I bought one of these in good condition last year. The quad core version. Changed the drive to a SSD and upgraded the ram to 16gb. Running Linux on it and I'm very happy with it. Amazing value. I like it enough that I may buy another.
16gb !! Wow good to know. I had a x131e and i liked it very much but had the low spec one and ended up selling it. I miss it to this day, the keyboard was excellent (almost better than my T60).
8:48 As someone who has just disassembled a X131e, I'd like to make a correction: these are not speakers, these are seats for feet on the service door (yes, really; I'm not sure why either). Speakers are seated beneath the grill and require way more disassembly to get to.
I work for a school system and we just ditched a slew of x131e models to eWaste. Being in an inner city, i think wiping these and giving them to our high school grads to start college at least will give them a good round of final years.
Loved to see this computer again. I had one just like it Senior year in High-school (2013-2014). Our school had the entire high school (7-12 for us) use them for school as a test to see if we wanted to go chromebook or windows. Ours were the dual core model with 4GB of ram (just like your unit) but were installed with Windows 7 so we could use older software for some of our classes. The school got rid of them a few years after I left and went to chromebooks but I do remember my class using these Lenovo's for exactly what they were not intended to be used: Gaming. Alot of the origonal Halo played pretty well if I recall. We got even as far as Star Trek Klingon Academy and also Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Granted we also used them to program light-duty PLCs called Robo-Pros to make simple machines and with the bluetooth add-on we could control the machines as well. Good memories with the device even though most were treated much like your unit and did not hardly survive the 3 years of service. Cannot fault the laptop on that one. In one case I watched a kid drag the laptop by the power cord down the hallway to class. Some people left them out in -20 degrees and turned them on with frost on the display. They certainly took alot of punishment and kept ticking. If i needed a small dependable laptop for school this would be a good buy.
I have the quad core variant and had it for over a year now. Not only does it play World of Warcraft Classic pretty well (good frame rate; 5 or more hours of battery when the FPS is intentionally locked at 15 for basic things like auction housing and fishing) it handles a few of my other games like Okami HD while AMD still releases drivers for the GPU, I think the latest one was the end of February of this year.
for the price, I think older thinkpads like X230 or even X220 are better because they're business laptops built to last with best qualities. Being older, they will still have better performance and probably last longer
Idk those only have 2 cores, so it probably depends on what you are doing? The really important thing would be if one could get into bios, a wifi upgrade or even coreboot the thing(:
Incidentally, I just bought a Lenovo ThinkPad X140e laptop from my friend who is a laptop trader with AMD A4 processor and 4GB RAM. 500GB HDD. overall the design is very compact and small but powerful enough with HD Radeon Graphic and save power.
I've had one of these running Linux for YEARS, it is a great machine for what it is (and I bought it for like $25 from a person selling it from an ex-roommate that left them high and dry, it even had a BIOS password, so I had to install Linux elsewhere and put the drive in to use it), I've done many presentations using it, and hosted a virtual presence at meetings using it. Maxed out the RAM and used it for a surprising amount of stuff, to which it largely rose to the occasion. AMDs of this generation seem to do more than you'd expect of them, it feels like they "try" to do more than spec'd... It doesn't do everything anymore, it has been left behind for daily use, but for specific tasks... it is a beast. I just got notice of a reputable person near me selling some for $30 (which is why I found this video), and I just may take him up on one or more, and this is late 2022...
Great video! Never knew about the education line. Thanks for sharing!! Would love to see some of the vintage IBM portables too. Keep up the good work. Think!
i bought one if the E1-2500 variants from a bulk seller on eBay in 2020. they were selling 15 of em, cos they were needing to empty stock to replace them with chromebooks at that school. i offered to buy just one, and after a little haggling, i copped it for 50 USD with maxxed out ram & a 512 GB SSD, that i paid extra for them to install. it runs funtoo linux now. absolutely great netbook machine for travel.
Well, I bought one of these 2 years ago but got busy with work and life and didn't use it much. I recently upgraded it to a 1TiB SSD and 8GiB RAM ... not bad. I find that I just have to do one thing at a time because of processor limitations. I'm having fun with it though.
hehe just a few days after i bought an x120e :) just because its perfectly compact and feelsperfectly with its dimensions and weight versus all successors. the E-350 is a bit slow but everything else feels just perfect to me :))
Have a quad core, purchased 8 years ago, upgraded ram and SSD. Not a gamer but it's solid for MS office and basic internet activity. Screen is adequate but mine is typically hooked to a 1080p monitor and the graphics card supports better res than the screen. This model does not have a backlit keyboard, really the only thing I miss. Otherwise it feels solid and mine's held up well with plenty of travel.
I still use an x120e for my computer science class. Very underpowered, but the hardware is robust and keyboard is nice. It takes a minute with full CPU load to render the Google website with JavaScript, so I just live in the terminal most of the time
I recently picked up an X120e for super cheap $40 from a friend who was going to recycle it, and you are correct even after I upgraded it to 8GB of RAM, and a 120GB ADATA SATA SSD, it can be a bit sluggish, but it makes an alright Manjaro Budgie Linux system for the kids on the cheap to do their school work.
Thanks for the review! I purchase a few of these for about 50 bucks a laptop on eBay. With an ssd windows 10 6gb of ram and good battery life on mine, I’m very happy for a travel/email computer. It was this or a tablet and I wanted this for productivity which does the job. You should do reviews of older vintage machines!
The Green light has zero to do with being connected to a network, it will come on at boot of the system, even in the bios while not connected to network, same for the X131e(Windows AMD, Chromebook Intel), and X140e, and I can say this with confidence as I own all 3 versions. Also Manjaro Deepin Linux works really well on these machines. Also my X140e runs the Quad core A4 -5000 APU, and I bumped it to 8GB DDR3L, and mine came with a 320GB WD HDD with a Red lid. Edit: on Majaro Deepin Linux my quad core AMD X140e can do some low end gaming via STEAM, and STEAM Play like running Sonic Mania, and Pacman 256 types of games, and 720p videos are no issue, but my x131e is a no go for gaming, and sometimes 720p video can be a struggle, but no big deal for my elder mother.
