X6 UltraBase - line out or headphone out?

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jon · #1 Post by **jon** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 4:19 am

I'm thinking of getting an UltraBase for my X60s. One of the connections I'll want to make is to my stereo system, so I'd like a line out jack rather than a headphone out.

The Lenovo description is: "Audio/video capability - Integrated stereo speakers, microphone in, headphone out, VGA monitor" so I'm assuming no line out.

Does anyone have experience hooking up the UltraBase to an amp? And any comments on the UltraBase generally? I've read some negative comments re. docking/undocking and USB ports not working.

Thanks!

Trolle · #2 Post by **Trolle** » Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:22 am

My ultrabase works fine, although I admist I almost never use it. Bought it because it was a great deal and I did need a CD drive at some point in time. I use my X60 with my stereo often. Use the headphone jack and connect a line to the Aux input on my stereo. No problems.

spaznrq · #3 Post by **spaznrq** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:54 pm

I use my dock frequently. When I come home from school, I just dock my X60 and it will charge and connect to all my USB devices (printers, desktop keyboard and mice, etc) and my stereo system. There is an additional headphone and mic out/in ports at the back of the dock, which are just duplicates of what's on the system, but when you are docked, you get sound coming out of both the headphone ports. It's good enough for the stereo system to amplify. I have not had any problems with the USB ports after docking and undocking.

jon · #4 Post by **jon** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:08 am

Thanks for the responses, thought I'd follow up...

I got the UltraBase a week ago. Mechanically it's fine - docking/undocking is easy and the connection is good, so there are no problems there.

But I'm not happy with the interference the base adds to the VGA and sound outputs. Under high CPU load I notice a subtle wavy effect on the screen, which I don't get when the monitor is plugged into the laptop directly. Turns out there is an old thread about this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=156814

I'm also noticing some faint buzzing/hissing noises out of the headphone out, usually with disk activity - again, no interference when plugged into the laptop directly.

I don't think there's anything actually wrong with the base. It just seems to degrade the analog outputs somewhat. I suppose I'll keep it but I'm finding myself wishing for DVI. Food for thought it anyone else is considering the X60 + base.

tackat · #5 Post by **tackat** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:32 am

I actually tried to record some music (my digital piano ...) using the X60s (also tried with the UltraBase X6) via the microphone jack. However the quality was quite bad (probably due to some hardware processing that was made automatically to "enhance" the quality).

So should Lenovo ever decide to "redesign" their UltraBase X6 it would be nice if the serial and parallel dinosaur ports would be replaced by DVI and line in/line out jacks.

jon · #6 Post by **jon** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:37 am

tackat wrote:should Lenovo ever decide to "redesign" their UltraBase X6 it would be nice if the serial and parallel dinosaur ports would be replaced by DVI and line in/line out jacks.

Hear, hear!

How do you find the VGA output, tackat? Anything like I describe?