T42 to X4x

[admsteiner]

Hey guys,

I just ordered an X40 for a friend of mine. Looks like a great laptop, so great that I'm considering selling my year old T42 and getting one. I'm leaning towards the X40 over the X41 (for battery power reasons) and don't think I need a tablet.

Just a couple of questions for you guys:
1) How do you find the Atheros card? I have a 2200BG now, but am considering the Atheros card so that I can operate in promiscuous mode...speaking of which, does real promiscuous mode work in Windows with the Atheros card?

2) Has anyone found the orange thinklight to be problematic? I like the white one on the T42 better, though there is glare off of the keys

3) Anything else you think I should take into account when looking at the X40, considering I'm switching from a T42. I'll probably get the powered USB 2 drive as I rarely need it and have a desktop at home. Will probably get a 4 and 8 cell battery also.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

[beq]

FWIW, I've gotten used to the X40 size, that even the 14.1" T43 looks huge now...

2) Has anyone found the orange thinklight to be problematic? I like the white one on the T42 better, though there is glare off of the keys

On an unrelated note, I noticed something funny about my X41 Tablet. The PageUp key still has the ThinkLight label on it just like on our other X and T series notebooks. But there's no light, and pressing Fn+PageUp displays the ThinkLight icon on the screen OSD with an X next to it

[DavidNZ]

Hmmm...what's promiscuous mode? Mine is the IBM b/g card, so suppose that's the Atheros card?

Yellow thinklight is fine - i actually prefer it to the white ones.

I have the 8 cell, but it is *slightly* overkill for me. The longest I've ever necessarily used it on battery power is about 2 hours (for a lecture), so I guess I could have gotten by with the 4-cell. Mind you, and this may sound strange, I actually prefer the look of an X4x with the 8-cell.

Will you get the X media slice/base with it? Make sure you get at least 512MB of ram, but you've probably already thought of that.

[admsteiner]

FWIW, I've gotten used to the X40 size, that even the 14.1" T43 looks huge now..

I know, I'm noticing my laptop is larger and larger every day....

Hmmm...what's promiscuous mode? Mine is the IBM b/g card, so suppose that's the Atheros card?

promiscuous mode allows you to capture all wireless packets, even those not aimed at you. Ethereal has a setting that allows for it. Yes, I meant the IBM card

Mind you, and this may sound strange, I actually prefer the look of an X4x with the 8-cell.

I guess the extra size allows for a good handhold...
I plan on getting 512 or more of RAM, particularly since the integrated graphics will take up regular system RAM.
One of the laptops I'm looking at comes with the base and a combo dvd/cd drive. I would have preferred not getting it and getting the portable powered USB 2.0 drive, but I'm not sure thats in the cards. Gotta get the deal that is available for me...

Now I just have to sell my T42

[beq]

Hey I didn't realize that the T series uses white ThinkLight (which I like). Now that you mention it, I wonder why the X series notebooks use yellow ThinkLight unlike the T series. I can't imagine the yellow color light takes less power or something...

With my X40 I myself like the 4-cell since the size of the notebook is then smaller (WxD) than a letter-size paper. It just feels nice to stack the X40 behind some papers or notebooks and have it be completely hidden

I'd also been carrying around the portable UltraBase in the same bag with my X40 (containing the Multi-Burner Plus Ultrabay Slim drive which is their latest DVD+/-RW burner). It's been tolerable but I guess carrying just a stand-alone drive would be even lighter.

Since I'd spent hundreds $$ on the Multi-Burner Plus drive though, I keep trying to find a way to use it externally as a USB drive for even more portability, rather than spend more money to get a separate USB DVD burner drive. It doesn't help that IBM's own "Powered USB" DVD burner drives are expensive and kinda slow, whereas 3rd-party USB DVD burner drives give you more bang for the buck but don't have the "Powered USB" connector that can plug into your ThinkPad for higher power draw than the standard 5V/2A (2.5W) offered by a normal USB port...

[bhuiyan]

Anything else you think I should take into account when looking at the X40, considering I'm switching from a T42.

Adam,

I also use a T42 at Home, and another T42 at office too, and I also was thinking of lightening up recently. Also I am getting tired of maintaining two machines in Sync. So I took the chance recently to actually use a few smaller laptops. While going through the ThinkPad choices that I could find, like an X31 borrowed for a day from a colleague and after spending some time on a X40 at a local retail shop, I understood that I give up too much on these machines as compared to my T42.

Larger keyboard is good for long time use, CD drive is necessary to install software and to play DVDs, and I like touchpad more than the stick. Besides, I could not really like the X40 palmrest. Too congested for me if I want to use it for long time. While even the X31 did not seem like a mobile person's dream (it's heavy too), the X40 keyboard felt appropriate only for very light work which will last less than 15 minutes each time.

So I really marvel at all the people who are getting their work done with these small wonders. Sadly, I may have to look outside the ThinkPad line (say a Panasonic) for a light computing companion while on the road.

Only my opinion and all standard disclaimers apply.

Regards

Shoaib

[redskin]

Since I'd spent hundreds $$ on the Multi-Burner Plus drive though, I keep trying to find a way to use it externally as a USB drive for even more portability, rather than spend more money to get a separate USB DVD burner drive. It doesn't help that IBM's own "Powered USB" DVD burner drives are expensive and kinda slow, whereas 3rd-party USB DVD burner drives give you more bang for the buck but don't have the "Powered USB" connector that can plug into your ThinkPad for higher power draw than the standard 5V/2A (2.5W) offered by a normal USB port...

beq,

here is one external dvd burner for you that burns at 4X instead of 2X which the IBM one burns, and uses 2 USB port as its main power for reading and writing DVD, CD without requiring external ac adapter at all. it draws its power from the 2 USP ports. here is the link for the external drive which i found cheapest on the internet.


http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.asp?sku=2531548


I hope this helps

[admsteiner]

Shoaib,

Thanks for the input. Again, with all the usual disclaimers, I don't feel like the X40 keyboard is any worse, though the smaller key size does take getting used to, like the palmrest. I'm also a trackpad person, but I've (at least) outgrown my hatred of the trackpoint and use it occasionally. I don't need the DVD drive built in as I use it only for school. Since I travel every day, this laptop is purely for day to day word processing and some programming.

I've heard good thing about the Panasonics, as well as the light Fujitsus, which also have a built in optical drive. Good luck with that.