A31 Model differences

[rnfolsom]

After browsing the IBM website at
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... idate=true

I have four questions:

1) For desktop use, I am looking for a used A31 with a Mobile Pentium 4 processor.
What models should I be looking for to get an A31 with a P4-M rather than the desktop P4?
(My understanding is that the desktop P4 runs too hot for an A31 laptop.)

2) What's the difference between an A31 and an A31p? I've looked at the IBM website
descriptions, and I don't detect any difference. I'm sure I'm missing something.

3) What are the differences between different A31 model types 2652, 2653, 2654?

4) What do the last three digits in a model show? For example, the 2652 apparently
comes in C4U, AU7, EU5, and Fu7 flavors. The latter three all are "based on" the C4U.
Might those be geographic, for keyboard or Bios language labeling purposes?

Thanks for any and all help.

Roger Folsom

________________________________________________________________
P.S.: This is my first post here. After previewing this message, I had to insert hard
carriage returns in order to shorten some lines. Is there a "wrap" setting anywhere?
(I hope I shortened my lines enough.)

P.S.: Some Mysteries:

The 2652-C4U
"Original description: P4-M 1.6GHz (512KB), 256MB RAM, 30.0GB HDD,
15.0 XGA(1024x768) TFT LCD, 8x4x24x CDRW, Modem(CDC), Ethernet(CDC),
TV out, Li-Ion battery, Win2000"
at
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo

appears to be identical to the 2652-C3U "Original description" at
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... yle=lenovo

(including P4-M), except that the C4U uses Win2k while the C3U uses WinXP
(even though 3 is less than 4, while Win2k came before WinXP!).

The IBM refurbished website does NOT have a C4U for sale, but at
http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... Id=2576396

it DOES have for sale an A31 (C3U) T2652C3U which (even if I click on the link)
claims to use a P4 with no mention of the word "mobile" or P4-M.

Also, I talked to an IBM refurbished sales voice representative
[at (831)746-7426 ext 8733], and she assured me that ALL A31 Thinkpads use
straight (desktop computer type) Pentium 4 and not Mobile Pentium 4.

Hence my confusion.

Thanks again for any help.

Roger Folsom

[stevenvh]

Hi, you need this:
ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... awbook.pdf

enjoy

[rnfolsom]

Steven:

> Hi, you need this <

Congratulations! You have just made it into the Guinness Book of Records' biggest understatement category.

Thank you very much. The Tawbook is exactly what I needed.

Apparently the IBM Refurbished rep who told me that ALL A31s were desktop Pentium IVs was simply wrong.
After going through the tawbook A31 pages, All of them apparently came with Mobile Pentium IV chips.

My only disappointment with the Tawbook is that it didn't give me an obvious clue about where the
"Taw" name came from. Some sort of acronym I suppose.

Thanks again.

Roger Folsom

[stevenvh]

You're welcome; glad I could help.

Have all your questions been answered then?

I can vouch for the A31P as a DTR (DeskTopReplacement)
As you can see in the TAWBOOK, mine came with 1.7G P4M, 60G hdd, FireGL VGA, Wireless'B, etc.
The hi-rez screens are absolutely beautiful and the output to a 2nd monitor (for extended desktop in WinXP) is equally sharp.
It's the last of the 3-spindle machines, so I get floppy, cd-rw and hdd.
The integrated wireless antennas make for exceptional reception.
The keyboard is great; no freakin' touchpad and useful hotkeys.
Basically, my favorite machine ever.
I'm surrounded by great custom-built desktops...
A64 3200 'hammer w/ 2G RAM (FC4 & Win2K);
Athlon 2600M w/1G RAM, ATI 9800Pro, etc...(gaming w/XP Pro)
but I still choose the A31P for my main squeeze/WinXP Pro machine.
I did upgrade the cpu to a 2.2G and the RAM to 2x512MB,
but everthing else is original and has been flawless.

GL

[rnfolsom]

Steven:

> Have all your questions been answered then? <

I think so. The straight A31 with Win2k is definitely
what we want. And for older eyes XGA is best.

XP is out because I don't have anything that needs it,
and I don't want to learn a new operating system,
especially one that's just different enough to be exasperating
when trying to find things, particularly in the registry.

1) For desktop use . . . what models should I be looking for
to get an A31 with a P4-M rather than the desktop P4?

Answer: Any of them, since all A31's apparently use the P4-M.

2) What's the difference between an A31 and an A31p?

Answer: The straight A31 are 14" or 15" XGA or SXGA+; the
A31p all are 15" UXGA, with larger hard drives, etc.

3) What are the differences between different A31 model
types 2652, 2653, 2654?

Answer: The 2652 was A31; the 2653 and 2654 were A31p.
(But some education A30 and straight A31 were 2653.)

4) What do the last three digits in a model show?

Answer: possibly anything! No pattern is apparent to me.
But it doesn't seem to be geography.


Thanks for your enthsiasm about the A31 series.
My wife and I are looking forward to the arrival
of her A31 2652-C4U.
Here's hoping the internet seller is legitimate.

We also will be raising the RAM from 256 to the 1gb max.

Roger Folsom

[AKCollins]

Hi,

Am I to understand the p after the A31 stands for the "Prism chip" technology ? And simultaneous, and seprately with this development was UXGA ?

The A31p here is the best machine I've ever owned ! And yes, Win2K is about as far as I am going to push the envelope as far as operating systems. (Many folks I know with XP on their laptop are threatining to downgrade to W2K.) To be quite honest Iv'e even thought of 98SE on a couple of occasions, but didn't want to lose the DVD player, IBM Record Now, and other programs which have been flawless !

