The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Derek OConnor February 8, 2012*

Introduction

I ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad X220, 2.8 GHz clock, 8 GB ram, from Lenovos Irish site on 14 December, 2011. The price was 1,520, which included all shipping and taxes. The only Irish site selling the X220 is Expansys, who want 2,200 with just 4 GB ram. Irish pricing is a mystery.
Your Order and Billing Information: Order Number: 17647471524 Order Date: 14 December 2011 Billing Address: Derek OConnor Malthouse Lane Donard Co Wicklow 4 045-404-987 derekroconnor@eircom.net Shipping Address: Derek OConnor Malthouse Lane Donard Co Wicklow 4 IE 045-404-987 derekroconnor@eircom.net

Product SKU: 4287CTO Product Name: ThinkPad X220 - 3 Yr Depot Topseller Warranty Intel Core i7-2640M Processor (2.8GHz, 4MB L3, 1333MHz FSB) Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 English 12.5" HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 2x2 Antenna 8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM) Keyboard UK English Fingerprint Reader 720p HD Camera 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm No Micro Solid State Drive ThinkPad Battery 29++ (9 cell) Country Pack Ireland with Line cord & 65W AC adapter Bluetooth 3.0 Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN) Integrated Mobile Broadband (Ericsson F5521gw) Open SIM Card: WW Language Pack WE (FR/GE/IT/IT/DU/EN)

There are some minor extras such as a BlueTooth mouse, etc., not included in this list, but are included in the price.
* Started:

30 Dec 2011.

web: http://www.derekroconnor.net email : derekroconnor@eircom.net

Derek OConnor

The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Apparently this order was passed to China and I didnt hear anything until UPS picked it up in Shanghai for delivery to Ireland. From then on I tracked the order using the UPS order tracking site and also had them email me at each stage.

Table 1. UPS T RACKING THE T HINK PAD X220

Stage 1

Location Shanghai, China

Date 25/12/2011 26/12/2011 27/12/2011

Local Time 19:00 18:33 6:19 9:00 10:37 14:24 18:01 18:55 20:53 22:36 3:48 4:55 5:30 6:00 6:06 6:14 6:14

Activity Order Processed: Ready for UPS Export Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Departure Scan Arrival Scan Destination Scan Import Scan Destination Scan Delivered to kitchen door Up and running. Connected to internet Everything works!

2 3 4 5 6

Incheon, Korea Almaty, Kazakhstan Warsaw, Poland Kln, Germany Dublin, Ireland

27/12/2011 27/12/2011 27/12/2011 27/12/2011 29/12/2011 29/12/2011

7 8

Donard, Co Wicklow

29/12/20111

16:49 17:30

As you can see, the Chinese heathens work on Christmas Day, and, worse still, St Stephens Day. In Ireland this order would not have been touched until the day after Feast of the Epiphany. Given all the Communist (and former Communist) countries that this laptop has been through, it is now undergoing a rigorous program of de-Communization. After that Ill bring it up to the local church on February 1st for the annual Blessing-of-the-Laptops ceremony. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

D EREK OC ONNOR , F EBRUARY 8, 2012

Derek OConnor

The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

D EREK OC ONNOR , F EBRUARY 8, 2012

Figure 1. T HE S HAGHAI TO D ONARD L ENOVO T HINK PAD X220 S AGA , ABOUT 7,000 MILES

Derek OConnor

The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Figure 2. L ENOVO T HINK PAD X220 WITH OPTIONAL ASHTRAY

D EREK OC ONNOR , F EBRUARY 8, 2012

Derek OConnor

The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Running Costs
I ran some matrix benchmark tests using M ATLAB R2011b on the X220 and compared them with my 4-year-old Dell Precision 690, 2 x Intel Xeon E53405 CPU @ 2.33GHz, 16GB ram, 2 Processors, 8 Cores and 8 Threads. The main conclusion is: the X220 is nearly twice as fast as the Precision 690. The most surprising conclusion, for me at least, is economic: a 2011 top-of-the-range superportable laptop costing 1,500 can beat a 2007 top-of-the-range desktop costing 9,000. If you dont like small screens and keyboards, then the 7,500 difference in price leaves you plenty for a docking station with all the best peripherals. Running costs are a second economic consideration, which is important in these days of highpriced sustainable electricity (0.20/KWh average over my bills last year). At this price running a ThinkPad (65W charger) will cost about 20 30/year; running the Precision 690 (1KW power supply) will cost 500 700/year, about my yearly electricity bill. My annual electricity use is 6,000 KWh, which I monitor continuously (well. . ., every 5 secs) with a wireless gadget on my fuse-board that sends the results to my PC. The ESB has told me that the average Irish household use is 6,000 KWh/year.1 At current prices this costs me 1,200/year. My friend Barry Walsh in Bloomington, Indiana, uses 30,000 KWh/year which costs him about 1,500/year at 0.05/KWh. Al Gore, at his Tennessee house in 2009, used 220,000 KWh that year.2

Statistics and Comments

These are numbers that I have measured myself rather than relying on Lenovos specs. Ill add more later. Weight with 9-cell Battery: 1695g = 3.74 pounds Weight without 9-cell Battery: 1218g = 2.69 pounds Battery recharge: About 2 to 3 hrs, from nearly at to full. Charge Life: 5 to 10 hrs, depending on use. Blue Tooth Im still learning. Could not Bluetooth-connect my top-of-the-range mobile phone, Samsung E2212b (Tesco, 24.95). It works now and I can use Samsungs New3 PC Studio to sync the laptop with the phone, which means the phone contacts etc., are are on the laptop and can be edited there. GPS works and can use Google Maps or Earth View. I havent gured out how to use it with downloaded maps such as Garmin. Microsofts Streets & Trips works but its maps have no detail because its designed for the US road system. Fingerprint scanner: Didnt work properly the rst time. Must try harder. It works now
1 I emailed (SEI who passed the buck to) the ESB three years ago and recommended that they put the yearly run-

ning average on each bill, along with the Irish household average, for comparison. They replied that this was a great idea which they had been thinking about themselves. Then they went on with a lot of wafe about watermarking, etc. Watermarking? They have done nothing since then. 2 Yes, but he did buy a lot of carbon offsets. 3 New means that it works; the Old didnt work, and I wasted a day trying to get it to work.

D EREK OC ONNOR , F EBRUARY 8, 2012

Derek OConnor

The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Built in camera and mic work on Skype but Im not sure of the quality. Wireless mouse with Bluetooth mini-dongle works very well. It handles cigarette ash and bits of old rasher-rind very effectively. See Figure 2. Why is a mini-dongle needed when it has built-in Bluetooth? Monday, February 6, 2012 20:43: Because its not a Bluetooth mouse! Its merely a wireless mouse which works through a USB dongle which transmits and receives a signal from the mouse. 9 Ports: There are three un-labelled USB ports: USB-3 (Top Left, Blue), USB-2 (Bottom Left, Black), and USB-2-Always-On (Right, Orange). An Ethernet RJ45 (Left) port. A DVI external monitor port (Left), and a Projector port (Left). An SD Card Reader (Right). A Super SD Card Reader (Left).

D EREK OC ONNOR , F EBRUARY 8, 2012