X-series junkie gets a T23

[asiafish]

Just got my near-new T23 (thanks T20user) and have it almost set up the way I want it. XP Professional, 640MB RAM (will soon be 1GB), 7K60 hard drive (very fast) and a cheapo wifi PC card (will get a 3Com XJack card soon enough). I have one concern, and a few observations. First the concern.

The chasis has a bit of flex that I don't remember my old T20 having. If I lift it from the front corners when open, there is about 2 or 3 milimeters of torsional flex in the lower chasis. Is this normal? I tightened all of the external screws and after removing the keyboard tightened the internal ones as well, but it still flexes (not as much as before). Is there an additional level of teardown that is relatively easy, and if so, will doing so lead to more screws I can tighten down?

Okay, sole complaint out of the way. On to the machine itself. Wow, this thing is IMACULATE! I havent' seen such a seen T2x since I bought my T20 new in 1999. The screen is perfect as well. I put it next to my brand-new Toshiba tablet and this one is just as bright and nice. Thats real praise, because my tablet has an excellent screen, better than the X41 it replaced.

The keyboard isn't as good as I remember, and nowhere near the feel of my daughter's X22. Its mushier and requires a much firmer press on each key, which while feeling durable, slows my typing quite a bit. The X22 is about the best laptop keyboard I've ever used, and I remember the T20 being a let-down from the 600E it replaced, but I thought it was better than this (production variance?). It is still worlds better than the cheapo laptops, and about equal to my Toshiba's (excellent, but very different) keyboard.

Its very strange going back to the old-style trackpoint buttons. I'm used to the new style (pioneered on the X20) wiht the blue scroll button in-line and directly between the right and left mouse buttons. I tend to hit the right AND left buttons when reaching for the scroll button, which is lower on this. It just looks and feels strange to me now, though I remember having to adjust to the X-series arrangement when I got my first one a few years back.

XGA on 14 inches is a bit jaggy. Text looks so smooth on a 12" XGA panel, and while ClearType helps, I can see the pixels on the 14". Its not bad, and the extra size makes it easier to read, but I just thought I'd comment.

This thing is VERY fast. My Portege has a 1.66GHz CoreDuo, but this 1.13GHz Pentium IIIm gives it a good run for its money on routine tasks. Even with only 640MB, I've got four applications open and the machine is extremely responsive. I can't wait to install Vista on this and see how it does. I'd imagine it will do fairly well.

It is big and heavy compared to an X-series, but compared to my 12" Portege its quite lean. The Portege is about 1/3" narrower in width, but 1/4" thicker and equally deep. I'd guess that the actual internal volume of the cases are about the same. The T23 weighs a bit more at 5.1lbs compared to 4.5lbs, but the Portege is 4-years newer and has less glass (but adds the pivot hinge and digitizer). Very impressive packaging for a 1999 design, still quite current today.

If it had internal wifi (or an X-jack card) it really would be usable as a primary computer. I'm not used to computers this size anymore, though the Tablet was really pushing back into this size and weight class, so its not much of a stretch.

I think its a keeper, especially if I can figure out how to tighten out that flex.

[pianowizard]

The chasis has a bit of flex that I don't remember my old T20 having. If I lift it from the front corners when open, there is about 2 or 3 milimeters of torsional flex in the lower chasis. Is this normal?

It's variable. I have owned two T23's and the first one was extremely solid whereas the second one's chassis flexed a little bit, though it's still pretty strong. You probably have one of the less rigid ones.

[rkawakami]

Welcome to the T23 club!

The chassis flex seems to be a common issue, which can lead to separation of components from the motherboard. About the only thing you can do is tear it down to the motherboard and then re-assemble, making sure that each screw is firmly tightened. One of my latest T23s came in with a problem with powering up. If left alone on the desk and the power button pressed, the backlight would not come on and sometimes it wouldn't POST. Torquing the front left corner of the base by putting the fingers of my left hand under the laptop while at the same time pressing down on the top left corner of the laptop with my thumb, always allowed the system to power up fine. After tearing it down to just the motherboard in the base, I made sure the CPU was in the socket by unlocking and then locking the screw, then re-assembled the system and it seems to be working fine for the moment.