Interesting notes on the WiFi light. I only really noticed it while running the OS and it being on when the WiFi was active, but not necessarily connected as you say. Still curious to know what they hoped to accomplish. Perhaps it's in the original marketing materials.
@@LaptopRetrospective From the reseller I had a few chats with on eBay it's to show the computer was powered on from across a room as the red lights in the think pad logos can be harder to see. Also I should mention some of these machines can come with Computrace installed on them, and if activated can make it harder, or impossiable to replace an HDD, or internal WiFi module for security reasons, and the only way I know of to uninstall it once activated is to remove the UEFI/BIOS chip on the board, Lastly I should have mentioned it before, but on install of Majaro Deepin Linux I've noticed WiFi does not work on the live USB boot so you will need to use an Ethernet cable to plug into a router, or WiFi extender, but WiFi will work after install, and reboot with no issues on both 2.4Ghz, and 5Ghz bands.
@Commondorefan64 Never knew they had a A8 apu version. Can you share your model#. I own 4 of the x140e w/ A4-5000, 16GB DDR3L, 500GB Evo 860. Next upgrade is to replace the panel with something higher resolution. Already gave up on try to install a lighted keyboard. Does your version also have the sim card slot located in the battery bay?
@@fuktherepublicans7317 I'm sorry my bad that was a typo I did not catch(made the edit to the correct APU model) mine has an A4-5000, I would love an A8, or A10 in one at 4Ghz, but man the heat output would be crazy lol!
I've been a long time fan of the x200 because of how compact they can be, I might have to give this one a try! Dude in my neighborhood is selling one for $40! why not?
@@TrenchReynolds No problem, just make sure on Manjaro Deepin after install to run updates first, and change your mirror to the US(or whatever country you are in), and enable AUR repos, and have it check for updates from them as well before installing the latest kerenel, and language packs in the Manjaro settings manager but do a reboot after the updates, and before the kernel update, or you might end up crashing the system to a grub error, or random freeze. That's the only major issues I've come across besides some USB Bluetooth glitches on both my AMD A-10 5800K APU desktop setups.
Got mine (x131e) a couple months ago with 8gb of ram and an 850 Evo SSD for this computer store I used to volunteer at called Uniway computers. My unit has basically perfect battery health and came to 99 Cad. Great deal for sure, the windows 10 install was less than legitimate but I'm glad to have picked it up. The i3+HD Graphics version is definitely the worse choice, but can still handle everything I throw at it (Chrome and GTA San Andreas). Funny enough, the wifi light design lives on in my school's ThinkPads, which can't even find the name to. Overall, these education thinkpads are epic! Edit: I guess I'm wrong about the variants, at least the HD4000 is better than the HD 8330
It’s kind of interesting but these went up in price for some reason. Almost two years ago I paid 50-60 dollars on eBay. Now they seem to fetch for 100-150. Perhaps because of covid?
Hey, I see that you’re a passionate reviewer, and I really like your style and voice. Although I think you Could easily improve some things. Take this as you will, but I strongly believe that if you invest a little more into the way you’re presenting your devices. A nice surface with good lighting will go a long way. At the moment everything feels far away/inaccessible, especially on mobile where screens are relatively small. Good lighting, good contrast between the product and the environment will make your content more watchable. Also, this could be due to your style, but maybe take a few extra shots on the device and edit them while you explain things, so we can see the laptop better. It will make your content a bit more fast paced and engaging. Even in your slideshow presentations, which have great context, maybe keep them a little snappier. Less text per page, more images, stock videos, etc. will keep your watchers engaged. I like your channel and it’s content. A “similar” channel for you to look at would be ‘budget builds’. He addresses the lighting problem by filming outside. And with the little equipment he had, now he has a great audience. Keep up the good work!
Hey Vlados, Thanks for taking the time to comment, especially on your experience as a mobile viewer. I am definitely open to suggestions on how to make things better. My main challenge is finding a surface that I can get a tripod close to without building something; which isn't impossible but is not an insignificant investment. I have recently invested in an external camera light to help with some of this. B-roll footage as it's called, that gives different angles is certainly something I can do more of, but I like to do it for specific close-ups with a purpose. I do appreciate your feedback on the Psycho-Tech series, if I do another one, I will be sure to take that under advisement. Filming outside is simply not an option or I wouldn't be able to film about 6 months of the year. Current temp today is -32 Celsius. If you have ideas on how I could overcome say my tripod placement challenge, I'd love to hear more, but I think my only other option would be to build a filming area in my basement, which is totally doable but would require a significant redirection of funds and that would hold up quite a few months of production since it isn't my fulltime job. I mentioned it in an earlier video, but all revenue currently made from the channel goes right back into it. Hope to hear more from ya!
Too bad they downgraded this so much from the X131e. The i3 version of that would eat this (either version) for breakfast and still be hungry. Without a doubt the i3 X131e was the pinnacle of the X1xx series as far as sheer performance goes. At the time I expected Lenovo would offer this with an i5 Haswell .. but no. Now that would be a machine with great legs today.
A4-5000 (jaguar quad) is not that far behind of the sandy bridge i3 in x131e. The APU likely had better GPU too. Another advantage is the AMD versions (both x140e and x131e) allow up to 32GB RAM max according to some sources, yet the Intel x131e only allows 16GB max. Intel loves to put on max RAM restrictions on processors, a major tactic for planned obsolescence. So imho, a win for the X140e with A4-5000
Good build quality, nice SSD, and quite portable, however, that CPU is quite weak and would place this PC into the netbook category as far as CPU performance goes
I love this machine. Best of all netbooks. 8 years on stock (removable!!) battery. But look at the keyboard!!! Modern garbage-tops don't even have pgup/dn/home/end keys!! VGA and HDMI, analog audio - must have! Way to go with old consoles and projectors. Also, one outstanding feature is having redundant means of input: track pad & point, THREE mouse buttons & clickable pad. On fails, other keeps you going. And it's AMD (and with 3D!). I'd go for a Toughbook, but they're all Intel. So I'm staying with this baby ) The ONLY bad thing about it is the screen. And Linux doesn't do very good job at power management. This is a laptop for actual work and not just dicking around.
