Thinkpads Forum

a dedicate graphic controller such ATI or NVidia with mucho DDR3 VRAM.
My cousin just got a Dell XPS M1210 (Sub notebook), it is very nice and has all bell and whistle, Core 2 Duo and webcam builtin, but the very impressive thing on that laptop is Nvidia 256MB graphic controller ...
Wish IBM will has this in their next X series
LD

I'd rather have a sub-3 pound notebook that's not widescreen/glossy. That dedicated graphics card is only 64MB with up to 192MB shared (coming out of the system memory). Plus the Dell doesn't offer a low voltage processor...

The XPS is geared toward a different audience than the X60/s.

ludu35 wrote:My cousin just got a Dell XPS M1210 (Sub notebook)

At 4.37 lbs, it's too heavy to be considered a subnotebook, but is instead a "think and light" laptop.

smvp6459 wrote:I'd rather have a sub-3 pound notebook that's not widescreen/glossy. That dedicated graphics card is only 64MB with up to 192MB shared (coming out of the system memory). Plus the Dell doesn't offer a low voltage processor...

The XPS is geared toward a different audience than the X60/s.

256MB dedicaed memory, not shared ....

opps, forgot i am in a diehard thinkpad forum

LD

The XPS has 64MB dedicated. Look at footnote #12 on Dell's own site:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs


At 4.37 pounds it just doesn't seem that special.

You can get a 14.1 inch T60p with a real 256MB dedicated graphics card and it can weigh 4.6 pounds. And it comes out to be less than the XPS. I'm not die hard Thinpad person, I just don't think the XPS is anything amazing.

smvp6459 wrote:The XPS has 64MB dedicated. Look at footnote #12 on Dell's own site:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs


At 4.37 pounds it just doesn't seem that special.

You can get a 14.1 inch T60p with a real 256MB dedicated graphics card and it can weigh 4.6 pounds. And it comes out to be less than the XPS. I'm not die hard Thinpad person, I just don't think the XPS is anything amazing.

Opps, you RIGHT
Thanks for the link smvp6459
LD

smvp6459 wrote:The XPS has 64MB dedicated. Look at footnote #12 on Dell's own site:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/pr ... l=en&s=dhs


At 4.37 pounds it just doesn't seem that special.

You can get a 14.1 inch T60p with a real 256MB dedicated graphics card and it can weigh 4.6 pounds. And it comes out to be less than the XPS. I'm not die hard Thinpad person, I just don't think the XPS is anything amazing.

smvp6459
I am using T43p now, too heavy, my next laptop must be a lot lighter with everything and NON built-in Intel Graphics card

My T42p is considered thin and portable to me. I can't imagine owning a X60 series laptop, too small to me, specially with the XGA screen.

ludu35 wrote:I am using T43p now, too heavy, my next laptop must be a lot lighter with everything and NON built-in Intel Graphics card

This reminds me of a comment that I made several days ago. Both the T and the X series are great, but there needs to be something in between, something in the 4 lb range with a built-in optical drive, and perhaps a dedicated graphics card, like Dell's XPS line.

benottomex wrote:I can't imagine owning a X60 series laptop, too small to me, specially with the XGA screen.

But have you owned or used laptops that are less than 3 lbs?

Nein, I've used a 13" Compaq Presario 1685 back in 2000. A Thinkpad A22 with a 13.1" LCD, a T30 with a 14.1" display and my new baby T42p.

For sure a X60 series laptop is very cool to carry everywhere, maybe in the future I'll buy one.

pianowizard wrote:

ludu35 wrote:I am using T43p now, too heavy, my next laptop must be a lot lighter with everything and NON built-in Intel Graphics card

This reminds me of a comment that I made several days ago. Both the T and the X series are great, but there needs to be something in between, something in the 4 lb range with a built-in optical drive, and perhaps a dedicated graphics card, like Dell's XPS line.

Same here .. I do like X series and wishiing to owned one in the near future and hopefully the new one has dedicated graphic card and built-in optical drive.

I also owed x41 tablet, but gave it to my sister cause the hard drive is big SUCK on this model.

LD

benottomex wrote:For sure a X60 series laptop is very cool to carry everywhere, maybe in the future I'll buy one.

Once you own a <3lb notebook, you will never carry your T42p ever again.

ludu35 wrote:Same here .. I do like X series and wishiing to owned one in the near future and hopefully the new one has dedicated graphic card and built-in optical drive.

I understand the request for decent graphics (especially with the arrival of Vista!) but what's with the optical drive? I'd rather have a thinner and lighter notebook than one with an optical drive. (Yes, you can say Sony blah blah blah etc but the Sony, too, would be lighter without the optical drive.) Do you actually use an optical drive on a daily basis, and while away from home/office?

tomh009 wrote:

ludu35 wrote:Same here .. I do like X series and wishiing to owned one in the near future and hopefully the new one has dedicated graphic card and built-in optical drive.

