Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

just 3 quick questions about the X60s. I couldnt really find any definite information on those.

1. Pretty much the headline. I am planning on buying an external monitor. So when the X60s is sitting in the UltraBase, will it work as "Tower", therefore being up and running while lid is closed with external screen, keyboard and mouse?

2. Does the UltraBase have any extra audio outputs? This is for keeping my stereo at home connected to it instead of the X60s and dont have to plug in and plug out the cable everytime I leave/get home.

3. How goud is the sound quality of the X60s sound device? I ve heard, its build by Asus.

Thank you!
Martin

1:  yes, you can set up the thinkvantage presentation director to blank your internal display while outputting to an external display.

2:  yes, there are mic/headphone jacks on the back of the X6 ultrabase.

3:  internal sound is mediocre as there is only one speaker but external sound quality through the headphone jack is excellent.

Thanks for the quick reply.

So I can actually mount the X60 onto the Base, leave it closed and boot it up that way. Then controlling it with wireless keyboard/mouse and ext Screen?

How is the UltraBase in connection with the TP controlled? Can I tell it to use the UltraBase headphone jack once the TP is attached?

Yes, and you can also set the computer to "do nothing" when the lid is closed so that the computer can be fully closed and used like a regular desktop tower. As an added bonus, the ultrabase has a power button so you dont even need to open up the x6x to turn it on. The external mouse and keyboard can attach via the base usb ports.

And power is supplied automatically to the headphone jacks in both machine and base.

Great. This is just perfect.

And I do not have to worry about the TP heat emission overheating the TP or damaging the LCD, when its lid is closed and the bottom attached to the UltraBase?

With the fan that never shuts off... I doubt it!

The X60s BIOS goes into a more aggressive fan-cooling regimen when it's docked, to prevent overheating. This is confirmed by a high level IBM engineer; I originally thought this behaviour was a bug in the BIOS, as it skips the low speed fan level and goes straight to the medium setting.

I used my X60s for a few months in exactly the way you aim to do and it worked fine -- I didn't even need to use the Thinkvantage Presentation thing. Since the Ultrabase is a "smart dock", Windows detects it as such and creates two separate hardware profiles for the docked and undocked state. When docked, it just "knew" to disable the internal screen and set up the external monitor at 1680x1050, as that's how it was last time I docked it.

It's a very slick setup, but I'm really fastidious about quiet computing and the fan noise cycling on/off bothered me. (In my experience the X60s pretty much never uses its fan, but when it's docked it does use it every five minutes or so)

I have since sold my Ultrabase, but it does definitely have analog audio output, and digital too (I vaguely remember). The VGA output it provides is also top notch.

Great guys. You get me really excited about the X60.

Thats it for now. Thank you very much. Problably gonna set up a new thread with a whole bunch of questions about the X60s during the next days. So please look out for that one too. Hope I ll get as much help as I did here.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

hey folks,

I am wondering if the dock is really necessary for some people.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if all a person was looking for was a external monitor and mouse/keyboard setup, couldn't you just use the built in VGA port and a usb keyboard and mouse (or bluetooth for that matter).?

thanks.

CanadianNorth was heard to say:

I am wondering if the dock is really necessary for some people.

I have one dock and regularly use the laptop at 2 locations with an external monitor and keyboard at each location. Is it necesary - No. Is it convenient - Yes -- for me.

rek made a comment about possibly a digital out on the dock. Mine does not have one.

As for fan cooling, when running on AC, I occasionally turn the CPU up to 'Maximum Performance' in Power Manager, where the fan never stops. As soon as I switch to 'Thinkpad Default', the fan will go intermittent. When using an extended battery mode, I do not hear the fan.

zodiac wrote:Great. This is just perfect.

And I do not have to worry about the TP heat emission overheating the TP or damaging the LCD, when its lid is closed and the bottom attached to the UltraBase?

I currently own a X60. Previously I owned an a20p.

I bought a X60 as a replacement because I killed my a20p while operating it with a closed lid. The screen simply bloated up one day and bubbles started forming like a fungus and spread throughout the screen.

Then the screen started to leak liquid until one fine day when I powered it on and the display simply did not turn on.