Also, when I hooked it to a 4K monitor it did 30Hz! At full 4K! It'll be enough for movies, but I don't like 4K anyway. And a 1gig eternet port. This left competitors in dust during those times as there was a strange period when laptops were getting 100M ports again instead of 1Gb. I'm writing this for laptop manufacturers to read.
Was looking to buy one of theese (obv with the a4) but cannot find any -v-, the only ones i found where from the us and that means 100+€ of import fees.
@Laptop-Retrospective: Do you know if there's any difference between this laptop (ie. the X140e) and the X130e ? (I recently came-across a Thinkpad X140e with a A4-5000 processor in it, in a store in my local area that sells refurbished computers. And I'm comparing it to a refurbished Thinkpad X130e with a E-450 processor in it, at a store in Jacksonville Florida that sells refurbished computers (about an hour drive from where I live (3 hours if there's traffic)), *but*, the store that sells it is a "Microsoft-certified Refurbisher" *AND* it's Grade-A--Refurbished, whereas the store that has the X140e just "buys in bulk" the computers, repairs them and cleans them up, and sells them (and they claim they don't sell any as "Grade-'A' Refurbished" because they (when they receive them) usually-come in dings and scratches and scrapes and cuts and breaks-and/or-cracks in the frames & whatnot))). The X140e is selling (when I went there today to check-out the physical-condition of the laptop; the store-employee that attended me said they have several units in stock but I only got to see ONE) for $170 plus sales-tax whereas the X130e is listed at the online-website of the Jacksonville-store at $238 plus sales-tax. [I dunno which I should get.]
In this instance, consider who you would want to deal with if things aren't up to your expectations. One sounds like it would be better to deal with than the other.
@@LaptopRetrospective thanks for the advice :-) . One thing I was wondering was the following: I haven't seen any text-reviews online of the X140e but i *HAVE* found text-reviews online of the X130e, and i noticed that the X140e comes with USB-3.0 ports while the X130e comes-with USB-2.0 ports. I was wondering if that's the case for ALL models or just SOME models of the X130e and X140e. Likewise I understand that both are "netbook"-type computers and I was going to use them as such ("them" as-in "whichever one I get": the X140e or the X130e). I was going to install a Linux distro on it but particularly one that is VERY lightweight and comes with the "LXQT" desktop-environment as the official desktop-environment of it. P.S. the warranty that the local-store is offering for the X140e and all the other refurbished laptops they sell (including a X230 with a Core i7 3520M processor) is "3 months parts-&-labor".
If you look up the "PSREF" for any model, it will tell you all the configurations that each ThinkPad shipped with. Takes all the guess work out. Throw "ThinkPad x140e PSREF" into Google and see what you find. 😁
@@LaptopRetrospective thanks so much :-) . One last thing: If you were to get the X140e or the X130e, which would you get? (as-in if you had the chance-or-opportunity to get the X130e or X140e which would you get) I'm asking because you have a review of the X140e on your channel (which I'm hypothesizing -- because of the model-number -- came-out *later* than the X130e) but-*not* the X130e, and I'm-noticing that the X130e seems-to-be alot more common than the X140e (because I see alot more listings online for the X130e than the X140e).
I've only got experience with the X140e. Neither are common here so I cannot speak to the differences or pros or cons. I'd go with the USB 3.0 ports though for the faster transfer speeds.
I don't know why Lenovo release this model, maybe for competing with something similar like E1xx series, or from 'consumer' lineup, like ideapad 300s or even G40 series (despite X140e is 11.6 and G40 was 14.0 and 15.6)?
Hmm. Quick question. Would you think this would be perfect for zoom video conferencing ? My mother in law is looking for a cheap laptop. Tiger direct has it for 150 with windows 10 all set up already.
The shipping can be killer. I've paid $100 CDN to get a small box from FedEx. The same money can get me a huge box from the UK. Seems real hit and miss.
16 GB RAM is possible on this machine. Maybe even 32 GB - but I did not have 2 16 GB Modules to test. Check out my review on Reddit www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2urhae/x140e_review_and_upgrade_information_wlan_wwan/
@@LaptopRetrospective The extra RAM was definitely worth it, but the laptop configuration did not serve my needs so I brought it down to 4 GB which is what I currently run. X140e was touted as a school laptop. In a practical school setting (Undergrad / grad school), tasks like researching various subjects, browsing, consuming content such as videos and working on word documents etc requires significant amount of RAM. The screen size is definitely a handicap when it comes to working on excel documents or coding. P.S. I got really excited about the laptop when I first opened it up a few years ago. The excitement was in particular about the WWAN capability (which Lenovo advertised). However, despite having WWAN antennas as well as wires running to the motherboard (you can see it in your video as well), there are no pads to actually install the WWAN card.
Okay, I'm not entirely sure what exactly you're asking? If I'm following you correctly, your normal drive broke, you tried to put in a SSD and now it's asking you for a password? If that is the situation, your computer has a supervisor password that wasn't removed by the previous owner and you're in for some real fun times ahead removing it
Could you please help me. what would you say is better this or a acer chrome book c738 4gb ram 16gb SSD? Both around the same price the chrome book about 8 bucks cheaper. Prices are 78 and 70
Laptop Retrospective Thanks for the info! I figured it wouldn’t receive anymore updates after a certain time. I can still get the most recent windows with this Lenovo from what I’ve heard so that’s also a game changer
I’m sorry to ask again. But I think I might’ve found a better deal. I just saw a Lenovo X201 Laptop / i5 2.53GHZ / 4GB for about $16 bucks more. It’ll be $96 and the x140e is $83 I can’t get either shipped till Monday so i was holding off to wait to buy till then anyways. . Would you go with the x201 I don’t mind spending a little extra if it’s better you think?
