IBM X3 Series Has THE BEST Case Design Of All The X Series.

[epu]

I still have my X32 (2Ghz!) as my home internet PC and I have to say that it has the BEST design of the entire X series (forgive my rant). The newer Xs, the X4 and X6, have the stupid battery in the back, and all of the connectors on the sides. How smart is this? When connecting your stuff to monitors, USB Drives, its a pain and VERY MESSY having all of this stuff connected on the sides.

I only bought my X6 to have a more powerful PC on the go (and that it is). You think Lenovo might ever bring back the older case design? The I love having my battery right up front.

[aceo07]

I have an X22, which also have the battery in the front. I also have an X40 with the battery in the back.

I prefer the battery in the back. This allows the front to be thinner and tilts the keyboard a bit. Also, it makes it easier to have larger batteries.

I vaguely remember one of the Dell ultra-portable laptops had a battery in the front too. It did allow for larger batteries, which made the armrest longer.

[proaudioguy]

The last of the IBM models. I find my X32 a joy to use while my X60T is not so much fun, but I do like the tablet side of it. The keyboard is uncomfortable anyway, and when the WIFI is on it gets HOT too. Also the battery sticking out he back won't allow it to fit in any appropriate case (Pelican or Storm) that is acceptable as a carry on. I carry 2 computers a bunch of mics and some other gear and it would just about all fit in 2 pelicans if the X60 didn't have the rear battery.

[weepy]

plz delete

[weepy]

I still have my X32 (2Ghz!) as my home internet PC and I have to say that it has the BEST design of the entire X series (forgive my rant). The newer Xs, the X4 and X6, have the stupid battery in the back, and all of the connectors on the sides. How smart is this? When connecting your stuff to monitors, USB Drives, its a pain and VERY MESSY having all of this stuff connected on the sides.

I only bought my X6 to have a more powerful PC on the go (and that it is). You think Lenovo might ever bring back the older case design? The I love having my battery right up front.

The X series are ultraportables, so having them cabled to the desk nicely was the last concern in design. That's what the dock is for. I like to have connectors everywhere, because every desk is different and I am quite thankful that I don't have to search for the usb port in the back when trying to connect my usb drive as it is with my gfs old compaq. I mean.. I am glad that you found your dream machine .

X32 vs X60t. Which one has better display?

[epu]

Wow . . . "Please Delete". How mature in just a general convo on a forum.


Honestly, the X61 and X31 have the SAME 1024x768 display. The X61 is slightly brighter and more of the screen is exposed because of the way it is in the bezel.

[dstrauss]

Just a vote for the x40/x41 form factor as the best design. I have to agree with the comment above that the dock was designed for the "connect in the back" crowd, and the best way to organize a desk (something many manufacturers have yet to understand).

[weepy]

Wow . . . "Please Delete". How mature in just a general convo on a forum.

Now I don't understand this remark.. My reaction was double posted so I ensured that one of them takes as little space as possible. I learned to do so in this forum and I agree it is a "mature convention".

Honestly, the X61 and X31 have the SAME 1024x768 display. The X61 is slightly brighter and more of the screen is exposed because of the way it is in the bezel.

I was asking about x60t, not x61.

[epu]

The X6ts have the 1440x900 or 1440x1050 displays if I'm not mistaken. I contemplated purchasing one of those and could have, but opted not to because of the extra weight.

My apologies to the earlier comment, I interpreted it as in you meaning delete the thread, lol.

[qviri]

I still have my X32 (2Ghz!) as my home internet PC and I have to say that it has the BEST design of the entire X series (forgive my rant). The newer Xs, the X4 and X6, have the stupid battery in the back, and all of the connectors on the sides. How smart is this? When connecting your stuff to monitors, USB Drives, its a pain and VERY MESSY having all of this stuff connected on the sides.

The X20 series also have the battery in the front. I personally find them better looking than the X30s.

On a side note, trying to plug a USB drive into a port on the back of the laptop isn't really handy.

[denisky]

I never owned X30 series, but the older X20 series has good design as well. Battery is in the front, under the palm rest, and it never heats up like T40 series.

The only thing I dislike X30 series is a cut on bottom left corner of the screen, it is kinda ugly. Does anyone know why IBM design it this way?