I understand the request for decent graphics (especially with the arrival of Vista!) but what's with the optical drive? I'd rather have a thinner and lighter notebook than one with an optical drive. (Yes, you can say Sony blah blah blah etc but the Sony, too, would be lighter without the optical drive.) Do you actually use an optical drive on a daily basis, and while away from home/office?

tomh009
Point taken .. but it is Christmas and I just want to fill-up the wish list and few more things beside decent graphic and optical drive:

- Nice webcam built-in with good mic
- SATA II

What else???
LD

tomh009 wrote:

ludu35 wrote:Same here .. I do like X series and wishiing to owned one in the near future and hopefully the new one has dedicated graphic card and built-in optical drive.

I understand the request for decent graphics (especially with the arrival of Vista!) but what's with the optical drive? I'd rather have a thinner and lighter notebook than one with an optical drive. (Yes, you can say Sony blah blah blah etc but the Sony, too, would be lighter without the optical drive.) Do you actually use an optical drive on a daily basis, and while away from home/office?

I agree. It's nice to have an optical drive, but I rarely use it in a laptop. If I really need to be able to access optical media, I can always create an image and use a virtual drive.

ludu35 wrote:Point taken .. but it is Christmas and I just want to fill-up the wish list and few more things beside decent graphic and optical drive:
- Nice webcam built-in with good mic
- SATA II

It's Christmas and I'll be Scrooge, I guess!

SATA II really doesn't do much for a laptop. 3.0 Gb/s is not going to make any difference with laptop drives (fastest 7200 rpm 2.5" drives are around 650 Mb/s data rate), and NCQ and staggered spinup are targeted at SATA RAID arrays.

eSATA is conceptually more interesting, would provide faster connection for external drives -- but for some incomprehensible reason the SATA-IO committee decided that the eSATA connector did not need to carry power, so you need a separate power connector (whether USB or AC adapter). Not really optimal for laptop use, then!

I would support FireWire-800 instead. 800 Mb/s and includes power. And it would be a logical upgrade from the X31's FireWire-400.

It doesn't address the graphics card issue, but it takes care of optical drive while being light weight. I doubt it will ever come to the US market, though:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/04/necs ... 2-14-poun/

I've been using X60 for six months now and X41 Tablet for six months before that and I'd never plan to go back to the 'T' series.

I have an external USB 2.0 slim DVD burner with high performing specs than the built-in DVD burners in the 'T' series and the entire thing cost about $120.

I rarely need to take it with me.

Regarding graphics, at least for me, it is very suitable as it is. The Santa Rosa chipset due second quarter 2007 will have a faster grahics processor. Just remember that a discrete graphics processor will take more battery and I like my unit's battery life.

Go ahead and get an X60(s).

Like many of you, I don't need an internal optical drive either, but many people would find a 4-lb, 12" laptop with an optical drive very appealing. I think most of the leading manufacturers have such models. Before the Dell Inspiron 700m (an example of this kind of laptop) was discontinued about a year ago, it was one of Dell's most popular models. I still see lots of people use it at conferences, and I enjoyed using it for almost two years.

the xps kinda destroy the purpose of a light notebook. The sony sz series does have a decent video card too, and also same weight as the xps with a 13.3 screen.

Still a dedicated video card would be great in a thinkpad too, a thinkpad x31/32 alike, with directx10

A dedicated graphics card really isn't that important in a notebook. It isn't meant for gaming anyway, and even if it could, it wouldn't be immersive on a 12" display.

I'd switch my T42 in a second for a X6x, if it had a 1400x1050 screen and a Core2 CPU.

Even an integrated graphics card is able to run Vistas Aero glass interface.

And a dedicated graphics card typically uses significantly more power -- that means either shorter battery life or more weight to accommodate a bigger battery.

yea, and more heat == noise!
seriously, ive used a sony sz for a while, which has a hardware switch for dedicated OR internal gfx (called 'speed' and 'stamina' mode).
The only difference that i was able to notice when using the dedicated gfx was more noise. Quite a bit more. (Ok, i dont play games... guess you can feel the performance-difference there).
I definitely prefer a quiet machine with internal gfx any day.
After returning the sony and looking for somethin else, internal gfx became a feature for me, not a 'lack of'.

pianowizard wrote:

benottomex wrote:For sure a X60 series laptop is very cool to carry everywhere, maybe in the future I'll buy one.

Once you own a <3lb notebook, you will never carry your T42p ever again.

Yeah for sure. I too was in between a T series and X series due to lack of optical drive and only integrated graphics on the X. Right now I know I couldn't have made a better decision.

If I need to play video games or play a CD/DVD I use my desktop with a 8800GTS and a 24" monitor.

When I need a computer on the go, I need something that gets the job done and doesn't break my back. Get the job done it does. As for an optical drive, I don't remember the last time I used one on a laptop. I barely use my external slim drive.

boon wrote:the xps kinda destroy the purpose of a light notebook. The sony sz series does have a decent video card too, and also same weight as the xps with a 13.3 screen.

Still a dedicated video card would be great in a thinkpad too, a thinkpad x31/32 alike, with directx10

Integrated DX10 should be here with Santa Rosa.