@A-Music-Enjoyer: First look-online to see if the particular hardware inside the computer is compatible with Linux. If it is, then get the computer. Install your Linux distribution of choice (I would suggest a-Linux-distribution that has a ultra-lightweight Desktop-Environment like LXQT (which is even-lighter than than the Desktop-Environment XFCE), and presto. P.S. For total and/or complete Linux newbies (like a classmate of mine is doing for their parents), I would suggest the "Lite"-version of the GNU+Linux distribution called "Zorin OS", which comes with the "XFCE" Desktop-Environment as its Desktop-Environment.
I'm getting an X131e this week, and it was priced amazingly, too! It says it's in good condition, so I'm stoked!
That's awesome. Let us know how it goes.
I bought one of these in good condition last year. The quad core version. Changed the drive to a SSD and upgraded the ram to 16gb. Running Linux on it and I'm very happy with it. Amazing value. I like it enough that I may buy another.
Yeah lots of people do those upgrades and seem to be pretty happy with them.
16gb !! Wow good to know. I had a x131e and i liked it very much but had the low spec one and ended up selling it. I miss it to this day, the keyboard was excellent (almost better than my T60).
This unit will take 16gb????
8:48 As someone who has just disassembled a X131e, I'd like to make a correction: these are not speakers, these are seats for feet on the service door (yes, really; I'm not sure why either). Speakers are seated beneath the grill and require way more disassembly to get to.
Thanks for the correction!
One learns something New every single day.
Thank You !
You're most welcome. I'm already learning more since I've shared the video.
Have been looking forward to seeing this video!
Glad to deliver!
@@LaptopRetrospective I like my x131e for a rugged toss anywhere unit. Not powerful but it's a great machine nonetheless.
Pretty much how I'd describe this one.
I work for a school system and we just ditched a slew of x131e models to eWaste. Being in an inner city, i think wiping these and giving them to our high school grads to start college at least will give them a good round of final years.
Agreed.
Loved to see this computer again. I had one just like it Senior year in High-school (2013-2014). Our school had the entire high school (7-12 for us) use them for school as a test to see if we wanted to go chromebook or windows. Ours were the dual core model with 4GB of ram (just like your unit) but were installed with Windows 7 so we could use older software for some of our classes. The school got rid of them a few years after I left and went to chromebooks but I do remember my class using these Lenovo's for exactly what they were not intended to be used: Gaming. Alot of the origonal Halo played pretty well if I recall. We got even as far as Star Trek Klingon Academy and also Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Granted we also used them to program light-duty PLCs called Robo-Pros to make simple machines and with the bluetooth add-on we could control the machines as well. Good memories with the device even though most were treated much like your unit and did not hardly survive the 3 years of service. Cannot fault the laptop on that one. In one case I watched a kid drag the laptop by the power cord down the hallway to class. Some people left them out in -20 degrees and turned them on with frost on the display. They certainly took alot of punishment and kept ticking. If i needed a small dependable laptop for school this would be a good buy.
Haha. Thanks for sharing your experience with these machines. Very interesting to hear how they were used.
Really great content! Been subscribed for a while now, thinkpads are such quirky laptops ey
Indeed they are. Glad to have you among for the ride.
I have the quad core variant and had it for over a year now. Not only does it play World of Warcraft Classic pretty well (good frame rate; 5 or more hours of battery when the FPS is intentionally locked at 15 for basic things like auction housing and fishing) it handles a few of my other games like Okami HD while AMD still releases drivers for the GPU, I think the latest one was the end of February of this year.
Interesting, thanks for sharing your experience and use case.
Got one of these, slapped Mint on it and its doing perfect for me as a HTPC
That's awesome, glad to hear it is getting new life.
for the price, I think older thinkpads like X230 or even X220 are better because they're business laptops built to last with best qualities. Being older, they will still have better performance and probably last longer
Better performance is true, but the port selection, cost and a few other things still make them a contender.
Awesome stuff!
Idk those only have 2 cores, so it probably depends on what you are doing? The really important thing would be if one could get into bios, a wifi upgrade or even coreboot the thing(:
Oh you had the 2 core one
Incidentally, I just bought a Lenovo ThinkPad X140e laptop from my friend who is a laptop trader with AMD A4 processor and 4GB RAM. 500GB HDD. overall the design is very compact and small but powerful enough with HD Radeon Graphic and save power.
Get an SSD in there to give it some pep. 😉
I've had one of these running Linux for YEARS, it is a great machine for what it is (and I bought it for like $25 from a person selling it from an ex-roommate that left them high and dry, it even had a BIOS password, so I had to install Linux elsewhere and put the drive in to use it), I've done many presentations using it, and hosted a virtual presence at meetings using it. Maxed out the RAM and used it for a surprising amount of stuff, to which it largely rose to the occasion. AMDs of this generation seem to do more than you'd expect of them, it feels like they "try" to do more than spec'd... It doesn't do everything anymore, it has been left behind for daily use, but for specific tasks... it is a beast. I just got notice of a reputable person near me selling some for $30 (which is why I found this video), and I just may take him up on one or more, and this is late 2022...
Very cool, thanks for sharing your experience with these devices.
Great video! Never knew about the education line. Thanks for sharing!! Would love to see some of the vintage IBM portables too. Keep up the good work. Think!