I thought about trying to stiffen the case under the area where the motherboard sits, but I don't know what I could use. Strips of carbon fiber? More titanium? Don't know, but my suggestion is to lift the entire laptop with both hands and if you need to carry it, use the palm of your hand in the middle of the bottom of the laptop. Don't transport it by holding on to ANY one corner of the system.

(edit: Just realized that I didn't answer one of your questions... If you only removed the keyboard and not the keyboard bezel, then yes there are more screws you can access when you do that. From memory, the ones holding the speaker module onto the motherboard, the one screw holding the hard disk drive frame, the four screws holding the PCMCIA cage onto the motherboard.)

(edit: Corrected typo)

[asiafish]

Is there a good teardown guide out there?

[pianowizard]

Is there a good teardown guide out there?

FAQ, scroll down to #8

[rkawakami]

Hardware Maintenance Manual.

HMM for T2x

(note: Some of the links to IBM and/or Lenovo sites in the last several days seem to have been broken. You may encounter a "support has moved" page. Try using the search box on that page to find the document. In this case, "+hmm +index +thinkpad" works pretty well.)

(edit: Corrected typo, blah!)

[asiafish]

Thanks, I think a tear-down is in order. I want it TIGHT as a cheerleader's, ... pom pom

[Musti]

I can't wait to install Vista on this and see how it does. I'd imagine it will do fairly well.

Welcome to the T23 clan!

On your Vista note, prepare to be unpleasantly surprised, so the saying goes. I had the same line of thinking, "hey, this laptop flies with XP, so it must be more than reasonably good under Vista". No sir. Not only T23 crawled, but it also got hot, with near-constant fan activity. I think Vista has some way to go before becoming laptop-friendly, among other things.

[dorronto]

Thanks, I think a tear-down is in order. I want it TIGHT as a cheerleader's, ... pom pom

Now that would be a TIGHT.......................T23????????

Never heard that expression before. Must be a West coast thing.

Good luck Andrew. You just beat me on that T23. I always have to justify buys first. So what do I do, I buy a really nice T40!! Go figure.

Ron

[ambientscape]

Thanks, I think a tear-down is in order. I want it TIGHT as a cheerleader's, ... pom pom

You might wanna share some pictures of your "T23 pimping" process. I'm sure....everyone here wants to see it...

[x3ss]

:arrow::arrow::arrow: w00t!

[pianowizard]

On your Vista note, prepare to be unpleasantly surprised

I have run Vista on an X40 (1.2GHz Pentium M, 1.5GB RAM, 4200rpm HDD, up to 64MB integrated graphics) and it was pretty slow indeed. It will be interesting to see whether Andrew's 7200rpm HDD and 1GB RAM will enable his T23 to run faster.

[x3ss]

i belive you were running the beta version of Vista, not?
the final version is a lot better and has much better drivers integrated...i saw the differnce on my PC with only 512 ddr2 on it and a sempron cpu...the final version was fast and verry pretty with aero enabled.

[asiafish]

I'm WAY too lazy to do the pictures, though I will share the results. Its not too bad as it is, but being the perfectionist that I am, I'll to get it perfect.

Three days in and I'm really liking this T23. Just ordered my X-jack card today, and should go hunting for the 512MB module tomorrow or Monday.

[pianowizard]

Its not too bad as it is, but being the perfectionist that I am, I'll to get it perfect.

If you're going to run Vista on it, you will need to make it the world's best T23. Are you going to upgrade the processor as well? The fastest T23 has 1.2GHz PIII, but I found two even faster mobile PIII's on the Intel site (SL637, 1.26GHz, and SL6CS, 1.33GHz), would one of those work on the T23? Also, what version of Vista are you going to install?

[asiafish]

No processor upgrade, just the 1.13GHz that it came with. I have RC2, but will wait until the retail release on January 30 and get Vista Business, which is what I will install.

I am buying Vista for my tablet PC, but will try it out on the T23, and if performance is acceptable, I'll get a second license.