Once, someone was toying with my laptop and used a feature to make everything much larger, perhaps this could be of help. It does exist, I'm just not sure what it was....How big a difference is XGA vs. UXGA ?

[a31pguy]

P is "Power" from my reading. Some think is for "Professional" - IBM has a "Power" thing going on. PowerPC, Power Supercomputers, Power toothbrushes.....


Difference between XGA and UXGA? Huge! With the proper gamma correction and hue ajustments - in 32bit color @ 1600x1400 it's a beautiful sight!

I second the motion. Best machine I've ever owned. But the bluetooth makes a huge difference to me - since I don't have to carry a box of cables any more!

[rnfolsom]

Amy:

> Am I to understand the p after the A31 stands for the "Prism
[Wireless Local Area Network] chip" technology? <

I hadn't thought of that meaning for the "p," but I bet you are correct.
See http://www.intersil.com/globespanvirata/
(Thank you Google.)

If you check the TawBook (the link to get it is earlier in this thread),
my guess is that all of the /p models (A30 and A31)
will turn out to be wireless.

As for the /p models having SXGA+ or UXGA screens, those are
higher resolution (more content per square inch) screens,
and hence more expensive.

So I'd guess that when the /p models came out, IBM decided to
"bundle" the wireless capability with the higher resolution screen.

So my guess is that the /p label refers only to the Wireless Lan,
even though IBM apparently decided to bundle it with a higher
resolution screen.

> The A31p here is the best machine I've ever owned! <

I'm delighted to read that!
My wife's allegedly IBM-refurbished A31 (no p) shipped today,
and will arrive (by ground) in about a week.
We're sure looking forward to getting it.

It's good to know of another Win2k user and advocate. I read
somewhere recently that roughly half the corporate computers
are still using Win2k; i.e. they have not moved to XP.

Also, in a recent Wall Street Journal article (past two weeks?) there
was a comment that Microsoft was unhappy with recent XP sales.

> Someone was toying with my laptop and used a feature to make
everything much larger <

In 2001, when I got my Dell Latitude C800 laptop with 15" UXGA
screen, it took me two months (Dell provided no help) to find
the setting that you may be remembering:

Right click Desktop to get Display Properties, then
Settings > Advanced > Font size. The standard is 96dpi.
For legibility, mine is set to 150% of 96dpi = 144dpi.

Unfortunately, some programs (e.g. the main screens of
Norton Utilities & AntiVirus, ZoneAlarm 6 Pro, Webroot's SpySweeper,
Sunbelt's Counterspy) totally ignore this setting, and for many
websites, only part of a page pays attention to it
(i.e. some parts of the page appear in a very small font that
browser settings cannot enlarge).

> How big a difference is XGA vs. UXGA ? <

Substantial. Here's the list:

VGA 640 x 480 pixels (horizontal x vertical)
SVGA 800 x 600
XGA 1024 x 768
SXGA 1280 x 1024
SXGA+ 1400 x 1050
UXGA 1600 x 1200

And see
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardwar ... 11556.html

Personally, I've not yet actually seen an XGA screen. But
my wife's current Thinkpad i 1410 has a 12" SVGA screen.
Her new A31 will have a 15" XGA screen. We choose that
because after doing some calculations, I concluded that
a given web page object would be the same size on ner new
Thinkpad A31 as on her old 1410.

And she likes the sizes that she sees now (and is delighted
that she will see a bit more of each page on her new
15" screen than on her current 12" screen).

Roger Folsom

[proaudioguy]

The main difference in the A31 and A31P is Firewire, UXGA, and 64Meg ATI Fire GL 7800(?) video. Without the "p" the best you can do is no firewire, SXGA, and 32Meg ATI Radeon 7500 video. I think there is an IBM Security subsystem difference as well. Mine has security chip (2652).

I do not honestly know what the 2654 designation refers to. The 2652 is A31, while the 2653 is A31P. A 3 in the last 3 digits indicates Windows XP Pro, while a 4 indicates Windows 2000 Pro. Other than that I don't know. I imagine the rest is related to options like clock speed, optical drive, etc. I have owned 2652 D4U as well as 2652 D3U, and there is no difference in hardware except venders on the combo drive. The only difference is the OS and some related software options that are obsoleted with XP. I purchased an A31P for a friend that was ebay shy and I was downright jealous. I wanted that one for my own.

Incidently there are also "other" numbers for the lst 3 digits that are used for refurbs. They indicate what the unit was originally, and that it has been refurbed by IBM, and that the warrantee is therefore limited to like 90 days or something.

[schen]

Although there is a possibility that you guys are correct about "P" standing for the Prism wireless networks and that it indicates models shipped with bundled wireless, it's doubtful. The "P" designation seems to have began with the first of the A Series machines (the A20/21/22), when they actually had 3 tiers of products within the Series. The "e" (likely standing for economy) was less expensive and generally were lower spec'd (Celeron CPU, 256mb RAM Max, etc.), the "m" (likely standing for mainstream) was more likely to ship with the PIII CPU and had a 512mb RAM Max, the "P" (likely stood for Professional) as these machine were spec'd with "workstation" type features such as SXGA and later UXGA screens as well as features found only on their flagship "T" Series such as the Ultraport on top of the screen, SVHS I/O ports etc.

Since all of this preceeded internal wireless, it make that case fairly unlikely. Also; my wife has a regular (non "P") A30 and it has built in wireless.