[ragefury32]

I never owned X30 series, but the older X20 series has good design as well. Battery is in the front, under the palm rest, and it never heats up like T40 series.

The only thing I dislike X30 series is a cut on bottom left corner of the screen, it is kinda ugly. Does anyone know why IBM design it this way?

Oh, the notch? Clears the cabling route for the USB port next to it.

[epu]

There is also a USB on the left side of the unit. The cabling looks neat no matter where you are.

[califas]

From the ultra portables I own

X4*>X2*>S3*>X3*

X31 has the ugliest palmrest of any Thinkpad. Its bulbous and has a cheap brittle feel to it.

[dr_st]

The fact that the X3x have the battery in the front helps to balance the weight greatly and remarkably compensates for the fact that weightwise it is noticeably heavier than the X4x/X6x (non-Tablet).

[schnitzelcore]

The X20 series also have the battery in the front. I personally find them better looking than the X30s.

Could you elaborate on that? Are more people here of this opinion?
I own an X31, but have never seen a real X2x (only pictures) but I do like the fact that they have the old style hinges, less color (the X3x mini-jack connectors come to mind) and I like the sharp angle on the end of the lid. Generally, it seems a cleaner less cluttered design than the X3x.

[rek]

There are two chassis I like out of the X series:

X30 series case from a "built like a tank, to survive Armageddon" point of view. AND compatibility with A/T/R/X docks!

X60 series case for the thin-ness and compact-ness, while still supporting normal laptop hardware like a 2.5in HDD.

[ajkula66]

My vote would go for X2 series when it comes to design. And, in my not so modest experience, they are the most abuse-prone of all the X series, with X4x being the least abuse-prone, but unbeatable in the terms of weight and battery life combination...

[epu]

I've never owned an X4 or X2, but wherever I go (not that this matters) the X3 gets the most stares from the corporate business professionals. Everyone asks me where I got the laptop from and raves over the fact how light it is.

I never get that about my X6. People who do comment on it says it looks like 90s tech. Lol. Something about the gray keys, solid build, PCMCIA slot on the middle left and most connectors in the back say "I mean business". Of course, the IBM logo helps too.

I took the liberty of painting those little red tabs underneath the "mouse buttons" black for overall business appeal. The people in my MBA program love it.

All of that said though, the X6 is immensely more powerful than my 2GHz X32.

[weepy]

i think X series in general are head turners, each having a feature that differentiates them and what their owners love them for. My high ranking colleagues are stunned about my x41t for the fact that I can turn the display without me having to operate any cables sticking out... Sometimes I watch movies in tablet mode, which is more convenient in some situations (bed...)

[pxa270]

Of all the laptop I used for longer than a few days, the X40 is my absolute favorite for case design (and that includes ThinkPad 240, X20, X31, 600E/X, T23, T40, A31p, R50p, Toshiba Portege 3480ct, Compaq Armada M300, Evo N600c, Dell Latitude L400, Apple iBook G4, MacBook, 15" PowerBook G4 plus some cheap rubish not worth mentioning).

Limiting myself to the ultraportables:

The 240 was really nice, especially for its time, and it's still the most compact real laptop I've owned. The hard plastic finish may look cheaper than the fancier coatings of more expensive ThinkPads, but tends to age better. It's a pity that the display bezel is relatively thick, so the screen is a lot smaller that it should have been.

The X20 is probably the most sturdy of the X series. It has a very nice old-school 600-series feeling to it (no key and port colors, rubberized palm rests!), and the keyboard was the most clicky. But it's relatively big/heavy for a 12-incher, so it's not my favorite. The display bezel is the biggest of all X series before X300/X200, and I hate big bezels. The IBM-proprietary UltraPort (that really went nowhere) is partly to blame.

