ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC With Touch– Second Impressions
The Lenovo ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC has sparked a lot of interest and I felt I should share some second impressions, now that I’ve used it for a few days. These impressions cover the things I like and the things I don’t like. I’ve also taken a lot of screen images to illustrate these things (after the jump).
Things I like about the x200
Small, portable size. It’s light and the 12-inch size makes it easy to use as either a notebook or a tablet.
Battery life. The supplied 8-cell battery is giving me 7 – 8 hours of life using good power management.
Lenovo Power Management utility. This utility provided complete control over the power consumption, and also gives access to the Battery Stretch mode. This mode can eke out the last few drops of juice from a nearly depleted battery. The utility also shows the actual power consumption in real time to demonstrate how any changes to the settings will affect the power drain.
Fingerprint sensor. The sensor is conveniently located to be used in either notebook configuration or in slate mode.
Two power buttons. Lenovo has included a second power button on the screen bezel so it can be accessed even in slate mode. This button includes a hold function to make sure that no controls are accidentally hit.
Touch screen. I’ve made it clear that having a touch screen requires a slate form to be really useful, and I am more convinced of that than ever. The ability to work strictly by touch while holding the x200 in slate mode is incredibly useful. Windows 7 has made touch a viable input mechanism and the slate form takes advantage of it. There is not enough that can be said about surfing the web in portrait slate mode and completely running the browser by finger. It simply must be experienced to appreciate fully. Using the x200 in slate mode makes it an awesome e-book reader, something I didn’t think I would like. Touch makes it easy to turn pages, and I am enjoying reading books on the big 12-inch screen.
Windows 7 tablet functions. Microsoft has done a good job improving the tablet functions in Windows 7. The Text Input Panel (TIP) works fluidly, and the new onscreen keyboard optimized for touch is really nice.
Things I don’t like about the x200
8-cell battery. I like how the big battery provides extended life, but I wish Lenovo had taken the route of a slice battery. Slice batteries are afixed to the bottom of the notebook and as a result the weight of the bigger battery is evenly distributed. This is significant for slate devices that are designed to be held in the hand. The battery as produced by Lenovo only adds a little bulk to the back of the notebook, but that makes the device heavy on one side when held in the hand.
Webcam. The x200 cam works OK in normal light, but is abysmally bad in lower light situations.
Screen rotation. The screen rotates very fast and I have only a minor quibble about it. It rotates automatically when the screen is swiveled between notebook and slate, as you would expect. There is also a manual rotation button on the side of the screen which works well. The problem I have is that I prefer to hold the tablet with the big battery to the left of the screen when I work in portrait slate mode. While the graphic driver handles this orientation, the x200 pops up a window when the screen is rotated this way, and says that this direction is not allowed. I suspect it has to do with the touch digitizer and driver. I can use it with the battery on the right fine, I would prefer it on the left. The screen can also use the accelerometer to auto-rotate, which is configurable.
Lack of scroll wheel. I would find a jog dial on the side of the screen extremely useful while in slate mode. The lack of one is mitigated by the ability to control things via touch on the screen, but a dial would be appreciated.
Power management utility
Wi-Fi Access Manger
System information
Win7 touch keyboard
Win7 TIP
uBoard onscreen keyboard
Web in portrait
e-book reading
Webcam in low light
Msg for no portrait
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.
The customized taskbar looks amazing. Lenovo’s proprietary software looks gorgeous and is useful too.
What are the tray thingies you use (for wireless strength and battery) and the big desktop gadget battery? Looks nice.
The tray gadgets are preinstalled by Lenovo. The big desktop battery is a sidebar gadget downloaded from the gadget site.
I like your reviews. I believe they are very level headed and smart. I also believe multi-touch is most useful in tablet mode on portable PCs, and I hope to see more tablets like the Thinkpad x200, extending into the sub $500 price range – if possible.
Another place I believe multi-touch will be useful, is in monitors for desktops oriented like drafting boards. The following video clip (at 0:37s and 0:40s) show examples of this.
If you look at the Windows 7 Touch Pack with things like Surface Globe and Surface Collage, plus a few really good multi-touch games (love Rebound even though it’s hard to get the hang of), I think that shows the most promise for multitouch.