Thanks for the suggestion Mike. If some show up, I'll certainly cover them. It's all about getting access.
i bought one if the E1-2500 variants from a bulk seller on eBay in 2020. they were selling 15 of em, cos they were needing to empty stock to replace them with chromebooks at that school.
i offered to buy just one, and after a little haggling, i copped it for 50 USD with maxxed out ram & a 512 GB SSD, that i paid extra for them to install.
it runs funtoo linux now. absolutely great netbook machine for travel.
Great to hear it lives on.
Well done review. I was thinking of a cheap basic unit to rebuild that might be worth my time, and this fits the bill. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Well, I bought one of these 2 years ago but got busy with work and life and didn't use it much. I recently upgraded it to a 1TiB SSD and 8GiB RAM ... not bad. I find that I just have to do one thing at a time because of processor limitations. I'm having fun with it though.
Glad to hear it's getting some use. 👍
@4:12 I wonder how many people tried wiping a a non-existent smudge off of their screen.
Definitely not me that's for sure
Haha, sorry about that!
I have a X131e Chromebook :) It's pretty useful for my usage.
That's good. I find Chrome OS too restrictive.
@@LaptopRetrospective I too have an X131e Chromebook but Google no longer updates it so I shelved it, now using only my other X131e Windows 10 unit.
Awesome review as per usual!
Thank you kindly!
hehe just a few days after i bought an x120e :) just because its perfectly compact and feelsperfectly with its dimensions and weight versus all successors. the E-350 is a bit slow but everything else feels just perfect to me :))
For an EDU line, they are still amazingly well built.
Have a quad core, purchased 8 years ago, upgraded ram and SSD. Not a gamer but it's solid for MS office and basic internet activity. Screen is adequate but mine is typically hooked to a 1080p monitor and the graphics card supports better res than the screen. This model does not have a backlit keyboard, really the only thing I miss. Otherwise it feels solid and mine's held up well with plenty of travel.
That's impressive you've kept it going so long. Well done!
Reminds me a lot of my sadly gone S10E which shared the same look but came with a larger touchpad and only internal graphics.
Interesting. Was the touchpad wider? Just wondering how they'd make room.
Yay been waiting!
Kept you waiting huh?
@@LaptopRetrospective Ya i saw the laptop in the background and wondered what it was.
I have to remember the keyboard wiggle trick! 😁
Almost deserves its own theme music.
I still use an x120e for my computer science class.
Very underpowered, but the hardware is robust and keyboard is nice. It takes a minute with full CPU load to render the Google website with JavaScript, so I just live in the terminal most of the time
Very cool!
I recently picked up an X120e for super cheap $40 from a friend who was going to recycle it, and you are correct even after I upgraded it to 8GB of RAM, and a 120GB ADATA SATA SSD, it can be a bit sluggish, but it makes an alright Manjaro Budgie Linux system for the kids on the cheap to do their school work.
Yep, sounds about right. It's tricky because the parts you put in I imagine cost more than the computer.
Thanks for the review! I purchase a few of these for about 50 bucks a laptop on eBay. With an ssd windows 10 6gb of ram and good battery life on mine, I’m very happy for a travel/email computer. It was this or a tablet and I wanted this for productivity which does the job. You should do reviews of older vintage machines!
Thanks Gil. I hope to do as many as I can get my hands on!
Can I put a NORMAL Sata style 2.5 size Laptop Hard Drive into this, or will it only take the M2 style???
Pretty sure it doesn't take m.2 in the first place. It's been a while.
@@LaptopRetrospective --- Good, I have a spare regular non-M2 Sata Laptop drive 2.5 that I wanna put in there.
The Green light has zero to do with being connected to a network, it will come on at boot of the system, even in the bios while not connected to network, same for the X131e(Windows AMD, Chromebook Intel), and X140e, and I can say this with confidence as I own all 3 versions. Also Manjaro Deepin Linux works really well on these machines. Also my X140e runs the Quad core A4 -5000 APU, and I bumped it to 8GB DDR3L, and mine came with a 320GB WD HDD with a Red lid.
Edit: on Majaro Deepin Linux my quad core AMD X140e can do some low end gaming via STEAM, and STEAM Play like running Sonic Mania, and Pacman 256 types of games, and 720p videos are no issue, but my x131e is a no go for gaming, and sometimes 720p video can be a struggle, but no big deal for my elder mother.
Interesting notes on the WiFi light. I only really noticed it while running the OS and it being on when the WiFi was active, but not necessarily connected as you say. Still curious to know what they hoped to accomplish. Perhaps it's in the original marketing materials.
@@LaptopRetrospective From the reseller I had a few chats with on eBay it's to show the computer was powered on from across a room as the red lights in the think pad logos can be harder to see. Also I should mention some of these machines can come with Computrace installed on them, and if activated can make it harder, or impossiable to replace an HDD, or internal WiFi module for security reasons, and the only way I know of to uninstall it once activated is to remove the UEFI/BIOS chip on the board, Lastly I should have mentioned it before, but on install of Majaro Deepin Linux I've noticed WiFi does not work on the live USB boot so you will need to use an Ethernet cable to plug into a router, or WiFi extender, but WiFi will work after install, and reboot with no issues on both 2.4Ghz, and 5Ghz bands.
@Commondorefan64 Never knew they had a A8 apu version. Can you share your model#. I own 4 of the x140e w/ A4-5000, 16GB DDR3L, 500GB Evo 860. Next upgrade is to replace the panel with something higher resolution. Already gave up on try to install a lighted keyboard. Does your version also have the sim card slot located in the battery bay?
@@fuktherepublicans7317 I'm sorry my bad that was a typo I did not catch(made the edit to the correct APU model) mine has an A4-5000, I would love an A8, or A10 in one at 4Ghz, but man the heat output would be crazy lol!
I've been a long time fan of the x200 because of how compact they can be, I might have to give this one a try! Dude in my neighborhood is selling one for $40! why not?
$40 is really that "why not?" price isn't it?
@@LaptopRetrospective Yeah I mean, worst case scenario, upgrade the ssd, ram and install linux and go!
