Thinking of buying an X40 for college

[Saysana13B]

I've been a Thinkpad fan for years. I bought a 600e a few years ago to play with and it was fun, but I never quite got it to run, so I sold it.

I just graduated. I have been going to college for a year now, concurrent with my senior year and I've seen countless MacBooks and HP's around campus.

The desktop I have is old. About 5 years old.

AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1GB of RAM
80GB HD

I do the things I do on my comp fine. No lag, nothing. Youtube, videos (only 1hr ones, no movies because thats what a date is for ahha), pictures, chat, web surf, and from time to time, picture edit.

It got me thinking, if I can do that on a 5 year old desktop, why can't I do the same on a 4 year old laptop? So, I'm eyein the X40. Before I was eyein' the Macbook and X61. I'm all about form factor, so I was swayed more towards the X61.

I just need a little feedback, is the X41 up to par with what I do normally. The basics, web surf, videos, pics, chat, etc.

There are great X40s on ebay that have been owned by corporations and are now forsale. I take it that the person being issued an X40 would take better care of it to avoid fines by the employer for wrecking a company laptop.

[j-dawg]

I was in a similar position until recently. I was using a computer of about that vintage (Athlon 1800+, 512MB, 80GB) and doing essentially the same stuff on my desktop, as well as on my laptop, an X24. The X24 was a little sluggish, but it could typically handle it and would likely have performed much better if I'd upgraded the RAM.

The X40/X41 is more powerful than the X24 so you should be in good shape there. The only concern you might have, performance-wise, is that the X4x series uses 1.8" hard drives, which are slow and not readily available.

Also bear in mind that what is a four year old laptop now will be an eight year old laptop when you're done with college. Something is likely to go wrong with it by then.

[ajkula66]

X40 has a substantially better battery life than X41, and would be my preferred choice for that reason alone, however...

I'd advise you to stay away from X4x series altogether, because of the infamous 1.8" drives. Not only are they sluggish, but are not being produced anymore and new ones are changing hands for $150+ on eBay for a 60Gb drive, which is the largest that will fit. This puts you dangerously close to the lower end of X6 series price range, and these are much faster than X4 to begin with...

Just my $0.02...

[Saysana13B]

Thank you for the responses so far.

I am not so concerned about HD space. My Ipod video broken and I just ordered an enclosure for it to be turned into a portable HD.

But the main concern is performance. The ability to basic things that I've listed. I sorta knew the HD on the X40 was a bit slow, but I didn't think it'd be that bad.

I'm also looking at other options. Maybe even skipping the form factor and going for an HP laptop, or buying one of the newer cheap sub notebooks such as an HP Mini-note, MSI Wind, or Asus Eee.

[j-dawg]

Oh, I'm very vocal about that sort of silly thing.

The new subnotes are great little machines, but they're not intended to be your main PC. If you're going to be away from home at college, you won't have your desktop with you. You'll be frustrated with the reduced power offered by the subnotes.

I'd say if you really want to try the new subnotes, buy a powerful used Thinkpad (e.g. Z-series or T-series of relatively recent vintage) to leave in your dorm room and use the money you save over a brand new laptop on a subnote. That's they way I think subnotes (or "netbooks," if you prefer) are best used--as portable extensions of a stationary system.

[Saysana13B]

The Mini-note is my favorite so far, but the cpu sucks, which is too bad. I mean these netbooks seem so relatively new that in years I feel they'll be much better.

Since you mentioned the T series, I looked them up. I know they're the successor to the 600 series.

I've found models that are better, and cheaper within the T series, over the X40. I'll look at those tonight.

I have the whole summer to actually buy a laptop. I was close to buying an X40 today, but I should take it slowly lol.

I'll keep people posted then?

[underclocker]

The X40 is a fine and light machine. Replacing the drive would be an issue due to availablity and cost. However, perhaps solid state drives will be more of an option in the near future.

I would also seriously consider buying a Z61t. These were somewhat short lived models, but I have one and it's one of my favorites. They are light and slim. They are 14.1" widescreen and some came with an internal camera! In fact, you can find them with Bluetooth, WiFi, Core 2 Duo, internal camera and WXGA+ displays. They also have space for an optical drive. Add a DVD burner (which some came with) and you are set for 4 (make that 5!) years of college.

Tough to beat that package.

[hadoken]

I would go X31. Here's why:

A 1.6ghz X31 sells for about the same as a 1.2Ghz X40. If you research the benchmarks, that speed bump makes day to day things a little quicker (but the X40 is still very useable). I am not so concerned about the X40 HD speed, but a replacement drive is very expensive if it breaks vs an X31 that can use inexpensive 2.5 replacements.

The X31 also has built-in Firewire. I would stay away from the X2 series since they use USB 1.1 whereas the X31 has USB 2.0. In addition, the X31 has 2 DDR slots versus 1 for the X40 so you have more memory flexibility. The X41 uses DDR2 which is WAY cheaper than DDR. I would recommend an X41 strongly over an X40 because it has faster CPU options, but X41's are still very expensive on the used market and not worth it.

