X61 Tablet Want?

P.S. Yes, I am a J00 and love the shiny metals.

Word homie.

i'd seriously consider this. whats the deadline? i'm closing on a new home and i hate to move $1000 dollars around till after i finish the paperwork...

is it the standard screen or the "multitouch" that lets ya use yer finger and/or cawk?

4cell or 8cell battery?

bluetooth: y/n?

fingerprint reader: y/n?

i'm actually looking at shelling out about 2.5 G's for a X200Tablet with the 3year onsite warranty, but i might grab the X61 instead and hold off for another 6 months on the X200...

Fidel_Castro: i'd seriously consider this. whats the deadline? i'm closing on a new home and i hate to move $1000 dollars around till after i finish the paperwork...

Up to three weeks, as long as I know you're still with me. The workplace is still processing the paperwork.

Fidel_Castro: is it the standard screen or the "multitouch" that lets ya use yer finger and/or cawk?

Standard screen, 1024x768. Other users said that the multitouch screen is not as bright makes colors look more muddy. The standard screen in most X61T's is a Boe-Hydis's Fringe Field Switching panel, which has the viewing angles of S-IPS and consumes about 20-50% of the power of other LCD technologies. It's really something special.

Fidel_Castro: 4cell or 8cell battery?

4 cell: should last 4 hours with this CPU. The upside is that there's no bump sticking out of the back, and it's lighter by 0.5 pound.

Fidel_Castro: bluetooth: y/n?

No.

Fidel_Castro: fingerprint reader: y/n?

No. I actually have this on my T60 and find it to be a major pain in the meep. After a year of use, I needed to swipe my finger two-three times for it to register at just the right angle. I looked like a retarded finger DJ tool whenever I'd turn the computer on. There was also a 3-second recognition lag after every swipe. I disabled it and now happily and quickly enter passwords.

Other random facts about what's in the box: CPU = 1.6 GHz Core2Duo, hard drive = 80GBs at 5400RPM, RAM = 1GB in a single slot, OS = Vista Home Premium. It has 1 year of warranty from Lenovo, but, as my friend found out after a post-warranty hiccup, you can buy more "as necessary" :)

I actually have a couple of these little nignogs, so if anyone else wants one, give me a holler.

<span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-09 at 01:04:41, Crackalackin asked to smell your meep</span>

Is it alright if I send you a cashier's check for $8,000, you keep $1,000 for the tablet and then send the remaining $7,000 to my esteemed Nigerian colleagues?

k, dont feel up to quote blocks, but in summary:

agree on the annoying nature of the fingerprint reader, id consider it a negative if it had one

i could give or take bluetooth

the X61 i demoed at work had the standard screen and i loved it, i'm really only interested in touch as a gadget...

i'd prefer a 8 cell, but meh...

id probably go with the memory upgrade that you mentioned, and if you have anything 7200 RPM, i'd be interested in that.

um... as far as OS goes, ill probably install something else over it.

Another question: Does the x61t have the extra partition to restore the OS from if i feel the need to do such?

Fidel_Castro: Another question: Does the x61t have the extra partition to restore the OS from if i feel the need to do such?

Yeah, it's got that ThinkVantage recovery partition. Also, if you call up Lenovo and meep about needing OS CD's, they will ship them to you, and then you can nuke the hard drive. It has gotten harder to get them to do that, but still possible. You'd need an external CD-ROM drive with this guy, though.

You'd need an external CD-ROM drive with this guy, though.

yeah... and we have a ton of x61 port reps where i work, but those won't fit the tablet...

I can also upgrade the fuk out of the laptop for a fellow swarmer for free if they want to cover the cost of upgrade parts. For example, $40 more gets you 4GBs of RAM; HD capacity is similarly inexpensive.

What other options are there for upgrade? The lack of optical drive is kinda a killer for me though.

Not having a built-in CD drive makes the laptop lighter. And, for drivers and other software installation, you can always use solid storage like USB flash dongles.

You can get an external CD-ROM drive that you can connect when you need it for $50:

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151163[/url]

Another upgrade option is an 8-hour battery, which is around $60 or so. I never buy these things btw, they add weight which I inevitably have to lug around. I use my notebooks heavily (they are my primary computers), and travel a fair bit, and only on the cross-continental and inter-continental flights do I find the battery lacking. Almost everywhere there is a power socket nearby.

Aside from what I've listed above, there is not much more to upgrade. Honestly, I think that even the baseline config is a capable little meep and enough for what most people will demand of the laptop.

<span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-09 at 05:22:08, Crackalackin asked to smell your meep</span>

cool, well if i want to do this, how are we gonna arrange shipping and payment and whatnot...

[feel free to PM]

Okay dudes, who wants some of these Thinkpady tablets:

Beautiful, aren't they? Drop me a line if you want one, cuz you know I want your gold.

Fidel_Castro, dude: take your pick! Do you want the one on the left, the one on the right, or one of the middle ones?

This has also been procured :

It's 4 gigs of Corsair RAM.

I'm also going to post an unboxing and an illustrated upgrade how-to for everyone's entertainment.

<span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-30 at 06:48:38, Crackalackin asked to smell your meep</span>

Are these x61s? Same offer as earlier (1k USD)?

