Questions about X3x and X4x

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djpharoah · #1 Post by **djpharoah** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:34 am

I am currently thinking of selling/trading in my T41p for an X series cuz I think Im out of the gaming stage and would rather have a smaller and definitely lighter laptop.

1) Are the hdds 2.5" or 1.8"? Can I fit in a 7k2 drive in there?

2) Which of these series has a better video card? (just curious as I might dabble in XGL with linux - no gaming as I have outgrown it)

3) Are the docking stations the same for these? Can the dock hold a dvd-burner?

4) Are extended batteries available for these laptops?

#2 Post by **tomh009** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 10:22 am

X40/X41 use 1.8" hard disks (not my favourite!) but all other X series use industry-standard 2.5" disks. Lots of people (including me) are running X31s, X32s and X60s with 7200 rpm Hitachi 7K100 drives or the Seagate equivalents.

X30 uses Intel 830 integrated graphics. X31 and X32 use ATI Radeon. X40 uses Intel 855 integrated graphics and X41 uses Intel 915 integrated graphics. My gut feel is that you'll get the best graphics performance from the X31 and X32.

The port replicators are shared, but the Ultrabase is different foe X3 and X4. Ultrabase can indeed take a DVD burner.

Extended batteries are available for both X3 and X4 series (different form factors), with 6+ hours of battery life.

Personally, I've been very happy with my X31. And there are brand new ones on sale on eBay, going for about $500 ... look for seller squaredeal63.

djpharoah · #3 Post by **djpharoah** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:11 am

Thanks for the advice. I dont know whether I should do this now or maybe once I get my gaming desktop setup in a few months. Right now my T41p is my gamer/work horse.

Another question I forgot to mention is with regard to the memory situation: Whats the max? WHat kind of memory does it take and I heard about some being build in?

#4 Post by **tomh009** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:06 pm

For base and max memory, the best references (especially for browsing) are tabook and tawbook:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... tabook.pdf
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... awbook.pdf

Unfortunately Lenovo appears not to be updating tawbook any more, so there is a gap between the two for recently-discontinued models. You can also look up model specs by model number on the Lenovo support site:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do

So, for example, if you look up the model that's available on eBay (2673-Y13), you can see the following:

P M 1.6GHz, 512MB RAM, 30GB 4200rpm HDD, 12.1 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, Cisco 802.11b wireless(MPCI), Modem(CDC), 1Gb Ethernet(LOM), Secure Chip, 6 cell Li-Ion battery, WinXP Pro

Hard disk rather small and slow, but you want to up that anyway. I think it has a single 512 MB module, which means you could add a 1 GB PC2700 DDR SODIMM to get to 1.5 GB. If it's actually two modules, you'd need to remove one and you'd end up with about 1.3 GB.

If you do want an X31, these are a great deal, given that they are new and have 15 months of warranty left still. You would just need a set of recovery CDs to reinstall XP on it.

#5 Post by **JaneL** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:11 pm

tomh009 wrote:Unfortunately Lenovo appears not to be updating tawbook any more, so there is a gap between the two for recently-discontinued models.

There's no curiosity any more:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... /psref.txt

#6 Post by **tomh009** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:41 pm

Ah -- it's ltwbook that I need, and I'll just keep a local copy of the old tawbook for reference.

Thanks, Nonny!

pianowizard · #7 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:55 pm

This X31 on eBay looks like a good deal. Check it out!

#8 Post by **tomh009** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:57 pm

pianowizard wrote:This X31 on eBay looks like a good deal. Check it out!

Very nice! It's 1.4 GHz, only 256 MB and no Ultrabase, but at $395 it's definitely a nice price!

pianowizard · #9 Post by **pianowizard** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:38 pm

And here's a nicely priced X40 with docking station.

djpharoah · #10 Post by **djpharoah** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:48 pm

Looks nice but since the X3- series is the only one that can take a 2.5" 7200rpm drive I guess Im looking for those.

man that X31 looks hot however it doesnt have the ultra dock with it.

#11 Post by **tomh009** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 7:50 pm

djpharoah wrote:Looks nice but since the X3- series is the only one that can take a 2.5" 7200rpm drive I guess Im looking for those.

man that X31 looks hot however it doesnt have the ultra dock with it.

Here you go ... seven brand-new (ie never-used) X31s complete with ultrabases, 1.6 GHz and 512 MB. Take your pick:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... isposition

If you look at their completed items (they list one a day), almost all the X31s have sold for between $465 and $530.

dizzyspell · #12 Post by **dizzyspell** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:38 pm

Actually I picked one of those babies up (1.6 Ghz for a little over $500). They're brand spankin' new, but don't come with any OS installed. They don't have no drive either, so some creative drive-switching will be required to get an OS on there. I have another X31 with a defect Mobo so I'll just switch the drives around. That doesn't void any warranty does it?