Finally, the X31 is heavier than the X40 but remains far lighter than a std 14" notebook. It's not as cool as the X40 but very well balanced.

As an alternative to the X31, I would strongly recommend the HP nc4200 which uses DDR2, has a 12" screen and the higher clocked centrino CPU's than the X40. They are also sturdy and good value on the used market.

[Saysana13B]

I'm interested in the X31 now.

It seems the X40 is better than the X31 in many options (HD upgrades, RAM upgrades,) and pretty much the same features, and one is going for $80 cheaper than the X40 I was looking at.

Anyone got a take on this? I might buy it tonight (because the bidding for the cheapest X31 ends tonight).

[ajkula66]

Bidding on the cheapest machine on eBay is usually a highway to headache...

Buying a X31 here in the Marketplace, from a trusted forum member like BobA who specializes in X3x units, you'll be much better off.

And yes, personally I'd take a X31 over X40 any given day. But that's just me.

[voneschenbach]

I second that motion. I just got an X31 for similar reasons after dealing with a balky Dell D420 and D430, which use 1.8" HDs. Despite the 2Ghz Core Duo and fast memory of the D420, I find my X31 keeps up in the kinds of things I do and I feel less inclined to worry about it because it's used, and I can replace parts, etc. inexpensively if it gets trashed or stolen.

I have had mixed luck with corporate recyclers - I have gotten some really shot machines as well as some nice ones.

[Saysana13B]

Ah, well the seller has a 99.4% feedback, with 1478 sold/bought items. His/Her feedback is filled with Laptop/Laptop parts. They seem legit.

I don't want to post the user or link, but if you do an ebay search for the X31 its the closes ending auction.

[jimmy.zou]

Ah, well the seller has a 99.4% feedback, with 1478 sold/bought items. His/Her feedback is filled with Laptop/Laptop parts. They seem legit.

I don't want to post the user or link, but if you do an ebay search for the X31 its the closes ending auction.

I would go for a X40, which is slimer and nicer built.
1.8' HD is not so terrible, if you install more than 1Gb memory, and use Hibernate as your usual power-off, X40 would be a enough main PC for your usage.

[Saysana13B]

This review right here (http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2438) help sway me to purchase the X31, even though the review is of an X32.

I got the bid for 308, comes with 40GBs, 500mb RAM, and an external cdrw/dvd drive.

I also ordered 1GB of ram at $40. Totaling to $348 for a laptop! Spent about 3 days really researching what I want. I think that's all the upgrades I'll be purchasing. I'll probably get a sleeve and call it a day.

Once it comes, hopefully I won't be too disappointed.

[Harryc]

I would also seriously consider buying a Z61t....Tough to beat that package.

Quoted for truth

[gluvox]

I bought a used x40 a little while ago. The computer itself is okay but there's a major problem - the battery. Beware when buying a used computer, you may go through this nightmare. I'm now out $95 for a battery. Here's what I posted over at another forum:

Hello,
I recently purchased a replacement 8-cell Li-on battery for my x40. When the battery arrived I let it charge with the power off. It took all day before the light turned green, but never reached 100%. I let it run on battery and it lasted a long time, three hours at least. But when I tried to recharge it, it said it was charging, but the percentage never increased.
I contacted the vendor and they apologized, saying I probably just got a defective battery and they sent me a new one right away. It seems I'm having the same problem though. It says it's charging but the percentage never increases, only decreases. I've tried charging with the power on and off. I've let it cool. Charged on the dock, off the dock. The computer works fine with the charger. Did I waste $95 on this product?

manufacturer: Lezinn
24LezinnIBM-09P0998

Does the IBM just not like non-IBM batteries? If IBM no longer manufactured this battery, what are my options? Throw the computer away?

XP pro
I seem to have the latest BIOS 2.08 (IUETD3WW)
machine type 23866RU

Yeah, so it looks like this battery will only charge once and that's it. I already returned one battery. I wonder if they'll give me my money back. My guess is that this aftermarket battery lacks a good smart chip inside the battery that talks to the PC.
Of course the notebook works fine when it's plugged in, but the reason I got an x40 was it's portability, especially for an upcoming trip. SO I feel iike I wasted almost $400. Maybe I should have just bought a new computer.

[Saysana13B]

My X31 came today!!!

I was surprised, it was smaller than I ever imagined!

Also, its light. I'm sure the X40 is lighter, but with the X31 as light as it is, I'm not going to count the ounces.

Also was a bit let down that it doesn't have internal wifi or bluetooth (then again, I'll probably not use bluetooth).

But the Ebay seller was frickin awesome! He GAVE me a wireless card along with the package, an unopened new wireless-g card!

The keyboard is amazing. Just amazing, I don't have any problems with it.

The speed is fast (then again, there's no apps or programs to load on startup). I upgraded the X31 to have 1.5gb of ram total, more than my desktop ahaha!


And a quick last question. Is it worth my time to track down an internal wireless card on here or ebay, or should I just use my wireless-g card that was given to me?


All in all, for the 308 I paid for the laptop, the extra $40 I paid for the ram (348 total), I'm super satisfied with the little money I spent to receive such a nice machine.