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

Derek O’Connor

February 8, 2012*

1 Introduction

I ordered a Lenovo ThinkPad X220, 2.8 GHz clock, 8 GB ram, from Lenovo’s Irish site on 14December, 2011. The price was €1,520, which included all shipping and taxes. The only Irishsite 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: 17647471524Order Date: 14 December 2011

Billing Address: Shipping Address:Derek O’Connor Derek O’ConnorMalthouse Lane Malthouse LaneDonard DonardCo Wicklow 4 Co Wicklow 4045-404-987 IEderekroconnor@eircom.net 045-404-987

derekroconnor@eircom.net

Product SKU: 4287CTOProduct 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 areincluded in the price.

*Started: 30 Dec 2011. web: http://www.derekroconnor.net email : derekroconnor@eircom.net

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Derek O’Connor The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Apparently this order was passed to China and I didn’t hear anything until UPS picked it up inShanghai for delivery to Ireland. From then on I tracked the order using the UPS order trackingsite and also had them email me at each stage.

Table 1. UPS TRACKING THE THINKPAD X220

Stage Location Date Local Time Activity

1 Shanghai, China 25/12/2011 19:00 Order Processed:

Ready for UPS

26/12/2011 18:33 Export Scan

27/12/2011 6:19 Departure Scan

2 Incheon, Korea 27/12/2011 9:00 Arrival Scan

10:37 Departure Scan

3 Almaty, Kazakhstan 27/12/2011 14:24 Arrival Scan

18:01 Departure Scan

4 Warsaw, Poland 27/12/2011 18:55 Arrival Scan

20:53 Departure Scan

5 Köln, Germany 27/12/2011 22:36 Arrival Scan

29/12/2011 3:48 Departure Scan

6 Dublin, Ireland 29/12/2011 4:55 Arrival Scan

5:30 Departure Scan

6:00 Arrival Scan

6:06 Destination Scan

6:14 Import Scan

6:14 Destination Scan

7 Donard, Co Wicklow 29/12/20111 16:49 Delivered to kitchen door

8 17:30 Up and running.

Connected to internet

Everything works!

As you can see, the Chinese heathens work on Christmas Day, and, worse still, St Stephen’sDay. 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 I’ll bring it up to thelocal church on February 1st for the annual Blessing-of-the-Laptops ceremony. Eternal vigilanceis the price of liberty.

© DEREK O’CONNOR, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 2

Derek O’Connor The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Figure 1. THE SHAGHAI TO DONARD LENOVO THINKPAD X220 SAGA, ABOUT 7,000 MILES

© DEREK O’CONNOR, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 3

Derek O’Connor The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Figure 2. LENOVO THINKPAD X220 WITH OPTIONAL ASHTRAY

© DEREK O’CONNOR, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 4

Derek O’Connor The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

Running Costs

I ran some matrix benchmark tests using MATLAB R2011b on the X220 and compared themwith my 4-year-old Dell Precision 690, 2 x Intel Xeon E53405 CPU @ 2.33GHz, 16GB ram, 2Processors, 8 Cores and 8 Threads. The main conclusion is: the X220 is nearly twice as fast asthe Precision 690.

The most surprising conclusion, for me at least, is economic: a 2011 top-of-the-range super-portable laptop costing €1,500 can beat a 2007 top-of-the-range desktop costing €9,000. If youdon’t like small screens and keyboards, then the €7,500 difference in price leaves you plenty fora docking station with all the best peripherals.

Running costs are a second economic consideration, which is important in these days of high-priced ‘sustainable’ electricity (€0.20/KWh average over my bills last year). At this price run-ning a ThinkPad (65W charger) will cost about €20 – €30/year; running the Precision 690 (1KWpower supply) will cost €500 – €700/year, about ½ 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 toldme 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 whichcosts him about €1,500/year at €0.05/KWh. Al Gore, at his Tennessee house in 2009, used220,000 KWh that year.2

Statistics and Comments

These are numbers that I have measured myself rather than relying on Lenovo’s specs. I’ll addmore later.

• Weight with 9-cell Battery: 1695g = 3.74 poundsWeight without 9-cell Battery: 1218g = 2.69 pounds

• Battery recharge: About 2 to 3 hrs, from nearly flat to full.Charge Life: 5 to 10 hrs, depending on use.

• Blue Tooth I’m still learning. Could not Bluetooth-connect my top-of-the-range mobilephone, Samsung E2212b (Tesco, €24.95). It works now and I can use Samsung’s “New”3

PC Studio to sync the laptop with the phone, which means the phone contacts etc., areare on the laptop and can be edited there.

• GPS works and can use Google Maps or Earth View. I haven’t figured out how to use itwith downloaded maps such as Garmin. Microsoft’s Streets & Trips works but its mapshave no detail because it’s designed for the US road system.

• Fingerprint scanner: Didn’t work properly the first time. Must try harder. It works now

1I 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 greatidea which they had been thinking about themselves. Then they went on with a lot of waffle about watermarking,etc. Watermarking? They have done nothing since then.

2Yes, but he did buy a lot of “carbon offsets”.3“New” means that it works; the “Old” didn’t work, and I wasted a day trying to get it to work.

© DEREK O’CONNOR, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 5

Derek O’Connor The Shanghai-to-Donard-Lenovo-ThinkPad-X220 Saga

• Built in camera and mic work on Skype but I’m not sure of the quality.

• Wireless mouse with Bluetooth mini-dongle works very well. It handles cigarette ash andbits of old rasher-rind very effectively. See Figure 2. Why is a mini-dongle needed whenit has built-in Bluetooth? Monday, February 6, 2012 20:43: Because its not a Bluetoothmouse! It’s merely a wireless mouse which works through a USB dongle which transmitsand receives a signal from the mouse.

• 9 Ports: There are three un-labelled USB ports: USB-3 (Top Left, Blue), USB-2 (BottomLeft, Black), and USB-2-Always-On (Right, Orange). An Ethernet RJ45 (Left) port. A DVIexternal monitor port (Left), and a Projector port (Left). An SD Card Reader (Right). ASuper SD Card Reader (Left).

© DEREK O’CONNOR, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 6