USB 2.0 on A31?

[charlienyc]

These two additions will finish up the upgrading...unless someone figures out how to put USB 2.0 on the board to replace the 1.1 it has....

now i just have to ask: has anyone figured it out

while we're at it, how about Firewire/IEEE1394? ...without using a PCMCIA card

i love my A31p - right up until i see a USB 2.0 device coming my way.

[schen]

I love the As (not the baseball team) too, but I think you'll have to move up to the Rs to get USB 2.0 and 1394 built into the same machine.

[charlienyc]

move up to the R series? i always thought the R was inferior to the A looks like someone's got more FAQs to read!

cheers,
-c

I love the As (not the baseball team) too, but I think you'll have to move up to the Rs to get USB 2.0 and 1394 built into the same machine.

[schen]

move up to the R series? i always thought the R was inferior to the A looks like someone's got more FAQs to read!

cheers,
-c

I love the As (not the baseball team) too, but I think you'll have to move up to the Rs to get USB 2.0 and 1394 built into the same machine.

I'd say that I have a passable aquaintence with both Series. Overall, the R Series was designed as a replacement for the A Series. Of course, that is the general parameters; yes, in a general Series, the R (like the A before it), is secondary to the Ts in mostly the "fit and finish" as well as engineered technology areas. But the capabilities are typically comparable.

And yes, I'm well aware the the A30/31p were never replaced in the IBM/Lenovo line, but for the rest of the models, I'm fairly certain that it can be agreed that the R3/4/5/6 Series replaced the general models. And therefore, in terms of getting the features that you've discussed (USB2.0 and 1394 without the use of a PCMCIA card), you don't have other options.

The fact of the matter is that Lenovo doesn't seem to be readying a direct replacement for the A31p and the T is ....... well...... the replacement for the Ts.

[charlienyc]

cool - i appreciate the info, schen. i also found some intesting info on ThinkWiki. where that falls short is with the newer models. although i'm pretty set on upgrading my HD for now, what is the natural step up from the A31p? the T60p?

this is more out of curiosity than anything. it'll be a while before i have $2k to drop on a new confuser!

[schen]

cool - i appreciate the info, schen. i also found some intesting info on ThinkWiki. where that falls short is with the newer models. although i'm pretty set on upgrading my HD for now, what is the natural step up from the A31p? the T60p?

this is more out of curiosity than anything. it'll be a while before i have $2k to drop on a new confuser!

That's where things get cloudy. Although, the Rs and As were supposed to be further down on the pecking order than the T Series, some models (as you are well aware) had features/specs that weren't available on any other models. A good example is the fact that, as far as I'm aware there aren't any Ts that came with built-in Firewire, but some of the A/Rs had that built in all the way back to the A31p. And the fact that some even came with the now famous and much sought after IPS screens.

I really think that those trade-offs were made for the extra measure of portability that the Ts were expected to have. From a business model standpoint, they have traditionally made the majority of their sales to corporate customers who traveled a lot. Whereas the physically larger/heavier A and later R series machines generally didn't sell nearly as many units. IMHO, this doesn't make them a lesser machine, but it's just how IBM (at the time) chose to market their products.

If someone like you really feels that having built-in firewire is a desirable attribute, there's only really one choice between the Rs and Ts. And that's to go with a Firewire equipped R. Personally, I love the Ts having owned every model beginning with the original T20 all the way to my current T30 (the last 3 of which have had the SXGA+ screens). Good portability, builit-in optical drive, with a high resolution screen is what I really like. That said; I find myself envying my wife's A31 on a regular basis for some of it's features and extra inch of screen size.

We get around the whole USB2.0/1394 issue by having a Dock with a combo card in it. We rarely use any devices that really need the faster I/O when we are on the move anyway. Of course that issue will become moot in our next upgrade anyway, when we move to an R40 and T40 (in all likelihood) anyway.

Hope that kinda answered your question.

[charlienyc]

indeed! thanks again!

looks like i'll have to forget about the ideal machine w/ built in Firewire. from the performance standpoint, i think a 15" T60p will be the next step. for now i'll nurse my current machine along- planning on upgrading RAM 768 to 1GB, HD 40 to 120GB, and putting in some Artic Silver. by the time i do have the money for a new machine i'll be able to get a MacBook Pro anyway. why not?

sorry for the rambling. if i don't think aloud i won't think at all!

[schen]

I'd probably follow the same path too. I've run machine with both 768 and 1Gb RAM and can't tell much of a difference between them, but moving to a faster HDD has made a pretty substantial "seat of the pants" improvement. So, if you haven't already done that, I'd highly recommend it.

I haven't looked at the MacBook Pro, but I thought that Apple had dropped the firewire port on most machines. Maybe there's the Firewire800 on that which would be great. I'd buy Mac too, if they weren't so expensive and uses that instrument of the devil (touchpad)! OK, I feel better now.

[charlienyc]

ok, that's enough for me to save $30-60 on the RAM upgrade. cheers! in the meantime, is there a big difference between going from a 4200 RPM drive to 7200 (as opposed to 5400)? although i've seen this come up all over the boards, i haven't yet seen a conclusive answer on the 7200 vs. 5400. only that a faster spin is going to make a difference. how much of a difference??

on the MacBook Pro Firewire, they all have (1) FW 400, (1) FW 800 and (2 or 3) USB 2.0 ports. http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html
you hit the nails on the head! it's a [censored] fine machine if you want to spend another $800+ over a TP. i'm with you on the touchpads too but truthfully i use external mice 90% of the time. when portable, it's "give me track point / eraser head / stink finger / pointer stick or give me death!"

I'd probably follow the same path too. I've run machine with both 768 and 1Gb RAM and can't tell much of a difference between them, but moving to a faster HDD has made a pretty substantial "seat of the pants" improvement. So, if you haven't already done that, I'd highly recommend it.

I haven't looked at the MacBook Pro, but I thought that Apple had dropped the firewire port on most machines. Maybe there's the Firewire800 on that which would be great. I'd buy Mac too, if they weren't so expensive and uses that instrument of the devil (touchpad)! OK, I feel better now.

[schen]

To me, the 4200 to 5400 rpm jump was pretty noticable, but the 5400 to 7200 not a big (although, still significant). I think it comes down to whether you get a good deal on something. On my last upgrade (to 7200) I just happened to get a really nice deal on a 80Gb 7200rpm Travelstar, so I jumped at it.

I'm always kinda "laying in wait", keeping an eye out for a good deal in case I can get an upgrade. I always keep an eye out for the next machine too; meaning I've put 2700 in my T30 so that it will work on a T40 when I move on as well as a 7200rpm HDD so that's one less thing to do as well. The I keep the 4200rpm HDD around to us in external USB drives since they draw less power.

It's all kind of a big picture thing. I've been slowly getting rid of my ultrabay2000 stuff for when they won't fit in the new machines.

Have you looked at the applefritter site?