[Thinkpad] From 560/X to X30

As some of you know, I recently bought an X30 to replace a dead (now
back alive) 560X. I'd assumed that I was the last person alive still
contemplating such a move, everyone else either having moved on to the X
series long ago (except for those who are permanently wedded to the 560
series).

However, I've had a couple of people on the list ask me about the merits
of the move, and whether I'm happy with the X30. I hate to judge any
product until I've lived with it for several months, but as
the deals on the X30 are likely to disappear soon, I thought I'd pass
along some initial thoughts.

(1) Speed: my X30, a 1.2 ghz Pentium 3-M, is substantially faster than
the 560X. Quite noticeable.

(2) Size: the X30 is approximately the same depth and thickness as the
560 series (it looks a bit thinner because of the edge bevels), but is
less wide. Very marginally lighter. Because of the connectivity
built-ins, you save a bit of weight not carrying around a deck of PC
cards. Small advantage to the X30.

(3) Case: The X30 case is much stiffer than the 560 case, so you don't
get the characteristic flex that can kill a 560 system board. You can
pick it up
from the edge without cringing. Also, the
hinge mounts - Achilles heel of so many older ThinkPads - are made
of metal instead of the expected plastic. Well done IBM! On the down
side, when closed the 560X case is completely sealed, whereas the X30
case has lots of big holes for speaker and ventilation; also, all the
ports
are exposed to dust and moisture. Overall, edge to the X30.

(4) Screen: X30 screen is very bright and nice; side-by-side with the
560, it greatly outshines the latter. Intel graphics chipset is
useleless
for games, though better than the Neomagic in the 560 series; if you
want to play then get an X31 (or better) with the nice ATI Mobile Radeon
chipset. The higher resolution has a downside: I use some DOS apps
with non-resizeable fonts, the 560 was better for viewing these apps.

(5) Keyboard: Here the 560X wins easily, the X30 keyboard is
compressed, and I do have some trouble with mis-typing. Some of the
keys
(eg backspace) have been substantially chopped down. The throw is
also shorter, but the keyboard is clickier than the 560 (and my wife's
T23), which is a plus. I suppose if this was the only keyboard I used
I'd get used to the size, but my office desktop has a great honking IBM
buckling-spring trackpoint keyboard, which I love. The 560 was close
enough that switching back and forth was not a problem.

The X30 wins on nearly everything else: more ports and connectivity
(though no PS/2 or serial), easier disassembly (esp. HD removal, just
one screw), later-generation trackpoint (with scroll and
press-to-select), actually-useful built-in utility software (I think the
IBM access connection SW is miles better than any aftermarket
equivalents I've tried, including the oft-recommended Netswitcher), etc.
They've even improved the power brick, so that a tug on the power cord
is less of a strain at the strain-relief point.

Here are some negatives:

(a) The X30 runs pretty hot on the bottom; much less comfortable in the
lap than the 560X. Throttling down the CPU speed doesn't help as much
as I'd hoped. I don't know if this is a problem shared by the other X
series laptops; my wife's T23 has the same poblem.

(b) Flash: My 560X happily booted from a CF card in the PC slot. The
X30 won't, even though it has a special CF slot built-in. I also
haven't been able to get it to boot from CF in a USB reader (though this
was true on the 560X as well). When I run Paragon HD manager, the flash
always showed up as a 'real' drive on the 560X. This is not the case on
the X30, either in the flash slot, the PC card slot, or in the USB
adapter.

(c) No floppy. I think a laptop with no floppy drive is 'broken'.
These machines will evidently boot from some USB floppies, not from
others. I have an inexpensive Lacie drive on order, with luck it will
work for booting. You can also buy the media slice and stick in a
floppy, but unlike the slice for the X2* series - which is widely
available for well under $100 - the X2 slice is rarely under $200. You
can also buy a dock, but it is heavy and so not something to carry
around.

(d) Extra 'forward/back' buttons in the cursor button area. I suppose
some might have considered this 'wasted' space on most thinkpads, but
without the gaps I find it harder to navigate with the cursor keys
purely by feel.

(e) No dial for volume. I really like the volume dial on the 560
series, the pushbuttons are a sorry substitute.

Not much else to add here, except that I still miss the butterfly
keyboard on the old 701.

- David R.

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Received on Thu Mar 18 01:51:35 2004