bigtruckseries's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X60 (170268U) PC Notebook
If you are a business professional searching for a Tablet laptop to purchase for work, and don’t mind spending over $1700 for top quality, I might be able to interest you in my technology bin’s newest member.
THE IBM THINKPAD X60 released during Quarter 1 of 2006 is a standup laptop, and manages to be a very convincing ultra-portable for the corporate types. It offers fantastic battery life and high speed wireless internet through optional accessories without adding bulk and weight to its slim frame.
DIFFERENCES IN MODELS
The X60 replaces the IBM Thinkpad X32 while the X60s replaces the Thinkpad X41.
The X60 is slightly thicker than the X60s and its biometric scanner is on the tablet screen itself rather than under the keyboard.
The X60 weighs in at about 3.22 lbs while the X60s is about 2.7 lbs.
Both models include Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g and 56K data fax Modems standard while built-in Verizon Wireless EV-DO chipsets and Bluetooth chipsets are optional.
HARDWARE / SOFTWARE
The X60 features a Core Duo L2400 processor running at around 1.66 Ghz. It features 1 GB of RAM and came with Windows XP tablet PC Edition. You also get a shock mounted 80 GB Hard Drive (usable space is a little less) which employs IBM’s active protection to pause and stop the HDD when it is experiencing heavy motion or shock. If you drop the tablet (God forbid) an internal accelerometer will signal the computer to pause the drive to prevent data damage (even if the computer itself is heavily damaged).
Interestingly, the X60 comes with an 8-cell Sanyo Lithium Ion which offers you an impressive lifetime slightly in excess of 8 hours.
It does not come with a built in DVDRW Optical Drive (attached via USB) but, due to the mass an optical drive would add, it isn’t very missed here… you are better off just converting movies to DivX and loading the 75 GB hard drive with flicks that way.
You may opt at the purchasing stage to get the X60s which features a great addition to business laptops…embedded EV-DO. This great chipset allows the tablet to use the net at speeds higher than WiFi in areas where Wifi is not available. I am able to download many files at speeds higher than 800Kbps (around 600 Kbps on high speed WiFi) making use of the Verizon network.
The software suite – which is subject to change – I got on my X60 included:
Microsoft Office 2003
Inspiration 8 - for creating graphic organizers/ presentations
Tablet PC tutorials
Tablet PC Power Toys - allows you to draw, use calculator, and play tablet games like “tic Tac Toe” and “Maze”
Thinkvantage - IBM’s software which offers you preference setting customizations.
Thinkvantage is extremely important because in this program you may activate your computer’s security chip. This gives you access to the biometric fingerprint scanner and other security features such as program passwords. Inside Thinkvantage, you’ll also find a connection wizard which you can use to monitor and govern all incoming/outgoing radio signals or network cables. The X60 even has a built in Bluetooth radio to connect to your corporate Blackberries ! You can also setup your Hard Drive shock detection settings or your power management settings.
This computer is certified for Windows Vista but if you get it, you’re probably better off sticking with XP since switching to Vista will require more RAM and may cause some compatibility bugs with embedded hardware.
CASE DESIGN
IBM is definitely not one of my favorite computer makers in regards to case designs. The X60 has such a sterile, functional look to it that it is obviously meant for business use – i.e. no fun factor – and easily resembles everything in the IBM line right down to the ugly red rubber joystick in the center of the keyboard.
Here is a company that could take some design cues from Hewlett Packard, and their sexy, stylish TX1000 line of tablets.
In its defense, the X60 has 3 USB ports, 1 VGA monitor out, 1394, mic, headphone, infra-red, and a PCI express port.
The standard 56K data Fax Modem is present (does anyone still use those?) and even more surprising, there is just enough space under the keyboard for an SD card slot.
TABLET
When you spin the monitor to its locking position, the X60 becomes a sleek, small tablet.
Now that the keyboard is covered up, you rely on the pop out stylus and the d-pad embedded on the face of the computer next to the screen.
The D-pad allows you to easily scroll up,down,left and right on whatever page you are reading and it has a small button in its center that functions as “return”.
You could use this laptop as an eBook if you were on a train or reading news stories.
There is also a biometric scanner on the face of the computer in tablet form which you can quickly slide your finger across to log-in without having to type.
X60 features Penabled Wacom which has its pro’s and con’s. The stylus does not have to be charged and feels like a regular pen. Not only can you write naturally in a writing pad to produce words on screen, but, you can erase what you write simply by turning the stylus on end and erasing. The stylus even has a switch on its side which can be programmed to function like a mouse’s buttons (right click, left click, etc).
The downside of the X60’s stylus technology is that it is so sensitive, it actually works before you touch the screen with it. As you bring the point close to the screen the cursor already begins to move as if you’d already touched the screen. I believe it is some type of electric potential action similar to the technology behind touchpads, but, regardless, it can be annoying when your trying to write.
PERFORMANCE
First of all, the screen size is around 12 inches [diagonal]. While the crisp 1024x768 –pixel resolution is easy on the eyes, the screen’s real-estate is naturally a bit annoying due to less of the image being on screen at once. The keyboard is also much more condensed than most small keyboards I’ve felt on iMac’s and iBook’s. It takes a lot of getting used to for large hands but smaller hands will adopt to it easily.
Despite the tremendous speeds of surfing on EV-DO or WiFi, the X60’s worst enemy is its own Hard Drive. The X60’s drive seems to be slow functioning when you are moving around a lot in tablet mode. The screen is made to rotate instantly by sensors as you rotate the computer but the computer itself seems sluggish keeping up with you. Even worse, if you tilt the computer too much, while you write, the screen will flip. Screen rotations seem to tax the processor, memory and HDD immensely. Either the performance is bottlenecked by the shock sensing of the drive, or the computer needs more than 1GB of RAM. Sometimes windows lock up on screen and take longer than 30 seconds to return to normal.
OVERALL The X60 is a great laptop. It projects a sense of classic IBM reliability and a feel of quality. What this computer truly needs however is more RAM out of the box and a Solid State Hard Drive so that shock protection becomes an issue of the past. It would have also been nice if the X60 had come with a built in webcam (considering what your paying) but as this is a tablet PC meant for business use, that item is overlookable .
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1800 Operating System: Windows Processor: Other Processor speed: over 1000 Screen Size: 12 inches RAM: More than 256 Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
ThinkPad X60 models offer ultimate mobility. These versatile ultraportables are ideal for extremely mobile users who spend most of their time working ...More at eBay
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