The X Series, another must-have notebook from Big Blue

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP) Over the years, my waistline has gotten bigger and bigger. Meanwhile, the magnitude of corruption in this country has remained basically the same. On the other hand, notebook computers are getting thinner and lighter. So, you see, as time goes by, some things grow, others stay the same and the rest shrink. That's life. That's universal.

Speaking of notebooks, if you have seen the latest lightweight notebooks from Sony, Toshiba, Asus and others, it is hard not to let your mouth water. And now Big Blue has rounded up its latest generation of ThinkPad with an X Series that really looks like another must-have from IBM.

Remember the mininotebook ThinkPad 240 Series? The small notebook with, unfortunately, a very limited battery longevity? And remember the fairly expensive, head-turning ThinkPad 570 Series that you could hold up with one hand very easily? The X Series is actually a combination of both. ThinkPad X20 is the first model.

The demo unit of IBM's ThinkPad X20 that I got to play around with really did not match the bag that it arrived in. At first, because the X20 was so small and thin, I even thought there was no notebook inside the large notebook carrying case that the courier had delivered. As the base of this notebook is smaller than its cover, it looks even smaller than it actually is.

But looks can be misleading. Small as it may be, it is quite a capable notebook -- although it is driven by an Intel Mobile Pentium III processor running at 600 MHz. It may not be suitable for use as a graphics designer's workstation, but for common tasks on the road it certainly has more than enough horsepower.

With a weight of 1.4 kg (1.77 kg including the power adapter), it is not really the lightest ultraportable notebook on the market. Sony's VAIO PCG-SR17K, for example, weighs only 1.36 kg. If 0.45 kg really makes a difference to you, that is.

By the way, other comparisons between the X20 and Sony's PCG SR17K may also be interesting to note. The Sony uses Intel Mobile Pentium III with a clock speed of 700 MHz. It has a smaller, 10.4" display with 1024 x 768 resolution, while ThinkPad X20 has a more comfortable 12.1" with the same resolution. The Sony ultraportable reportedly has a very short key travel on its keyboard, while the X20, as you would expect, still boasts IBM's popular, full-travel keyboard.

The original X20, which first became available in September 2000 came with 64 MB of SDRAM and a Mobile Celeron processor running at 500 MHz. The model is still available today, and IBM chose the Celeron processor to keep the price low. The demo unit I had came with 128 MB and the Mobile Pentium III. The installed operating system was Windows 98 Second Edition.

Two USB ports are available, and the included external floppy diskette drive uses the USB connection. Too bad there are no parallel and serial ports on the notebook itself, so, to my disappointment, I was not able to use my old external CD-ROM drive to install any additional software.

With ultraportables from IBM, we will need the optional UltraBase X2 media slice in order to get more complete multimedia functions. The base, which snaps to the notebook's bottom, will add an Ultrabay for devices such as a CD-ROM, a CD-Writer, a DVD drive, a SuperDisk (LS120) drive or a Zip drive. The notebook itself already comes with some sound capability, and there are jacks for a microphone and headphones.

Another option for this ultraportable notebook is ThinkPad Port Replicator, which will give us the serial and parallel ports. For a full-function docking station, you can buy ThinkPad Dock. There is indeed a steep price that you have to pay for ultraportability.

Other features

Like the other latest ThinkPads, the X20 also has ThinkLight. If you work in a completely dark room and you still have not mastered the art of blind-typing, you will appreciate this soft light that comes from the bulb just on top of the screen frame.

It is bright enough to enable you to see where the slash key is, but it does not consume much battery power.

The original X20, according to the reviews I have read, had a resolution of 800 x 600. The unit I tested, however, had a display resolution of 1,024 x 768. Interestingly, when I switched the display setting to 800 x 600, it still filled the entire screen. Remember the old days when one dot in the display always corresponded to one pixel? We used to have one inch of black edge around the display if we lower the resolution. Somehow the problem was solved, and even at 640 x 480, the X20's display still fills the entire LCD. The sharpness declines noticeably at this level of resolution, though.

Like the other new ThinkPads, too, there is an UltraPort on top of the screen cover. We can add a digital camera, a Bluetooth wireless device, a microphone and other devices to the notebook through this port.

The X20 already has a 56K 3Com PCI modem built in. Its intended use as a businessperson's notebook -- as opposed to a high-school student's notebook -- is quite evident by the inclusion of an RJ-45. The 3Com 10/100 Ethernet port is located at the back, next to the modem port, and it makes connecting to a network very easy.

One more nice feature is a slot for a compact flash card. So, if your digital camera uses a compact flash card, you no longer need a special reader to transfer the data of the pictures that you have taken into the notebook. Undoubtedly, it also works with IBM Microdrive, too, which is a tiny removable hard disk with 1 GB storage capacity.

Needless to say, I love the lightness of this notebook. With prices starting at US$2,099 for the Celeron-based X20 -- as stated on IBM's Website, the notebook is not really too expensive. But, then again, if you add all the options, you may have some hard convincing to do before your boss approves the purchase of a X20 for you.

The writer can be contacted at zatni@cbn.net.id.