learn me the x41T opinions needed.

[924guy]

Hey all,

So i recently was talking with a guy who had a toughbook, very cool little machine, loved the portability and touchscreen features. But being a thinkpad kind of guy of course i started looking at what IBM/Lenovo has that similar (my little bit of fuzzy logic.) Which brought me to the x41t series. I dont need to use my laptop in the arctic or the Mohave dessert, but a smaller unit that i can write notes on is very appealing for those monday conference calls and daily planner notes. Im only halfway in the stone age, i do use outlook schedulers, but id like to stop lugging around a paper planner, and write my notes directly into the computer (i hope the x41t can do that!)

I currently lug around an ancient r31, which is a great machine for me and has been extremely reliable, despite its age. Ive done some reading here already on the x41t and am trying to figure out how it stacks up to the r31 performance wise. im only an amateur at this stuff, so i came to the pros for help.

* will there be an appreciable performance difference r31 (1.5cel/30gig hd, 768 ram,win xp pro), vs x41t? (think i want a 1.6mhz,1gig+ ram, 60 gig hd,) discounting screen size, weight and tablet functions.

* is it realistic to expect to find an x41t in mint condition for under $250? im patient, but not that patient, but it needs to be like new, cracks and scratches and scuffs annoy me, other wise id of already been in touch with the person selling a few here.

* is the x41t a better performer with a win tablet edition o/s or win xp? (a quick look finds many on ebay with no o/s) is the factory preload on these just fat, or should i want to find one with the original stuff? im no0 programmer, but i can load an o/s and have an external usb optical drive if needed.

* Ive kept my xp based r31 for whew... about 8 years now, wondering about os "required" upgrades predictions. if i have to run win 7 on an x41t, can I? Are there drivers for the tablet functions available?

* the 60 gig hd is plenty, i keep all my work stuff on thumbdives, and use an external drive for most pictures and media already (and it would be a 30 gig upgrade!) but a drop in 250 gig would be good, are there any for less than what i would pay for the whole computer to start with? the new ipad uses a 1.8" drive right?, will it connect?

* any real difference between the 1.5 mhz and 1.6 mhz models besides .1? are they different types of chip? will I "feel" it with everyday use (web, excel spreadsheets , word, power point, etc..)

anything else you'd like to add?

thanks in advance, and hope these arent repeat questions, i did read a bunch of older posts already, but im still a little confused...

[Temetka]

Let me point out the biggest issue with X41T's as I own one. The hard drive is 1.8" in size and as such can be a pin to find a larger model. There do exist X41T 5400RPM drives in the 120GB size but that is the largest I have seen. Secondly they are PATA hard drives like the one in your R31 and as such no SATA support. You can install a PATA 1.8" SSD in the machine.

The CPU's in these are Pentium M's and will certainly be faster than your Celeron.

The maximum amount of RAM is 2GB. Don't worry about what the machine comes with. Just buy a 2GB DDR2 SODIMM and install it. Even if the machine come with 512MB or 256MB it is soldered to the motherboard. The chipset in these machine is the Intel 915 and it's maximum amount of RAM supported is 2GB. Period. So if your machine comes with 256MB or 512MB and you install a 2GB chip, you will have 2GB. Not 2.25 or 2.5GB, but 2GB. Which is plenty for XP.

OS:

You can purchase X41T restore discs on the marketplace here. I have run Windows 7 on this machine but went back to XP Tablet Edition because, well it's faster. Do not install vanilla XP as it does NOT support the tablet features. The pen wont work, the screen wont rotate, no handwriting recognition and so on. Windows Vista and Windows 7 will work out of the box as they have built in Tablet support. So you will either need Vista/7 or XP Tablet Edition.

I love my X41T. It's a great machine. Pretty speedy for what I use it for and of course the size and Tablet functionality make it a winner in my book.

BTW - As far as hard drive upgrades are concerned just do an e-bay search for X41T hard drive and you'll get an idea of pricing and compatible models. Do not, I repeat do not buy a standard 2.5" laptop drive. It wont fit in the machine.

Hope this clears up a few things for you.

[924guy]

awesome info, THANKYOU!

The pen wont work, the screen wont rotate

hold the phones! i can see the pen not working, but the screen not rotating?? is it a electro mechanical hinge? I just assumed it was manually operated... or is there something else im missing with this part? EDIT: okay, i had my coffee... figured out you meant the image wont rotate, not the physical screen itself...duh..