I feel like these are real ThinkPads, at least when compared to the 11e.
Have you tried running Linux on it yet? The reason I ask is that I have an IdeaPad with an AMD processor that rejects Linux like a bad kidney.
I didn't get the chance sadly. The Arch Linux Wiki documents it well though.
Manjaro Deepin runs really well on AMD APU's, and CPU's with with the latest kernels.
Thanks for confirming that.
@@CommodoreFan64 Thanks. I'll check it out.
@@TrenchReynolds No problem, just make sure on Manjaro Deepin after install to run updates first, and change your mirror to the US(or whatever country you are in), and enable AUR repos, and have it check for updates from them as well before installing the latest kerenel, and language packs in the Manjaro settings manager but do a reboot after the updates, and before the kernel update, or you might end up crashing the system to a grub error, or random freeze. That's the only major issues I've come across besides some USB Bluetooth glitches on both my AMD A-10 5800K APU desktop setups.
Got mine (x131e) a couple months ago with 8gb of ram and an 850 Evo SSD for this computer store I used to volunteer at called Uniway computers. My unit has basically perfect battery health and came to 99 Cad. Great deal for sure, the windows 10 install was less than legitimate but I'm glad to have picked it up. The i3+HD Graphics version is definitely the worse choice, but can still handle everything I throw at it (Chrome and GTA San Andreas). Funny enough, the wifi light design lives on in my school's ThinkPads, which can't even find the name to. Overall, these education thinkpads are epic!
Edit: I guess I'm wrong about the variants, at least the HD4000 is better than the HD 8330
Glad to hear it is serving you well.
It’s kind of interesting but these went up in price for some reason. Almost two years ago I paid 50-60 dollars on eBay. Now they seem to fetch for 100-150. Perhaps because of covid?
That would be my guess.
Hey,
I see that you’re a passionate reviewer, and I really like your style and voice. Although I think you Could easily improve some things.
Take this as you will, but I strongly believe that if you invest a little more into the way you’re presenting your devices. A nice surface with good lighting will go a long way. At the moment everything feels far away/inaccessible, especially on mobile where screens are relatively small. Good lighting, good contrast between the product and the environment will make your content more watchable.
Also, this could be due to your style, but maybe take a few extra shots on the device and edit them while you explain things, so we can see the laptop better. It will make your content a bit more fast paced and engaging.
Even in your slideshow presentations, which have great context, maybe keep them a little snappier. Less text per page, more images, stock videos, etc. will keep your watchers engaged.
I like your channel and it’s content. A “similar” channel for you to look at would be ‘budget builds’. He addresses the lighting problem by filming outside. And with the little equipment he had, now he has a great audience.
Keep up the good work!
Hey Vlados,
Thanks for taking the time to comment, especially on your experience as a mobile viewer. I am definitely open to suggestions on how to make things better. My main challenge is finding a surface that I can get a tripod close to without building something; which isn't impossible but is not an insignificant investment. I have recently invested in an external camera light to help with some of this.
B-roll footage as it's called, that gives different angles is certainly something I can do more of, but I like to do it for specific close-ups with a purpose.
I do appreciate your feedback on the Psycho-Tech series, if I do another one, I will be sure to take that under advisement.
Filming outside is simply not an option or I wouldn't be able to film about 6 months of the year. Current temp today is -32 Celsius.
If you have ideas on how I could overcome say my tripod placement challenge, I'd love to hear more, but I think my only other option would be to build a filming area in my basement, which is totally doable but would require a significant redirection of funds and that would hold up quite a few months of production since it isn't my fulltime job. I mentioned it in an earlier video, but all revenue currently made from the channel goes right back into it.
Hope to hear more from ya!
Too bad they downgraded this so much from the X131e. The i3 version of that would eat this (either version) for breakfast and still be hungry. Without a doubt the i3 X131e was the pinnacle of the X1xx series as far as sheer performance goes. At the time I expected Lenovo would offer this with an i5 Haswell .. but no. Now that would be a machine with great legs today.
I hope to one day see more from this series.
@@LaptopRetrospective they do have more, they're just chromebooks
A4-5000 (jaguar quad) is not that far behind of the sandy bridge i3 in x131e. The APU likely had better GPU too. Another advantage is the AMD versions (both x140e and x131e) allow up to 32GB RAM max according to some sources, yet the Intel x131e only allows 16GB max. Intel loves to put on max RAM restrictions on processors, a major tactic for planned obsolescence. So imho, a win for the X140e with A4-5000
Good build quality, nice SSD, and quite portable, however, that CPU is quite weak and would place this PC into the netbook category as far as CPU performance goes
Fair assessment. The 520m is faster than this and it's several generations older.
Thanks
You're welcome.
I almost bought an X100e a while back, but it was the single core model. Probably a good thing I decided against it.
Might have left you wanting. The ,520m is faster than this one.
I love this machine. Best of all netbooks. 8 years on stock (removable!!) battery. But look at the keyboard!!! Modern garbage-tops don't even have pgup/dn/home/end keys!!
VGA and HDMI, analog audio - must have! Way to go with old consoles and projectors.
Also, one outstanding feature is having redundant means of input: track pad & point, THREE mouse buttons & clickable pad. On fails, other keeps you going.
And it's AMD (and with 3D!). I'd go for a Toughbook, but they're all Intel. So I'm staying with this baby )
The ONLY bad thing about it is the screen. And Linux doesn't do very good job at power management.
This is a laptop for actual work and not just dicking around.
Also, when I hooked it to a 4K monitor it did 30Hz! At full 4K! It'll be enough for movies, but I don't like 4K anyway.
And a 1gig eternet port. This left competitors in dust during those times as there was a strange period when laptops were getting 100M ports again instead of 1Gb.
I'm writing this for laptop manufacturers to read.
They crammed a lot of great things into that device.
