X300 still doesn't have a DVI port. Quest continues...

[hyperq]

I was hoping that the new X or T thinkpads should come with a DVI port. They still don't! They can add a DVI-I port which is compatible with both the DVI-D and the 25 year old VGA port.

I am glad to see the that X300 comes with a 1.3MP web cam, nice. I use Skype to do video conference very often. This is great!

I don't really need an optical drive. All new thinkpads can boot from an USB DVD drive, so the drive doesn't have to be on the laptop. X200 should be even lighter without the dvd drive, and I am leaning toward X200. But I am still interested in X300 if it comes with a Blue-ray drive.

In short, X300 is close, but I am still holding out for X210 or X310 if they comes with a DVI-I port. I will get X310 if it also comes with a Blue ray drive. If not, X210 will be even smaller and lighter.

If Lenovo is dragging their feet on this, hey Sony, Dell, Toshiba, are you guys reading this? Hint, hint!

About the OS. When will Lenovo put Ubuntu on thinkpads? I have been using Ubuntu for 2 years now, and I'm extremely happy with it. I put it on my servers, desktops, and laptops. Never bothered with buggy and bloated Vista.

If you haven't used Linux before, just boot from a Ubuntu Live CD, and get a taste of it. Linux is getting more and more popular with the help of Ubuntu.

What are your thoughts on your dream laptop? Voice your opinions. If we are loud enough, we might just get our dream laptops sooner.

[Dead1nside]

The absence of built-in DVI has been discussed many times before. In reality, the impression I have been given is that most projectors on the market are still D-SUB/VGA - and in any case a suitable dongle can be used to convert up. Best to annoy the minority than anger the majority? I am sure in a year or so it will become introduced, but it's waiting for the projector market to put it as standard on all of their projectors.

Thinkpads have been available with SLED 10 on for awhile now. They were available on the T43 and now are available on the T61. I think this is adequate, as they do fully support it with ThinkVantage tools etc. and they have a long standing relationship with Novell, who produce it. I personally would like to see Fedora on it, but then again someone else might want Slackware... not all distributions can be supported and shipped, unfortunately. These are enterprise machines, business laptops. It makes sense to put a Linux distribution on them that is enterprise oriented. Red Hat Enterprise or SUSE Enterprise, rather than newbie-centric Ubuntu. But this is not a holy war about distros, it's being realistic.

[pianowizard]

the impression I have been given is that most projectors on the market are still D-SUB/VGA - and in any case a suitable dongle can be used to convert up. Best to annoy the minority than anger the majority?

Precisely. I give Powerpoint presentations at conferences and universities about half a dozen times annually and all projectors I've used are still VGA. If my laptop has DVI instead of VGA, I would always need to remember to bring an adapter. I might forget to bring it (I usually forget something while traveling), or I might misplace it.

However, I do think it would be nice if Lenovo can let people choose DVI or VGA when they're ordering a unit. People like me would choose VGA, and people like hyperq would choose DVI. So everyone would be happy.

[snife]

The VGA port is still the best for a mobile business system imho (you can argue the apple way but needing a dongle means i'm more likely to have no connections when travelling than all the ones I need), where the X300 fails (and also X6*) is that there is no docking station with DVI.

I made a point on the lenovoblogs stating that they really need an UWB dock for the X300 pronto as USB docks are worse than useless and obviously dont have DVI. If an UWB dock with DVI existed I believe the X300 would be one step closer to perfection.

Admin Edit: Duplicated whinge deleted.

[hyperq]

I am holding out for an ultra portable with a DVI-I port. The laptop may have the chance of being connected to a VGA projector up to 10 time a year. During the rest 355 days of the year, however, it will definitely be connected to my large LCD monitor.

I want to have the best display image possible with the DVI-port during those 355 days. When I do bring the laptop on the road, the DVI-to-VGA adapter will always stay in its own compartment in the laptop bag. There is no way I will forget to bring the laptop bag if I am going to bring the laptop.

It is 2008. When will I see the DVI-port? 2015? I won't wait that long. I prefer a thinkpad if it meets my requirements. Lenovo should at least follow the market trend by copying good ideas from Apple, even if Lenovo doesn't want to be the leader in the PC market.

[snife]

From what I understand, I doubt that the DVI port will ever be on a ThinkPad, I think they will jump from VGA to DisplayPort at the appropriate time.

I agree i'd use DVI more than VGA if it was available but i still prefer VGA on the ThinkPad, I think a docking solution is adequate for DVI as i'm only likely to use my large LCD monitor when i'm at my desk anyway, however, given there is no expresscard or docking port on X300, then a wireless dock is doing to be the only option.

[Dead1nside]

I think they will jump from VGA to DisplayPort at the appropriate time.

I had completely forgotten about DisplayPort. I agree with you. This is going to be the new technology on most monitors from now on. So it would be more sensible to have a DisplayPort port on Thinkpads... I still don't think that's going to happen soon though.

[hyperq]

Lenovo make different thinkpads for different market segments. They have X61 for UltraPortable-General, X61s for UltraPortable-LongBatteryLife.

I am in X61p segment, UltraPortable-Performance. I want the smallest, fastest laptop possible with compromised battery life. No DVI or DisplayPort is a deal breaker. I hope the new X200 will have a fast processor, nVidia card, and a DVI or DisplayPort.

[Puppy]

Long battery life does not go well with a thing called nVidia ...

[Zeitgeist]

What about the X200 model, does it have a dvi output?

[hyperq]

Not sure. I was reading the comments on Lenovo's blog, Apparently there are a lot of people demanding the DVI port.

http://lenovoblogs.com/designmatters/?p ... ment-40098

[furball4]

I believe it was stated pretty clearly at one point on LenovoBlogs that there will never be a DVI port in a ThinkPad. They consider their large internal size to be too big of a con, overall. They would always rather put in something else instead. They will put in DisplayPort when that becomes a viable option for manufacturers and when there are enough compatible displays out there.

But I hear you. To me, the smaller and more portable a machine becomes, the *more* important it's connectivity options become. Peripheral as well as network. When you go small you have to cut things like the display - this is obvious and accepted by all. But needing to travel says nothing about what you need when you aren't traveling. The versatility to sit back down at your own desk and suddenly have a crystal clear 24" picture at 1920x1200 is huge.

In other words, if you don't move the computer much, put the killer display on the computer. If you do have to move it a lot, put the killer display on the desk and let your computer connect to it.

[blynch]

I'm very satisfied with their solution for dvi on the T60. At home I can dock into the minidock and use my 20WMGX, on the road I can hook up to projectors. I hope the x200 has docking capabilities, as I am very disappointed the x300 doesn't. The T60 w/ minidock has been the greatest convenience ever for me and I don't think I will ever purchase a notebook without a docking solution with at least dvi/power/audio/usb.

I assume they didn't give the x300 a docking port for size reasons, but I think a dock is by far the best solution to dvi/vga dilema. And if they could making docking cross compatible btw the xseries and the Tseries, that would be even better.