first time buyer q's

Message

viniosity · #1 Post by **viniosity** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:26 am

I'm a potential first-time thinkpad owner. Up till now I've only owned Powerbooks but I travel a lot and need something really light and an X40/X41 seems a lot easier to carry around than a 4.6# 12" PBG4. Some questions for the regulars here:

1. Does IBM send you recovery media when you buy a thinkpad? I'm planning on loading linux on this puppy but would like to revert to XP if something goes terribly wrong with the install.

2. I was looking at SKU 2525-6HU which has bluetooth and wifi. Any idea which chipset this is? My Powerbook is using a broadcom chipset which really sucks.

3.How hard is it to upgrade RAM? I was going to get the default 512 and upgrade to 1GB or 1.5GB later. Tough to do?

4. Since weight is my primary concern I think I'll end up with a 4 cell battery. Where's the best place to get one? From IBM directly or some other source?

Thanks in advance..

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:21 pm

viniosity wrote:1. Does IBM send you recovery media when you buy a thinkpad? I'm planning on loading linux on this puppy but would like to revert to XP if something goes terribly wrong with the install.

You can make your own recovery CDs/DVD from the recovery partition. If that fails for some reason, they'll send you a set for free after a bit of prompting on your part.

viniosity wrote:2. I was looking at SKU 2525-6HU which has bluetooth and wifi. Any idea which chipset this is? My Powerbook is using a broadcom chipset which really sucks.

Not sure, sorry.

viniosity wrote:3.How hard is it to upgrade RAM? I was going to get the default 512 and upgrade to 1GB or 1.5GB later. Tough to do?

Piece of cake! http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-54558

viniosity wrote:4. Since weight is my primary concern I think I'll end up with a 4 cell battery. Where's the best place to get one? From IBM directly or some other source?

The units normally come with the 8 cell as standard. Best place for another battery is from IBM when you order the system.

Regards,

James

viniosity · #3 Post by **viniosity** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 10:53 pm

Thanks very much for the reponses! I'm sure about getting a thinkpad of some sort (I hate the windows key on other laptops) but still not sure between the X or the T. I travel a lot and the 5.5# of the powerbook is too much for me. The X is obviously better at 2.7# but I'm concerned that the 12.1" screen won't have enough real estate for my tired eyes. Any experiences (good or bad) with this? Would I be better off trading to a T series, sucking up the extra 3# and getting a bigger screen?

JamesR · #4 Post by **JamesR** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 2:08 am

This is very subjective. I recommend you go look at some 12" LCDs at your local computer store, and make a decision from there.

I have an X, and it took me ages to decide between it and a T! In the end, I'm very happy with the screen - it's more than enough if I manage my windows wisely. And if I need more for something that needs it (like programming), I just plug in an external monitor. The lower weight and smaller size makes it very worth it in my opinion. The only issue I have with the X is the slow video card (compared to what you can get in Ts). I do some coding with OpenGL/DirectX and a good video card is important.

DavidNZ · #5 Post by **DavidNZ** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 4:15 am

Ditto to JamesR. I've done two round-the-world trips (New Zealand - North America - Asia - New Zealand) with my X40 since August and am about to do a third this June. Traveling with the X is pure bliss.

After using it for about four months, I found using it daily with the 12" screen a bit taxing, to be honest. I had a spare 15" Dell LCD at work so I brought that home, ordered the 'travel' USB Thinkpad keyboard with trackpad/trackpoint and haven't looked back. Right now, half the time I use my X it is connected to the external LCD.

My next purchase is the X40 dock, but none available in NZ at the moment (maybe early May). Better than constantly hooking up a monitor, USB keyboard, and USB four-port hub each day.

Let us know what you decide.

viniosity · #6 Post by **viniosity** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:40 am

I agree.. I'm leaning heavily towards the X41. I'm going to get the X4 dock too and hook it up at the office to an external monitor. That means, except for travel, I'll only have to deal with the 12.1" screen surfing at home. And,if my wife has her way, that'll only be for an hour or so each night.

whizkid · #7 Post by **whizkid** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:15 am

Keep in mind that the T series has (at least) two different forms: the 14.1" screen and the 15" screen. The larger screen adds considerable weight. The smaller screen can be had with higher resolution which can be important depending on your tasks while travelling.

viniosity · #8 Post by **viniosity** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:31 am

The last time I was on the road I had to give an impromptu presentation on my powerbook. I didn't use the CD but used a burned image of that CD.. hopefully windows has that capability as well. Other than that maybe 30 minutes checking email and surfing. I think my PSP has vastly changed my expectations from a notebook.

I ended up buying an X41 with a SKU not listed on the website. I managed to get a 60GB drive, bluetooth & wifi, and a CDRW/DVD in the dock. My only complaints are lack of a DVI port and the requirement to get the 8 cell battery instead of the 4 cell.

I'm still 4 weeks away from the happy delivery day but I'm excited nonetheless!

DavidNZ · #9 Post by **DavidNZ** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 1:33 pm

whew! Sounds like a nice purchase. I regret not getting the dock with mine, now that I think about it. I did get a Creative external CD-RW, but a dock with a CD/DVD module would be kinda nice. Still none available in NZ (3 May now).

Congrats on your new purchase. Hope you can write us a little review when you get it.

first time buyer q's

first time buyer q's

Re: first time buyer q's

Who is online