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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

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GottaBeMobile.com evaluating X60 SXGA+ Vista Tablet PC

- Rob Bushway

We love evaluating Tablet PCs, especially those with OEM Vista Builds. Lenovo sent each member of Team GBM an evaluation unit of the X60 Tablet PC with SXGA+ running their OEM build of Vista Business. Vista Business is now available as an operating system choice for the X60 Tablet PC and it is $20 cheaper than the XP operating system.

Look for some insightful findings from each member of the team over the next couple of weeks to a month. We'll also be participating in the Lenovo forums with some Vista insights.

My first impressions: SXGA+ on the X60 Tablet PC totally rocks! The screen is beautiful and very crisp - the best on a convertible tablet that I've used yet - period. Aero runs really well, which I keep turned off as matter of preference. All of the built-in ThinkVantage utilities work very well and as expected. Battery life with Vista, though, is suffering. I was hoping things would be different with OEM builds so I've not talked much about it. I've noticed considerable drops in battery performance with an M400, Gateway CX2724, and now the X60. For example, I was getting about 5 to 6 hours with an 8 cell battery on the X60. I'm now getting about 4 hours using the ThinkPad default settings, about 5 hours on PowerSaver.

Here is the performance index on my x60 running 2gb of ram and a 100gb 7200rpm harddrive. The Intel 945GM Express Chipset brings the index for gaming and graphics down to 3.2 and 3.1 respectively, which should be the case on most convertible tablet pcs today.

Special thanks to Lenovo for sending us these eval units and letting us post about our experiences - both positive and negative.

UPDATE: People are upset at Lenovo that we received evaluation units while others are still waiting to get their SXGA shippments that were ordered back in November, and that is totally understandable considering the SXGA shipping issues. Lenovo is shipping SXGA+ units at this time, although not everyone has received their order yet. It might help knowing that the units we received to evaluate appear to have been used for QC testing. These are not machines pulled from the production floor. They didn't send us evaluation units instead of shipping customers their systems.

Hardware | Lenovo | Vista | Tablet PC

1/31/2007 7:53 AM MST

GottaBeMobile.com evaluating X60 SXGA+ Vista Tablet PC Comments [13] | Digg This | del.icio.us | Citations

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:56:21 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

Aero turned off by preference? Now that's just plain weird Rob ... :)

Why?

Dennis Rice

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:03:39 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

although aero is cool, I just prefer a streamlined interface and don't get much out of transparency, nor the flip 3d.

Rob Bushway

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:40:04 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

Although I know Aero is faster than basic / whatever non-aero is called. How does it affect battery life? Is the graphics card so much more efficient that it can do more and use less power, or does doing less increase the life?

Just a question.

Massif

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:56:55 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

To be honest, I have not noticed that much of increase in battery life since turning aero off. Although the x60 is plenty fast with aero on, I prefer to switch my performance settings to get the most out of a system. The changes I do make after adjusting for highest performance is to turn Clear Type back on and use the Vista Basic scheme.

Rob Bushway

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:01:13 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

> Lenovo sent each member of Team GBM an evaluation
> unit of the X60 Tablet PC with SXGA+ running
> their OEM build of Vista Business.

Uhh, I am not complaining since I got my AJU the other day, but I wonder how that makes some of those still waiting for their machines feel about their ongoing wait for the big brown truck...

So is the Vista model $20 cheaper to help you pay for an extra battery? I am glad I have XP.

Oliver

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 9:58:34 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

I'm not mad at you guys at GBM, but it really ticks me off that they just sent you another batch of SXGA+ units.

Holy Crap.

Mine is ordered 12/1 and still no shipment. School started 3 weeks ago and the notion of using digital notes this semester is down the drain... Ive also started working with my materials science prof. on some of his research...given the first project he wants me to work on, it has become quite an inconvienence not to have a laptop, as he hasnt been able to get me a computer(desktop) yet. but lenovo has plenty of SXGA+'s to send out to reviewers!

pissed off (at lenovo),
Jon

okashira

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:12:45 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

I ordered 11/21 and still haven't received anything, and now they send out another batch of review-models?
You got to be kidding me, F*CK Lenovo.

schmolch

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:29:33 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

I totally understand, guys, and your frustration at Lenovo is understandable. It might help knowing that these evaluation units appear to have been used for quality control testing. These are not machines straight from the production floor. They QC'd the sxga screens and vista build ( which we would expect them to do ), and it appears we received those units to evaluate. We didn't get someone's machine that was on order.

Rob Bushway

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:57:52 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

In a way it might have better not to mention that you got the units as I can see why people would be upset, regardless of where they came from. On the other hand being so trusted and respected by Lenovo it might be a good think that someone in the GBM "family" is "kind of" in the inner circle. I am so not in tune with the way companies such as Lenovo work but sending out demos after the huge supply issues that they had/having is a tough pill to take for those waiting after ordering so far in advance of the latest demos to be given out.

It is great that people who are so good about spreading the tablet "good news" have the opportunity to demo units but for those still waiting for "firsts' on the X60 I can see why they are uneasy about additional demos.

Just a point of view (even though I do not have or am waiting for the SXGA.)

Jmaiurano

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:48:48 AM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

I just received an email that my x60t SXGA+ was shipped :-)

IM SO HAPPY :-)

Im in germany btw.

schmolch

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 4:05:53 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

I'm sorta glad I waited to buy the X60T.

Wouldn't it suck if Lenovo started offering a Core 2 Duo before everyone got their SXGA+ units? OMG!

Just a evil thought I was having. Sorry.

Lenovo sure has some customer care to work out for sure. But, was it entirely their fault in the first place they were unable to ship the SXGA+ models?

Just thought I read somewhere they had two suppliers, but one of the companies flopped and ran short on Lenovo's order.

Later,

Jeffyo

Jeffyo

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 7:49:52 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

Rob,

I think I read Vista allows text to be resized as opposed to older versions of Windows where higher resolution produced smaller fonts which are harder for some of us with lousy eyes to read.

I would never get the SXGA if it meant smaller fonts. I'm hoping it allows resizing effectively enough that my concern is invalid.

Assuming the SXGA resizes text, would you rather have the higher resolution or the Multi-touch screen. While the multi-touch sounds cool, in real life does it add enough to offset a lower resolution.

If I remember correctly, I think Dennis said in one of the inkshows he had actually disabled it. I think I got that right unless he was talking about scrolling with the fingerprint reader. See bad eyes and bad memory.

I've been waiting for pre-installed Vista on the X60T so I guess the time is now.

I'm glad you got the evaluation units. The sooner you evaluate the more people you help before they buy. You guys are our scouts and keep the rest of us out of ambushes. Great job, stay after it.

Milepost

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 8:00:42 PM (Mountain Standard Time, UTC-07:00)

thanks, milepost. I appreciate your encouraement

You can make text bigger in higher resolution system by adjusting the DPI setting in the control panel. Vista handle text sizing via DPI better than XP did

Personally, I would rather have higher res and adjust the text larger to adjust accordingly. With a 12" screen, I'd probably end up turning the touch off as well. You are right, I think he did end up disabling the touch.

Rob Bushway

Comments are closed.