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

[aabram]

I bought used T22 last year. No regrets so far. It's not exactly too light to carry around all day but adequate for moving around at home and for casual trips here and there. For movable workstation I'd prefer T over X just because of the Ultrabay. I have extra battery, CD drive, CD-RW frive and floppy drive all wich I can just slide in and be done with it. I'd really hate to mess with external drives when having myself seated deep in the cozy corner of my soft couch. 14" is about the right size for semi-stationary use for me.

If you're planning to do web-development then be warned that those older displays do distort the colours more than may be acceptable for you, especially gradations and transitional colors. I can't speak for X22 but displays of my T22 and T23 aren't exactly suitable for colour matching.

[Conmee]

The X Series has a great form factor... but the speakers? lol... it has one mono speaker (FRU#26P9814) situated beneath the right-side of the palmrest, and isn't impressive. And with the integrated graphics, I guess it depends on how old the "older" games are that you want to play...

The PIII/Celeron CPU might be more than adequate for your needs, but combine that with the max 384MB RAM (up to 64MB of which would be shared with your integrated video chipset), you are quite performance constrained. If you aren't doing anything more than Word/basic HTML, you'll be ok. Of course, 30GB drives and USB 1.1 could also be issues for you, depending on your needs. Lastly, 12" XGA is comfortable to work with, so the screen is fine.

And the chassis are substantially different between the T and X series, both in terms of location of ports and materials.

There are, I am sure, many more differences/issues to consider. But if you are looking for the lightest (or one of) notebook, and ultimate portability is your overriding requirement, you're going to have to make concessions in terms of product feature set. Simple as that.

The T Series will give you more options, more power, more expandability, in a pretty good size package. Unless you use a notebook as a glorified PDA, there's no reason in my mind to get an X Series, when for a little more weight, you can make alot fewer concessions in terms of power/options with the T Series. The X Series has a great "Wow Factor" but that will slowly loose it's appeal when working with a Celeron/integrated graphics/384MB/30GB machine as soon as you try to do any real computing on it. lol IMO.

Daniel.

[bhtooefr]

He's talking about an X21. It has a 4MB ATI Rage Mobility, so it's NOT integrated graphics, and it uses no RAM whatsoever.

However, it may only be a 2660, which, AFAICT, means only 64MB on board, and only 320MB max. I'm hoping that mine is a 2662 (128MB-on-mobo model)...

The X Series has a great form factor... but the speakers? lol... it has one mono speaker (FRU#26P9814) situated beneath the right-side of the palmrest, and isn't impressive. And with the integrated graphics, I guess it depends on how old the "older" games are that you want to play...

The PIII/Celeron CPU might be more than adequate for your needs, but combine that with the max 384MB RAM (up to 64MB of which would be shared with your integrated video chipset), you are quite performance constrained. If you aren't doing anything more than Word/basic HTML, you'll be ok. Of course, 30GB drives and USB 1.1 could also be issues for you, depending on your needs. Lastly, 12" XGA is comfortable to work with, so the screen is fine.

And the chassis are substantially different between the T and X series, both in terms of location of ports and materials.

There are, I am sure, many more differences/issues to consider. But if you are looking for the lightest (or one of) notebook, and ultimate portability is your overriding requirement, you're going to have to make concessions in terms of product feature set. Simple as that.

The T Series will give you more options, more power, more expandability, in a pretty good size package. Unless you use a notebook as a glorified PDA, there's no reason in my mind to get an X Series, when for a little more weight, you can make alot fewer concessions in terms of power/options with the T Series. The X Series has a great "Wow Factor" but that will slowly loose it's appeal when working with a Celeron/integrated graphics/384MB/30GB machine as soon as you try to do any real computing on it. lol IMO.

Daniel.