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IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC Reviewed
JR writes "CoolTechZone.com has reviewed IBM's ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC that works as a standard notebook computer as well as a tablet PC. Generally with hybrid products, there are quite a few limitations attached, is that the case with X41? According to the article, "The notebook has a lot of drawbacks, lacks important features and tries to make up all that with its lightweight and a fingerprint reader that works like a charm. If you are looking for a small lightweight tablet and won't do much more than e-mail and note taking, along with basic office stuff, we would seriously recommend this one for it's battery life, the extreme lightweight design and the brilliant IBM support, but be ready to pay anywhere from $1800 to upwards of $2000 for a common purpose machine."
I used a tablet PC for several years while at Microsoft, partly because I wanted to understand what or if there was an application and partly because it was the politically-correct thing to do. I was not impressed. It really has nothing to do with the form-factor, although performance is a key factor. It has more to do with the software, specifically Windows for Tablet, and the whole human interaction thing.
I took notes on it for about 9 months, and then finally had to stop when I realized I couldn't find anything for later review. The files were all there, my notes were in them, but to open and close hundreds of files looking for the meeting where that guy said that thing about that stuff? Forget it. There was no way I could be more efficient than the notebook and pen. True, you can't search your notebook electronically, but you can't search your written notes either. Convert handwriting to text? Forget about it, the error correction you have to go through eliminates ANY potential savings.
My old-fashion father, now an 80 year-old CPA, used to laugh when I would bring home the latest PDA/calendar/phone thingy. He would smile, take out his daytimer and set it on the table. We would race to see who could look up a personal schedule for a specific date. I never won the race. I was never even close. I still cannot win that race, and I still cannot even come close.
The Tablet does have some unique applications, such as the Doctor doing their rounds and updating charts on the fly. Inventory perhaps. There are others. But as a general purpose note-taking computing platform, forget about it. It the latest technology cannot outperform the oldest known writing standard in the world, pen and paper, and can't make general office functions any better, it is just technology looking for a solution.
A most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a bit.
I got the X41 laptop and I must say I'm very pleased with it.
Works perfect with Linux. All except the fingerprint scanner and the SD card reader.
How long until these thinkpads are labeled Lenovo? As far as I'm concerned, there is no IBM Thinkpad any more....doesn't make Lenovo any better/worse; I'd just rather call a spade a spade.
I often wonder which, in 5 years, will be the more practical tablet type of solution. Will devices like this continue to evolve into that elusive "paper notebook replacement" or will Windows Mobile devices expand in functionality? The part that really seems odd is that, if Microsoft keeps developing both XPTablet and WindowsMobile, won't they begin completing with themselves for usage?
http://www.tomandemily.com
Lenovo Thinkpad x41 Unreviewx 41.ars
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/thinkpad-
-theGreater.
It's not IBM anymore, guys, but rather Lenovo. Even for ThinkPads originally purchased from IBM, the Package Manager software has been steadily replacing all the IBM-branded ThinkVantage software with Lenovo-branded software. (So far, it all works the same, but they're making it very clear that it's a Lenovo show now.) Customer support has been turned over to Lenovo as well. (I can say from recent experience that it's still quite good.)
The article got this right, but I thought I'd post the FYI here as well. -- Paul
OpenSource.MathCancer.org: open source comp bio
Another one worth looking at is the R series by Toshiba; it's roughly 6lbs but sports a 14.1" screen. You can see one in person at Best Buy (but iif you buy one I highly suggest going elsewhere). Also for either machine, if you qualify for academic prices definitely go through a local college. My school orders a number of preconfigured models in bulk and passes some savings to the customer (it's cheaper to buy from my campus bookstore than from the IBM higher education page directly). On a side note, is there any good tablet linux distros yet?
Sadly, PS/2 was yet another victim of USB, which doesn't care what you plug into it, the electrical slut.
I will never use an electronic device that forces me to write on it in my own handwriting or any other PDAish grafitti like trash. Never. Maybe this is a niche machine for people who need to lug around electronic forms, blueprints, contracts and whatnot.