#13 Post by **tomh009** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:47 pm

dizzyspell wrote:Actually I picked one of those babies up (1.6 Ghz for a little over $500). They're brand spankin' new, but don't come with any OS installed. They don't have no drive either, so some creative drive-switching will be required to get an OS on there. I have another X31 with a defect Mobo so I'll just switch the drives around. That doesn't void any warranty does it?

That should be fine. The drives in the ones from eBay are pretty small anyway. The other option would be to boot from an external USB drive. (They used to include an Ultrabase -- I guess not any more?)

Did you look for a replacement mobo for your other X31?

dizzyspell · #14 Post by **dizzyspell** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 4:01 pm

tomh009 wrote:They used to include an Ultrabase -- I guess not any more?

Did you look for a replacement mobo for your other X31?

In some auctions, they include the plain X3 base, which has no drive. It's more a port-enhancer than a dock.

I looked for X31 mobos but you can't really find 'em anywhere. So I'm keeping my kaput X31 for parts etc.

edthink · #15 Post by **edthink** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:09 am

This might be a very dumb question ---

would an optical drive for the 570 ultrabase work in the x3 ultrabase? (I don't have an X3x yet so cannot look at or try this out)

epbrown · #16 Post by **epbrown** » Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:58 am

Nope, they're different generations.

shalliday · #17 Post by **shalliday** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:31 pm

Just wondering if the DDR PC2700 2.5V SO-DIMM memory, required for the X31, needs a 184 or 200 pin connection, or will both fit equally well?

pianowizard · #18 Post by **pianowizard** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:53 pm

shalliday wrote:184 or 200 pin connection, or will both fit equally well?

All PC2700 notebook modules have 200 pins, whereas all PC2700 desktop modules have 184 pins and are much bigger. The X31 requires 200-pin modules.

shalliday · #19 Post by **shalliday** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:56 am

Here you go ... seven brand-new (ie never-used) X31s complete with ultrabases, 1.6 GHz and 512 MB. Take your pick:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... isposition

If you look at their completed items (they list one a day), almost all the X31s have sold for between $465 and $530.

Thank you for posting the link. Dropped over to eBay to check it out and ended up bidding and winning one of the X31 1.6 GHz with 512 MB and 30 GIG Hard Drive. From what I could tell none listed had an ultrabase included but did have a 30 GIG Hard Drive, at least the one I purchased does.

My wife is gonna kill me for this.

It's gonna take some fast talking to explain why I suddenly need to have three thinkpads. In the past 30 days I have gone from owning zero to now owning three. Ordered my T60p and while I was waiting for it to be delivered, I purchased an X31 1.4MHz from a college of mine at work for $550. Fell in love with the X31's small form factor, light weight and simple, yet highly efficient design. Even after my T60p arrived, I continued to grap the X31 to use around the house. Its so lightweight and easy to use. Decided I would upgrade it to a 7200 RPM 100 GIG Hard Drive, Bluetooth, IBM B/G Wireless and 2 GIG RAM. Now all the parts on order or waiting to be installed, I checked out the 1.6MHz in the link listed above and ended up purchasing it as well. Seriously wondering if I have developed some type of thinkpad addition.

Now I need to figure out what to do with all these thinkpads. Thinking of doing the upgrades to the 1.6MHz instead of the 1.4MHz since it works great just as it is. Well, I now have a few days to sort all this out. Any thoughts and suggestions?

boon · #20 Post by **boon** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:34 pm

you could sell the t60p as it does cost alot too. But that's just a thought

the 1.6ghz sure is a keeper.

ack now you got me hooked too

pianowizard · #21 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:19 pm

shalliday wrote:I checked out the 1.6MHz in the link listed above and ended up purchasing it as well.

Why get two X31's? If you ever get yet another Thinkpad, I strongly recommend you to try a different model, not because the X31 is bad but because it's more fun to experience a varierty of Thnkpads. Most other X-series Thinkpads are even lighter than the X31 and so you might like them even more.

shalliday · #22 Post by **shalliday** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 2:49 pm

Having given it some thought, I have to agree. I will most likely apply the upgrades to the new X31 1.66MHz and then when all is done and working, sell the X31 1.4 MHz. I really don't need a T60p and two X31 thinkpads and surprisingly, my wife strongly agrees.

