X32 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

[joprodse]

I don’t know if anyone is interested, but here is the first review of my new X32 (2672-KJG):



So, finally got my X32 and I’m now on day three of configuration and testing everything out. Amazingly I haven’t run in to any major problems yet, although this time I had a sort of configuration plan worked out in advance.

OVERALL
The unit was in perfect shape without any malfunctioning pixels, perfect fit lid when closed, tight fit battery, no squeaking or rattle etc. Just a solid built Laptop plain and simple.

DRIVE
The drive is the 5400rpm 60GB which I intend to swap later to a faster and hopefully larger dirve. The preinstalled drive is by far the quietest drive I’ve ever experienced, and it’s actually hard to hear even when you press you ear directly to the palmrest. And it’s quite swift too, even if I think the bootup time will decrease a bit by changing to the 7200rpm drive.
Yeah, It might have been cool to have the active protection system as well but I think I can live without it.

MEMORY
I put an extra 512mb stick in from the start so I haven’s tested it with “only” it’s original 512mb. The 1024mb RAM seems to do the trick when multitasking, and I have opened almost every single program installed at once, including some extensive Photoshop files and it doesn’t complain when swapping between different tasks at all.

GRAPHICS
Ok, I admit I’ve never been a fan of ATI’s Graphic cards, but I thought that this card would be a little bit better though, and that 16mb of graphics memory would be enough. But when I hook it up to my external 17” LCD I can’t have 32-bit colour on both the internal and external screen at the same time if I keep native resolution for each screen . That’s not a problem on my X30 with Intel graphics and shared memory…
Although I can live that fact I might get me the larger docking station that I think can hold a separate graphic card right? (Does anyone know what card that will work and if the docking station has DVI out?)
For daily use without external screen the graphic seems to work just fine, running movies and apps smoothly, and I’m not a gamer so I don’t care about that.

BATTERY
Battery time is really fantastic and I’ve managed to get almost five hours of intense installation and configuration work using the wireless card all the time, installing programs etc. The Screen was dimmed to level 3 but It’s still easy to read at that level. The screen is great by the way, and it feels even brighter and sharper than my external 17” Neovo TFT…

CONNECTIVITY
I use the W-LAN card most of the time at my “homeoffice” (read couch) and It’s a major boost to go from a 11mbps b-card to a 54mbps g-card, especially when swapping large files between computers. I Also use the Bluetooth card to sync my SonyEricsson K750i phone and my Palm T3. So far it’s worked flawlessly and I have had no configuration hazzle at all. With my now retired X30 I spend days configuration the Bluetooth stuff. I don’t know why but this time everything worked right out of the box  Unfortunately I haven’t got a gigabit switch or gigabit cards in my other computer yet, but I still get a decent 100mbps wired to my network.

SETUP
I made a Ghost copy of the entire drive to DVD-R as soon as I booted and installed Ghost on the machine and that will be my “Rescue And Recovery” if I want or need to reset it to factorysettings again.
After that I deleted the servicepartition and repartitioned the space as C: 16GB and D: 40GB.
The C-drive will be the systemdrive of course and the D-drive will contain documents and userdata. Separate Ghostcopys will be created for easy recovery of either partition if needed.

CONCLUSION
I’m very happy with this purchase although it doesn’t come cheap. Besides the graphics this series still rocks and the keyboard is by far the best I’ve tried. It’s fantastic! Since I still can use all my stuffed used to the X30 the deal was somewhat cost-effective as well, not having to buy a new DVD-RW, dock, HDD-bay, floppy, extended battery etc
In two or three years when it’s time to upgrade again, I want to se a X34, 35, 36 or whatever they call it as long as It’s built on the same platform!!!

(Please excuse any misprints or strange expressions, but English is not my native language)

[Deckard]

Thanks for the review, Jocke

I was also looking at the possibility to improve the graphics performance by getting a docking station. The only docking station that has a PCI slot is the Thinkpad Dock II

http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/store ... lCurrId=73

But according to the datasheet, it has only a half-size PCI. The problem is, I have never seen a half-size graphics card before.

Anyway, congratulations on the new Thinkpad.

[bhtooefr]

Just search on Newegg for PCI graphics cards. Most are half height. They may not come with the necessary bracket to mount the PCI card in a half-height case, however - in that case, you'll have to cut the bracket, or just use no bracket at all.

[Deckard]

Can you give me a link to a half height PCI card from the Newegg?

Removing the bracket wouldn't be a problem.

Hmm, does anyone have a picture of the Dock II?

I'd like to see how a PCI card can be installed into the Dock II

[bhtooefr]

The cheapest they've got, an XGI Volari Z7 (2D only): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814270011

The cheapest with DVI, an XGI Volari V3XT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814270009

The cheapest nVidia with DVI, a GF5200: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130188

The cheapest capable of doing dual display (VGA, though) with the bracket removed, another GF5200: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814139144

And, how 'bout a workstation card, a Quadro4 NVS280: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814133104

[Deckard]

Sweet. Thanks for the links.

Sounds like I have a new project now

[joprodse]

A new drive finally installed (7K60) Man what a difference it made! I've almost got used to the preinstalled 5400rpm drive and actually thought it was as fast as my 7K60 in my older X30, but I was wrong! It actally boots in under 45sek now, and opening programs and large files goes fast as...**** !!!
I've never been more satisfied with a computor then this one. Thinkpads RULES!

[CyberDude]

I'm glad I cam e across your post. I have a X30 and am thinking of getting the X32 for my partner was was concerned if there were any quality issues since Lenovo took over. You've made me feel more at ease now so I think i'll be ordering a X32 early in the New Year.

Side note. Is the X32 being phased out? There doesn't seem to be much choice on IBM's web site any more.

[wolfman]

I talked with a rep about that very thing (phasing out the X32) the other night...they discontinued a lot of models last month, earlier this month in the X32 line. In the December ps ref there were maybe 6 different units in the 2672 model family I believe...no "current" models come with the x3 media slice and an optical drive - they are optional on all models in X32 now per the rep.

If you intend to get one, I'd not wait too long if you want it direct from IBM (for shareholder, epp discount or whatever)...

[asiafish]

There are no X32 models on the Lenovo website anymore.

[gildor]

5 models are still available on the Visa page, none with the ultrabase.

I ordered mine from another source (2885K4U).

[asiafish]

I'm glad I got mine when I did.