New Member of My Family, A 600X

[willmize]

Short time lurker, first time poster.
I've just purchased a 600x, which I write about here on my blog:

http://mysteryclass.blogspot.com/2007/0 ... aptop.html

..and I'm happier than heck about it.
While the laptop is very satisfactory the way it is, I've started upgrading it already:

Bought some memory from Cruicial that James wrote about here:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=24744

And now I'm really jonesing for that UltraSlimBay battery to crank out a few more hours of portability, when I'm writing at my nearest Panera or Starbucks.

On the ThinkPad Wiki, I'm seeing two part numbers, 02K6504 and 02K6505, which of these should I be searching for?

I'm seeing them for about $40 on eBay and through Google's Froogle search, but want to make sure that I'm getting exactly what I need.
Any other hints or tips on these batteries? Something to look for, something to avoid, ways to avoid getting scammed?
I would love to hear from you.

Also, right now I'm running W2k, and was thinking about moving on up to XP. Any pros or cons there? I'm perfectly happy with W2k, and it runs aces on the 600x, but I'm wondering if I'm really missing anything by not moving up to XP.

This looks like a great forum with some highly knowledgeable members. Now that I've got this new member of my family, I really want to get the most out of it.

Thanks for your help,

- Bill
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[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

As you can see from my signature line, I too, enjoy the 600X. Your blog says it exactly right: it's what you need to do your job with, nothing more, nothing less. The 600X system feels much more solid on the keyboard than any of my T2x systems and from a writer's standpoint, that's where you are going to get your pleasure (or not) when filling up a word document.

Hope you have many more stories in you!

[willmize]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

As you can see from my signature line, I too, enjoy the 600X. Your blog says it exactly right: it's what you need to do your job with, nothing more, nothing less. The 600X system feels much more solid on the keyboard than any of my T2x systems and from a writer's standpoint, that's where you are going to get your pleasure (or not) when filling up a word document.

Hope you have many more stories in you!

Thanks Ray!
I think you hit it on the head when you said that the 600x really feels sturdy. Of course, I wish it were a pound or two lighter, but I am willing to sacrifice that for durability and reliability.

I am also prone to being distracted by shiny objects, so I am only loading it up with the necessities to avoid any slip in willpower and the imaginary need to check my email or play around digg or whatever.

Or check the forums here

- Bill

[pkiff]

Also, right now I'm running W2k, and was thinking about moving on up to XP. Any pros or cons there? I'm perfectly happy with W2k, and it runs aces on the 600x, but I'm wondering if I'm really missing anything by not moving up to XP.

Some people believe that Windows 2000 is the "sweet spot" for the 600X, and as you've noticed, the 600X runs really well in that OS. There are various reasons people move to XP instead, but the biggest reason is for something called ClearType.

ClearType provides anti-aliasing for fonts on LCD screens to help make them more legible (except at really small sizes). If you are used to a notebook screen that doesn't use ClearType, then it probably won't matter to you, but once you get used to using ClearType, then you will probably miss it whenever you go back to one of your older laptops that doesn't have it. That was my experience anyways. ClearType is built into XP and is not available in any way under 2000.

Your 600X should be able to run XP just great, but whether it runs as well as it should will depend on how much memory you have. I would recommend something over 256MB RAM, though some people run it with less.

Phil.

[pkiff]

On the ThinkPad Wiki, I'm seeing two part numbers, 02K6504 and 02K6505, which of these should I be searching for?

Either one. They are the same thing, just two different numbers from IBM.

Any other hints or tips on these batteries? Something to look for, something to avoid, ways to avoid getting scammed?

I would be very cautious buying the UltraSlim Bay batteries. If they are "new" original IBM batteries then they have been on the shelf for more than 3 years, maybe more than 5 years, and according to some reports, LiIon batteries start to deteriorate considerably over such lengths of time. I don't have experience with these, but I would nevertheless recommend either generic clone batteries (that hopefully have not been sitting around as long) or "refilled" batteries. That's based solely on the theory that in the year 2007, there are NO batteries left anywhere in the world that were built by IBM that have NOT been sitting around on a shelf for a number of years at this point.

But, YMMV.

Phil.

[willmize]

Also, right now I'm running W2k, and was thinking about moving on up to XP. Any pros or cons there? I'm perfectly happy with W2k, and it runs aces on the 600x, but I'm wondering if I'm really missing anything by not moving up to XP.

Some people believe that Windows 2000 is the "sweet spot" for the 600X, and as you've noticed, the 600X runs really well in that OS. There are various reasons people move to XP instead, but the biggest reason is for something called ClearType.

ClearType provides anti-aliasing for fonts on LCD screens to help make them more legible (except at really small sizes). If you are used to a notebook screen that doesn't use ClearType, then it probably won't matter to you, but once you get used to using ClearType, then you will probably miss it whenever you go back to one of your older laptops that doesn't have it. That was my experience anyways. ClearType is built into XP and is not available in any way under 2000.

Your 600X should be able to run XP just great, but whether it runs as well as it should will depend on how much memory you have. I would recommend something over 256MB RAM, though some people run it with less.

Phil.

Hey Phil!
I know exactly what you're talking about. We have ClearType on our XP Machines at work, and it's definitely an eyesight saver and yes, quite the shock when I go back to my 600x and W2k.
I'm sure there are lot of folks who would pay good money for some sort of freeware solution for W98 or W2k for their types/fonts to look that nice.
Of course, I have a mac at home, so there you go

- Bill

[willmize]

On the ThinkPad Wiki, I'm seeing two part numbers, 02K6504 and 02K6505, which of these should I be searching for?

