Do you use your Thinkpad as your desktop replacement ?

I find the smaller sized screens actually work out well for me. Alot less panning with my eyes. Granted Id love a nice large LCD or 2 24in WUXGA like I used to use on my t400 at work. But that is a thing of the past for me as I just dont sit still long enough to warrant such an extravagant setup.

 

It's the sweet spot for me - a perfect blend of usability and portability! when I carry my office laptop around (a 14' dell latitude) - I find it to be very bulky!

I wish I had a larger monitor sometimes when I'm working on excel - but otherwise no hassles. When I upgrade about 5 years later on - I will mostly be going in again for an x2xx.

Only time I will connect to a big display, it will be when I'm gaming (after getting a vidock).

 

I am usually at my computer for over 14 hours a day (when I am not traveling) and most of it is spent reading and writing, Excel, web-related work. Music and sometimes videos, of course. But no games (except for Chess while killing time at airports). I just wonder if the screen size would be a problem. I have played around with the 12" screen machines in shops but its not enough to form an impression if you know what I mean.

 

You will get use to the size of the screen rather quickly. I had use a netbook in college to do most of my school work.

 

I spend the same or more in front of a computer and I felt the same way right before getting my m11x. I was using a 15.6in XPS with a FHD+ screen and I was happy. I was initially worried I would be limited by the smaller screen but it turns out the adjustment period was only a day or so. Once I got used to the keybaord layout and size I noticed I had adjusted to the smaller 11.6in. Now that Im getting an x200s soon I wont have to adjust since the screen is slightly bigger then the m11x and the same res as my t400.

 

That's also what I have been told by the folks I asked around me. I am currently on a 14" 1280x800 screen. I was thinking of buying the X201 (as available at my location) and then came this X220. I am not so sure about the res of the X220 (though in every other way, it seems to be an excellent machine). The advantage that X201 has is that I am used to the screen res plus the fact that I won't have to wait for it!

I think I will take the plunge with the X201. I really need the portability. I find the R400 while damn good as a machine (rock solid really with an excellent keyboard), it is too heavy carting it around.

So, what will happen in my case is that I will probably use the X201 as my desktop replacement (a role that my current R400 has been playing when I am not traveling) and I may hook up the monitor via the ultrabase for deskbound use.

 

I've had my X201 for about a month now, and as much as I like the X220's spec bump, I'm not sorry I bought what I did, when I did. The X201 is a very capable machine. I would max the crucial bits of the specification if available to you - ensuring that you have the I7 620m will give you a bit of longevity. The power makes it easy to use as a semi-primary or even a sole machine. I have a desktop backing me up at home, but with the amount of traveling I do per week, I rarely get to take advantage of it, and my X201 ensures that I have enough power to tackle all of my projects.

1366x768 is a definite downside to the X220. If Lenovo releases an X220s/X221 with 1600x900 resolution, I will bankrupt myself to be first in line to order it.

 

My choices are limited to:

X201 with i5-560M with 4 gigs of RAM and a 500GB HDD

X201s with i7-640LM with 2 gig of RAM and a 320GB HDD (more expensive option)

Given these two, I think the first option would be best.

I have also been thinking about the next version of Windows, which may be a better time to move to a newer generation of machines.

Am I getting it wrong?

 

Try out Linux !
Seriously, I think you could wait for X220?

 

I did try linux a while back and I would do so again, but I need MS Office. I think I will wait for the X series that will follow the x220 series. For the moment, I will most likely opt for the X201.

 

My T500 is the "downstairs" computer with an Advanced Mini Dock in my home theater and my desktop that has been on its last legs for the last two years is the computer with all the peripherals, hard drives, and important files on it. I swore up and down that I was going to build a new desktop last year, but I decided to fully upgrade the T500 instead. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get an overclocked AMD Athlon XP and 2GB RAM to do more than what it can comfortably handle. I've now decided to wait for AMD to release Bulldozer to build my next desktop.

I could attach my 27" monitor, keyboard, and mouse to my T500 and use it as my primary computer, but my current desktop would make for a pathetic media center PC and I need the portability of the laptop everywhere else in the house. I consider my ThinkPad to be my Windows 7 testbed, home theater PC gaming, and kitchen table computer.

 

Linux comes with open office which does everything office can do for free.

 

May I ask what upgrades you're running on your T500? Also, was boosting it worth it? I'm highly considering maxing mine out or picking up a newer notebook; pushing the T500 to its limits might extend its life a bit and make things a bit more budget-friendly on my end.

 

I am using my Lenovo as a desktop replacement for about 3 years. I have had both a notebook and a desktop, but I hated the data fragmentation.

I am using T60 with advanced dock. In the dock I have a backup HDD, I also have PCI-e card attached with 4 additional USB ports in the dock. I am 100% satisfied. My job is graphic designer, so I don't need any ultra power for gaming or 3D rendering.

Now the T60 is becoming outdated and slow to new apps, so I am waiting for the new W520. Only think I am sad of if, that there is no advanced dock anymore, only minidock3, and this thing is far more less sophisticated (no PCI-e slot, no ultrabay slot), so I have to buy more peripherals.

 

Yes, I know. I have used it for around a year or so, but I still prefer Office. I must be in a minority when I say that I like the Ribbon (especially as it is laid out in Office 2010). That being said, I am going to buy a very cheap desktop soon - may be a "hand-me-down" machine - on which I intend to start using Linux again. Will use it either as a test box or as a file server.

 

I cant stand the setup of 2007+ office. Makes me miss 2003.

 

you should get the i5 - 560M. The i7-640LM has a underclocked FSB. I don't remember the exact numbers, but the i5-560M can give you a much better experience with video playback.