@@LaptopRetrospective But not as many as in 12" ASUS U6Sg which also had GPU, dial-up, 3G and a DVD-writer in it! But it worked for an hour max :)
Battery life is key, at least for me.
alright a new video!
Yep! I hope to do some filming later this week, but it might be a bit of a wait until the next so thank you for your patience.
@@LaptopRetrospective will wait for the next upload :D
Thanks for being awesome.
good review.. they also made a x131e with i3 1.9ghz cpu.. Makes for a great little speed demon w windows
I'd imagine so!
Was looking to buy one of theese (obv with the a4) but cannot find any -v-, the only ones i found where from the us and that means 100+€ of import fees.
Yeah, not too sure how common these are depending on where you are located.
@@LaptopRetrospective i'm in italy and they're pretty rare c.c
Yeah I think they were more common in North America and Australia/NZ.
@Laptop-Retrospective:
Do you know if there's any difference between this laptop (ie. the X140e) and the X130e ?
(I recently came-across a Thinkpad X140e with a A4-5000 processor in it, in a store in my local area that sells refurbished computers. And I'm comparing it to a refurbished Thinkpad X130e with a E-450 processor in it, at a store in Jacksonville Florida that sells refurbished computers (about an hour drive from where I live (3 hours if there's traffic)), *but*, the store that sells it is a "Microsoft-certified Refurbisher" *AND* it's Grade-A--Refurbished, whereas the store that has the X140e just "buys in bulk" the computers, repairs them and cleans them up, and sells them (and they claim they don't sell any as "Grade-'A' Refurbished" because they (when they receive them) usually-come in dings and scratches and scrapes and cuts and breaks-and/or-cracks in the frames & whatnot))).
The X140e is selling (when I went there today to check-out the physical-condition of the laptop; the store-employee that attended me said they have several units in stock but I only got to see ONE) for $170 plus sales-tax whereas the X130e is listed at the online-website of the Jacksonville-store at $238 plus sales-tax.
[I dunno which I should get.]
In this instance, consider who you would want to deal with if things aren't up to your expectations. One sounds like it would be better to deal with than the other.
@@LaptopRetrospective thanks for the advice :-) .
One thing I was wondering was the following:
I haven't seen any text-reviews online of the X140e but i *HAVE* found text-reviews online of the X130e, and i noticed that the X140e comes with USB-3.0 ports while the X130e comes-with USB-2.0 ports.
I was wondering if that's the case for ALL models or just SOME models of the X130e and X140e.
Likewise I understand that both are "netbook"-type computers and I was going to use them as such ("them" as-in "whichever one I get": the X140e or the X130e). I was going to install a Linux distro on it but particularly one that is VERY lightweight and comes with the "LXQT" desktop-environment as the official desktop-environment of it.
P.S. the warranty that the local-store is offering for the X140e and all the other refurbished laptops they sell (including a X230 with a Core i7 3520M processor) is "3 months parts-&-labor".
If you look up the "PSREF" for any model, it will tell you all the configurations that each ThinkPad shipped with. Takes all the guess work out. Throw "ThinkPad x140e PSREF" into Google and see what you find. 😁
@@LaptopRetrospective thanks so much :-) .
One last thing: If you were to get the X140e or the X130e, which would you get? (as-in if you had the chance-or-opportunity to get the X130e or X140e which would you get)
I'm asking because you have a review of the X140e on your channel (which I'm hypothesizing -- because of the model-number -- came-out *later* than the X130e) but-*not* the X130e, and I'm-noticing that the X130e seems-to-be alot more common than the X140e (because I see alot more listings online for the X130e than the X140e).
I've only got experience with the X140e. Neither are common here so I cannot speak to the differences or pros or cons. I'd go with the USB 3.0 ports though for the faster transfer speeds.
Linux would ROCK on that thinkpad ... I'm getting one just to use as a linux distro hopping play toy
So long as the support for the CPU is good.
That boot time was realy fast. What ssd do u have running in it
It was just a run-of-the-mill 256GB SSD. Nothing special.
I don't know why Lenovo release this model, maybe for competing with something similar like E1xx series, or from 'consumer' lineup, like ideapad 300s or even G40 series (despite X140e is 11.6 and G40 was 14.0 and 15.6)?
It was a cost effective machine designed to compete with a Chromebook. I'd suggest it is better but I'm not a fan of Chrome OS.
I'm not a fan of chrome OS either. Too cloud-depend. But interestingly, windows 8/8.1 desktop can replaced by Chrome OS-like desktop
@@tedarmavan it's not the worst thing in the world. But I'd choose this over it.
Why is yours so fast? Mine’s slow as heck, even booting windows 7 and Linux mint. Is it just the ssd?
SSD makes a world of difference.
i am looking with the one with an amd a4 processor, is it much better than an e1?
Hmm. Quick question. Would you think this would be perfect for zoom video conferencing ? My mother in law is looking for a cheap laptop. Tiger direct has it for 150 with windows 10 all set up already.
Should be able to handle that. Video conferencing was part of one of the needs these machines would have had to meet in their environment
Laptop Retrospective awesome. I’m sold. Buying it for her right now.
Hope it works out!
Yes I have used it for video conferencing. It works just fine on the latest zoom.
Would you rather have this laptop over a T61?
I'd probably take the T61, but my reasons and use would probably differ.
There is a lock code on the boot system and I can not boot through the flash memory What can I do to change the Windows system
For the x140e I found this. You are going to have to short a chip. Be careful. www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/367966/Supervisor+BIOS+password+reset
@@LaptopRetrospective I can't do this. That's dangerous. Thanks for all. Any way other.
That's pretty much your only option other than replacing the chip entirely or getting the code.
@@LaptopRetrospective Well thank you very much for your help
You're welcome. Good luck.
It would be interesting to compare this to the ThinkPad 11e. Any thoughts?
I hope one day to get my hands on more of the education line, they aren't common here.
@@LaptopRetrospective Oh, where are you located?
