Do you guys recommend the X41t for student use?

[Adam]

Hey guys, I just signed up here. So far it's a great site!

Anyway, I'm a student, and currently on the hunt for a laptop. Since all of my courses are math based, I can't take notes on a regular laptop, so I was thinking of the X41 tablet. Can any of you give me any opinions on using the X41t for taking notes in class? I'm thinking IBM, or should I say Lenovo, because I have a friend who works for IBM and I can get the EPP discount. Plus I've always loved the quality of IBMs.

The only thing that really worries me about this tablet is the 4200rpm non-upgradable drive. Is this a major issue with anyone who has this tablet? I know I won't be playing games or anything but I don't want it to be an issue with regular usage.

Any info is appreciated. I hope I didn't break any forum rules by posting this question in here. If I did, please let me know and I will delete it or edit it ASAP.

Thanks,
Adam.

[bhtooefr]

Don't post the price, and you'll be fine.

Many people have reported *major* performance problems (as in, it's unusable in Windows) with the X41T. They seem to be sporadic, however.

Anyway, what kinds of math related stuff will you be doing? If the PC has to crunch anything, I'd look at an X32, which isn't a tablet.

If it doesn't, and you get one of the lucky X41Ts that doesn't have performance issues, then that's perfect for what you're talking about.

[Yotam]

Hi Adam, welcome to this site.

Anyway, I'm a student, and currently on the hunt for a laptop. Since all of my courses are math based, I can't take notes on a regular laptop, so I was thinking of the X41 tablet. Can any of you give me any opinions on using the X41t for taking notes in class? I'm thinking IBM, or should I say Lenovo, because I have a friend who works for IBM and I can get the EPP discount. Plus I've always loved the quality of IBMs.

I bought the X41T for study. I started studying computer science and planning to use it. Currently I study "pure" math, so I don't use it, but I plan to use it on other courses. It's really comfort to write on the tablet, and it works just fine. For math only, I still prefer papers.
As a laptops lover, I really LOVE this machine.
You can take notes using the built in notes program in xp tablet, and for full text pages you can use windows journal, another program that is preinstalled with xp tablet. This program lets you write papers and/or add remarks to current documents (like pdf, doc and anything else).

The only thing that really worries me about this tablet is the 4200rpm non-upgradable drive. Is this a major issue with anyone who has this tablet? I know I won't be playing games or anything but I don't want it to be an issue with regular usage.

The HD is slow. Too slow. But I think it's still not the fact that should prevent you from buying it. It is a great computer, especially if you add more RAM. I haven't added more RAM yet and still can do everything. I use Photoshop, Office and other common tools. Some procedures will take some more seconds, but look at all the other good things: the weight, form factor, the comfort and the battery life.

If you want a laptop for study - consider going on tablet. If you want a tablet - go on X41 Tablet, definitely.

If it doesn't, and you get one of the lucky X41Ts that doesn't have performance issues, then that's perfect for what you're talking about.

Are you sure you have to be lucky to get a working machine? I don't think that the major of the X41T machines are defected. Also, you should be aware to this machine minorities (HDD), before buying it.

[Adam]

Anyway, what kinds of math related stuff will you be doing? If the PC has to crunch anything, I'd look at an X32, which isn't a tablet.

Hey, thanks for the advice. And I wont be doing much, if any, math calculations on it. I just meant that I can't use a regular laptop for writing notes in class because all my notes are formulas, graphs, etc. So I figure the tablet would be good for this.

Many people have reported *major* performance problems (as in, it's unusable in Windows) with the X41T.

This isn't good. I don't really want to be gambling on a tablet with this kind of money.

The HD is slow. Too slow.

That's what I'm worried about. If I'm spending this kind of money, I would like the computer to be able to more than just write on it and use basic applications. For the money I can get a fully loaded regular laptop. How slow is too slow? What does the speed prevent you from doing on it?

Also is there anyway of upgrading the hardrive to another 1.8" one, or is it soldered in permanently? Like for example say you bought a x41t with a 40gig HD... is it possible to upgrade it to the 60gig?

*EDIT* I just did a bit of research and on the IBM site it says the 1.8" drive is user replaceable. So I suppose if they ever release faster 1.8" drives it could work in these systems?

