Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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Lenovo ThinkPad 11.6" Dual-Core Laptop
$299.99 + $5 Standard OR $10 Two-Day Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

If you have multimedia (video decoding) on the mind, the e-300 GPU far outperforms the Celeron's-- but overall the Celeron is a stronger processor. Also note that Linux support for APU drivers is pretty bad if you're inclined to put it on there.

This is by no means a powerhouse, but it's a great little machine for the price. It's no T420 but it's not meant to be.

Groan... Just bought the ASUS tablet two weeks ago for Christmas and now this pops up... what to do, what to do...

OK, I think I am in for one but which one... decisions decisions...

Dang you WOOT! ;)

So anyone own this? I'd like a small laptop that doesn't burn my Harry Potters off when it sits on my lap.

How hot does this thing get?

The description doesn't mention the coolest thing about this netbook. We've been looking at the newer model (x131e) for a 1-to-1 program at the school district I work for. These netbooks are ruggedized and built for educational use. This means recessed ports, stronger hinges, spill resistant keyboards - basically the thing was built to take a pretty good beating.

Does this qualify for the Windows 8 update?

does this have a cd/dvd drive?

I was looking for an upgrade from my 3 year old x60, but it looks like it's only a tiny bit faster.

canyouinterestme wrote:does this have a cd/dvd drive?

No optical drive.

nuggib wrote:The description doesn't mention the coolest thing about this netbook... These netbooks are ruggedized and built for educational use. This means recessed ports, stronger hinges, spill resistant keyboards - basically the thing was built to take a pretty good beating.

Reviews confirm that.

CNET says meh.

PC Mag is more enthusiastic.

My gf is a teacher and I helped her buy the 120e earlier in the year. It is a really solid machine. Not the fastest, but it can handle being knocked around and spilled on which is very nice. Great choice for someone who needs something light with long battery life and has to carry it around all the time. Works great hooked up to a projector.

pmurray63 wrote:
PC Mag is more enthusiastic.

Bottom Line

The Lenovo ThinkPad X130e is a semi-rugged netbook, outfitted with enough padding to survive the day-to-day dings of traveling across campus or running from terminal A to B.

This is exactly what these little units are made for and do best. You want a powerhouse? Get a desktop. Use this to take that work with you and browse the web between times without separating your shoulder. I have a similarly spec'd out Dell 11z my daughter has taken over for running to/from class and reading her textbooks on. She likes the portability and long life of the battery. (Note, this unit has a 7200rpm drive and may not last quite as long if kept spinning). It runs MS suite fine - just max out the memory and your software will run without a hitch.

Looks much like the one on woot tech in March. Quite a few positive comments there. http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/ad4d4a2b-7d65-4d3f-a58c-4c56a7cea7c7/lenovo-thinkpad-11-6-dual-core-notebook-new

I picked up one of these from the lenovo outlet a few months ago. It was fine when I got it, but I upgraded to 8gb of ram and an SSD and now it flies. If you want a laptop with a really good keyboard (impossible on an ultrabook), good battery life, and you want to be able to toss it in your bag sans cover this is the way to go.

Note that the Celeron-based unit comes with 4GB of RAM vs the 2 in the AMD.

Also, these come with a trackpoint, which is a SUPER rarity in little netbooks. It takes some getting used to, but they are actually much more convenient than the undersized trackpads that they cram at the bottom.

You will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your ASUS tablet. I have both an ASUS tablet and a Lenovo laptop. I reach for the tablet 95% of the time.

Cook74 wrote:Groan... Just bought the ASUS tablet two weeks ago for Christmas and now this pops up... what to do, what to do...

OK, I think I am in for one but which one... decisions decisions...

Dang you WOOT! ;)

Heck! And it is actually not a refurb?

Darn, my 9 years old have been begging Santa for a computer... And it is only $300... Should Santa give in?

2GB on AMD version? Really? Does Windows 7 even load with 2GB?

I bought one of these for my daughter for college three years ago. It is still going strong. She liked the portability and it survived life in a back-pack. She used it for classes and for watching Netflix in her bunk. She also had a larger notebook for writing her term papers, etc. She said as much as she loved it, she would not have wanted it to be her only laptop - and it was a little slow - but, that she could not have gotten through college without it.

Yeah, and what's the deal with 2 day shipping on Intel? It's available for AMD, but not for Intel version...

LEM- wrote:Heck! And it is actually not a refurb?

Darn, my 9 years old have been begging Santa for a computer... And it is only $300... Should Santa give in?

2GB on AMD version? Really? Does Windows 7 even load with 2GB?

If I had to guess, the only reason you get 4GB on the Intel version is because it uses Intel graphics, so some of that RAM is getting chewed up in the graphics processing. Whereas the AMD has discrete graphics, so less RAM is needed for video, since the ~1GB of video memory shown is all in the discrete chip, not shared from on board RAM.

Dist0rt3d wrote:If I had to guess, the only reason you get 4GB on the Intel version is because it uses Intel graphics, so some of that RAM is getting chewed up in the graphics processing. Whereas the AMD has discrete graphics, so less RAM is needed for video, since the ~1GB of video memory shown is all in the discrete chip, not shared from on board RAM.

