Reasons for keeping my X41

[berlin]

1.5GHZ 1GB RAM X41

This board seem to consider X40/41 as the worst Thinkpads in history and I kind of agree. I actually wanted to sell mine, however, I've decided to keep it.

On reboot, my 800mhz T21 can actually surf the web just as fast as my X41, but only to experience bottleneck somewhere after several pages have loaded.

So like the rest, I was initially disappointed with its hard drive for slowing things down. Shopping for an X60, I still wanted the smallest possible HD (but faster) since I never make it a habit of storing files in my C: drive, especially with laptops. So what's the point?

I also wanted a desktop which makes the X60 the best candidate but I've decided to build a watercooled pc.

Type of user:

--Webmaster but strictly Fireworks and Cuteftp, no Photoshop or Frontpage.
--4 hour lectures. An X30 would die before class is over and I'd be lucky to find a power outlet. My X41 batteries last 4.5 hours or more.
--Traveler
--Non-gamer except for DEFCON
( http://www.introversion.co.uk/defcon/ab ... shots.html )


Question:

Will maxing out the ram eat up the battery ?
I'm also planning to install Vista.

[boon]

somehow I tend to like the x40 series more mostly because I don't think it runs hot compare to other X series. Not sure the temp of x40/41 but I know for sure it runs cooler than x31/32, and especially the x60/60s.

The laptop itself doesn't run hot but because of the small form laptop and the bottom base can absorb the heat makes it bothers for me when laptop is on my lap.

another thing worth mention is when the new solid state hard drive is
out and a cheaper price, the x40/41 will obviously be better than all the series.

I don't actually put alot of things in my laptop so I don't care much on the RPM as I did bought the x31 with 20gb 4200RPM and I find it runs decent still. I would still prefer to buy the x40 or x41 but because of the higher price I just gotta stick with x31, otherwise I would have trade mine.

[underclocker]

This board seem to consider X40/41 as the worst Thinkpads in history and I kind of agree.

I disagree that this board illicits that feeling and I disagree personally. I own two X40's and not only do they seem well made, they perform quite well.

While the X40's are thinner than any other TP, they are surprisingly durable. I've owned X20-X24's and these are a nice upgrade. The X2x's may feel a little more solid, but they should, they weigh 3/4 lb. more. Remember, 3/4 lb. is more than 25% of an X40's entire weight!

Many have complained about the 1.8" drives, but to me, they are no different than the 2.5" 4200rpm drives. They are not speed demons and can not be upgraded with faster drives, but they are not slow. They work just fine.

The X40 is one of my favorite TP's of all time.

[solitude]

maxing out ram will actually reduce battery drain, because the hdd doesnt have to spin up.

vista will crawl on an x40, its not worth it imo. if you want flashy graphics, pop gentoo linux on with beryl/compiz.

and finally, with my X31, with its 6 cell battery, I get almost 5 hours batt life (on super power saver), with the extended battery i have, I get around 9 consistantly, and sometimes 10.

I use this for all my lectures and leave it on standby in between.

It gets me through pretty much a whole day of work.

That said, an X41 with the ULV PM 1.2, and twin 8 cell batts can eek out almost 12 hours.

[codek]

is there a comparison thread or link where we show the x40 x41's to be the worst thinkpads in history...

[vincentfox]

I'm curious about the comment on the X41, are you implying the 41 gets better or worse battery time than the X40?

I've been thinking about picking up an X40/41 in the near future on EBay. Trying to decide which is "better". I am less concerned about raw CPU than about decent performance and long battery life. I have an X23 right now and am not chasing the Vista beast EVER.

[dr_st]

I don't think it was as much as considering the X4x series to be "worst Thinkpads in history". It's just that it's normal to expect that technology always moves forward, so a new line of computers is expected to be faster than the previous line. With the X4x series, IBM/Lenovo's goal was to make the laptop as small and as light as possible, and to achieve that they used some performance-limiting hardware, namely the ULV processors and the 4200RPM hard drives, which made them noticeably slower than their predecessors, the X3x series. And naturally, they were somewhat frowned upon.

[codek]

I don't think it was as much as considering the X4x series to be "worst Thinkpads in history". It's just that it's normal to expect that technology always moves forward, so a new line of computers is expected to be faster than the previous line. With the X4x series, IBM/Lenovo's goal was to make the laptop as small and as light as possible, and to achieve that they used some performance-limiting hardware, namely the ULV processors and the 4200RPM hard drives, which made them noticeably slower than their predecessors, the X3x series. And naturally, they were somewhat frowned upon.

that being said how are the x60 ulv? are they noticeably slower?

[solitude]

[quote="codek"]
that being said how are the x60 ulv? are they noticeably slower?[/quote]

theyre faster. much faster. with better batt life too,

[pianowizard]

This board seem to consider X40/41 as the worst Thinkpads in history and I kind of agree.

I disagree that this board illicits that feeling and I disagree personally.

I actually agree with the OP because many members on this board (including myself) have criticized the X40/41's slow but ultra-expensive HDDs. I owned an X40 for almost a year and was constantly struggling whether or not to keep it. There were five things that I didn't like about my particular X40:

1) I found the HDD speed tolerable, but every now and then I wished it was faster
2) The HDD made frequent, loud clicking noise
3) Both the palmrest and the bottom could get quite warm
4) While the weight was pretty light (2.78 lbs), my Toshiba Portege R100 was even lighter (2.38 lbs) and I ended up traveling exclusively with the Toshiba, letting the X40 collect dust.
5) Its low display resolution (XGA).