Some call it the Frozen North, I call it Canada. 😁
@@LaptopRetrospective It is prohibitively expensive to source these from the US?
The shipping can be killer. I've paid $100 CDN to get a small box from FedEx. The same money can get me a huge box from the UK. Seems real hit and miss.
16 GB RAM is possible on this machine. Maybe even 32 GB - but I did not have 2 16 GB Modules to test.
Check out my review on Reddit www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/2urhae/x140e_review_and_upgrade_information_wlan_wwan/
Very interesting information. Thanks for sharing. Did you find all that RAM worth it?
@@LaptopRetrospective
The extra RAM was definitely worth it, but the laptop configuration did not serve my needs so I brought it down to 4 GB which is what I currently run.
X140e was touted as a school laptop. In a practical school setting (Undergrad / grad school), tasks like researching various subjects, browsing, consuming content such as videos and working on word documents etc requires significant amount of RAM.
The screen size is definitely a handicap when it comes to working on excel documents or coding.
P.S. I got really excited about the laptop when I first opened it up a few years ago. The excitement was in particular about the WWAN capability (which Lenovo advertised). However, despite having WWAN antennas as well as wires running to the motherboard (you can see it in your video as well), there are no pads to actually install the WWAN card.
Yeah, not uncommon for those parts to be present and lead to nothing I'd the chassis is used for other models.
Tried to change the drive with a San Disk 2.5" ssd SATA 6g's and doesnt work ...any suggestions of another compatible option?
What exactly doesn't work? Can you be more specific?
@@LaptopRetrospectivemy son slap my x140e and broke the drive
It asked me about a password... I have a dell and Asus both was an easy task
Okay, I'm not entirely sure what exactly you're asking? If I'm following you correctly, your normal drive broke, you tried to put in a SSD and now it's asking you for a password? If that is the situation, your computer has a supervisor password that wasn't removed by the previous owner and you're in for some real fun times ahead removing it
@@LaptopRetrospective yes but I bought it new!
mine is speced out with 16GB ram and ive heard people use 32
That's a lot of RAM for that processor. 😂
hola amigo me puede decir como coloco el guion en este teclado
Hola, estoy usando Google Translate. No estoy seguro de lo que quieres decir con guión. ¿Puede usted explicar por favor?
Could you please help me. what would you say is better this or a acer chrome book c738 4gb ram 16gb SSD? Both around the same price the chrome book about 8 bucks cheaper. Prices are 78 and 70
Real computer over Chromebook pretty much every time.
Thank you man, helped made me make a decision!
@@gboss2147 you're welcome the other thing that I should mention is that Chrome OS I believe is no longer being updated on that model of Chromebook.
Laptop Retrospective Thanks for the info! I figured it wouldn’t receive anymore updates after a certain time. I can still get the most recent windows with this Lenovo from what I’ve heard so that’s also a game changer
I’m sorry to ask again. But I think I might’ve found a better deal. I just saw a Lenovo X201 Laptop / i5 2.53GHZ / 4GB for about $16 bucks more. It’ll be $96 and the x140e is $83 I can’t get either shipped till Monday so i was holding off to wait to buy till then anyways. . Would you go with the x201 I don’t mind spending a little extra if it’s better you think?
I’m unable to activate the virtualization on it
Does the version you have support it?
does this play 4k streams?
Well the panel isn't capable of displaying that resolution.
Can it run games like sims 4?
This thing? I highly doubt it.
@Theinfamouswoodnypmh:
It's a netbook.
[It's-not powerful-enough to run any computer-games like those.]
How do i connect it to wifi?
pcsupport.lenovo.com/ca/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-x-series-laptops/thinkpad-x140e/solutions/ht500407-how-to-turn-wireless-wifi-onoff-windows-7-8-81-10
Can somone please tell me.if this runs dota2?
Ummm, doubtful? Don't know the system requirements for Dota2 off the top but this is an education tier machine.
Im asking cuz im about to buy it just for that reason
Probably want to do more research.
This is the slowest computer I have ever used period. Click on anything and wait and wait....
Certainly not the fastest I've used, but far from the slowest.
@Zip-Code:
It's a netbook. It's intended to be that way.
Does this work with Linux?
I believe so. Didn't try it when it was here.
@@LaptopRetrospective I am looking at getting one with a quad core AMD a4 for Linux
That would be an interesting project machine.
@A-Music-Enjoyer:
First look-online to see if the particular hardware inside the computer is compatible with Linux.
If it is, then get the computer.
Install your Linux distribution of choice (I would suggest a-Linux-distribution that has a ultra-lightweight Desktop-Environment like LXQT (which is even-lighter than than the Desktop-Environment XFCE), and presto.
P.S. For total and/or complete Linux newbies (like a classmate of mine is doing for their parents), I would suggest the "Lite"-version of the GNU+Linux distribution called "Zorin OS", which comes with the "XFCE" Desktop-Environment as its Desktop-Environment.
What version of windows 10 should i install i got mine on Win7
Depends on your version of 7 what it will let you upgrade to.
@H-Dml:
I suggest you keep it on Windows 7. Windows 10 consumes much-more computer-hardware-&-software resources than Windows-7.
Fire it up with Linux MX, bet it zooms.
Like sino entendiste nada pero viniste a ver si alguien comentaba algo con relación ala laptop ! Jjj
I was wondering does the X140e have openGL
That's a great question. What version are you looking for support? That would be tied to the graphics card would it it not?
Im really not sure I want to run a game but the creator says you must have open GL the creator of the game did not say what version.
Which game?
@@LaptopRetrospective its a mod for Friday night funkin
@@LaptopRetrospective the mod is called Mr bright side mod
That's one ugly hunk of plastic, but if Lenovo polished this up I'd actually buy it.
Looks like a piece of crap lol
I'd take it over most Chromebooks.
it have keyboard lights?
You'll know if it does if there is an icon on the spacebar.