Just how slow is the X41 Tablet?

[boof]

I need to buy a laptop and am contemplating either the X60s or the X41 tablet. I will be using it for medical school where powerpoint slides are often given for study aids. Taking notes on the slides and studying off them will be the primary use for the laptop.

I keep hearing how slow the X41 tablet is. Although I have a fast desktop, I also have a 6 year old Toshiba laptop with a pentium III 600mhz that seems fast enough for word processing, email, etc. Is the X41 slower than that???

Also, is the unit capable of playing DVDs occasionally without skipping, etc?

Thanks!

[Tazzy]

It's not slow at all

I can play World of Warcraft in 800x600 on it. I did upgrade the memory from 512mb to 1,5gb

[boof]

Nice to know you can play WOW on it! Funny enough, one of the reasons why I am considering the X41 tablet is that it WON'T play most games! A sure way to keep me from wasting too much time goofing around.

[christopher_wolf]

I need to buy a laptop and am contemplating either the X60s or the X41 tablet. I will be using it for medical school where powerpoint slides are often given for study aids. Taking notes on the slides and studying off them will be the primary use for the laptop.

I keep hearing how slow the X41 tablet is. Although I have a fast desktop, I also have a 6 year old Toshiba laptop with a pentium III 600mhz that seems fast enough for word processing, email, etc. Is the X41 slower than that???

Also, is the unit capable of playing DVDs occasionally without skipping, etc?

Thanks!

I would really like to hear, and meet, those who keep saying that the X41 Tablet is slow; I am pretty sure it is either a misconception or more than a little strecthing of the truth being done there to intentionally say "It is slow!" I have given several presentations on the X41 Tablet and, I have to say, it is one of the fastest tablets I have used thus far, perhaps the only one that can compare are the Toshiba tables...although the last one of those I tried seemed to *hate* Powerpoint, thereby making that Toshiba difficult for most presentations. And, because of this, the X41 turned in better performance and was generally quicker.

[tfflivemb2]

Isn't the X41 limited to the 1.8" 4200rpm drive? That might be the reason that some complain that it is slow...they may be used to 7200rpm drives.

[Tab]

I would really like to hear, and meet, those who keep saying that the X41 Tablet is slow; I am pretty sure it is either a misconception or more than a little strecthing of the truth being done there to intentionally say "It is slow!"

http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic ... C_ID=32497

Lenovo has an affordable price on the tablet as part of their father's day sale, but the reports of poor performance keep me away. If the machine is limping along as is, it's not going to be very usable in Vista, missing out on the tablet-related improvements Vista is supposed to bring.

Am I right in thinking that the weird HDD controller will keep the tablet from using Samsung's 1.8" flash drive if they do ever release it?

[K0LO]

Tab:

If you're looking for a small, lightweight tablet PC then the X41T is probably still your best choice. As far as speed goes, I've benchmarked my tablet against my blazingly fast, modern desktop PC and the speed difference is 2:1. For example, opening Word for the first time takes 4 seconds on the X41T versus 2 seconds on the desktop PC. For a portable PC, that's a compromise that I can live with.

As the author of the article that you referenced, I can tell you that you won't be happy with the performace of the machine with the software installation as-delivered by the factory. You have to be willing to reinstall Windows to get the X41T to perform to its full potential. If you do you won't be disappointed.

The machine also runs Linux very well, including pen support. All-in-all, I would still recommend it. It's a great little tablet.

[Tab]

As the author of the article that you referenced, I can tell you that you won't be happy with the performace of the machine with the software installation as-delivered by the factory. You have to be willing to reinstall Windows to get the X41T to perform to its full potential. If you do you won't be disappointed.

The machine also runs Linux very well, including pen support.

Thanks for responding. I appreciate (and am somewhat scared to try) your excellent writeup. Did you write up your Linux experience as well?

Since there is some divide over whether the X41T is slow, I wonder if people could post the model number they have and if they found/find it slow or not. Perhaps Lenovo made some change to the HW or install image which addressed the issue.

[K0LO]

Did you write up your Linux experience as well?

No, not yet, but I probably should do that soon. I've been busy with the latest version 6.06 of Kubuntu, which was released on June 1. It is amazing how many features of the IBM Thinkpads "just work" right out-of-the-box with this distribution. With the addition of ThinkPad Buttons (tpb) and Network Manager, and a little tweaking to enable the Wacom Tablet and Pen, this thing is running almost as well as it does in Windows.

My current "works in progress" are to get the power dissipation down (16 Watts in Linux vs. about 12 Watts in Windows), get external video to work correctly on Fn-F7 (the external video looks like it has some motion to it as if the sync pulses were missing and/or moving around when both INT and EXT monitors are on; it's fine with just INT or just EXT), and to get standby and hibernation to go faster.

Network Manager is really coming along nicely. It automatically turns the Wireless off when you plug in an ethernet cable and vice-versa. They also have WPA encryption working flawlessly. The developers have done a great job on this latest version of K/Ubuntu.

[brainpicker]

Slow? Nope. In fact because they just work so well and things are where I expect them to be I consider them quite fast for general work compared to other small form laptops & tablets from other manufacturers. I'd been wanting another one since selling mine in December when I thought it was a waste to own a tablet computer and not have an interest in using it as a tablet! Why? The screen. Period. Maybe some day I'll figure out how using a tablet as a tablet will save me time, but until then the extra size and weight are worth it for the screen. Yes I looked at a new X60 and didn't see where the extra money was worth it for me, even for the model with the brighter screen. Therefore I bought another X41 tablet last week and another this week. I'll be selling two regular X41's & Docks in the Marketplace here once I have both tablets fully set up as we like. Yes, they are significantly bigger and heavier than my X40's, X41's, and some of the other small-form laptops and tablets I tried along the way, but I keep coming back to the X41 tablet as my favorite. As others have said, they just work the way they should right out of the box (though uninstalling some of the extra software is a must to me). And if you can find one used without screen issues (bad pixels or light leaking from the sides, etc.) they are great screens. I had several bad experiences with screens on new X41's and X41 tablets so I only buy them used now so that I know what I'm getting ahead of time. I see Bill has a tablet and non-tablet X41's for sale at a great prices, and you'll know you'll be getting good screens no matter which form you prefer. And they're not slow!

- Yak

[boof]

I noticed this comment in regards to the X41 tablet’s speed in this user’s blog.

http://www.intuitive.com/blog/thinking_ ... later.html

“The X41 is crippled out of the box by Lenovo for some reason. The processor is configured to run at much lower speeds than advertised, even when on AC power.
You can go into the Bios of the system and easily change this setting. It has made a huge improvement in my experience. I went from being ho-hum with my 1/41 to being in love.”

Aside from the fresh windows installs, has anyone here played with the speed settings in the bios and found any significant differences?

[brainpicker]

Aside from the fresh windows installs, has anyone here played with the speed settings in the bios and found any significant differences?

Yes. The absolute first thing I do to any X4x I receive is go to the BIOS and go through each setting to make it what I found has worked well for me. Only then do I tackle my OS (and other) preference settings, updates, upgrades, uninstalls, and installs. The only exception to this would be that on a brand-new out of the box unit I won't touch the BIOS until I've allowed the machine to finish the first-boot setup process intended by MS & IBM/Lenovo.

- Yak

[upsetter]

Could you let us know what settings you use in your bios? Thanks

[brainpicker]

Could you let us know what settings you use in your bios? Thanks

Send me an e-mail (button below) and I'll send you what I use when I get a free moment.

- Yak