New Thinkpad User -- Random Questions

[bmoses76]

Hey Everyone,

I bought a Thinkpad T23 refurbished from TigerDirect within the last month and I've been enjoying the heck out of my first Thinkpad (and first Laptop ever).

I've refrained from posting and trying to find some answers to some questions I've had so far, but I haven't had much luck.

So, here are my two questions (in no particular order of importance):

1. I'm going overseas this summer for vacation, I'd like to get a plane power adapter or replacement power supply. Most of the ones I find are pretty pricy, and if I have to spend that money, I'd prefer to get something that perople have recommended.

2. I would like a way to be able to access my email from my desktop & laptop, but in such a fashion I don't have to scroll through and re-read a bunch of emails. If I read something on my laptop, I'd like for it to be mark read on my desktop (and vice versa). Is there a way to do this?

Thats about it I didn't have nearly as many questions as I did the day I opened the latptop, I'm glad I waited to post.

[jdhurst]

1. Since you are only in a plane for a relatively brief period, perhaps just dispense with that. Your T23 should have come with a universal 100-240V power adapter. My T23/T30/now T41 came with two-pronged US AC plugs. You get an adapter (or more) from (say) Laptoptravel that will adapt your AC plug to an overseas plug. There are country kits and region kits with AC adapters and phone adapters.

2. The only way I know that you could do this with a POP account (I am assuming such) is to copy the mail files from laptop to desktop on a regular basis. So for Outlook, for example, you could retrieve mail only only your laptop, read it, file it, etc. Then later, copy the outlook.pst file to the desktop and replace it over there. The two versions of Outlook need to be the same. I prefer to use Mail Call or some such mail daemon, read mail on my laptop, don't delete from server, go home, re-read mail on desktop, then use the mail daemon to delete the mail. Not too onerous if done daily.

If you are running from an Exchange Server or Notes Server, just synchronize from the server.

3. You didn't ask, but do you intend to use email while overseas? If so, you need an internet account over there or a portable dial up account. If you get a lot of mail over there, re-reading at home may be an issue. You could synchronize the mail file just before you go, read mail overseas and delete it from server, then re-synchronize when you get back.

I am heading over to Europe in May, and will just use my international dial up access, retrieve and deal with mail as I always do, leave it on the server, and pick it up when I get home. I am concerned that by the end of the trip, I will have several hundred emails sitting there to download at home, but I will deal with that issue on the run.
... JD Hurst

[bmoses76]

1. Since you are only in a plane for a relatively brief period, perhaps just dispense with that. Your T23 should have come with a universal 100-240V power adapter. My T23/T30/now T41 came with two-pronged US AC plugs. You get an adapter (or more) from (say) Laptoptravel that will adapt your AC plug to an overseas plug. There are country kits and region kits with AC adapters and phone adapters.

I haven't really toyed with the power settings on my Laptop yet, but I'm not sure how long my battery will last on the airplane, and this is my primary concern.

Additionally, my power supply has a frayed cable near where it connects to the power adapter. It works fine now, but I will probably try and replace it soon

2. The only way I know that you could do this with a POP account (I am assuming such) is to copy the mail files from laptop to desktop on a regular basis. So for Outlook, for example, you could retrieve mail only only your laptop, read it, file it, etc. Then later, copy the outlook.pst file to the desktop and replace it over there. The two versions of Outlook need to be the same. I prefer to use Mail Call or some such mail daemon, read mail on my laptop, don't delete from server, go home, re-read mail on desktop, then use the mail daemon to delete the mail. Not too onerous if done daily.

Thats pretty much how I envision accessing my email, since it is a POP account. I was hoping there was a nifty utility (even a small mail server?) that I could run on my desktop machine instead.

3. You didn't ask, but do you intend to use email while overseas? If so, you need an internet account over there or a portable dial up account. If you get a lot of mail over there, re-reading at home may be an issue. You could synchronize the mail file just before you go, read mail overseas and delete it from server, then re-synchronize when you get back.

I'll be staying with a friend who has DSL. I'll probably wind up just using my webmail client my mail server offers to check my email. Or just have a ton of emails to re-download when I get home

[bmoses76]

http://www.targus.com/us/product_detail ... =PAPWR300U

Thats one of the power supplies I've been considering buying. I saw a couple last time I went to Best Buy, and I'll probably continue shopping until I book my airfare (to make sure that flight will have power adapters available in my seat)

[JHEM]

Hey Everyone.

Welcome to the Forums!

1. I'm going overseas this summer for vacation, I'd like to get a plane power adapter or replacement power supply. Most of the ones I find are pretty pricy, and if I have to spend that money, I'd prefer to get something that perople have recommended.

Check eBay for a Targus or IBM universal DC auto/air adapter. But none of these are going to be "cheap". The Targus universal adapter is good but expensive. Same goes for the iGo adapters, although you can pick them up in your local Radio Shack. Kensington makes one also. WRT using your AC adapter overseas, you only need a plug adapter to convert from the US two pins to whatever is used in the country you're visiting, the power bricks can handle 100V to 240V automatically. You can check for plug adapters while you're in Radio Shack.

But seriously consider one of the Kensington, Targus or iGo "universal" AC/DC adapters. A lot of money for a "brick" but you only need to take one of them with you rather than your AC brick and a separate DC brick. Check here to see if your airline will have empower outlets available on your flight. http://www.targus.com/us/notebook_airlinecomp.asp

2. I would like a way to be able to access my email from my desktop & laptop, but in such a fashion I don't have to scroll through and re-read a bunch of emails. If I read something on my laptop, I'd like for it to be mark read on my desktop (and vice versa). Is there a way to do this?

None that I'm familiar with.

Regards,

James

[daeojkim]

2. I would like a way to be able to access my email from my desktop & laptop, but in such a fashion I don't have to scroll through and re-read a bunch of emails. If I read something on my laptop, I'd like for it to be mark read on my desktop (and vice versa). Is there a way to do this?

Thats about it I didn't have nearly as many questions as I did the day I opened the latptop, I'm glad I waited to post.

I think this can be done as follows.

Your desktop must be on all the time and you must use a router / switch so that your laptop can communicate with the desktop though.
Make a share folder in your desktop, where the outlook.pst file will be stored. then from your laptop map the shared folder in your desktop.

There is an option in outlook where you can assign where you would like to store the outlook.pst file.

For both your desktop and laptop outlook assign the shared folder created in desktop as the folder to store the outlook.pst file.

This way both your T23 and desktop outlook will access the same outlook.pst file. Just make sure that you have same version of outlook in both desktop and notebook.

I hope that I was able to explain clearly.

EDIT: actually after I wrote this I realized hat this will only work when you are at home. If you are in a place where you can't access your desktop, you won't be able to access your old mails.

Why not use gmail?

[s0larian]

For your Email question there is a simple solution:
use a email provider which supports IMAP instead of pop (for example www.fastmail.fm, the basic account is free). Just forward your regular email account to the IMAP account and you have all the comfort you want. Once an email is checked as read you get this status with different email clients on different machines as well.