Pls help me decide on this matter

[pethr]

Hi everyone,
I'm choosing an used IBM laptop for me right now. I've decided that it will be an IBM laptop, but now I don't know which one of these to choose:

IBM X21
IBM T22

TO be a little more specefic about what I'm planning to do on my computer, it won't be very much: internet surfing, word and

excel applications, watching movies and listening to the music, maybe playing some older games (nobody has to tell me that I won't be able to run Doom III on it:-)))), working in HTML language etc. SO basically nothing really power-demanding.

I personally would like to go with X21, just because of the weight it offers, but I'm little concerned about its speakers, screen and performance (for the tasks above). How is the chassis on the X series??? The same as on T series???? Would like it to be:-)))))

I know I'll probably have to buy a brand new battery for it, I count on that. No problem to buy a battery for these older IBM lappies nowadays, is it???

Thank you in advance for any and all experiences with these two lappies (don't hesitate to add yours with other X and T 2x series). Any advices on what to buy rather and why will be welcome and appreciated!!!

pethr

[ellipse]

I own an X30 and have used a T40 at work. Newer machines but they relate in the same manner as the ones you are considering.

I never play on my laptop and watch DVD on my desktop. For the rest, same as you: Word mainly, Excel, surf, mail... I prefer the X30, no question about it: its size and weight make you think the T40 is a huge, fat brick...

However, if I only had a laptop, and no desktop, I'd chose the T40, because of the bigger screen and integrated DVD.

I guess I'd apply the same reasoning applies to the X21 and T22 (I had an X21 and got the X30 because of the speed increase, noticeable, and above all for the battery life, which is very good now --> 3.5-4hrs)

farid

[Voodle]

Okay, my experiences with both the X20 and the T23, since they're both very similar to the laptops you're looking at.

The X20 is a nice ultralight, the screen on mine has slight pressure marks from a few years of use and there's a pinkish tinge in some parts of the screen if the brightness is all the way down. Not that this is likely to occur on yours, but it's just a factor you have to consider given the age. And that ultralights get heavier use than thin and light laptops.
The keyboard on it is better than the one on the T23, it's held down better, flexes less and has a better key response, the wrist rest gets very dirty because its rubberised instead of regular plastic. The structural integrity of the X20 is slightly better than that of the T23, mostly because it's a lot lighter and doesn't have an ultrabay.
The speaker(s) suck though, as does the audio system, this may just be a problem with my particular X20 but the audio system would often make the odd pop or click sound while playing mp3s and it used a lot of power. Regular usage power is 12 watts, start playing an mp3 and that goes up to 14 or 15 watts, it really kills the mobility of it. As I said, the speakers are poor too, the mono speaker isn't too bad, just weak, but the speakers in the ultrabase are just poor, very boxy sound.
The ultrabase also makes the laptop Very bulky, and because it has neither USB 2 or firewire, an external DVD drive is almost out of the question unless you want to waste that precious single cardbus slot.
Another thing to consider is that it only has 1 ram slot, and it has to use low density ram, which limits you to 320 or 384 megabytes of ram, depending on whether it has 64 or 128mb of ram built in.
Oh yes, another thing for if you want to watch movies on it, if you mean xvid/divx type movies, the ATI mobility M1 with 4 megs of ram is... not good, I frequently noticed horizontal breaks or tears in the video picture, not too bad, but not as good as the T22's video output. With that said though, the T22 looks terrible at any resolution other than its default, but the X20 is able to scale the resolution for the LCD very nicely so it looks nice at lower resolutions, but against it again, I noticed lots of odd visual artifacts trying to play Fallout on it, which is a basic 2D RPG.
The X31 is so very much better (so happy with X31)

The T23 was my first laptop, and the T22 is very similar to it, excepting the different chipset, processor, cooler, ethernet card. But they're very much the same structurally and functionally. Despite its size, which isn't that bad at around 5 pounds, it's very mobile, it has tv output which the X series lack.
Like I said, the keyboard is slightly less good on this laptop although the size of it is nicer. The big advantage of this laptop is the ultrabay, since it's built in it's much more convenient than the ultrabase, and it can use the ultrabay battery, which is good for improving battery life.
Now that I think about it, the T22 might have the same audio system as the X20/21, but the speakers are much better - if you have the laptop on a desk, those small speakers are quite good for playing music, no boxy sound that I was able to notice.

[em500]

I have an X21, a coworker has a T22 of about the same age. The X21 seems slightly better build, but as others have said, the rubber coating attracts lots of dirt and fingerprints. The screen is fine, same resolution as the T22. The more expensive T2x series had an SXGA screen, which would be much better. Speaker (mono!) on the X21 suck. If you want to listen to music, you really should use external speakers or headphones.