Lenovo X61 Tablet PC Review by kurttg

[kurttg]

Thanks for that helpful additional info.

It sounds like the ultrabase could be a good docking solution at the desktop--especially if you are using an external monitor and need to have several cables attached.

For travel, I almost never take the CD/DVD at all, but if so, the stand-alone USB CD/DVD looks to be more portable than the ultrabase (and it's cheaper!).

-Kurt

[Effervescence]

Very helpful review: thank you for capturing the experience behind all of the technical numbers and specs. I'm deciding on my first tablet; it will probably be this machine or the Fujitsu 5010. I hope I can find a 5010 review that is similar to what you have provided here.

Have you begun to value the multitouch screen now that the calibration is fixed, or do you still feel that you would skip this feature in the feature? (I also want my tablet as a tool for teaching at the university and working on my own grad studies.)

Thank you!

[Effervescence]

Sorry for a silly question: how is the X200 different than the X61?

[DRtigerlilly]

The x200 has:
the option of a bezeless screen
is LED backlit
widescreen 1280x800(vs standard 1024x768 or 1400x1050)
better speakers (but still notebook speakers nonetheless)
webcam
newer processor w/ higher bus 1066mhz (vs 800mhz in the x61)
supports ddr3 memory (faster than the ddr2 found in the x61 tablet)
bidirectional hinge (vs single direction hinge in x61)
option of wwan/gps models (previously only wwan)
option of integrated wireless usb
option of wimax

comparison review here http://www.gottabemobile.com/forum/f...s.asp?TID=6587

[kurttg]

Effervescence -

After several months of use, I think I would probably still go without the multitouch if there were much cost differential or other trade-offs. It may just be that I got very used to working with the pen, but I just don't find myself using touch alone much--maybe I just need to force myself to use it more for a little while.

While I now know how to calibrate the touch, I find it still drifts out of calibration now and then, and for too many uses you just need more accuracy than my fingers provide.

I think it could be different if applications were optimized for touch. I could imagine, for example, a control panel that floated on top and had large buttons for next page/previous page and application switching that might be very helpful in lecturing situations.

More generally, I think I'm still in the same place for most of the things in the review. I would still, of course, like it to be a little thinner and lighter.

My current pet peeve is getting a better handle on all of the automated processes that choose inconvenient times to run. Sometimes I'll get it out for a class and as soon as I wake it up from sleep it wants to churn the hard disk doing some background operations, but that slows the fingerprint reader down and it takes much longer to get up and running than it should.

Still, I'd say that overall I have been very happy with the X61 and can't imagine myself ever going back from the tablet format