Thinkpads Forum

I am a medical transcriptionist and need a good sound card, hard drive expandibility (or installing a second one) and that is pretty much it. We live in an RV so I am looking at the outlet SFF ThinkCentres.

Is there any reason a ThinkCentre would not be a good choice in an RV? Will the SFF make the purchase of a sound card difficult? Would a Dell MiniTower or HP Slimline be a better choice?

I assume you're looking at M57 SFF, if so then it's system board accepts a Low Profile 32-bit PCI 2.3 (5v) card.

The following info. will help you in buying a compatible sound card:

Low-profile (half-height) card:

The PCI organization has defined a standard for "low-profile" cards, which basically fit in the following ranges:

Height: 1.42 inches (36.07 mm) to 2.536 inches (64.41 mm)
Depth: 4.721 inches (119.91 mm) to 6.6 inches (167.64 mm)
The bracket is also reduced in height, to a standard 3.118 inches (79.2 mm).

These cards may be known by other names such as "slim".

Low Profile PCI FAQ.

Low Profile PCI Specification.

To the best of my knowledge you can't install second HDD in SFF desktop, according to HMM there are two SATA connectors on board each connected to the HDD and optical drives, were you to install second HDD you would need a spare connector (there is an ATA connector though) and a 1.028'' (standard height of desktop drives which is ~1'') high empty bay to place the drive.

lenovo wrote:SFF configuration:

Bay ① 5.25", 1.6" high, access, std optical
Bay ② 3.5", 1" high, no access, std disk
Bay ③ 3.5", .5" high, access, open (reader/diskette)

If you also envision needing a laptop at some point, you might want to consider just getting a ThinkPad and connecting an external drive for your expansion needs.

I'm a writer and editor. I used a ThinkPad as my only computer for years, but last year after getting tired of running out of hard disk space I decided to get a ThinkCentre instead. I love the computer, but I hate the hassle of having two machines -- my desktop computer and the laptop. Keeping files in synch, keeping both systems up to date (including anti-virus software), etc., is so much more hassle and expense than it's worth. I loved it when I could just take my laptop with me and know that I had all my files without having to do a synch. Nowadays you can get a ThinkPad with a huge hard disk for not much more money than I paid for my ThinkCentre. I honestly would never buy another desktop machine, I've learned my lesson.

bhurley wrote:If you also envision needing a laptop at some point, you might want to consider just getting a ThinkPad and connecting an external drive for your expansion needs.

I'm a writer and editor. I used a ThinkPad as my only computer for years, but last year after getting tired of running out of hard disk space I decided to get a ThinkCentre instead. I love the computer, but I hate the hassle of having two machines -- my desktop computer and the laptop. Keeping files in synch, keeping both systems up to date (including anti-virus software), etc., is so much more hassle and expense than it's worth. I loved it when I could just take my laptop with me and know that I had all my files without having to do a synch. Nowadays you can get a ThinkPad with a huge hard disk for not much more money than I paid for my ThinkCentre. I honestly would never buy another desktop machine, I've learned my lesson.

I have a T30 working (albeit with fan issues), a T30 parts machine and a T40 (son's) so we're swimming in Thinkpads here. But that is a very good point I never considered. Maybe I should look for a docking station instead. I already have an external monitor - I need a full sized keyboard so that isn't an issue. I'm going to look into docking stations and thank you so much for an excellent point! I know I can get PCMCIA external sound cards so maybe I should do that instead of a desktop AND the laptop...