Yeah, it makes sense. So if I upgrade either to 8Gb, I'll actually gain more on AMD! Good point. Now - anyone knows how it upgrades, before I start digging down the manual? 2x4? 4x2? What's inside now, can I use it, or I need to buy all of 8GB?

Questions, questions....

Why can't I do 2 day shipping on the intel version?

My wife has this model with an AMD E-450 (1.65 GHz) & we upgraded it to 8 GB memory. It is definitely no beast, but it doesn't keep her waiting long. She loves it, & I'm impressed enough by it that I'm tempted to nab this deal.

Its most impressive characteristic is its form factor (and this is coming from someone who rarely cares about form factor). It feels solid, well balanced, & sturdy. The keyboard & track pad/buttons are great. It's just high quality all around.

I love the navigation pin (red) in the center of the keyboard. You can use this as a mouse with more precision than the pad at the bottom.

These PC's are a solid build. SUCH a Deal!

I'd be all over this if it had a better processor.

This is a very rugged and very slow laptop. It does NOT share the aesthetics of an Apple or anything remotely close.

The keyboard feels great. Large spacy keys. Pressure is spot on. Even if the chasis looks fat :P

LEM- wrote:Yeah, and what's the deal with 2 day shipping on Intel? It's available for AMD, but not for Intel version...

Answering my own question: looks like the shipping availability depends on shipping address. Won't ship intel 2nd day to my home, but I checeked friends address (20 minutes drive from me, but across the bridge and in another state) and viola - 2nd day is available...

CPU Benchmarks

Passmark ranks the Celeron 867 at 1271.

Passmark ranks the AMD E-300 at 645.


Personally I have been unimpressed with AMD's budget E series processors and prefer Intels Celeron and budget series processors.

hello
is this a good buy for someone who is traveling and would like to post photo and video on a blog. could this thing do simple video editing and posting? hymnal

http://compare-processors.com/amd-e-300-vs-amd-e-350/1024/

It's a shame I bought the x120e predecessor because it weighed less and had a faster processor. They slowed down the processor and make it for kids who are used to playing with Tonka Trucks I think the e300 is significantly worse than the e350 depsite having a really nice gpu in it.

Really torn between the AMD and Intel choices. Anyone can tell me given the same workload, which one will give the longest battery life?

Use case covers surfing the net, occasional video streaming as well as last minute documents editing. 1080p video playback would be nice (and I know the AMD would be a better choice for this).

As usual, will max out the RAM to 8Gb and swap the drive to SSD. Probably it's a low profile 7mm drive on this.

Samstag wrote:I was looking for an upgrade from my 3 year old x60, but it looks like it's only a tiny bit faster.

How much did you pay for your 3 year old x60?

Have you noticed that one of the most common comments on Woot is "I'd be all over this if..."

Would a SSD make this computer faster and good for well rounded use, or is the processor and graphics really that limited?

Could I do some basic Photoshopping? Will it play 1080p 4 gigabyte video files over the HDMI out, or will HDMI out be the same resolution as the screen?

taurine wrote:Would a SSD make this computer faster and good for well rounded use, or is the processor and graphics really that limited?

Could I do some basic Photoshopping? Will it play 1080p 4 gigabyte video files over the HDMI out, or will HDMI out be the same resolution as the screen?

From a PCMAG review: "The X130e sports an 11.6-inch widescreen that displays in 1,366-by-768 resolution; that resolution is about as good as you're going to get on a netbook nowadays. If you're looking to achieve that true 1080p HD, you'll have to look into outputting your video content onto an external display that supports full HD via the HDMI port."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2399806,00.asp

LEM- wrote:Yeah, it makes sense. So if I upgrade either to 8Gb, I'll actually gain more on AMD! Good point. Now - anyone knows how it upgrades, before I start digging down the manual? 2x4? 4x2? What's inside now, can I use it, or I need to buy all of 8GB?

Questions, questions....

Some good info from Crucial.com http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/Lenovo-memory/ThinkPad+X+Series/ThinkPad+X130e+(Intel)-upgrades.html

This is a very rugged and very slow laptop. It does NOT share the aesthetics of an Apple or anything remotely close.
:P

This kills the deal for me. If this $300 laptop doesn't look like a $999 MacBook Air, or anything close, why would I even think about being all over this?

Just for a quick price comparison, Google Shopping has the lowest price for this netbook listed as $342. Amazon has it for $399, and Newegg is selling it for $441. In other words, you're probably saving about $100 by snagging this deal.

Just a few other thoughts:

1. Go with the Celeron. The AMD line of budget processors have an extremely bad reputation, and the latest set of Celeron processors are supposed to be excellent.

2. If you're really in the market for a netbook, you should be all over this deal. Basically, you're getting the convenience of a netbook with the rugged build of a Thinkpad laptop. You could probably throw this thing off a balcony and it would still be fine. If it weren't so close to Christmas, I'd grab one myself, but I'm all out of funds.

3. A couple people were asking about Windows 8. The screen resolution on this netbook makes it capable of a Windows 8 upgrade with full access to Metro apps. Plus, you can snag Windows 8 for extremely cheap at the moment - around $30 - so this would still probably be a better deal than most Windows 8 netbooks. That said, don't upgrade to Windows 8 because it's stupid.