Ultrabay Plus Device Carrier

[Dense]

Is there any way to utilise the obsolete Ultrabay Plus Device Carrier in a newer Thinkpad (R50 or R51) which has Ultrabay Enhanced? The Ultrabay Numeric Keypad was discontinued and is something that we'd like to use on a newer Thinkpad. Have spoken to IBM and they say there is no other option than to get a USB keypad. I have considered getting an older Thinkpad R40 but would prefer if possible to buy a Thinkpad R51.

What are the actual differences between Ultrabay Plus and Ultrabay Enhanced. It seems that you can use Ultrabay Enhanced devices on Ultrabay Plus but there seems to be no conversion for the other way.

Id like to see the specs for both and see what is possible. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Michael Lorant

[erik]

ultrabay enhanced devices can be adapted to ultrabay plus/2000 bays because the enhanced device footprint is 1/2" shorter than plus/2000.   however, since the device footprints are smaller on an enhanced bay (and the connectors are different), there is no physical way to make an enhanced bay accept a plus/2000 device.

this adapts enhanced devices to plus/2000 bays:
http://www5.pc.ibm.com/us/products.nsf/ ... p/_73P3268

the utrabay enhanced bay is the red-headed stepchild of thinkpads as it's only used on a few models (i believe just the R50/50p/51).   the ultrabay slim is (hopefully) the final incarnation of thinkpad device bays.   enhanced is the same as slim, only slim is 1/8" thinner.   the connectors are identical and enhanced bays will accept slim devices.

rather than trying to adapt an internal solution, which may once again change over time, simply purchase an external usb keypad.   retail is only $39 from ibm:
http://www5.pc.ibm.com/us/products.nsf/ ... p/_33L3225

i hope all of this makes sense.  

-erik

[Dense]

Thanks for the reply, however not the answer I wanted to hear

I wish IBM would just bring out an Ultrabay Slim Numeric Keypad so wouldn't have to deal with this nightmare.

Leaves me with 2 options.

Either get a high end R40 or consider the USB numeric keypad. I am tempted more for the R40 at this stage.

[erik]

out of curiousity, why would you replace an entire laptop just to have a built-in numeric keypad?   i can see it being useful if mostly utilized while sitting in a chair or on a couch, but desk use would lend perfectly to the external usb version.

my guess on the lack of an ultrabay slim numeric keypad is that the market for such a device is extremely small when the usb numeric keypad fills 98% of users' needs.   plus, fitting such a device into a 9.5mm-high slot and retaining the slide-in/out functionality would probably put the keypad in the $150 range.   again, this is just my speculation as 75% of statistics are made up on the spot.  

-erik

[Dense]

My mum currently has a Thinkpad R30. Her occupation is a bookkeeper, so does a lot of data entry. She also is very mobile and goes to customer sites so she prefers to take as few accessories as possible. The Ultrabay Numeric Keypad was perfect because she didn't have to worry about carrying the keypad since it was built in. The reasons for upgrading are the R30 is becoming dated and wanted to get her using a laptop with much longer battery life as well as USB 2.0 ports and also increase the overall system speed.

[snife]

The main reason behind it is that the ultrabay plus uses the USB interface so its a choice of having either one less usb port on the system or fitting an extra usb controller on the board and as the feature was not well utilised i can see why it was removed. This (nor any other issue for that matter) would make me purchase an R40 over an R50.

Have you considered a bluetooth option such as:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/produ ... ENTID=7321

although she would still have to take it with her at least she wouldn't have to worry about cables and stuff so should be a bit easier