And please don't get me wrong I have a 12x12 Acecad digitizer tablet. I'm pretty familiar with using a stylus - - for things that it makes sense to use a stylus for. Like drawing.
Apple really needs to come out with something like this. I have a number of MAC shop clients and the artists have been seriously considering moving to XP for the Tablet functionality. The reason is that the Tablet can sense pressure, and a brush stroke is adjusted accordingly on the screen. The Waacom stuff can do drawing, but isn't pressure sensitive to this degree. There is about a 5k piece of equipment you can buy to do this with OSX, but its just not the same.
Vista is making some big strides on the Tablet end and is upping the sensitivity, so combined with the more accurate graphic color rendering, windows may be able to woo some artists away. Adobe and Quark products work well on both platforms. The only real thing Windows will be lacking is a decent font management tool.
This ThinkPad os exactly the kind of thing that I think could hurt apple at the end of the day. It may be easier for apple to get into this market now that they are moving to intel chips, since the hardware is already running on the x386 platform.
How long until these thinkpads are labeled Lenovo? As far as I'm concerned, there is no IBM Thinkpad any more....doesn't make Lenovo any better/worse; I'd just rather call a spade a spade.
from the title of the article: "Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet PC: Closing the Mobile Gap"
Slashdot just got it wrong, this is definitely a Lenovo.
Same as the brand name Lenovo instead of IBM, I suppose.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
then I'm not interested. Honestly, am I the only one who has trouble "writing" on these touchscreen tablets? I find it very uncomfortable due to the thickness of the unit. My arm/wrist is at an odd angle. I think they're fine for checking off forms or choosing from drop down lists, but free-form note-taking on these things is not for me.
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
I have been using the x41 tablet and several other tablet brands for a couple of months and my conclusion is:
....I wouldn't mind taking a look at what Apple would come up with in the tablet arena, but right now in the Windoze world, it is pretty "ho hum!"
"For mainstream use, Not Worth the Effort"
Everything about them is slower than keying.
Interacting with websites or other apps which expect keyboard entry is painfully tedious. Annotation of existing digital docs require another step, another app and is of limited use to send to others unless they are so configured. (MS Journal, etc)
And as previous slashdotter noted: finding anything is problematic.
Nothing there that I can't do and haven't done with my Palm and graffitti for the last couple of years.
The "value add" that the tablet function brings only happens when you doodle or sketch alot while taking notes. Artists would like it.
I think this whole "writing recognition" thing is generational - with the generation that wants it now hitting retirement age. They don't know how to "type" so they want to "write". But they are generally terrible with their mouse skills and using the pen takes much finer hand-eye coordination than using a mouse.
There have been several articles recently how todays school-age kids can't even "read" let alone "write" long hand. It is like a foreign language to them.
"Print" - yes (it is like a computer!), but "cursive" or script, it might as well be french. So, I don't see this market happening.
You backup all fingers in the reader in case you burn one, or cut it and the reader doesnt accept your finger anymore.
I've played with the T43 the fp reader is pretty good but frankly useless too because where i saw it used you could resort to typing a password in case something happened to all five of your fingers.
So security wise it's as useful as the most vulnerable part of the process, and most people might want to have a backup password in case something happens so it's as safe as the password is.
Coding projects blog - Code Slim
No, seriously; how many Harvard-boy types do you know that use a PC as anything more than a fancy typewriter?
Put a secure OS on the machine so the PHBs can't load it up with their usual menagerie of malware, and IBM could have a real winner here.
Regards;
In fact, I'm typing this comment on it. It is a bit sluggish, but I suspect that's because my add-in memory is still on order. The battery life (as with all X series ThinkPads) is unbeatable. But the killer app to me is not the note-taking. There are a few nice applications the tablet can be used for that don't work as well on a regular laptop (and I won't buy a non-ThinkPad until someone else figures out how to put in a sane keyboard layout).
