From: Albert C. Lee (alee_at_cavecreations.com)
Date: Tue Jan 05 1999 - 23:48:44 EST
I think I have all but one of the Ultraslim Bay accessories for my
Thinkpad 600E now... thought I'd give my thoughts and impressions on them:
* VST Technology ZIP 100 drive
Pros: 100 mb removeable ZIP media, very fast, extremely light
Cons: Noisy, has a 1/8 inch lip which breaks the otherwise sleek look of
the laptop, eject button is flaky under NT (mostly works, sometimes
doesn't), no emergency eject
* DVD-ROM drive
Pros: Well... it supports DVDs (data only DVDs under NT)
Cons: Laptop vibrates a little when the drive is spinning at top speed,
heaviest of all the accessories
* IBM Lithium Ion Ultraslim Battery
Pros: Up to 7.5 hours of usage (average seems to be about 5 hours), 2.5
hours to charge up both main and slim batteries, nice rubberized feel like
the rest of the laptop, ultraslim battery depletes first before the main
battery, so you can swap out and use other devices if needed
Cons: Must power down to remove/insert the Ultraslim battery, no separate
battery LED status, adds almost as much weight as the DVD drive, only
works under 600E (no 600)
* Ultraslim Hard Drive Adapter
Pros: Seperate HD activity LED, clever quick physical insertion and
removal in and out of the adapter, rubberized feel like the laptop, very
cheap, the feeling of power having almost unlimited storage
Cons: No protective cover for the hard drive (hard drive snaps into the
adapter but nothing covers it)
* Floppy drive
Pros: Works both in and out of the Thinkpad
Cons: Almost obsolete, esp. with bootable CDs and multiple alternative
boot options available. I never use mine.
* Weight saver bezel
Pros: Laptop weighs 5.4 lbs with it in, battery life is exceptional with
it in (no motorized devices to spin up/down)
Cons: Cheap plastic (no rubber feel), does not feel securely fit into the
Ultraslim Bay.
I think I'll be keeping the 2nd battery in place for a while, and possibly
swapping it for the ZIP every so often. Still dreaming of a day I can hot
plug all these accessories. Probably won't ever get the LS-120 drive from
VST Tech.
Other dreams/thoughts for the Ultraslim Bay (IBM are you listening?):
* CD-RW drive
* 2nd set of PCMCIA slots (looks like there's room for 2 sets)
* Tape drive
-Al
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