“The recent release of Intel’s Centrino 2 platform means a refresh of notebooks from every manufacturer. Lenovo took this chance to not only update the internals of their ThinkPads, but also to make changes to their naming conventions and release a few new models, including the addition of the ThinkPad X200 to the venerable X series.” The X200 brings along a widescreen display (the X was the ThinkPad’s last standard aspect ratio series), the Centrino 2 platform with 45nm processor, and an SSD option. The notebook is a bit wider than before but still has that ThinkPad keyboard and with the right battery it will last up to 9 hours.”
Talk about a next to useless review; maybe I’ve been spoilt too much with Arstechnica, but they gave no information on what the performance is like, how x4500 handled graphics in regards to the UI performance of Windows, the gaming performance and so forth. Nor did they review the quality of the Windows integration – was it laden from top to bottom with crapware?
It is, ironic, however, that I was chatting on another forum about this very issue; great hardware out there by the likes of Lenovo, but the whole experienced ruined by virtue of it running Windows. Its like being given a beautifully designed car, and you find that under the hood it uses a Soviet era Lada engine inside.
The review is almost as stupid as bashing Windows or vendors that ship with Windows preinstalled following up to an article that doesn’t have anything to do with Windows or operating systems.
So rather than raise a point, you abuse me and try to censor my post by moderating it down. Yes, that’s *really* mature.
Windows is part of the machine, and it is up to as much scrutiny as the hardware components itself. The fact you can’t see that makes you unqualified to even post on this website let alone open you mouth to spout diatribes on issues you know little about.
Edited 2008-08-03 02:33 UTC
Lol, Kaiwai, did your Macbook overheat again and burned your balls?
And Windows is NOT part of the machine!
Windows is just a bunch of magnetic fields on the hard disk platters which will be wiped without a trace and replaced (at least in this poster’s case) by nice install of Slackware. And it’ll be as if Windows never existed.
And I might, just to piss you and Steve J. off, put a quick install of OSX on a small partition at the end of the hard drive.
Now, go put your overpriced Macbook in the freezer for a while.
Edited 2008-08-03 05:49 UTC
Switch the engine, perhaps?
TO what? Move to Linux and find I can’t run natively (without virtualisation or wine) Microsoft Office, Creative Suite, or numerous other software titles. Maybe if there was a viable alternative to Windows in the generic x86 space, then you post would have a point to make.
Wait: you mean you can’t run software written for one operating on another without some sort of translation or adaption layer in between?!
My God, why has no one noticed this before? You should write a thesis.
So if you don’t want to run windows and don’t want to run any of the rival non-mac OSs then why are you even bothering to complain about the lack of meat to an x86 laptop review?
And for the record (albeit a little off topic) Office et al may not run natively on Linux, but there are plenty of other suites that meet the majorety of users needs (and then some). However your post reads more like your biggest complaint is that Windows / Linux isn’t OS X rather than judging these opperating systems on their own merrits.
I normally enjoy your posts but that last one was just a fanboy flamewar rather than informative.
Edited 2008-08-04 09:42 UTC
Man, if you don’t want to run windows, either install something else, or buy something else. I bought a Dell 530 a few months back, and the first thing I did was install Debian. It came with Vista Home Premium.
I’ve read enough of your comments to know that you have the technical acumen to do this, railing over the fact that a system comes with Windows pre-installed really doesn’t help anything, just grab your OS of choice and reinstall it.
Here’s another review of the same laptop with more information and some basic benchmarks:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4497
.
I remember lusting for a Thinkpad a few years back (when they were still made by IBM); that was because they were highly regarded in my LUG as one of the most Linux-friendly notebooks on the market.
Fast forward a few years later and, now that I’m finally making enough money to afford one, I find that they’re made by another company, though still highly regarded.
I guess my question is, are the hardware components which make up the Lenovo-era Thinkpads still as Linux-friendly as they were back then? If so then I may have to look into getting one.
Edited 2008-08-03 03:18 UTC
The T series are Linux friendly, but I have heard some compatibility problems with Linux with the X series given that it relies on an external CD/DVD drive and some non-standard components – thats based off the feedback I’ve seen with the x61 series, but things might have changed with the x200.
I have a X60s, no special problems useing several distros, ArchLinux being the current). For ThinkPad related questions (not just Linux) the best source is ThinkWiki:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkWiki
Edited 2008-08-03 07:15 UTC
Lusting after a Thinkpad? That must be the first time I’ve ever heard that! 🙂
To me Thinkpads are the laptop equivalent of white goods. Competent, reliable, but mind numbingly boring.