1. Driving directions. Bluetooth GPS + Streets and Trips 2003 = turn-by-turn directions and a nice huge map.
2. Photo editing. Instead of having a separate digitizer tablet, this one is built-in. Using the mouse for this kind of stuff really sucks, especially if you have RSI.
3. Aircraft use (pilot). There are a pile of programs to help aviators figure out where they're going, and they're much easier to see on a Tablet than on a laptop. In a vacuum or electrical failure, this can be a real lifesaver (by acting as a DG or VOR/GS).
4. Aircraft use (passenger). You can read PDFs in tablet mode, even when the seat in front of you is reclined. You can even annotate them with the pen.
So sure, its a bit sluggish (but another 512MB RAM will help that quite a bit), and the resolution sucks (1024x768? are we in the 90s?), but I think I'm sticking with the tablet for the near future as my portable. My power use takes place on a Pentium D desktop with 4GB RAM and a 24" LCD, so there's little need for me to have a beefy desktop-replacement laptop. And the optical drive problem is solved with an external DVD burner that hooks up to both the laptop and the desktop.
"When in tablet mode, the screen for some reason is not a touch screen, but works if we point the stylus at it."
Yeah, that's kind of the point. The idea is that you rest your wrist on the screen and write like you would on a piece of paper. If it was touch sensitive, that would be a little messy (virtual ink everywhere).
I guess this is Microsoft's problem: No one knows enough about TabletPCs to consider the benefits. Even the "reviews" seem to miss the point on some features. My Motion M1200 is almost 3 years old now and I still love it.
What if the Hokey-Pokey really is what it's all about?
Why are you using hibernate? Just use standby, it barely takes any power as works just fine as long if you eventually dock it every night.
You answered your own question. Standby is just as good if I'm going to plug it in soon. There are many occasions when I can't plug it in or don't want to go to the trouble.
Technology should work for me, not the other way around. That's why most of my gear runs Linux. And once I'm done with the Windows project I'm working on, this laptop will run Linux, too.
The screen can be rotated to portrait orientation via rotate button (not dynamic, no xrandr on i915 yet, so 2 Xconfigs). It has special "BlueKeys" support when folded into tablet configuration: scroll Up, scroll Down, Enter, and Toolbox keys. The Toolbox Key (plugin to "EmpTool" tools to access LCD brightness up/down, volume up/down, backlight, wifi kill, etc)
Lincoln D. Durey, Ph.D.
Electrical Engineer
EmperorLinux
Yeah, I have the T43 with a fingerprint reader ... I was a little concerned, not so much about losing my fingers, but what if the reader got cracked or otherwise disabled... so I'm quite pleased to know there's a backup password... and sense I never have to type it, I put in a ridiculously secure password which I can keep under lock and key in a secure physical location.
it hibernates to disk. The video is i915. there is no xrandr for the i810 driver, so you need two xconfigs, one portrait, one landscape. We've made the "rotate" button switch between the two. The pen works of course in either mode.
Lincoln D. Durey, Ph.D.
Electrical Engineer
EmperorLinux
I'm typing this on my tc4200 right now... and I've gotta say that I've fallen in love with this machine.
I use it both at work and at school (graduate degree... blah).. and it serves both purposes extremely well.
I personally selected the tc4200 over the x41 because it is _more_ of a desktop replacement+tablet than the x41 is. The 2Ghz PentiumM + 1GB of ram and a 7200 RPM hardrive upgrade make the tc4200 just as fast as most desktops. The only drawback being that you only have a 1024x768 screen, but a docking station and a good LCD screen solve that problem nicely.
I recommend that anyone in the market for a laptop take a serious look at the hp tc4200. You can find models starting at around $1300 if you shop around, making them not that much more expensive than a regular laptop and adding the tablet functionality to boot.
BTW... if you're going to get a tablet use Gobinder. Whether you are a professional or a student I find that it's note taking/organizing capabilities are beyond anything other offering (including one note).
Friedmud