Thanks... BDiW

Crackalackin: Okay dudes, who wants some of these Thinkpady tablets: Beautiful, aren't they? Drop me a line if you want one, cuz you know I want your gold. Fidel_Castro, dude: take your pick! Do you want the one on the left, the one on the right, or one of the middle ones? This has also been procured : It's 4 gigs of Corsair RAM. I'm also going to post an unboxing and an illustrated upgrade how-to for everyone's entertainment. <span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-30 at 06:48:38, Crackalackin asked to smell your meep</span>

Oh look, Crackalackin bought hisself some tabletz (4).

Dude not trying to be a meep here, but if you see a cent for these (from LS) I might just meep my boot.

Hmmmmm? What size foot do you have? Heard you Canadians are hung like a moose.

LORDKAHUNA: Oh look, Crackalackin bought hisself some tabletz (4). Dude not trying to be a meep here, but if you see a cent for these (from LS) I might just meep my boot.

ooooooooo do any of their s/n's (the last 7) look like funny words spelled maybe with some numbers that kinda look like letters representing the letters that they kinda look like?

One of the guys I work with has a list of all the "funny" serial numbers he has seen come through the service centers. Thats about par for the course where I work. I'm thinkin maybe I shoulda gone to college. or maybe tried harder at life?

BigDinWaunakee: Are these x61s? Same offer as earlier (1k USD)? Thanks... BDiW

No, these are X61t's (tablets with, you know, pens and with the drawing on the screen). Yes, $1K, meepting and haggling included.

Say what you will comrade LK, but miracles do happen and I finally might have enough loose change to become an Alphanig.

The serial numbers happen to be totally unfunny, like Wotak after a hard day at work. They are, however, nicely sequential. So if you believe in numerology, you get to choose your favorite among the digitz 0, 1, 2 and 3.

well then the number 3 it is!

Also: you can use it kinda like a touch screen if you follow these simple steps:

1. Crack open the stylus.
2. Carefully remove the plastic tip.
3. Even more carefully remove the small magnet/coil assembly.
4. Crack open index finger.
5. Carefully remove the marrow of the bone.
6. Even more carefully drill/dremel out the interior of the bone to fit the magnet/coil assembly.
7. Insert the magnet/coil assembly into hollowed out bone.
8. Insert the stylus tip into the center of the magnet/coil assembly.
9. Carefully pull finger meats up over the magnet/coil assembly.
10. Sew up and disinfect your new stylus!

YMMV

Can I put $50 down and make payments, im good on my word?

LORDKAHUNA: Oh look, Crackalackin bought hisself some tabletz (4). Dude not trying to be a meep here, but if you see a cent for these (from LS) I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: meep my boot.

^ this

<span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-31 at 04:33:11, Wotak asked to smell your meep</span>

Wotak:

LORDKAHUNA: Oh look, Crackalackin bought hisself some tabletz (4). Dude not trying to be a meep here, but if you see a cent for these (from LS) I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: I might just meep my boot.

LORDKAHUNA: meep my boot.

^ this

<span class="post_was_edited">On 2008-12-31 at 04:33:11, Wotak asked to smell your meep</span>

So what we're trying to say is...

Prove you bought one and LK will meep his boot and provide pics to boot. < ha

Here's one I prepped for Fidel_Castro:

Got my tools

The shock-absorbing, anti-static packaging. Nice one, Lenovo.

The fuker is surprisingly light and slim

...and compact

It's got an unexpected bonus -- a fingerprint reader (in the lower right corner of the screen). Huzzah!

...and a bunch of meep like power supplies, spare red trackpoint nubs, and the battery

K meeping boot now.

How to upgrade the RAM in a Thinkpad computer. It's actually somewhat important to upgrade the RAM before you turn it on for the first time because Windows needs to know the total amount of available RAM to allocate a large enough contiguous paging file during its initialization.

Flip it over, find the RAM panel lid.

There it is, a single 1GB RAM module!

Peel back the two brackets holding it, and it should pop up like a wing...

Insert the replacement two modules in a similar manner, at an angle. Then, push the ends that stick up until the RAM modules snap into place.

Use MemTest86+ to check if the memory has any problems, like manufacturing defects. In this case, a clean bill of health.

And that brings us to the third part: upgrading the hard drive on the Thinkpad. It actually ended up being a bit more challenging I anticipated, because Windows Vista is very strict about the sizes and placements of partitions.

Here's the upgrade drive (a Seagate Momentus 7200.2 "ASG" series) sliding into the external enclosure.

Opening the hard drive bay. The shock protection assembly is the best I've seen in a thinkpad so far.

Since this drive was a Seagate, I was able to use Seagate's free DiscWizard to transfer the OS to the new drive in the USB enclosure. My earlier attempt using Ghost 14 was, by the way, unsuccessful, because Vista hates it if the partition layout changes.

Here's the replacement drive, now dressed in the shock assembly.

This is the best I could do with Vista: the original 70GB partition houses the OS and the programs, and there's another 75 gigs for porn and other sundries.

Here's a bonus pic:

I don't know how well you can see it from the photo, but the screen did not fuking disappoint. It blows my socks off -- it's better than my 2007WFP, viewing angles, contrast, colors and all.

Yeah, that tablet is an all around sweet package. My boss let me borrow his for a couple days cuz i was thinkin about gettin an x200t, but then cracka posted this offer just a couple weeks later. clearly it was a sign from God Almight that the X61 Tablet was my computing destiny.

course now i have to learn me some vista...