Anyway all advice and info is appreciated! Thanks for the quick replies.

[Yotam]

Many people have reported *major* performance problems (as in, it's unusable in Windows) with the X41T.

This isn't good. I don't really want to be gambling on a tablet with this kind of money.

If you get, somehow, a defected machine - you can always replace it or fix it. It still has 3 years warranty.

The HD is slow. Too slow.

That's what I'm worried about. If I'm spending this kind of money, I would like the computer to be able to more than just write on it and use basic applications. For the money I can get a fully loaded regular laptop. How slow is too slow? What does the speed prevent you from doing on it?

I don't need it faster. I'm not gonna render videos on it.
You can mainly see this slow when opening heavy programs or files (like in photoshop), but when working on it - it is all up to your RAM.
When I said "too slow" I ment it too slow comparing it to our days technology, and even to this computer tecnology. Not too slow so I can't use the computer.

Also is there anyway of upgrading the hardrive to another 1.8" one, or is it soldered in permanently? Like for example say you bought a x41t with a 40gig HD... is it possible to upgrade it to the 60gig?

*EDIT* I just did a bit of research and on the IBM site it says the 1.8" drive is user replaceable. So I suppose if they ever release faster 1.8" drives it could work in these systems?

You may will be able to replace the HDD if, and when, any other HD invented. It should work with the same connection and same technology like the current HD, and I don't see it happens in the next 5 years, if ever. After that - you can give you dog to play with 5 years old tablet. Hope you understand me.

[Butkusrules]

I use it for law school, I looked at Ibooks, Sony S series,Fujitsu, and Dell.
Sony quality is suspect. Have you ever seen a year old Sony? paint sctracthed off and if they don't care enough to make the paint stick what did they do inside.

Dell, is ok. Positive is that you can get great service plan. But the X1 is a samsung. Something unsettling about buying a rebadged computer.

Ibook, too much of a pain in the [censored] with compadibilty. School said certain OS versions are compadible but some are not blah blah blah. Not worth extra effort.

Fujitsu; seriously considered but they happened to be in bewteen models coming out and I wanted to make sure I had this thing bnought by Aug.

I was going to get a T43, but then switched to x41 because of lighter weight which is SO important when you are dragging text books around. I feel so bad for these girls carrying around these 8 pound behemoths. So all set to buy x41 the day when x41T came out. Same functionality minus keyboard light with the added functiuonality of tablet for roughly 200 dollars more. I decided what the hell, try the x41T
So far after 2 months I am stiull learning how to use it. By that I mean I think I know how tablet can be usefull to me but then I figure out a way to get even more use out of it. Heck it's getting to the point where I will like surfing in in tablet soon.

As far as problems, I has stalled on me 3x but that I believe is due to being in Standby almost all the time and me runnning the battery down to zilch. anyway not a concern yet for me, as I am using it 8 +hrs a day.
I added 1GB to the already installed 512k, and have not had any problems at all. HD is not an iussue to me. I;m not sure I would even want a faster drive as it would be louder and suck more power. I reccomned it and many classmates have seriously inquired about how much and where to buy it.

Last thing Microsoft ONE is an awesome note taking program. An must.

[brainpicker]

You have a right to be concerned. Frightened in fact! Don't believe those who claim you can just "exchange" a defective tablet for reasons like "the hard drive is too slow for practical use" or "bad pixels" or the "flashlights beaming in from the side" defects that have been posted here by myself and others. You can't. I tried. My 1st tablet had one bad pixel, the disturbing side lighting in multiple locations, AND a hard drive that took up so much of the laptop power as to make it (and the pointer) unusable. No exchange. The other has FOUR bad pixels and don't meet the requirement of NINE for an exchange or repair. Can you believe in 2005 we are to accept as many as EIGHT bad pixels on a 12" XGA screen??? It also has side lighting in one location. It's going back too. The prices are higher for the units I purchased and I would have to be put at the end of a (long) line to get others as any purchases will be considered NEW orders. When you have the 30-day return allowance it does not mean an EXCHANGE unless Len-Oh-No! says it qualifies. Do not let others mislead you into thinking this. I don't think anyone was intentionally doing this... don't get me wrong... but I wanted to make this perfectly clear to you. Beware and buy at your own risk (and wait, and wait, and wait, and...). Me, I'm looking at Asus and Fujitsu to see if they can meet my needs. The laptops are beauties but I'm spoiled by the excellent IBM-based service and will need more time to see if either can come close there. The (old) Thinkpads I have left will possibly be the last ones I ever own and that's a shame. I can't trust Len-Oh-No! to make a quality laptop as they have failed me 5 times now since May. They all had to go back and I'm scared to death to reorder.

