Thinking of Buying an X41 tablet

[TheHimself]

Thinking of buying an X41 tablet on eBay. I want a lightweight tablet but don't want to spend $1500 on an X200. X41's specifications look pretty good with a 1.6GHz CPU and 1.5 GB RAM. I'm not sure whether I should go for a X61 for about double the price.

Right now I have an Inspiron 6000 (with 1.7 GHz and 2 GB RAM) which I use as a desktop and a Lenovo S10. I use computer for browsing the web, reading pdf documents and editing LaTex files (all at the same time!). I'm quite satisfied with Inspiron 6000's performance but can't move it around. Lenovo s10 is small and lightweight but it's screen and keyboard are small and it gets hot often. X41 is less than a pound heavier than s10 which I guess must be easy to carry around.

How long should I expect the 8 cell battery of a used X41 to last?

So, what is your suggestion? How different is X61 tablet from X41 tablet?

[astroidea]

I have an X41 Tablet w/2GB DDR2 64GB Kingspec SSD as well as a Core2Quad 3.5GHz desktop with 4GB DDR3 and 1TB HDD.

I can tell you for web browsing, taking notes on onenote, reading PDF's, viewing photos, my desktop is no faster than my X41. In fact, photoshop loads in half the time on my X41 compared to my desktop due to the SSD.

However, for the price of my X41 with SSD and ram upgrade makes the cost comparable to the X61 tablet. However, it might be faster than a stock X61 tablet when you consider the X41 has the SSD.

Web browsing/book reading/word processing will not use much of your processor at all to reap any benefits of a dual core. I'm not sure what LaTeX is though. But on the other hand, multitasking will require an adequate amount of ram, in which 2GB should be enough for multitasking on a 12" 1024x768 screen.

But then again, you'd want to consider that X61 comes standard with a 1280x800 screen and up to a 1440x900 screen, which can help with multitasking.

[Temetka]

For your usage pattern, an X41T will work just fine. Here are a few caveats though:

1. 1.8" HD which can be a small problem as standard 2.5" laptop drives wont fit. However there are SSD's and drives up to 120GB in size available. No SATA.

2. The 915 chipset limits RAM to 2GB. So even if you get the 1.6GHz model with 512MB soldered to the motherboard and install an additional 2GB of RAM the most your system will have useable is 2GB.

3. The 915 GPU is not Aero capable. There is no WDDM driver available for it, nor will there ever be. This is not a problem for most users. If you planning on running Linux I can tell you the Compiz works just fine on this machine.

With an 8-cell bettery and power usage set to medium you should be able to get 4-5 hours out of it no problem.

Keep in mind the system does not have an optical drive built in so you will need to load your OS of choice from a network, a USB flash stick, or a USB optical drive.

All that being said I love my X41T, it is truly a trooper and a wonderfully built machine.

[j-dawg]

If you are considering an SSD, you may also consider the X60 or X61 tablets. The price will be a little higher than the X41 + SSD combo but you get more with it.

e.g.: C2D, considerably more powerful than the Pentia and dual-core for better multitasking. The standard screen is the 1024 * 768 clunker but you can get the 1400 * 1050 beast and that is very nice. Hard drive upgrade options are much better, and SSDs are on the way for ~$100 - not very big, but they do the trick. DDR2 RAM is cheap and with the X61 you can have more than you'll know what to do with. Finally, you'll probably get computers in better shape owing to their younger age. Build quality on my X61 tablet is great - definitely better than the few T61s I've used.

All that said, the X41 is smaller, lighter, and cheaper. So you'll need to consider how you'll be using it and how much you want to spend on it.

[sjthinkpader]

We are using X60s/X61s/X200s in the office now. Users reported build quality is worst than generations before. In the office, we skipped X40/X41 generation.

I am using X40/X41 generation at home mostly with SSDs and everybody likes them so far. No I didn't spent arm and a leg for them.

Unless users is a designer, multi-touch is actually a key feature for tablets. This is not available on Thinkpad Tablets until X200 Tablets. This is where finger can be used instead of stylus similar to iPhone, iPads. New tablet pricing will drop quickly with iPads priced around $500-$800.

[TheHimself]

Thank you for your replies.

So, no SATA drives can be used with X41 but one can use SSD or external drives?


Is it easy to find a new battery if the battery dies?

[Temetka]

Correct.

There are not SATA drives that can be used with the machine.

There are SSD drive's that can be used with the machine.

Batteries can be found in the marketplace here, or e-bay. I am not sure if you can still get them brand new from Lenovo. That being said I have seen new OEM batteries on e-bay for about $65 shipped.

[Investinwaffles]

It is hard to find OEM batteries now, and you can upgrade to a PATA SSD, but note that you are limited to PATA speeds.

My opinion, skip the X4x series and just get an X6x-tablet. Dual core is worlds faster than the Pentium M (although it is enough for day-to-day use), Newer graphics chipset (915 chipset is sooo dated), more ram, etc.

I dont want to say that you will regret getting the X41-t, but you will definitely feel the age on it compared to an X60-t

[TheHimself]

I ordered an X61 at last. Can't wait to receive it.

[TheHimself]

I received it (X61t ) today. It's good stuff. I like the keyboard a lot. Although the screen is kind of 'gloomy'.