#23 Post by **tomh009** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:14 pm

pianowizard wrote:Most other X-series Thinkpads are even lighter than the X31 and so you might like them even more.

Only the X40/X41 and the X60 are lighter; X2 series and the X30/X32 weigh about the same as the X31. And the X4 series use the dreaded 1.8" hard disks, with rather sleep-inducing performance.

Now, the X60 is another matter, but you can't buy those for $500, at least not yet ...

pianowizard · #24 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:24 pm

tomh009 wrote:Only the X40/X41 and the X60 are lighter; X2 series and the X30/X32 weigh about the same as the X31

Tom, this seems to be your favorite topic, too!

This guy weighs all of his Thinkpads (like me), and these are his measurements:

X20: 1.49 kg = 3.28 lbs
X31: 1.65 kg = 3.64 lbs
X40: 1.24 kg = 2.73 lbs
X60: 1.44 kg = 3.17 lbs
X60#2: 1.43 kg = 3.15 lbs

And while I haven't owned an X3*, I have owned quite a few others and here are my measurements:

X20#1: 3.46 lbs (PIII & XGA)
X20#2: 3.15 lbs (Celeron & SVGA)
X20#3: 3.17 lbs (Celeron & SVGA)
X21: 3.47 lbs
X22#1: 3.48 lbs (with internal wireless)
X22#2: 3.39 lbs
X40#1: 2.76 lbs
X40#2: 2.77 lbs
X40#3: 2.78 lbs
X40#4: 3.24 lbs (with 8-cell battery)
X41 tablet: 4.14 lbs (with 8-cell battery)
X60s: 2.89 lbs (with a non-ultralight LCD)
X61 tablet: 3.84 lbs (with 4-cell battery and SXGA+ screen)

**UPDATED on 5 July 2007 to add the weight for a newly acquired X21**

**UPDATED on 9 March 2008 to add measurements from recently acquired units**

#25 Post by **tomh009** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:34 pm

I do have to admit that I love the portability of the X31 -- maybe I'll change my mind once I buy an X60, but I travel a lot and use my X31 everywhere (as my nearly 800 battery cycles will attest!) and I don't find the weight to be an issue at all. To me it's the perfect (for its time, at least!) compromise between portability and performance. But of course it's all relative ...

With regard to the X2/X3 weights, the SVGA models were indeed a fair bit lighter (though I don't quite understand why) but the other models were within about 5% of the weight of the X3 series.

I was originally tempted by the X40, but I'm very, very happy I didn't get it. I probably wouldn't even buy an X60s as the CPU performance is substantially lower than on the X60 models -- and my ThinkPad is my primary system. But that decision isn't here today yet ...

pianowizard · #26 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 3:38 pm

tomh009 wrote:With regard to the X2/X3 weights, the SVGA models were indeed a fair bit lighter (though I don't quite understand why)

The LCD lid is thinner, which IMO also makes the laptop look sexier.

BTW, I am remembering the weight of my 3rd X20. It was 3.17 lbs.

#27 Post by **underclocker** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:25 pm

I vaguely recall that the low end models actually had 4-cell batteries, which reduced the weight.

boon · #28 Post by **boon** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:44 pm

pianowizard wrote:
tomh009 wrote:Only the X40/X41 and the X60 are lighter; X2 series and the X30/X32 weigh about the same as the X31

X20#1: 3.46 lbs (PIII & XGA)
X20#2: 3.15 lbs (Celeron & SVGA)
X20#3: 3.17 lbs (Celeron & SVGA)
X22#1: 3.48 lbs (with internal wireless)
X22#2: 3.39 lbs
X40: 2.76 lbs
X60s: 2.89 lbs

are the x31, x40 and x60 measurements are with or without the battery? I recall from lenovo website showing same measurement without battery.

pianowizard · #29 Post by **pianowizard** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:02 pm

boon wrote:are the x31, x40 and x60 measurements are with or without the battery?

All the measurements that I made and that I copied from that Japanese "Thinkpad Love" site included the battery: 6-cell battery for the X31 and 4-cell for all the others. My X60s weighed 3.46 lbs with an 8-cell battery.

seneca · #30 Post by **seneca** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 2:21 pm

I love my X40, even though it has it's limitations. First and foremost being the harddrive, due to it's deprecated connector (since there's only one manufacturer that makes them).

But I've come to terms with the reality that I _need_ a light and portable lappy, not a performance beast.

Btw, I recommend everyone of you to try Kubuntu, especially the coming release (7.04). The memory handling and preemptive kernel really speeds up your day to work.

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