Seriously though the design dept. of Lenovo/IBM really have been out to lunch for a few years, kind of like Porsche with their 911’s I suppose.
Come on Lenovo, hire a design guy!
I think the thinkpad design is great. Solid, minimalistic and classy.
I guess design is subjective, but I do not understand where people fault the thinkpad design. One of the reasons I purchased a thinkpad was the aesthetics of the machine.
Please don’t change a thing. I love the design of ThinkPads, form and function. Guess I’m not much of a “Oooh, it’s shiny…” or “Hey, look at me” crowd and prefer a solid design.
Oh, yes — I always wanted a thinkpad myself, too, but had, for some time, to make do with dell, acers, gateways and similar. Nowadays, not only have I got a nice X61t for myself (works perfectly with OpenSUSE 11), but I’ve got or am getting thinkpads for my wife and daughters. Great design, great keyboard, great compatibility, great durability.
Lenovo have a “design guy,” quite a few of them in fact. The Thinkpad line is very unlikely to change in appearance and function in the next few years. The design is proven, and more importantly iconic.
If you want a “different” design from Lenovo look to the ideapads.
The Thinkpad’s design puts function first, aesthetics are a purely secondary concern – which is one of the main reasons that many people (myself included) prefer Thinkpads. With most other laptops I’ve used/supported, it seems that the designers focused on aesthetics to the detriment of function/usability.
Wanna more shiny design? Look at ThinkPads SL. Reflective cover and red LED mimicking Macs (pulsing when suspended).
i would probably get a thinkpad, if it werent for the _UNACCEPTABLE_ keyboard layout..
the shift key really HAS to be in the cornor.. having fg in the cornor is simply not usable, how could they even think of doing that?!
Are you confusing Shift with Control?
Anyway, apart from Fn’s position, which you get used to after a while, the Thinkpad’s keyboards are regarded as the best you can get on a laptop nowadays.
I love my TP’s keyboard exactly for htat. It feels like a real keyboard, not like the “trade-off” solution you most times get with a mobile computer.
yes sorry, meant the control key
but i must insist it stay in the cornor, and this is not something i can or will get used to.
and as for the thinkpads.. i used a T61p a few days ago, and it was exactly like so many other laptop keyboards, and i can tell you one thing, it does NOT feel nice and good like my das keyboard…
The real problem is the location of caps lock. If it were switched with control (as it is immediately on all my computers), then the fn location is preferable since it’s easily found.
The real problem with Thinkpads is the screens, but I’m an LCD geek and my X61s doesn’t bug me that much. If it were a T series it might, though.
I haven’t used any of the T series Thinkpads, but the keyboard on my aging x30 is nicer to type on than any other laptop keyboard I’ve used (and many desktop keyboards, for that matter). A lot of it is the size of the keys relative to the size of the laptop. I have a picture around somewhere of my x30 sitting next to a G4 iBook of about the same vintage – despite being at least 1lb heavier (and with a substantially larger “footprint”), the iBook’s keyboard was still noticeably smaller. Especially the function keys.
“UNACCEPTABLE”? That’s going a bit far – it didn’t take me more than a few hours to get used to the placement of the Fn key.
I think this one will replace my X40. Finally, all things that annoyed me were fixed: The screen resulution is updated, the battery life is extended.
Plus, it does not have an annoying touchpad as the X300
“The display is an improvement over previous standard aspect ratio models, which ran at just 1024×768. Some people will insist they prefer 4:3, but the new display means more horizontal space and just a tad more on the vertical.”
Oh the wrongness…
Lenovo X61, 12″ 4:3 aspect ratio:
x = 24.4 cm
y = 18.3 cm
Lenovo X200, 12″ 16:10 aspect ratio:
x = 26.0 cm (+ 1.6 cm)
y = 16.0 cm (- 2.3 cm)
Overall, the X61 has a 7.3% bigger display area than the X200. I guess they confused resolution with size. Idiots.
I’ll take pixels over physical area any day, in terms of virtual real estate the refresh nets you more as described in the review.
The problem is that windows now sucks; which makes this excellent piece of hardware a crap.
Windows XP: obsolete, and vulnerable
Windows Vista: Extremely Buggy.
So, your choice would be:
1. erase windows / Reinstall Ubuntu
2. or buy it with vista sticker and order XP CD.
both ways it is a compromise.
I recomment now buying Apple Laptops, untill Microsoft gets their brain back.
I can’t see your point. What’s bad about installing Ubuntu (or any other Linux)? You’d have to do the same with an Apple.