Either one. They are the same thing, just two different numbers from IBM.

Any other hints or tips on these batteries? Something to look for, something to avoid, ways to avoid getting scammed?

I would be very cautious buying the UltraSlim Bay batteries. If they are "new" original IBM batteries then they have been on the shelf for more than 3 years, maybe more than 5 years, and according to some reports, LiIon batteries start to deteriorate considerably over such lengths of time. I don't have experience with these, but I would nevertheless recommend either generic clone batteries (that hopefully have not been sitting around as long) or "refilled" batteries. That's based solely on the theory that in the year 2007, there are NO batteries left anywhere in the world that were built by IBM that have NOT been sitting around on a shelf for a number of years at this point.

But, YMMV.

Phil.

Phil;
Thanks for the good words regarding the batteries. I didn't even know that a) batteries could still lose their 'juice' even if just sitting around and b) that they could be 'refilled'.
Definitely things to look for and questions to ask when loitering around ebay or other places.

Thanks again,

- Bill

[whizkid]

I had THREE 600Xs in my house, and two of us enjoy(ed) the UltraSlim Bay batteries immensely. I had very good luck buying new batteries from eBay. They seemed to work just like new, even though they had been sitting on a shelf for some time.

I will be looking for more soon. I'll look on eBay again for "new" ones there, then look at refilling my cases with new cells.

[willmize]

I had THREE 600Xs in my house, and two of us enjoy(ed) the UltraSlim Bay batteries immensely. I had very good luck buying new batteries from eBay. They seemed to work just like new, even though they had been sitting on a shelf for some time.

I will be looking for more soon. I'll look on eBay again for "new" ones there, then look at refilling my cases with new cells.

Sorry for the late reply, but thank you for mentioning this. Even as we speak I'm hunting down the UltraSlimBay batteries. Right now prices are ranging from $20 up to $95, depending on the vendor.

Thanks again,

- Bill

[WarMachine]

Hi !

Yeaaaaah !!! A new 600 addict is among us !

The 600 series are wonderful machines. I have a 600E I will never sell.

If it's your first laptop, you'll probably not be able to compare, but trust me, trust us : The 600 has one of the best (if not the best) keyboard in the world. So, if you want to do word processing, it's THE laptop you need !

It's also a very well built machine, and I loved your description in your blog concerning that point.

I often say that my 600E is as solid as a tank. Seems indestructible.
Even after years of service, it will remain as new as the first day.

So, you want to upgrade to XP ?

Nice idea. Even if Windows 2000 is an excellent OS, you'll be happy with XP. Why ?

First of all : Security. Windows 2000 is considered like an old OS nowadays, and not as well supported as XP, so, you could be annoyed while surfing on the web.
Newer softwares now require XP (with SP2) to run, so, if you stay with 2K, you'll not be able to use them (one example : Windows Live Messenger).
Cleartype is a nice improvement too.
You'll also appreciate the faster boot.

But there are cons too.

IMO :

- Even if the system boots faster, the machine can appear less responsive, if not optimized.
- If you want a light installation, tweaking is longer, because there are more functionalities in XP.
- If you want to work comfortably, XP needs more RAM than 2K. If 2K runs very well with 256 MB, you'll prefer to throw 512 MB if you plan to use XP (even if you'll be able to run XP with 256 MB).

Anyway... Congratulations. You made the good choice and I'm sure you'll have a lot of pleasure to use your new 600X.

It seems that you love classical music. So do I. I've seen too that you mention Thoreau and Emerson.

So, if you don't know it yet, I think you should listen to the 2nd Piano Sonata (aka "Concord" Sonata) written by Charles Ives. If you don't listen contemporary music often, the first listening will probably be difficult, but pleaaaase, try to listen it entirely, you wont regret it, it's a great (master)piece.

Why do I talk about the Concord Sonata ? Because the title of the first movement is "Thoreau", and the title of the second is "Emerson" (the 3rd and the 4th mvts are named "Hawthorne", and "The Alcotts").

You can listen samples here :

http://www.amazon.com/Ives-Concord-Sona ... B0001HZ6MO

If you want to discover more of the american "classical" music, then have a "look" at Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Samuel Barber. Yeaaah, I know, Barber is not american, but his music, and particularly Knoxville, sounds like american music, and is more easy to listen than Ives. If you can listen the piano and voice version, do not hesitate, it's wonderful (I've played it when I took my exam of Chamber Music, some years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot - I've had a gold medal too, so, it's a good remembrance ).



W.

[willmize]

Hi !

Yeaaaaah !!! A new 600 addict is among us !
<snip>
W.

Good morning War! (What is it good for? Huh! Absolutely nuffin!)
Okay, early morning music lyrics aside, thanks so much for the reply.
I just boosted the RAM in my 600x, so we're running on the max with two sticks of 256k under the hood.

For right now I'm sticking with W2k, due to the fact that it's stable, familiar, un-bloated, and I won't be using this machine for the internet at all. I have a mac Mini as my home machine. My 600x is more like a shuttlecraft

Thanks for the music recommendations. I do like Samuel Barber, but like most, am only familiar with his "Adagio for Strings". As far as other American modern music is concerned, I love Gorecki's Third, and am a big fan of Aaron Copeland. I'll put the Ives on my wish list and give it a whirl.

Again, thanks so much for responding, I appreciate it. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

- Bill

Moderator edit: Trimmed quote

[WarMachine]

It was a pleasure for me to give you an answer.

Have a good day !

W.