The X31 is a very well rounded machine in terms of specs, but I never got to like the case design as much as the other X series. For a ThinkPad, there is quite a bit of fluff in the design (asymmetric hinges, cut-out in the corner like all the *30 ThinkPad series). Also, it has a parallel port, but no serial, which just isn't right. Serial and parallel go together like peas and carrots. You either do both, or neither

The X40, as said, is my absolute favorite. I like the battery placement in the back. Sometimes I run it on power without the battery pack for a long time, which is difficult with the X20/X30 which tend to tip over because of the lacking weight. I don't mind no ports on the back, as I don't have much plugged in permanently. And for occasional use, side ports are better. The X40 case design is so good that there is almost nothing I would change. Only thing is the 1.8" hard disk, which should have been 2.5" (the well-known archilles heel of the X40 series), and I would replace the powered USB plug on the left side with two real USB plugs. I guess the X60s corrects these flaws, and may be my favorite if I ever acquired one. But I hate how they shrunk the Ctrl-Alt keys for the Win keys.

Although it's not a ThinkPad, I have to say that I really liked the case of the Compaq Armada M300. It's nearly as compact as the X40, and looks and feels just as clean, sober, business-like. Unfortunately the keyboard wasn't nearly as good, and it didn't have a TrackPoint.

[gongo2k1]

Serial and parallel go together like peas and carrots. You either do both, or neither

haha, very true!

here's a vote for my x41. i used a 600 for a month and i have a t60 at work. i absolutely LOVE my x41. the t60 feels like a giant brick in comparison. the 600 was nice, but it was already old by the time i got it, the battery didn't hold more than a 10 minute charge and 800x600 was tough to use, but i did like the overall feel and size.

the x41 is just right because it really is the size of a paper notebook. it's very light, quite powerful, gets good battery life, and i'm a big fan of the case tapering down in the front.

[dj2005]

The X40, as said, is my absolute favorite. I like the battery placement in the back. Sometimes I run it on power without the battery pack for a long time, which is difficult with the X20/X30 which tend to tip over because of the lacking weight. I don't mind the ports on the back, as I don't have much plugged in permanently. And for occasional use, side ports are better. The X40 case design is so good that there is almost nothing I would change. Only thing is the 1.8" hard disk, which should have been 2.5" (the well-known archilles heel of the X40 series), and I would replace the powered USB plug on the left side with two real USB plugs. I guess the X60s corrects these flaws, and may be my favorite if I ever acquired one. But I hate how they shrunk the Ctrl-Alt keys for the Win keys.

I own a X31 and I have to fully agree with your point about how it tends to flip over when no battery is in the unit. This is probably my biggest peeve about the X31 as I tend to use it mostly when it is plugged in, but I must leave the heavy battery in or the unit is too unbalanced.

[pxa270]

This old Taiwanese review has some very nice pictures comparing the X20, X30 and X40.

http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/articles/x40-test-1.htm

[graywolf]

Well, I have not used all of the TP's mentioned here, but I am, except for one point, very satisfied with my old X24. That one point is that it does not have USB 2.0. If it did I would have no complaints whatsoever. However, it should be noted that I do not even attempt to use it as a desktop replacement, it is strictly a "carry with me" machine.

[elray]

Ok, so maybe it isn't the "X" series, but it was my first "X".

But it has one superior aspect to its design: NO PALM REST (nor any room to place a silly TouchPad).

If the world wants palm rests and touchpads, they should be available as options - but I'd prefer they not waste the real estate that could be used for taller keys or conserved for a smaller screen height. Break-away palm rests are available on many desktop keyboards.

[j-dawg]

Keyboards on laptops didn't always have palm rests. Look at early Thinkpads--you will see that they keyboard is up against the user's end of the computer, leaving very little room for mouse buttons. The old gray PowerBooks were the first laptops to have palm rests and trackballs.

Personally, I like having the palm rests, but to each his own.

[KristianJ]

My vote would go for X2 series when it comes to design. And, in my not so modest experience, they are the most abuse-prone of all the X series, with X4x being the least abuse-prone, but unbeatable in the terms of weight and battery life combination...

As I've found with your old X40, George. 4200rpm hard drive aside, I really do like it a lot, and the 7 cell battery has great potential for long, long battery life (even though I haven't discharged a full cycle as yet, the numbers that come up just after the battery is unplugged do excite me when I consider the times where I may need a laptop and have no immediate power input for my AC adapter).

As for where it ranks compared to the X31 I owned for a period last year (never had nor seen an X2x in the flesh), I would say I prefer the X40 in terms of overall aesthetics but the X31 seemed to feel more sturdy, as you sort of said in your post when you said the X4x felt the least abuse prone.