Thinking about buying an X41 Tablet on E-bay

[kerryh8er04]

So right now I have a T-43 and it's wonderful, except for taking around campus in my backpack. I want something a bit lighter and smaller and leave my T-43 in my room. So I thought why not a tablet?

So my question is if this is a good idea or is the X-41 just to old and I should wait till I have the money and get the X-61 or what ever...

[rkawakami]

I would guess that it would depend upon the task(s) which you need the "lighter and smaller" system to do. If it's just for some note taking or casual web surfing, then even an X2 system could do. I've just received an X41t (1866-1CU; 1.2Ghz) a couple of weeks ago and haven't had too much time playing with it yet (waiting for a dock and deciding on what hard drive or CF adapter I could use). I can say that the system seems to be a little slow to boot and launch programs; installed memory is 1.25GB with the factory XP Tablet image. Most of that could be coming from the (expensive) 4200RPM hard drive; the 40GB C4K60. It definitely is lighter (3lbs, 10oz with 4-cell battery) than any of my 6-cell T41s (5lbs) but slightly heavier than a wireless X22 (3lbs, 8oz). Battery life for the 4-cell X41t is supposed to be fairly low from what I've read; about two to 2 1/2 hours. The overall footprint is about 1.25" narrower than the T41 and about 1/2" deeper than an X22. Thickness is about the same for each system.

If your budget can swing an X61t and you're going to be needing a system which is going to be used for more than just simple Office tasks and web surfing, then by all means get that. The hard drive expansion capabilities are greater, the memory costs are lower and you'll be getting a modern CPU (and maybe even some warranty coverage that's still left on the system).

[davidspalding]

Consider an X32. I bought one in the last month, and I'm delighted. Getting about 3 hours battery life. With a new(er) 7200 rpm drive[1] I'd bought for my T43 (as a second drive), it boots and runs quite fast. And ... it will dock in any of my T43 docks (Port Replicator II, MiniDock, Dock II).

[1] I understand because of the smaller drive profile that the X4x series took, faster hard drives weren't possible. Some are experimenting with using solid state drives (SSDs) for speed and power improvements.

[dwilsonfl]

Lots of threads on the possibilities with the X4x units and SSDs, ZIF drives, etc. Add $100 for a 80 gig 5400 ZIF drive and adapter, or $175 for an SSD and assuming you began fairly low, your net after selling the old HD would be pretty sweet.

I'd have to go way upgrade-wise to beat my X40 on battery life and ease of use wherever.

The tablet doesn't intrigue me at all, and seems heavy and clunky in comparison, as did the X31 I had for a while.

Bottom line - if the cash is there, go as modern as you can. If not, welcome to the "heck yeah I'm cheap" club.

[sjthinkpader]

The X41t worked for me since a family member is already using Wacom pad. So this X41t took the place of a T43p plus a pad. It now has 2.5G RAM, 60GB ZIF HDD, full dock.

Of course cost of battery, stylus, HDD, IDE-ZIF adapter, HDD cover, WiFi card, 2GB RAM, dock were more than the cost of the barebones X41t.

For ultimate portability, X40/X41 are still the pinnacle, about the size of a book.

I went to TTU too!!!

[kerryh8er04]

sweet what did you go for?

[sjthinkpader]

Physics major. At the time it was a tiny department. Is it larger now?

My last house there was at 90th and Slide. Worked for TI after graduation.

[kerryh8er04]

I don't know if it's very big or not... I know a couple of physics guys... most of them are engineering drop outs...

[sjthinkpader]

Sad, in my days it was the other way around.