GOOD BYE X41 TABLET WELCOME HP TC4200 TABLET

[redskin]

I've had x41 tablet for 2 weeks, and the tablet is so slow particularly the hard drive. so i decided to give the hp tc4200 tablet a try and no regrets. it's 1/2 pound heavier than the x41 tablet but boy it's way faster comparing to the x41 tablet. being that it has pentium m 760 2.0 ghz cpu, and uses regular 2.5" 5400rpm or 7200rpm hard drive, and RAM can go up to 2 GB. since it's not a low voltage cpu, the memory is running at 533mhz instead of 400mhz which is restricted in the x41 tablet because of low voltage cpu. graphic performance is the same for both tablets because they both use intel 900 graphic accelerator. i have to admid the x41 tablet has better build, but the hp is not far behind either, being both notebooks have magnesium composit chassy. battery life in the hp lasts as long as the x41 tablet but hp has the option that allows you to attach an 8 cell travel battery which weights 1 pounds on the bottom of the notebook, and that would add another 5 hours of battery time, total of 10 hours of usage. that would run me up to around 5.5 pounds. not too bad for a tablet. i am planning to swap out the hard drive and put in a 100 gb 7200 rpm hard drive, and that's going to be a kick [censored] tablet.

[Yotam]

Good for you man but I saw the HP's tablet and:
1. It's huge, comparing to the X41T
2. It is faster
3. It isn't a LV cpu - so it is warmer = more fan noise
4. It's ugly
5. It's HP...

And... IBM also have extended battery that is connected to the tablet in the same way.

Hope you like it. Sorry you didn't like the X41T.

[redskin]

And... IBM also have extended battery that is connected to the tablet in the same way.

Hope you like it. Sorry you didn't like the X41T.

yes but the ibm extended battery only lasts another 2 1/2 to 3 hours of usage. either way the battery life is still shorter in the ibm than hp combined. also the ibm 8 cell battery attaches from the ouside, and therefore it makes the dimension 1.25 inches deeper than the hp being that the battery is completely inside the notebook. also the hp is 1/2 inch wider than the ibm and the keyboard extends all the way to the edge of the hp, therefore the keys are a bit bigger (being full size keys) than the ibm being scaled down a little bit, therfore makes typing more comfortable in the hp than the ibm. i have to admid that yes indeed i do like the imb better being better design, and 1/2 pounds lighter. but performance is important too, and when you have a notebook that takes 2 minutes to boot up as comparing to 40 seconds to boot up, and if you are doing heavy phothoshop editing, everything just slowed down and that is not fun. if it wasn't for the performance issue for the x41 tablet and if ibm uses regular 2.5" hard drive and regular cpu like hp, there wouldn't be this discussion to begin with.

[Yotam]

If performance is important to you - then the HP may be better for you. It is (and was) known that the X4x series performance is a bit lower because of the HD. I knew it before buying it.
I agree with you about the HDD - even it would add some weight/size to the computer (should be not more than some millimeters). However, I wouldn't like this computer with non-LV proccessor. I want battery life, I want low temp, and I don't want noisy fans - so I better LV cpu.

[stgreek]

but performance is important too, and when you have a notebook that takes 2 minutes to boot up as comparing to 40 seconds to boot up, and if you are doing heavy phothoshop editing, everything just slowed down and that is not fun. if it wasn't for the performance issue for the x41 tablet and if ibm uses regular 2.5" hard drive and regular cpu like hp, there wouldn't be this discussion to begin with.

A couple of things here: First, noone does serious photoshop editing on a 12.1" tablet. Get an SXGA+ or UXGA thinkpad (or even better a desktop) for that. 2nd, heavy photoshop editing means loads of RAM. Get enough RAM and your drive has suddenly become not so important. Third, the X41 doesnt have a regular drive and CPU simply because it IS so small. Want something bigger and faster? X3x. Tablet is all about mobility, and the X41T has loads of that. In any case, I hope your HP purchase turns out well, but I am sure you will return. They all do

[redskin]

I agree with you about the HDD - even it would add some weight/size to the computer (should be not more than some millimeters).

You know all IBM needs to do is extend their notebook about 1 inch deeper to accommodate the length of the regular 2.5" hard drive, because the connector is the same for 1.8" and 2.5" hard drive. if they do that, man i take the ibm in a heartbeat.

[smugiri]

Just moved from an X31 to the tc4200. I was in the market for an X61t and actually went in to get one before realizing all it was was hunger for a new toy.

I picked up a used TC4200 for about $700 less - this is a beautiful laptop. All my laptops prior to this have been Thinkpads - starting with a 510CS almost 11 years ago to an A20 then X20, X22, T22, T23, X24, an R31, an X24, X30, a T40p and most recently an X31.

I had made up my mind to get a tablet and the X40 seemed to be rated as anemic at best and useless at worst. I looked at Toshiba but could not bring myself to get one. So I decided to get an X61 tablet.

I have had this TC4200 for about a week now as a trial run - the idea is to try it out for a month and if I can live with it, the X61t will have to wait. If I cannot stand it then I sell it for a (maybe $100) loss and get an X60 or X61t. So far, it has turned out to be one of the best machines that I ever bought.

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 and got the tablet working with a 10 line change to my xserver config file. The laptop feels solid if a little heavy but I can live with that. The Broadcom wireless seems a little better at pulling in a wireless signal than the old Intel a/b/g card that had before in my X31. The keyboard is also very pleasant to type on and the shared memory graphics card is OK for most of the stuff I do. I like it that it has 3 USB ports.

The only things I really miss are Firewire & Bluetooth but the machine has an SD slot which is what I used PCMCIA for before in the X31 so if I can get my hands on a Bluetooth PCMCIA card, things will be golden. Firewire will be a little trickier. All the PCMCIA cards are fugly. Except for a couple of cards made for Mac by TripLite and Adaptec (the MF-CARDBUS and the FireWire 2 Go 7FW2GO.

[fuscob]

You know all IBM needs to do is extend their notebook about 1 inch deeper to accommodate the length of the regular 2.5" hard drive, because the connector is the same for 1.8" and 2.5" hard drive. if they do that, man i take the ibm in a heartbeat.

They did do that...in the X60/X61.