IBM X40 - DO NOT BUY

I've been supporting a slew of IBM systems at work here and want to spread the word about IBM X40 super light notebooks:

THESE UNITS ARE NOT RIPE
The X40 package is poorly thought out, badly implemented, and most importantly very unstable both in software and hardware

The facts:

-I had spec'd and purchased 3 X40s direct from IBM, then over the past several months added 3 more. I have had the X40 experience up to my eyeballs for the past 6 months.

-They are shipped with OS preinstalled without software disks or recovery/reinstall options. So no clean install is possible without spending an afternoon at IBM trying to driver hunt, and there is no separate driver for the new anti-shock hard drive. Not to mention driver downloads are often temporarily unavailable from their site.

-Drivers you can get are unstable and most link with IBM's "access" site. Can you spell b-l-o-a-t-w-a-r-e and f-e-a-t-u-r-e-c-r-e-e-p? Why IBM would assume a laptop is always connected to the internet is beyond me, or why they would assume people want 50% of their resources displaying crap across the taskbar.

-"Optional but completely necessary for anything work related" docking station is sold separately for $200 and doesn't even include a $5 CD drive ($150 for a special fit IBM CDRW). Plus this 'port replicator' only comes with one dual purpose PS2 port so you get the fun task of explaining to your users that they can either use an external mouse OR a keyboard, but not both. Plus the docking port is completely different from the X30 series so don't even think about recycling that old hardware.

-USB is a complete after thought: system utilities will show you the status of every hardware aspect down to the IR port, but not test the USB. The ports are also scattered around the system making you wonder if they even attach to the motherboard or if they are just vents disguised as USB. Which brings me too:

-THE USB HUBS BREAK: IBM has replaced one system's motherboard twice in the three months I've had it (affects the laptop and the dock, so now I'm back to using serial mice since the PS2 port is populated with a keyboard)

-IBM's response (and I don't mean to sound discriminatory; but if they can route my call all the way to Atlanta, why can't they find someone there who actually speaks english) is "if there is a problem, send it back in for repairs". Don't get me wrong, I expect that level of support, if it comes to it, but i really can't justify having a user go without a computer for a week becasue of a bad driver!

-Hard drives are tiny on these things! I realize it is slow and small to save power, but come on. When longhorn comes out and sucks up half the drive, I'll have a hard time explaining to management that our year old $2000 computers all need new drives.

-Shutdown: on the factory install, these systems take literally a minute to shutdown. It sounds petty, but in the on the fly, in and out, lifestyles lived by people who need an ultraportable, the work you do on the computer is often less than a minute in itself. Not to mention staring at a blank screen and counting to 60+ is a little unnerving for users ("Is it going to turn off? Is this normal? My domain controller doesn't even take this long")

FINAL NOTE:
I'm not completely against IBM, the more mature T40 series is an excellent product. Simple, affordable, and has not let me down in my professional or personal use of it. Perhaps in a few months the X40 will be in the same boat and these are just design, marketing, and support bugs they need to iron out.



If you have any questions give me a yell at [email protected] and put IBM in the subject

 

Hi 1timeuser,
IBM has the best service/support in the entire notebook industry, sure if you send it back it might take 3-5days depending on the warranty level you have on them. Many warranties specify having you back up and running in 12 hours or less, and they will. Also on any warranty repair that needs to be sent in, they will overnight the shipping box to you and they will pay all the shipping costs. If your not happy with IBM, then it's your choice in the future to by your notebooks from another company. Maybe you would be happier with Dell[ ]
That way you could pay to ship the notebooks back for repair and wait a couple of weeks or more for the return of the notebook, then with their poor build quality you could be explaining to management why their notebooks are falling apart when there only 1-2 years old. Plus when you call support you'll spend 20 minutes on hold and then your guaranteed to be talking to someone in India who I'm sure you will have a harder time communicating with than someone from Atlanta, I could go on and on. I know the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but the truth is your grass is pretty green and you could be in a lot worse situation with another manufacturer. I really doubt that any I.T. person ever lost their job because of making the choice of IBM as their notebook, but I'm sure that's not the case with Dell or some of the other lower quality manufacturers.

Jack

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
http://pbase.com/joneill

 

Mine works just fine
No problems here. And I would recommend them all day to anyone who wants a stable, tank built,
ultra portable machine.

_______________________
X40 2371-8LU
1.2P-M 512MB 40GB
B/G Wireless & Bluetooth

 

I have studied the X31 and X40; came to conclusion that the X31 is a much better product because of the 2.5" conventional hard drive and solidness of the X31 built with more room for the palm. I like the look much better too! I am kind of hoping that IBM will introduce a model similar to the Dell 700m next year to replace the X40. People like the widescreen and DVD CD writer is pretty common item now on notebooks except IBMs Thinkpad line. IBM Multi-burner is like $350 just of the drive! Dell is like $75 extra and its a dual layer burner on top of everything else!

I know that the reason for the slow shutdown is partially due to the small 1.8" 4200 rpm drive reading back the data. Slow, slow, slow! IBM does have alot of software opened while you are using the notebook however! I think they just want to make sure that everything is update and such - automatic like!

Hopefully, IBM has a change of heart and does built a more conventional Thinkpad X to replace the X40 which I think you are right that it is a poor design! They could just copy the 700 series chassis again and update the components to state of the art and I be very happy! I really would miss not having a optical drive not built-in to the notebook.

If you go to Thinkpads.com; alot of the members still have high praise for the X40 because they pay such a high price and they are stuck with the machine! I love it when they say thinks like it slow but it really nice, etc....

 

interesting take on the X40 there, that's really a shame about all of the troubles you've been having...I can't say I've heard too much about such issues though. You're obviously an experienced IT manager and know what you're talking about. I don't think anyone will blame you for choosing IBM notebooks...if you had to convince management your decision to buy Averatec, for example, was a good one but just turned rotten for this one case then you'd be in a bind...but choosing IBM as a solution for hardware or consulting is like taking the safe path...they're well known and have a good reputation and if things went wrong you could call it an exception case and "who could have guessed it."

In regards to an updated X series with a widescreen. Boy, I just don't think that'll happen, not with IBM. They're stubborn about some things, and I think widescreen will remain one of them since they're very focused on serving business users and widescreen is more of a consumer oriented feature.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Harry_Wild

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by 1timeuser

 

Didn't you know they had no CD drive and a 40GB hard drive before you bought them?

I know what you mean about tech support in Atlanta though. I've dealt with them on several occasions about new machines, and almost every time the first response is, "If I were you, I'd send it in," without even an attempt to address the problem.

It's like that David Spade travel agent commercial, but instead of "No" these guys are programmed to drone "Send it in. Send it in. Send it in."

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by RazorsEdge
Im pretty close to narrowing down my search and possibly ordering something next week (R51). But these two paragraphs concern me.

No disks with software and drivers for recovery. What gives?
How much are we talking about downloading as Im still on a dialup connection.

And do they really have that much (bloatware) preloaded?

and im wondering if since it has a anti shock hard drive if i ever replaced the hard drive with a 5400rpm one if i will have problems with it and drivers (not sure how this antishock thing works)

Thanks
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

You can order the recovery CD's from them.

No there is not that much bloatware on the machines they come with a few utilities that if you like you keep, if you dont like remove.

As for the Active Protection on the HD, it is built in to the motherboard and not the HD, so any upgrade to the HD will also be protected.

_______________________
X40 2371-8LU
1.2P-M 512MB 40GB
B/G Wireless & Bluetooth

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by RazorsEdge