X32/T42/T60/accessories

[dr_st]

So, I finally decided to take some pictures of my own, and post them here. Seeing as my girlfriend and I currently have a household of 3 Thinkpads and no desktop computers whatsoever, I figured it's high time.

I will make several posts with the pictures. The pictures are of the Thinkpads themselves, some screen quality comparisons, and also pictures of the accessories that the Thinkpads are connected to.

All the pictures can be clicked for larger versions. They are not of very high quality - some are blurry and the camera put a bluish tint on others, but they should convey the message.

Edit: fix title typo and bad links

[dr_st]

Starting with my girlfriend's X32.


Top cover shows lots of scratches but the laptop is as solid as ever.


Opened (sorry about the flash). This is a standard US keyboard with trilingual (English/Russian/Hebrew) stickers.

Screen is crisp and reasonably bright, but nothing special (TN panel, after all):


Some more pictures of the screen from various angles. It doesn't look as blue in real life, but the angles are as bad as you see:

[dr_st]

Following up with the T60 I got from my work. The white stickers in the bottom left corner and on the front of the lid have my name and the laptop's serial number, which I naturally erased.


As you can see it is the corporate Thinkpad logo, and not the IBM logo.


But open it up, and surprise-surprise - it is the IBM logo! I decided that I like both logos equally, and can't choose between them, so I made sure my T60 has one of each. The keyboard, BTW, is a standard English-Hebrew (NMB) and I use the soft rim trackpoint cap.


The screen is a 14" SXGA+. At first I thought it would put a lot of strain on my eyes, but I find it quite manageable.


Same image as above, in portrait mode. The Intel video drivers allow the screen to be rotated with a simple hotkey, so I can hold and read it like a book when it's convenient.

[tfflivemb2]

Very nice pics!!!

[dr_st]

And now, my good old precious T42.


Yep, that's a T42 (15"), and that's a Thinkpad corporate sticker in the corner. I switched the outside sticker of the T42 with the inside sticker of the T60, and now I have two Thinkpads, each with both sticker types.


Opened up. The keyboard is also the standard English/Hebrew keyboard, but without the Windows keys. You can see the wider margins on both sides of the keyboard, compared to the 14" model.


Zoomed on the LCD. Yep, that's the reflection of me holding the camera, but the screen is matte, so all you see is the silhouette.


Zoom on the keyboard, touchpad (which I never use) and trackpoint (also soft rim).


I like having lots of icons on my desktop. The screen is a SXGA+ Flexview.

Pictures of the screen, including portrait mode (using ATI Tray Tools quick rotate feature):


The Flexview screen stays perfect from all angles:

[pianowizard]

Do you know the exact weight of this X32?

[dr_st]

Group pictures!


We have here a 12" X32, a 15" T42 and a 14" T60. I don't think it is hard to tell which is which.


Stacked.


From the back. As you can see, the X32 has almost all of its ports there, while the T60 has only the vent (and the extended battery).


From the right. From some reason, my company doesn't put DVD Recorders on any of the laptops it gives to its employees, only combo drives, so this is what you see on the T60.


From the left. Interestingly that the X32 has a separate line-in and mic-in, but they skimped on it in the T-series. The increase in thickness as you go from 12" through 14" to 15" is quite small.

Just for fun:


Last photo before the laptops are turned on...

[Toine]

That's just awesome! Especially the Thinkpad logo instead of the IBM logo.

[pianowizard]

Too bad you don't have an X40. I'd like to see how much bigger the X32 is relative to it.

[dr_st]

Screen comparison pictures:


Already the first picture shows noticeable differences between the TN panels and the IPS panel of the T42. All 3 monitors are displaying pure black, but only the T42 shows it as such. The blue tint is caused by the camera, in real life it just looks gray.

Things get much worse for the TN panels from different angles:

Yep, this is still pure black. The line of light you see at the top of the T42 is the backlight. I think that when I got the screen replaced, they left a bigger-than-normal gap there.


White comparison. All screens are on max brightness. The T42 and T60 seem a bit brighter and whiter than the X32, which looks a little bluish (this time it is not the camera).

Fish wallpaper comparison:



More angles comparison (laptop order switched):

Again the benefits of the Flexview are clearly seen.

[dr_st]

Now to the pictures of the extras:

First is the 20" UXGA S-IPS Dell 2007FP monitor, which we use as a media center in the living room.

The monitor:


Watching a Batman cartoon on the monitor (X32 screen is shown for comparison):


Different viewing angles:


A sufficient amount of real estate:

[dr_st]

Here is the setup I have in my study:


The minidock. (Got it used from work, this explains the stains). I use it for the T42.

This is my humble desk:

T42 in the minidock, connected to a 20" Dell 2007WFP S-IPS WSXGA+ monitor, a keyboard, a mouse and a Creative Inspire T2900 2.1 speaker system.


The keyboard and mouse are no special brand names, but they are very convenient (both are USB and PS/2 compatible). The mouse has 5 buttons, which I appreciate very much for back/forward while browsing. The physical layout of the keyboard was carefully selected to match that of the Thinkpad keyboards.


The 20" widescreen monitor and the satellites.


This is the Inspire subwoofer, and my Edimax BR-6204Wg wireless-G router, which distributes internet across the entire apartment.


The Thinkpad in the dock, with the wired remote of the speakers on top of it.


This wired remote is what I like best about the speakers. It has separate volume and bass control (to avoid annoying the neighbours), and also has line-in and line-out (not shown), for connecting headphones or portable audio players directly to the speakers.


The satellite speakers themselves are fairly nice, and they are also wall mountable. The grille can be removed.

[dr_st]

Now for the setup in action.

Some pictures of the monitor:

The white uniformity is quite good, and the colors are what you would expect from an S-IPS panel (showing a scene from Dead Man's Chest).

And here is the Dead Man's chest itself:

S-IPS does not disappoint.

Pictures from Chronicles of Riddick:

The laptop's Radeon 9600 barely copes with it, and that is only at 1024x640...

An extended desktop setup between the external monitor and the T42 (3080x1050 total resolution):


The monitor in portrait mode (gotta love the Pivot function):

Makes it easier to read forums, doesn't it?

Last picture shows the T60 stacked on top of the T42:


This way I actually use this setup for both computers, without much hassle. The Dell monitor is connected through DVI to the dock/T42 and through VGA to the T60. The keyboard and mouse are connected to the monitor's USB hub. Whenever I want to switch computers, I simply plug the hub's cable into the right one, and change the input signal source on the monitor.

Not as quick and elegant as with a KVM switch, but hey, it works!

Phew, that was a lot of pictures!

[dr_st]

Too bad you don't have an X40. I'd like to see how much bigger the X32 is relative to it.

The X32 is noticeably thicker and somewhat heavier (I'm comparing to my former advisor's X41, which I got to play with a bit at the time). Unfortunately I don't have a sensitive enough scale, so I cannot tell you the exact weight.

[The Spirit of X21]

Lovely pictures, dr_st. Keep taking them!

[KristianJ]

Seriously, there's not much like a great pictorial laptop comparison - it's fun comparing the different sized TPs in such a manner! This is the best yet!

[gunston]

Lovely X32 and T42...

[thePCxp]

I liked the pictures dr_st, they are great. I also really liked the ThinkPads, they look so adorable .