Yak

[brainpicker]

One last thing for any of you who think I am being too harsh... you are welcome to purchase from me the very tablet I have left to return (the 2nd one with the bad pixels) if you think I am off base with my comments and you want a top-of-the-line tablet with no wait time. I'll even FedEx it to you so you could have it tomorrow instead of returning it to Len-Oh-No! So before you respond to my comments above remember I am backing it up with this offer. You pay me what Len-Oh-No! would charge for a 18666TU (I believe that's right as I'll have to confirm with the box) and shipping to your location and instead of waiting you can have it the next day and be the "proud" owner of Len-Oh-No!'s top tablet. OK? Otherwise it goes back as I sure don't want it.

Yak

[jokerunm]

Just wanted to say that the tablet has been excellent for student use. I'm surprised more students aren't using it yet.(I'm sure more will as prices go down) In smaller classrooms I usually use one note with the mic on. Pretty awesome feature when you can just click on a part of your notes..and the audio will skip over to when you were writing the note. For bigger classrooms you'll probably have to get an ext mic.(If you plan on recording lectures at all that is)

My tablet arrived in excellent condition with a perfect screen. No bad pixels..no leaking light. Brainpicker's case seems to be unusual, but don't take my word for it, browse through the tabletpcbuzz forums as well and make your own judgement on build quality.

[aamsel]

The "old IBM" is gone, along with the "old Thinkpads" unless you buy one of the refurbs off the IBM site or EBAY. There is nothing anyone can do to roll back the hands of time. Lenovo is here to stay, and you either like them, or move on to something else (whatever that may be). There is little good reason to dwell on this.

I am truly sorry that you feel that you had a bad experience with IBM/Lenovo products, but...do you think that there are not far more horrific stories to be told with Dell, HP, SONY and other product orders?

I guarantee you there are. I used to buy Dell notebooks 2+ years ago when they were a quality notebook. They are a garbage commodity item now. (just my opinion only, I don't "bash" Dell or any other company)

Look around these forums. Do you read a lot of stories by horrified customers here? Other than stories of order delays and confusion, not many. The quality, as a whole, seems to still be generally good.

Not sure about the Z series, since it is not out yet, but it may be Lenovo's first step towards a consumer commodity item.

Sure, there are pains associated with the switch from IBM to Lenovo, but I think that the company will stabilize.

As for your comment "You have a right to be concerned. Frightened in fact!" I think that is preposterous. As you said, the company offers among the best return policies in the industry (second only to HP which regularly pays the return shipping).

If you don't like the product, you have 30 days from invoice to request an RMA, then 10 days to get it back to Lenovo. That's 40 days to get a refund.

If you don't want to go "to the back of the line" and prefer to do an exchange, I personally would not recommend it.
Why?
With a new order you are guaranteed NEW product. With an exchange, you are NOT guaranteed new product, in fact, you are unlikely to get it.

You will get refurbished product on a typical exchange.

I don't want to buy a brand new notebook, and end up with a notebook that someone unknown to me returned for an unknown reason.

Just my $.02

Andrew
Austin, TX

You have a right to be concerned. Frightened in fact! Don't believe those who claim you can just "exchange" a defective tablet for reasons like "the hard drive is too slow for practical use" or "bad pixels" or the "flashlights beaming in from the side" defects that have been posted here by myself and others. You can't. I tried. My 1st tablet had one bad pixel, the disturbing side lighting in multiple locations, AND a hard drive that took up so much of the laptop power as to make it (and the pointer) unusable. No exchange. The other has FOUR bad pixels and don't meet the requirement of NINE for an exchange or repair. Can you believe in 2005 we are to accept as many as EIGHT bad pixels on a 12" XGA screen??? It also has side lighting in one location. It's going back too. The prices are higher for the units I purchased and I would have to be put at the end of a (long) line to get others as any purchases will be considered NEW orders. When you have the 30-day return allowance it does not mean an EXCHANGE unless Len-Oh-No! says it qualifies. Do not let others mislead you into thinking this. I don't think anyone was intentionally doing this... don't get me wrong... but I wanted to make this perfectly clear to you. Beware and buy at your own risk (and wait, and wait, and wait, and...). Me, I'm looking at Asus and Fujitsu to see if they can meet my needs. The laptops are beauties but I'm spoiled by the excellent IBM-based service and will need more time to see if either can come close there. The (old) Thinkpads I have left will possibly be the last ones I ever own and that's a shame. I can't trust Len-Oh-No! to make a quality laptop as they have failed me 5 times now since May. They all had to go back and I'm scared to death to reorder.

