X32 Misinformation

[rayfranco]

Is IBM trying to kill the X32? They certainly are not promoting it!

Has anyone noticed the misinformation in the sub-series comparison chart on IBM's website at:

http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/xseri ... eries.html

According to the chart, the X32, X31, and X40 do not support Intel's PRO/Wireless 2915ABG. However, according to the Tabook, the X32 2885 K4U uses the Intel 2915ABG. Intel's 2915ABG is a mini-PCI card, and the X32, X31 and X40 all use the mini-PCI slot for wireless communications so all of these are capable of using the Intel 2915ABG card.

Also, according to the sub-series comparison chart, the X31 does NOT have discrete graphics!

Furthermore, no one except IBM knows what graphics processor the X32 uses. It cannot have both the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 chipset and the ATI Radeon 16 MB. One is stated in the X32 overview:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... us&lang=en

and X32 detailed specifications:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... &loc=en_US

and the other in the tabook:

ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pcinstitu ... tabook.pdf

If the X32 uses the Intel Media Accelerator 900 chipset then it has to use the Intel 915 chipset which only supports DDR2 memory. If the X32 still uses Intel's older 815 chipset then the access rate to the main RAM is limited to only 266 MHz, and if not now, as Intel incresses the speed of the Pentium M's, the processor is going to be waiting on the memory. All of the current information on IBM's website including the X32 Hardwire Maintance Manual and Tabook and other information indicates the X32 still uses the older DDR1 memory and is limited to 266 MHz by the memory controller (limited to the speed of DDR PC-2100).

The X41 uses the Intel 915 chipset and DDR2 memory with an access rate of 400 Mz. However, the X41 is limited by slow 4200 rpm 1.8 inch hard drive, which is proprietary and does not meet the current standard (SFF811) for 1.8 inch hard drives - so there may never be a faster drive for the X40 and X41.

The good new is that if you buy an X32 via the Visa/Mastercard/AmerEx webpages the discount is near 20% whereas the X41 discount is near 10%.

[david25]

Hi Ray, this is exactly what I have found, I'm in the UK and phoning
IBM here does not help because they dont sell direct. I phoned the
US, but they have no further details.

I'm still hoping the X32 uses the new chipset like the x41


David

[K. Eng]

I have noticed the same disarray and inconsistency in the materials relating to the X32. I don't know why everything is so messed up, as there are really only 2 Centrino platforms for the specification people to keep track of.

[rayfranco]

Technical circles refer to this as FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt). It is what one company does to another company to keep people from buying a product. In this case, IBM did it to themselves.

Also, IBM marketing team is clearly trying to promote the X41 at the expense of the other X series machines. The only advantage I see to the simplified case design for the X41 and X40 is that you don’t have to open a separate cover if you need to replace the Modem or Bluetooth. If they were trying to promote the X32, they would say something about its superior 4.8 amp-hr battery with an average run time of 6.1 hrs. Not only is it superior to the 4.2 amp-hr battery in the X41, it doesn’t stick out the back of the machine like a kludge. If you are going to compare apples-to-apples then the size and weight of the X32 needs to be compared to the size and weight of X41 with its 8-cell, 4.2 amp-hrs, battery - not with a X41 with a 4-cell, 1.9 amp-hrs, battery that even IBM won’t promote.

I’ve finally came to the conclusion that whether a machine is zippy has more to do with perception and than processor speed, chipsets or memory access time. That is, all of the machines have enough processor power for most applications, and the perceived speed of the machine has more to do with how long it takes to boot and load applications, which is dependence on the hard drive.

There is a good comparison of Toshiba’s 1.8 Form Factor drive against Hatachi’s 7K60 at:

http://www20.tomshardware.com/storage/2 ... et-01.html

Unfortunately, the one application where processor and graphics power is required is the Operation System (OS). Microsoft’s Longhorn will use 3D icons and Aero Glass. Microsoft recommends a graphics processor that supports DirectX9 with 128-256 MB of memory. No matter how great the hardware gains are, the OS will always require more. The reason for this is so the new OS can drive up the sells of new PC’s. It wont be long before the OS requires its own core, and we are water cooling the CPU and GPU. I hope the IBM – Sanyo article on fuel-cells powering thinkpads was not hype:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=10178