 

Thanks. I agree. One thing bothers me though - both machines (at least as listed on the Lenovo site) say "WWAN upgradable". What precisely does "upgradable" mean? Does it mean that I get the relevant SIM from my service provider and then fit it into an existing slot and with the relevant software, I am ready to go? Or, does it mean that there is a provision in the machine to add some part, which will then accept the SIM?

And, in a lame bid to keep on topic, my incoming X201 will be my primary desktop machine with the dock and an external monitor.

I just wonder what will I do with the R400 (since the better-half will have her own dedicated unit - probably a X100e or a X120e (the latter, if available in my neck of the woods - unlikely though in the short-term).

 

Having used Office 2007 ever since shortly after its release, I can say that I definitely prefer it over the traditional Office 2003 or OO layout.

If you're talking about HD video content playback, both processors will handle it easily--really, for general usage, the two processors are more or less equal.

That means that there is no WWAN card installed, and there is one free Mini-PCIe slot where you can plug it in--to use WWAN, you will need to install a WWAN card and a SIM card.

 

I personally didn't find the ribbon to all that better, but as little as I use Office type stuff these days, I'm content with the free OpenOffice.

 

I like ribbon much better than original menu from 2003. I seem to be able to find what I want to do easier. As for open office, if you work in an environment where formatting is important than I suggest Office. If I sent a open office file to my colleague the formatting will not display correctly in Office. If am working in a paper base or PDF base environment I would diffidently recommend OO.

 

Is it a card specific to Lenovo/ThinkPad or can I go to any electronics shop and buy it? Are there any specs that I should know before I go to buy this WWAN card? The SIM is given by my service provider...but the WWAN card?

 

I have it listed in my profile as well, but:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9900 3.06GHz • 500GB Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT 7200rpm Hard Drive • 8GB G.SKILL PC3-10666 DDR3 SDRAM

I paid over $500 less than retail value for my brand new T500 back in January 2009, and I don't think I could score such a great deal again with a new W series, so spending some money on the upgrades was a no-brainer to me. The upgrades were worth it to me when I had to do some work in Adobe CS5 while traveling a couple of months ago. I guess the upgrades also helped slightly in gaming as well. I'm at the point where I'm content with my laptop for now that I'm more interested in how I'm going to spec my new desktop build.

I'm happy with the T500 chassis and the maxed out Core 2 Duo should be more than good enough in the foreseeable future. I'm not completely opposed to a ViDock/DIY or similar as a future upgrade if I can't stomach spending money on a W520 or one of its successors with its sure-to-be underwhelming graphics performance for its release date.

I guess doing that would turn my T500 into a desktop replacement after all, but it still wouldn't be my primary computer or a replacement for my desktop.

 

Open Office doesn't come close to MS Office. If you use office for things other than typing then Open Office will work, but if you need pictures, diagrams, etc MS has no other competition.

 

I found the ribbon interface to be frustrating only because I so rarely use Office to its full potential anymore that it's like learning a new application that I only use for perhaps five minutes at a time these days, whereas I used it much more frequently way back when I was in school and had several years to learn all of the nuances of the old interface.

Even if I rarely resorted to it, I did prefer having all the menu items at my disposal as a last resort to finding something, and that's probably the one thing I dislike the most about the ribbon now. For the most part though, I don't have any problems with it.

 

Agreed. I spend most o my time in emacs/vim, but when Im in a GUI editor for a document I find open office reminds me alot of 2003. Gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Thats definitely not true anymore. Im editing documents in OO 3.2 along side my end users using a 2007/2010 combo and we have ZERO issues with formatting. OO also supports ALOT more formatting then MS office which to some can be a plus. But need me to edit or create a .docx document for you? Easy.

I just work much faster with file edit tools etc setup. I feel more at home and enjoy reading text as opposed to trying to remember a million different icons and what they mean. But like you I dont sepnd much time in documents like that, as I spend 90% of my computer time in a shell.

 

I'm afraid we're about to stray from the main topic of this thread. But our business begs to differ: we've been using OfficeOffice applications for years now, and we do much more than "just typing" with OO Writer.

 

Just last year I use open office to do I school project, the formatting are off from a bit. At the end of the day I had to fix it before I could turn it in. Maybe they had improve since I last use it, I might try it again for a project soon. If they fixed the formatting problem I will sure use it again.

 

"Is it a card specific to Lenovo/ThinkPad or can I go to any electronics shop and buy it?"

I'm fairly sure you'd better buy the card from Lenovo.

Renee

 

OK. Thanks. I'll ask at the local IBM/ Lenovo Service Center.

 

That's kinda where I'm at. I picked mine up(now that my memory's working right I think I have the same model of T500 that you do) for $500 about five months ago. I don't use a desktop at all anymore and the T500 is my primary computer when I'm at home. I'm thinking about the T9900 and maxing the RAM out, and possibly an SSD. I'll likely do the Vidock route in the future as well. Another one I'm considering is a WUXGA display upgrade; it'd keep me in 16:10 for a little while at the very least.

 

That's right, we both have the 2082-3HU. I typically don't work in Photoshop and Illustrator when I'm traveling, but the T9900 and 8GB RAM had me working faster than my computer at work. I couldn't gauge how the performance would have been with the P8400 and effective 3.5GB I previously had on Vista x86, but I feel better knowing that my laptop is as fast as it can be and no game that I'd want to play can claim the CPU or RAM as a bottleneck. The GPU...well, that's why a ViDock in the home theater would make sense, and even the once-revered desktop HD 4850 would be a massive improvement over the Mobility HD 3650. An HD 5770 would probably be perfect.

The 16:10 screen is also an incentive for me to not buy a new ThinkPad. I don't like taking steps backward in vertical resolution, so if I got a new W series, I'd be forced to get 1920x1080, and I would rather not have such a high dpi on a 15.6" screen.