Help me make a decision on laptop size/features

R

racketboy

Established Member
Ok, I need some more help on choosing a laptop.

I'm mostly debating between a Thinkpad X20 and a 600X.

Since I'm going to be sharing a car with my wife while we're at school in FL, I'm going to carry my laptop with me all the time on campus.

Here's the breakdown

X20:

thin and small

3 lbs

fairly durable

max 192MB RAM

$450

600X:

little thicker

slighly bigger screen

6lbs

extremely durable

max 256MB RAM

swappable drives etc

$350

So what do you think I should do?

is the 4 less lbs worth the tradeoffs -- including cost?
 
Should be an easy choice if you insist on win XP - the one that'll take the most RAM. I'm using XP on a p3-800/256Mb desktop at the moment, and it's bearable, but not exactly fun. Heavier laptop = stronger and you'll get fitter lugging it around. 🙂
 
Yes, it's good exercise. OK, so it's not, but as he said WinXP is an oink oink. There are obviously things you can do to slim it down a bit without too much trouble (nothing drastic like Lite PC software is required here).
 
Are you sure 7 lbs? Mine, with cable is a shade under 6.

Keep in mind w/ the X20 that the keyboard is slightly more cramped, the screen slightly smaller, and that you'll have to juggle external drives (which I did for a while with another subcompact - just got on my nerves).

For ease, it's definetly 600X. Rule of thumb - the smaller it gets, the slower it gets.
 
yeah I've seen 5 or 6lbs in other places -- so I'm sure you're right.

I'm kinda leaning towards the 600X now.

Any variations in the 600X I should keep an eye out for?
 
Definetely the 5F(x) and 9F(x) models (aka, anything that goes something like 2645-5F_ or 9F_), those are the models with the video out. The 8P_ models don't have video out.

Also, models with 650Mhz (very rare) support SpeedStep, so they probably can take higher MMC-2 cards if you ever want to upgrade (possibly 1Ghz, but I can't find any information to corroborate that). The 500Mhz don't apparently.

From what I've read, you can use the DVD drive without extra hardware. I don't know if that means you get 15-20fps playback, or there's hardware acceleration (I haven't come across that info), but if anything, you can get a Margi DVD-to-GO card for under $20 (ebay) that is compatible with the ZV port on this particular model.

All things considered, the 600X is a really, really small laptop, and for the size (and price) has lots of power, so good luck with it.
 
Racket, as an addendum I should add that the batteries for the whole 600 series are lousy. Absolutely lousy. For whatever reason, after a year, these batteries stop holding a full charge - they go from 2 hours, to one, and in weeks it's all downhill from there. Hopefully this is not an issue for you.

The workaround is apparently to do a full cycle drain and charge, and then take the battery out while you keep it on A/C power. It's what I've done with my 1 hour battery, and it's held up alright.

Essentially, all I'm saying is that this model uses more batteries than usual.

I also wanted to mention that there's a laptop model that's a cross between the X30 and 600 (aka one I'm planning to purchase) - it's an Compaq Armada M300. It has solid reviews, and the base is detachable. Most importantly, it has a ATi Rage 128 Video card w/ 8MB (instead of the shoddy Trident Cyberblade 4MB in the thinkpad, and it's REALLY IRRITATING Crystal Legacy ISA (CS4136? Can't remember) sound card). Without the MEU, it's under 4LBs, with it, it's about the weight of a thinkpad. DVD, PIII 650, 12.1" TFT LCD. And, most importantly it's not a presario - it's the rugged business Armadas, which I cannot possibly speak more highly of.
 
Yeah I'm aware of the battery problem and I'm totally used to that. I don't run off batteries much, so it's not a huge issue.

As for the Compaq, it's tempting, but I just don't like Compaq...
 
I dunno... their service and support is better than IBM's and Dell's combined. I used their new net service, where you chat with a rep (while I was doing other work). My hard drive died, so they sent me a new one. They overnighted the drive at no cost to me, and paid for shipping back. All of which took a whole 5 minutes to set up (interestingly, their new system lets you send a message, and when you can check back whenever for the tech person's message).

Keep it mind it is Compaq's business machines, which have nothing to do with their home consumer machines (separate plants, separate tech support, even specialized sections on the HP website).

But to each their own. 😀
 
hmmm -- just eBay'd it -- doesn't look too bad, I suppose.

You seen them in person?

How durable are they? that's a big concern for me.

Performance isn't the most important IMO.

Service shouldn't matter -- I assume all of these should be out of warrenty...

edit: I'm not seeing any 650 CPUs or the GPU you mention

only 500 & 600s with 4MB of Rage
 
Seen them in person, yes. Outstandingly durable. MUCH more so than the 600X (which mine took a spill, and had a slew of issues since, and required changing a lot of hardware inside). I bought the Evo (the successor to the Armada) and aside from the HD (which is a Hitachi... piece of junk, they replaced it with a Toshiba) worked great.

In regards to the M300, the shell is ruggerized. Not like the 600X, whose shell is kind of thin, AND whatever paint they coated the machine in peels of easy (it's like rubber, or something). Kind of disgusting, and makes you wonder why they used it (my 365XD is a hard plastic shell, though).

The battery doubles as a laptop tilt, which most laptops these days don't have.

One thing I love about the Armadas is that the keys can be removed to clean underneath (that is, they're meant to be pulled off, and they aren't cheap but they have nice feedback).

I'd do a lot more research on it of course, since you're a big IBM person. I am too, but these Armadas have been much more reliable (this evo is my third business machine - I sold the other two to upgrade). I want to get the M300 because it's much lighter than my machine (a 7.5 lb monster).

EDIT: Finding those machines is rather hard, to be honest. They came at the tail end of the M300's life, before they switched to the M700 (which is much like the 600X, but with a 14" screen).
 
yeah I'm a bit of an IBM boy when it comes to laptops and it's a hard habit to break. From the pictures I'm seeing the M300's don't look especially pretty, but if they are as good as you say, I'll have to give them a serious look. It's nice getting it from another IBM man like you, MTXBlau -- I appeciate it 🙂

on a side note IBMs service was nice too -- it would take me a while to tell the story, but they were quick and helpful even though my warrenty expired a few days before my support call.
 
I got a Compaq Presario (600Mhz, 8mb ATI Rage 128, upgraded to 320MB ram) and I gotta say it's great for what it is. Good for DVD movies and even some games (to a point). It's fairly solid and rather light too. I have an extra piece that I can use to fill the drive bay with so that it saves even more weight if I don't need the DVD drive. My battery is pretty much a gonner now. The problem is that if you keep the battery in the laptop and you use the AC power alot each time you plug in the AC the internal charger starts up and tops up the battery. This however wears out the battery (they only have a certain number of recharge cycles). So if you plan on using AC power alot taking out the battery is a must.
 
Wow, cheap. Hopefully there's more at that price, I need to jump on.

As an aside, my old Armada 4220T was able to run ePSXe, and that was Pentium I 266. (incidentally, my thinkpad 600, a PII 300, couldn't. The 600X doesn't even run as well. Go figure).
 
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