On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 11:47:07 -0700, Jim Thompson wrote:

On Sun, 17 Jun 2007 13:40:09 -0500, Joe Chisolm wrote:

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.

The Lenovo site is obscure, so I can't tell whether/what
Ultrabase/Docking-Station will support external mouse and keyboard.

I like external mouse/keyboard, so I can run the notebook via my KVM
switch when home.

...Jim Thompson

There is a PS2 connector on the back, but just one. I tried the PS2
Keyboard/Mouse Y cables but did not have much luck. I switched to a USB
mouse and keyboard with a Iogear KVM (4 port unit). One thing I noticed is
the BIOS on the X40 does not always recognize the USB keyboard on
boot. One day I'll dig around and see if there is a new BIOS flash. Just
means I cannot easily interrupt the boot sequence. I have a dual boot
setup for XP or Linux. Once the OS boots everything is fine.

BTW: Dont be fooled by the size of the keyboard. I have not had a problem
and I have pretty good size hands. Part of the reason I went with the X40
(and the X31 before) is there was no touch pad. I did not like the "feel"
of the keyboard with that area where the touch pad lives on most units.
Using the little red joy stick button is not an issue when I dont have a
mouse. Wifi works great. More than once I've stopped at the I-10 rest area
on the AZ side of Lordsburg to check my email

If most of your work on the road is going to be email or maybe hooking up
to a projector for a presentation, then the X40 is a great little unit.
If you are going to try and sit on a plane and do a Spice simulation, you
probably want something with a bigger screen.

--
Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, TX - (after 28 years in PHX)