I’m not sure that multitouch on a tablet is that big of a deal in general, but capacitive touch over resistive definitely is.
I’m finding the Touch Pack to be fluff. It’s cool for 5 minutes and then nothing, IMHO.
I’m not saying it’s all that substantive (I use Surface Globe all the time though), but it shows a lot more promise for the future with multitouch-specific applications.
Pinch zoom in the browser and those sort of rotation gestures are neat, but when programs are designed specifically around multitouch as in the Touch Pack that’s when it starts to get more exciting.
I’ve read about the rotation issue in a few places and apparently all the tablet makers are doing this as it’s a safety issue related to WIFI radiation in orientations that might position the slate near reproductive organs.
That’s interesting. My 2730p can rotate in all directions but only when it’s plugged into the wall. It can only rotate into one slate position on battery. I’m not sure how that would relate to WiFi radiation – I always assumed that it was an issue with the driver’s power consumption or something.
Also, I’d really like to know if this is a Hydis screen as that’s the only type I can deal with for tablets. The other may be ok but i’m picky.
Of course finding this out can be tricky.
I’m not sure if it is or not. I’ve never been asked that, you’re the first.
I have an x200 resistive touch version (“outdoor screen” what a joke) and when it’s turned to portrait mode the angle of view feels like it’s shut down to 100 degrees or something.
Lenovo are totally moronic if they think portrait mode is aceptable on this.
But I am the bigger moron for being suckered.
Assume this isn’t a Hydis and don’t touch it with a barge pole.
Great thanks.
Fujitsu and Motion consistently use Hydis but they also make slates and perhaps are more specialized in the field so that may explain it.
The viewing angle is most important for me when I lay it flat in order to write on it for extended periods.(the reason I have tablets in the first place)
This may not be as important with the touch feature as you aren’t as likely to rest your wrist on the device as you write.
But since these have dual functions I just won’t go there as there’s no reason not to use the superior screen except maybe for them to save money or -whatever.
A very good example of a good Hydis screen is the Fujitsu T2010 (which can be picked up pretty cheap on Ebay)
After using this model I don’t want to settle.
The layout of the X200 is very similar to the Fujitsu so a comparison is inevitable.
I’m not sure what Lenovo add-on is giving you the prompt that you cannot utilize secondary portrait mode, but after doing a clean install and only re-installing a few necessary Lenovo programs I can use all orientations. If you access the Tablet Shortcut Menu (to the right of screen rotate) and go the the Settings option in the lower left, there should be a set of radio buttons allowing you to choose your slate mode default orientation (I prefer secondary landscape myself, portraits are all too narrow).
I added an image (last one) that shows the dialog I get when trying to switch to portrait orientation with the battery on the left. Note that when I switch to that orientation, it does so properly. It only stays that way for a second and then flips to the other portrait orientation. That dialog then pops up.
Note also that this is Window 7 on the touch model. This model is not available yet so yours must be a different.
Looked into it with my system a little more and it turns out mine does the same thing, just never noticed it because I always click through to another orientation. I’d say give landscape a try, I found it a lot more useful (although it took a little while to put behind the pen and paper mentality).
My X60 tablet has always done this, so it may be an IBM software issue. I tend to use the 8-cell battery on the right as a handle for my left hand, while crading the tablet in the crook of my arm in portrait mode. If you’re left-handed, I could see that the opposite would be desirable. The “handle” also comes in very handy at other times — I just hope I don’t break it off one day (but then that’s what the accidental damage insurance is for, eh?!!).
I noticed in the system information under “pen and touch” that you have “single touch.” Is there a reason for that? Why is it not “Multi touch?”
I’m sure that is just a bad message. It is 2 finger touch.
THat’s a great point about the extended battery James. Slive batteries should be used by more vendors.
Wow, look at all the typos. I really need an edit button. That should obviously read “Slice batteries”.
I just ordered one with the same specs and 128gb ss drive. Do you notice that the ss drive makes a difference?
I haven’t tried one without an SSD so I can’t compare. This one is fast.
James in your first impressions you listed the x200 as having an SSD… so does your review unit have SSD or not?
Never mind misread your comment.