Yak

[aamsel]

My take on the X41T (after buying and returning one):

I purchased and returned an X41T for precisely the reason that you questioned: the hard drive speed, or lack thereof.

The X41T and X40/41 use (as you probably know) the iPod-style 1.8" 4200rpm drive, which is slower than the 2.5" 4200rpm drives, which are slower than the 2.5" 5400rpm drives, which are slower than the 2.5" 7200rpm drives. From there you can debate PATA vs. SATA speed, but basically, there are at least 3 notebook drive versions faster than the 1.8" 4200rpm models.

The slowness is huge on bootup, but you can do suspend or hibernate to avoid cold-booting all the time.

However, the slowness can be detected ALL the time. Even web-surfing I could tell the slowness of the drive.

You can do a clean XP install, and disk defragmentation to make it a little better, but the drive is still painfully slow.

This was a real shame and disappointment to me, since I LOVED the screen on the X41T. The overall construction was first-rate.

Again, the build quality was first rate!

Fortunately for me, I have little need for the tablet functions, so returning it was less painful than it would have been, even though I did lament losing that screen.

Bottom line:
1.) If you need a Tablet PC, get one that allows for 2.5" hard drives that can be upgraded to 5400rpm or 7200rpm by the user if they can't ship with one (which would be preferable).
2.) If you DON'T need Tablet PC, but want ultraportable, get an X31/32 that you can upgrade the hard drive yourself. They take 2.5" hard drives, unlike the X40/41 which take the 1.8" drives.
3.) If you don't need Tablet PC or ultraportable, get a T42/43 with 7200rpm drive.

Andrew
Austin, TX

Hey guys, I just signed up here. So far it's a great site!

Anyway, I'm a student, and currently on the hunt for a laptop. Since all of my courses are math based, I can't take notes on a regular laptop, so I was thinking of the X41 tablet. Can any of you give me any opinions on using the X41t for taking notes in class? I'm thinking IBM, or should I say Lenovo, because I have a friend who works for IBM and I can get the EPP discount. Plus I've always loved the quality of IBMs.

The only thing that really worries me about this tablet is the 4200rpm non-upgradable drive. Is this a major issue with anyone who has this tablet? I know I won't be playing games or anything but I don't want it to be an issue with regular usage.

Any info is appreciated. I hope I didn't break any forum rules by posting this question in here. If I did, please let me know and I will delete it or edit it ASAP.

Thanks,
Adam.

[Butkusrules]

I am kinda surprised by the repsonses I have seen here. I guess one place I would look if I were you would be consumer reports and see how the rate the notebook manufactures. IBM and Apple are 2-1 I think. Then look at the warranty you get , 3 years came standard with my package. At the time of my purchase in June it was the only package available.

As far as people having all these problems, remember that people who are happy with their notebooks generally don't spend time in message boards broadcasting how they work as they are supposed to.

I am a student not a computer expert. This is my 3rd notebook and I will tell you that I don't have any performance issues. The hardrive is not any issue, especially when you dump 1.5 gb of Ram into it. This computer was designed by IBM not Lenovo

[aamsel]

First, keep in mind that I am a big Thinkpad proponent, so I am not about to run down any model. My ONLY gripe with the X41T was the hard drive.

Other than that it was a great machine, great design, great screen. I regret having to send it back over the hard drive performance alone.

Secondly, I don't think that Consumer Reports is a viable place for notebook reviews. Their criteria are not what people care about here.

