overclock a T9600 Core2Duo on a Thinkpad?
@LloydChiro
I can second this, I have an R500, Centrino 2, 2.4 GHZ C2D with the ATI Radeon 3400, I can only remember the cooling fan coming on once and that was when watching HD video on a hot summer day (room temp was hovering around 30C). I've never had a cooler laptop, not since the days of my trusty 486DX4 Toshiba Sattelite.
@creepin
X200 stays super cool. Love it! (hated my T60p and X61T that were palm-cookers)
@creepin
Same experience here with recent Thinkpads. My x200, despite being an ultraportable with a Core2Duo, remains quiet and cool even when watching HD youtube. I haven't gamed on it, but for daily tasks it is an exceptionally cool-running machine. My T42 was pretty quiet as well, but runs a bit warmer. The 600x runs loud and hot, but then again it's a decade old and running a modern operating system.
I always loved the look of the ThinkPad line. Its just simple, no-nonsense styling. Its a little retro, but I like that.
I wonder what's the battery life on it. If it can hit 8 hours like the 1005PE I'm sold.
@ToniCipriani
Not on AMD, it won't. At most you can hope to get 6 hours.
@Brother Unit No 4
Amds new m series CPUs are pretty amazing power to pro (tdp of 25-35 watts) ratio. Plus, unlike intel the integrated graphics are not crap. So right now until intel figures out how to make a decent vc, this is the best lennovo is gonna do right now, and I personally think it was a great move.
Not interested until Lenovo figures out that the control key belongs to the LEFT of the function key. Get rid of that antiquated crap already.
@astyanax And then the people used to the FN key where it is on ThinkPads will complain, switching would satisfy as many people as it would irritate.
I have no problem at all switching between a regular desktop keyboard with traditional style CTRL and my T60's keyboard BUT give me any other laptop keyboard and my fingers never find the CTRL key.
Where the CTRL & FN keys are on a keyboard are not that critical, it's the feel of the keys and the size, spacing and shape of the whole layout that matters.
@astyanax
New thinkpads have a BIOS option to swap the Ctrl & Fn keys: http://lenovoblogs.com/yamato/?p=518&language=en
@Malcolm
Whoa.... is that for real? AWESOME. I'm all over an x100e if Lenovo has it implemented in that BIOS.
Hurry up with the review! :3
I have same processor on my MSI netbook (dual athlon neo), and it can get as hot as 51C on uncontrolled processor, but after some cpu clock utility and lowering voltage, it manage to go down to 27C to 34C, and 16C on idle.
And the problem with neo is its battery life, they had to ship with 9cell just to extend its 3 hours battery life on 6cell.
@BratPAQ
That reeks of BS. The only MSI netbook that I know of that has the dual core AMD is the MSI Wind U230. Hexus.net did a review on an early sample and it stayed cool to the touch. Plus the battery life was 47 minutes better than the Asus 1201n that Engadget did a review on. FUD.
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=21331
@coredump
the temp i gave is core temp (reading by RightMark CPU clock utility), not surface temp. it feels cool on the keyboard and HD area.
http://netbooked.net/blog/msi-wind-u230-reviewed-better-gaming-petformance-poorer-battery-life-culv/
According to this review u230 "Low battery life - just over 3 hours (3:13)", so they shipped version u230x, which just means 9cell battery instead of 6cell.
@BratPAQ
Yeah the 3:13 is what the Hexus review list. However, if you want to get any sort of Intel equivalent you're looking at the Asus 1201n, which got 2 hours 26 minutes. You can get a better processor in the CULV from intel, but not by much. The tradeoff is you get Intel integrated graphics which are terrible. If you go with the nano dual core with nvidia graphics the cpu gets kicked to the curb by the Neo processor. The graphics are better but the cpu sucks so bad they hold back the graphics and the battery life is terrible.
So if you want CULV performance with decent graphics at this point the AMD platform is the way to go.
Hard to tell From the Picture, IS the Hard drive Accessible?? .. I'm running a X200s and I have several hard drives with different OS's that I can quickly change when doing a Little experimenting ... That was the reason I've liked the Lenovo S10 series (except for that Squashed Screen) and Disliked the S12 that I had...
Look at photo 7 -- it looks like Lenovo finally figured out how to make a laptop that looks like someone actually thought about the design of the bottom case. It's no Apple or even as clean as the new HPs, but compared to all ThinkPads up through the X200/T400 generation, this thing has a remarkably clean (minimal labels/stickers) bottom case!
Am loving the design - shame about the AMD processor, though. Will probably result in high temperatures and low battery life.
@Fafner
Amds new m series CPUs are pretty amazing power to pro (tdp of 25-35 watts) ratio. Plus, unlike intel the integrated graphics are not crap. So right now until intel figures out how to make a decent vc, this is the best lennovo is gonna do right now, and I personally think it was a great move.
those pictures are pretty terrible
you guys couldnt get a better shot really? i mean i know its black but... these photos look like they were taken from some crappy cell phone.
Madame tern has greasy fingers.
@h0rus i mean Madame STERN
Is it all plastic?
No HDMI?
So much crap in the laptop world, hooray for Thinkpads.
I have an X200 tablet and I absolutely love it. Not that I need the X100, but....I think I may have to. Fucking technology!
Beautiful new designs. One of the best looking PCs I've seen. Has anyone heard about AMD processors running hotter than their Intel counterparts?
http://foryouredification.wordpress.com/
Now up for order!
Really thinking about it, but I want HD video and HDMI and I dont think this thing is up to the task. It seems like an excellent college netbook replacement though.
do adobe photoshop will run smoothly on this machine(without the dual core proccesor)?