I wasn't as patient as i thought i could be. the more reading ive done, the more impressed I have been. one popped up on ebay that appears really clean, has the 60gig hd, 1 gig of ram and comes with with the pen, battery that lasts 1.5 hours, and also the docking station right at my price limit including shipping, so i hit the buy button and its on its way. snagged it only a few hours after it was listed. Its loaded with win xp and the seller says everything works, but i dont yet know if its a factory install or a patched version. i didnt even bother to ask if its 1.5 or 1.6mhz version, or if its a BT model, ill find out soon enough...given whats currently available, it appeared allot better than the others ive looked at to date, and instantly usable. regardless, ill most likely be in the market soon for a ram upgrade, 8 cell battery, lcd cover, and factory restore disks if the software isnt factory original.

thanks again for the great info! I dont come to this site enough, gotta fix that...

[sjthinkpader]

Alternative is to use Win7. It supports pen. Rotation may be a combination of Hotkey driver and Video driver.

[makintraxru]

HI > regarding x41 tablet
i bought one of these off e-bay uk for just over £100 ! unfortunately it didnt have
the digitiser pen , which is a bit of a pain. i have ordered one from a seller in the usa as
they seem to be really scarce in the uk ?
as i dont have the pen just now i have been busy installing all the lenovo and windows updates
on the software side of things i have installed a trial version of smartdraw vp
and also for taking daily notes , schedules etc i would recommend trying agilix go binder
my daughter is looking forward to using the pen functions as much as i am and i have also
installed art rage studio pro for her to use for painting and drawing

hope this helps
cheers from scotland over in the uk

[924guy]

well, im on the hunt for a decent x41t again. ebay seller never delivered, but I did get a refund via the buyer protection plan so all is good. Except, i still dont have one yet.

[Harryc]

Recommended seller - X41T -
http://cgi.ebay.com/X41-Tablet-Mouse-AC ... 0641475174

[924guy]

Recommended seller - X41T -
http://cgi.ebay.com/X41-Tablet-Mouse-AC ... 0641475174

Thanks for the link. I had a few questions that i sent to that seller and haven't received a response yet. I put a wanted ad here in the marketplace as well, but i guess no one has a fully loaded unit there willing to part with in my price range at the moment. Ive got my eye on two other units on ebay as well, i think im going to pull the trigger soon , but readily admit im a little gun shy after the last fiasco. Doing the math, it seems better to buy a complete package with a dock and all the trimmings, rather than just a base unit that needs software and upgrades... opinions?

[924guy]

Well, according to ups, my new to me setup should be here monday at some point. It took me awhile to find a seller who actually wanted to sell me one, its amazing how many sellers simply dont respond to a few simple questions, requiring one line answers. I paid a bit more, but got a fully loaded model with all the bells and whistles, including a dock with a combo drive. the only thing i think it doesnt have is a firewire port, but i can get a pcmcia card for that if the dock doesnt have it?
i went a bit nuts and ordered a ultranav keyboard to go along with it. its a spanish/english version but ive always wanted to learn spanish anyhow.

im thinking onenote, via voice, along with office xp should be all the software i need and allow me to both hand write and voice record documents.

this may be a weird question but can the x4 dock be mounted vertically and still hold the the x41t? I have an itx car pc already, but it would be nice to replace that with the x41t and be able to undock it for work use, but it would need to mount vertically behind my seat (i have a 1st gen insight 2 seater.)

[sjthinkpader]

The two plastic hooks that holds the computer is not that strong but there is a side piece that makes it stronger than other type of docks. Nevertheless I think mounting it vertically in a moving car is not a good idea. The non-tablet Ultrabase would work better in a car. The mounts and position used for computers in police cars are really the best.

Generally speaking even tablets is not good for cars due to varying sunlight conditions. I tried to use the Garmin nRoute with a X20 and it is impossible. Screens used in vehicles are as much as 500-1500NIT.

[924guy]

thanks for the reply!

I shouldve mentioned id be using it with an external touchscreen monitor thats already mounted in my dash. ill have to look at the options once i get everything in hand. im not beyond building my own custom dock (or i should say reconfiguring an existing one) but the less work the better.

[924guy]

WooHoo x41T received! I love this thing... still figuring it out, but what a great tool! the ability to write notes is going save me hours of work and a few trees as well. the less paper i have to deal with the better! I am also impressed by the ability to pair my cell phone with it via BT, makes it so easy to get a picture from my phone and email it. feels like a cross between my old 760 (small but solid) and my r31 (ergonomics, features) plus improvements. I was a little disappointed with the cosmetics of the unit i bought, but nothing too bad at least. one stress crack and a small chip on the lower right corner of the lcd housing. but the rest is great, perfect screen and everything seems to work.

Im still loading it up with my software (assorted ms office, adobe, etc.), after that ill back it up and work on trimming down the bloatware from the factory load.

what the heck does the bottom port of the stacked usb ports work with? looks like a slave port rather than a host, oddball size? is this for a scanner or something? I also need to find/figure out/ down load or access the biometrics program.


im sure ill have more questions soon, but its an impressive unit!

[Harryc]

That would be a 'power port' to power an optional USB 2.0 Combo CDRW/DVD Drive 22P9194