Debating the wait... Buy x60(s) now, or wait for refresh?

[Fin]

Hi everyone,

I've been looking into ultraportable laptops, and the x60/x60s are by far the most attractive on the market. However, I also know that Intel is due to release their Centrino Pro (ie: Santa Rosa) platform in a month or two. So now I'm torn. On the one hand, x60(s) machines configured as I would like are running about $1500 on lenovo.com right now (sale through April 2). But I don't need one at the moment, and would wait for the next revision if it were likely to be a significant improvement. To try and sort out whether it's worth the wait (and the price difference for newer hardware), I have a few questions for all of you:

1. How significant an improvement in performance is Santa Rosa likely to introduce? Both for Vista due to things like the flash memory on board, and from newer chips and faster FSB?

2. Is Santa Rosa likely to increase or decrease battery life, both in general and under Vista?

3. How likely do you think a wide screen or higher resolution X-Series laptop is? One of my major hesitations is the 1024x768 resolution, but a 1280x800 X-Series would be perfect.

4. When would you expect to see the next X-Series laptop(s) released? With Santa Rosa (which I believe is on an April/May timeframe), or several months after Santa Rosa is released by Intel?

Thanks,
-Fin

[pianowizard]

3. How likely do you think a wide screen or higher resolution X-Series laptop is? One of my major hesitations is the 1024x768 resolution, but a 1280x800 X-Series would be perfect.

It's been confirmed that Lenovo will offer widescreen models for all Thinkpad series, including the X series. Since you prefer 1280x800 to 1024x768, you should definitely wait. If you bought an X60/60s now, in a matter of months, it would have two major imperfections: no Santa Rosa, and no 1280x800.

I too prefer widescreens and have promised myself not to get another Thinkpad (I've owned >20) until either a 14.1" WSXGA+ or a 12.1" WXGA Thinkpad is available.

[Fin]

Wow, the possibility of widescreen X-Series is confirmed? You're right, that locks it. Guess I have to lope along on this enormous Dell XPS (original model, roughly 1 million pounds) a few months longer. Thanks for the tip

-Fin

[pianowizard]

Fin, see this thread for more info regarding Lenovo's switch to widescreens.

[gator]

Well, as much as I like widescreens, I think for a 12" I'd prefer a 4:3 ratio. I did try out a dell 700m and I prefer the X31 I am weird, I know

[Esben]

I'm also waiting for either a ~14" widescreen T6x with 1680x1050 or 1440x900 resolution. Form factor and weight should be improved, compared to the current T-series, thanks to the widescreen display.

On the other hand, a higher resolution panel on the X-series, could make it a winning combination. With a 1400x1050 display, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but a WXGA display would also suffice. The current XGA display is just too limiting for me.

Also coming, are the low voltage Core2 64-bit processors, that I'd prefer over the current Core Duos.

Lenovo, I'm waiting...

[Ikusho]

Does anyone know if the X60s will be updated with the Santa Rosa chipset come May/June? Can we expect it to be as small as the X60s (i.e. 1.1") or would the Santa Rosa be an upgrade of the X60 (i.e. 1.3").

[berlin]

i just got me a brand new X60s 100HD 1.83GHZ w/ 1GB Ram for $1,050.

Santa Rosa will be followed by Montivena in 2008: DDR 3 w/ a close to 1GB F Bus Speed, Wimax built in and using even less power. I think 10-12hr battery life will be the norm for the X-series thinkpads on 8-cell batts. So by 2008, X61 will be 'flawed' as well by the X62. LOL

[milstein]

Does anyone know if the X60s will be updated with the Santa Rosa chipset come May/June? Can we expect it to be as small as the X60s (i.e. 1.1") or would the Santa Rosa be an upgrade of the X60 (i.e. 1.3").

They have the X60s with a C2D LV at 1.5GHz in their latest tabook.pdf released just in April