Lastly, I ran the X41T I had with 1.5GB of memory. I am sorry, but I don't agree with you. Lots of memory helps memory intensive applications and multi-tasking. It can't do anything about slow boot times, and things that can not be cached in memory. As I said, just websurfing showed how slow the drive is. This is NOT a new issue since these are the same drives as in the X40/41 and people have been griping about their speed in those systems also. It isn't really an "issue" at all...it is a fact that 1.8" 4200rpm hard drives are as slow a hard drive as you can put in a notebook computer. As for people that say to turn your XP swap file off and run on pure memory, yes, it helps a little but not much. XP was designed to be run with a swap file.

Lots of memory can not take up the slack for a slow hard drive. Memory, hard drives, video are all separate bottlenecks that slow systems down.

You can't get around it, as it is a fact, and one that I wish were not true, since otherwise I LOVE the X41T.

As for brainpicker's "issues" I have already addressed them above. I have no such issues.

Andrew
Austin, TX

I am kinda surprised by the repsonses I have seen here. I guess one place I would look if I were you would be consumer reports and see how the rate the notebook manufactures. IBM and Apple are 2-1 I think. Then look at the warranty you get , 3 years came standard with my package. At the time of my purchase in June it was the only package available.

As far as people having all these problems, remember that people who are happy with their notebooks generally don't spend time in message boards broadcasting how they work as they are supposed to.

I am a student not a computer expert. This is my 3rd notebook and I will tell you that I don't have any performance issues. The hardrive is not any issue, especially when you dump 1.5 gb of Ram into it. This computer was designed by IBM not Lenovo

[mhm]

Some programs hit the harddrive all the time and it feel slow sometimes.

For temporary data like browser cache you can install RamDisk and spare yourself the pain. The paid version can save/restore the data to disk when rebooting, while the free one will wipe it out. If you choose the free version its good to know that "hibernate" preserves the data until the next clean boot.

RamDisk is quite old and it was part of Windows NT at some point... Not sure why they move it out.

[artuero]

I love my X41T. In order to make it as small and light as it is, they made performance trade-offs, primarily using the slow hard drive. I have 1.5 GB RAM installed and this alleviates the problem most of the time, but then every so often it slows down noticably. Seems to be that when AC powered things go along fine, so it might be the speedstep or whatever or a combination of the two.

Build quality on mine is excellent, no flaws. The hard drive does make a muted clicking sound from time to time. No bad pixels.

The included apps are annoying and can be difficult to eliminate. When I get around to it I will eliminate a lot of them that load at startup and hopefully that will help performance.

I was not a tablet guy before but have found this to be extremely useful. I can mark up documents on the screen rather than lugging around a bunch of paper (and edit my markups so whoever is dealing with them has less of a problem figuring out what I meant). I also find that the size means I carry it with me all sorts of places; the tablet makes me able to use it wherever I carry it.

[Adam]

Thanks for alll the replies guys. I think I would get the tablet, despite the few bad stories, but the problem is that they are totally out of stock and it will take 3-4 weeks to get any in.

I'm looking at the X32 now too, and even though they are mostly out of stock too, there are a couple lower end ones that are in stock. The only weird thing is the warranty on a couple of them is only 1 year, while the other x32's are 3 years. I might make a new thread to see if any X32 owners knows why this is.

Thanks again, I appreciate it. I wish they had some of these beauties in stock

-Adam

[Adam]

I just ordered a tablet!

The 18666SU which came with an X4 dock, CD-RW/DVD, Tablet Sleeve, and free shipping.

My HP is going back to costco

[fongj]

I just ordered a tablet!

The 18666SU which came with an X4 dock, CD-RW/DVD, Tablet Sleeve, and free shipping.

My HP is going back to costco

Is that an EPP bundle? I can't find it on the EPP website or the normal website. I'm also a student and am very interested in getting a Tablet by next semester.

[bhtooefr]

Does W7TABLP have the 18666SU in there?

[Yotam]

Does W7TABLP have the 18666SU in there?

I think it has 18666TU.

[Adam]

I just ordered a tablet!

The 18666SU which came with an X4 dock, CD-RW/DVD, Tablet Sleeve, and free shipping.

My HP is going back to costco

Is that an EPP bundle? I can't find it on the EPP website or the normal website. I'm also a student and am very interested in getting a Tablet by next semester.

No, it's a Canadian bundle.