Buying a X21... please answer before it's too late.

[johniemi]

Some newbie questions I have about a IBM X21. I hope you can answer soon because the machine is at a local internet auction and is ending in a few days.

I'll tell you a bit of my portable history before I ask the questions I have (to see the questions, just skip to the end of this message if you don't want to hear me whine about a Toshiba laptop)

[begin rant]
I bought a video-cassette size Toshiba Libretto 100CT off ebay some time ago and I was really really disappointed by:
1) The useless keyboard. I read reviews in the net where Libretto fanatics claimed that although small, the keyboard would be very very good for even long typing sessions... yeah right!
2) Lack of connections; for RJ45 (network cable) I had to buy a PCMCIA card... for USB I had to buy a PCMCIA card... for floppy I had to buy a PCMCIA floppy... and I still haven't got the CD-rom drive because I got frustrated with all this stupidity. No PS/2 port, no serial port, not anything except two PCMCIA slots onboard!
3) Battery is now nearly dead and a new one costs 80$. This is the point when I packed up the Libretto and decided to buy a real laptop.
[end rant]

So my questions conserning the IBM X21 (or X2* series actually);
1) Is the keyboard good? My main office use is typing, typing and typing
2) Which connectors can be found on-board, without the Media Slice/Ultrabase
3) Is Ultrabase and Media Slice the same thing?
4) Should I buy a Ultrabase or can I get the same benefit just by plugging in a USB floppy and a USB cd/dvd-drive?
5) Are there any speakers on-board? I am confused as someone said that the Media Slice brings you speakers.
6) Is there anything peculiar, weird or strange with this X2* series that I should know about. Really. Anything? I just want to win the x21 auction and then get all needed peripherals etc. BEFORE the item is shipped to me. You know, I'd really like to start using it once I get it... not like with the Libretto where I first got the computer, then ordered the PCMCIA floppy, then had to order an another PCMCIA card... then later some USB cards... and and... My win98 installation actually took me 2 weeks because I had to wait for all the parts in the mail...

-John

[snife]

1) Is the keyboard good? My main office use is typing, typing and typing
I have no problem using it and i am fussy about keyboards - better than any other similar size laptop although not as good as an external sprung key keyboard obviously.

2) Which connectors can be found on-board, without the Media Slice/Ultrabase
You have 2 usb, headphone, line-out and mic, RJ45, RJ11 and VGA ports (i think thats them all) but also a type II compact flash and a type II PCMCIA slot

3) Is Ultrabase and Media Slice the same thing?
They are the same thing - i dont know who the hell started calling them media slices but the name bugs me

4) Should I buy a Ultrabase or can I get the same benefit just by plugging in a USB floppy and a USB cd/dvd-drive?
Buy an ultrabase - they are the best feature of ultraportable ThinkPads - giving you the choice of what to take with you and also operating like a mini port replicator. USB FDD / CD access is slow and external drives bug me too and if non IBM (ie non expensive) then you will run into problems with booting etc most likely.

5) Are there any speakers on-board? I am confused as someone said that the Media Slice brings you speakers.
Mono speaker on board - ultrabase gives you stereo.

[bhtooefr]

The keyboard feels kinda like a neutered Model M, but you HAVE to push it down all the way for it to register, unlike on a real Model M, where you can let go when it clicks.

Good to know that the Librettos are crap - I had put some drool on the Libretto sites.

[johniemi]

Actually, they are not crap... it just didn't do what I wanted it to, and I believed too much hype from a few libretto users conserning the keyboard. Now I realize that they must not have used it for heavy office typing but instead something light - maybe a few emails now and then or something like that.

I'm not going to sell my Libretto though because it does have it's uses. The small size makes it perfect for my car project where I need a in-car PC to control the engine characteristics (ignition, fuel mapping).

It IS a full-powered PC in a tiny package but the downside is that the hardware is old, thus newer OS's don't run that great. I've become a part of the XP-generation computer users where we have become so used to everything being automated or ran thru a step-by-step wizard that we can no longer configure stuff manually... so I never even got the network card to work with the Libretto's Win98se, thus I never could transfer files into it with any other method than floppy or the slow serial connection and that was the other reason why I went for a newer IBM x-series - so I could use Windows XP and throw my brains out of the window and let XP configure everything.

So if you know what you're doing and can truly cope with Win98se, go ahead, buy a Libretto. At least they're small

PS. DISCLAIMER: These opinions reflect the old 166Mhz pentium Libretto's (100ct), there are newer models that would have been better but as my budget for a laptop was and is around 200-500$... well... enough said.

-John

[bhtooefr]

Well, I've heard that the keyboard and pointing stick are even worse on the Libretto U100 (the $2000 successor to the 110CT (well... there were some Japanese models after the 110CT, but for all practical purposes...) that uses a Pentium M) Of course, looking at some pics, they didn't use the earlier design with the pointing stick on the back of the screen...

IMO, the X21 is just about the smallest that I could imagine being useful (well, thinner and lighter is always better, but I couldn't imagine narrower, or much less depth - there's JUST enough palm rest as it is).

[johniemi]

Well, I've heard that the keyboard and pointing stick are even worse on the Libretto U100 (the $2000 successor to the 110CT (well... there were some Japanese models after the 110CT, but for all practical purposes...) that uses a Pentium M) Of course, looking at some pics, they didn't use the earlier design with the pointing stick on the back of the screen...

Heh, funny you should say that. Just a few minutes ago I read my Libretto mailing list digest and people were sharing their opinions on the U100 pointing device. All the comments were positive! I guess it's just a matter of personal taste and/or if you have just blown $2000 into a laptop, you don't want to admit that one of the main peripherals suck big time

IMO, the X21 is just about the smallest that I could imagine being useful (well, thinner and lighter is always better, but I couldn't imagine narrower, or much less depth - there's JUST enough palm rest as it is).

That's why I bought one too