On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 10:44:05 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote:

On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 12:36:31 -0500, Joe Chisolm wrote:

On Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:38:25 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote:

I'm pondering purchasing a new laptop... my old Vaio is absolutely
ancient, heavy, and slow (800MHz).

Specifically I'm looking at the ThinkPad X61s notebook.

Anyone experienced with this product?

Alternates?

Thanks!

...Jim Thompson

I migrated from a Thinkpad X31 to a X40 last year. For travel the X40 is
great, light weight and small. Plus, when that clown in front of me has
his seat slammed into my knees I can still use the laptop. Granted the
screen and keyboard are small, but sufficient for doing email and such on
the road. At home I just plug into the docking station with a full size
keyboard and 20in monitor. The thing is pretty rugged, been on a lot of
flights, dropped, kicked around and still works fine.

The down side is the lack of built in CD. I dont find that a real
problem anymore but 2GB+ usb sticks. I have the Ultrabase but I dont use
it much, just takes up room in my case.

Joe in TX.

Joe, Is the Ultrabase a docking station? Or what name does the docking
station go by?

...Jim Thompson
Jim,
The Ultrabase could also be a docking station. I wound up with
both the X4 Dock docking station and the Ultrabase. Simply because of
desk space issues, I have my docking station under a monitor stand. The
way the X40 snaps into the Utrabase is a front catch and then snap down
the back. So the only way to put it on or take it off is to pull the base
completely out from under the monitor stand. With the X4 Dock, it's more
of a true docking station with a simple slide in push down operation. The
Ultrabase has the same port expansion as the X4 Dock, 3 USB, Ethernet,
modem, serial, parallel, video and the DVD drive.

When I know I'm going to be on the road for a couple of weeks or more
I take the Ultrabase with me, just in case I need to read a CD. I'm a big
fan of smaller is better these days. I'm too damn tired and have too many
miles on my butt to be hauling a bunch of heavy stuff through airports. I
have a small laptop case that fits easily under the "seat in front of
me" and a carry-on luggage that fits straight on into the overhead.

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX