From: mercer_at_rahul.net
Date: Thu Jan 04 2001 - 17:30:13 EST
I took delivery of a new Thinkpad X20 one week ago. Model 2662-36U. Win98
and 3Com Ethernet. I chose this model because I understood that the 3Com
modem was not a software based modem (I have not actually confirmed
this.) The corresponding model bundled with Win2K was not in stock.
Here's some constructive criticism that might help others considering
purchase of this machine. I have upgraded the machine to Win2K SP1 and
updated all the drivers according to the IBM driver matrix
(http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/MIGR-4LXTHS.html). No other software or
hardware has been installed on this machine since I have been able to make
it work reliably yet.
- No power switch accessible with the screen closed. Less convenient to use
as a desktop replacement with an external monitor. I am told the port
replicator
has a power switch so that would alleviate this problem. I noticed
the current
small Sony (SR7K) has the same design oversight, which factored into
my decision
to purchase the X20 over the Sony. Does anyone know if the Ultrabase
X2 has
a power switch?
- No visible power-on LED when screen is closed. Again, inconvenient
for users
primarily using external displays. Likewise for the hard drive
activity light.
- No utility to access FN keys from an external keyboard. Toshiba and
Dell both
have this feature. Again, very inconvenient for users that prefer to
keep the
display close when used in a desktop environment. IBM, please add a
utility
to do this.
- Unreliable operation under Windows 2000 in the area of
stand-by/resume. This
makes the machine unusable for me. See my previous post for more details.
- Upon a successful Resume, the screen (internal and external) remains blank
until the mouse is moved or a key is pressed. A minor bug but obvious
bug.
How did this get through QA?
- The BIOS is now made by Phoenix. Slow to boot compared to Toshiba and
Dell.
Cannot boot from PCMCIA CD-ROMs. Hopefully IBM will continue to
enhance the
BIOS.
- No restore CD -- there is a built-in 500MB restore partition. Also, a
prompt
at boot time asks to press F11 to perform a factory restore. This
slows down
the already slow boot process. I imagine the prompt can be disabled by
deleting the restore partition.
- Only one DIMM slot, already populated with a 64MB module, making it
expensive to
expand beyond 192MB.
- FN-F3 to turn off the display is slow - it brings up a status
window! Hopefully
this will be fixed with a software upgrade.
- Closing the lid only turns off the backlight, doesn't actually turn
off the
display. Fixable with new software.
- Soft "rubber" paint is hard to keep clean. A subjective issue.
- Build quality seems to be a notch below the 600.
- No Windows keys. All Thinkpads are like this. Some sort of IBM quirk.
I chose this machine over the Sony SR7K due to IBM's greater range of
expansion options and what I thought to be superior system software
(drivers, BIOS). So far, the system software has been a serious
disappointment.
While there is much to like about the machine, overall, I am fairly
disappointed with the X20, given my past positive experience with the
Thinkpad 600.
I am going to stick with this machine for a while longer to see if I can
find a work around to the Stand-by/Resume problem.
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