Lenovo X200T - First Impressions and Some More Questions

[hitman]

Received a few days ago after buying on eBay. Very surprised how small and light it is. Quite fast running Vista, keyboard very good. Surprisingly I like the trackpad. Using the stylus on the tablet is an excellent experience. Downsides - screen is not very bright - have to run it on maximum brightness and max power which means I'm only getting approximately 2 hours from the battery.

Questions:

1. Will it run windows 7 professional 64 bit and Office 2010 ok with existing spec - Intel Core Duo 2.16GHz, 3 GB Ram, or will it be too slow and should I skip this and upgrade to an SSD and max the RAM at 8GB?

2. What are the recommended external usb dvd drives for this - need to load software and will come in handy down the line for films etc.

3. Can someone recommend a sleeve style case for this - preferably stylish but not too expensive?

At the moment very pleased but looking to install the above software to see how it works in practice.

[excalibur1814]

1 - Yes. Even better if you turn a couple of things off. (If you're staying with 3Gb ram, install 32bit but if you're upgrading later then 64bit)
2 - I'm using a Samsung (Actually an Asus drive... see below: Blu-ray but all I know is that one works fine

My ALL time favourite upgrade for ANY machine is an SSD. Go on... do it! Max that ram and install an SSD

[hitman]

I'm using a Samsung Blu-ray but all I know is that one works fine

cheers, which model is this? is it usb powered (one or two usb) only?

[excalibur1814]

It is USB powered via 1 or, if required, 2 connections.

Will post the part number tomorrow

[fatpolomanjr]

Maybe CCFL back light is the cause of the dimness of the machine? But C2D 2.16GHZ is SL9600 no? That should mean the model has LED screen. ??

My favorite sleeve of all time for any laptop is the Zeroshock III laptop sleeve. But it is US$35 including shipping to my state, and mostly supplied by ebay seller yap (imported from Japan).

SSD is amazing, even on a Core Duo X60t. If you haven't done it yet, do it asap.

[hitman]

Maybe CCFL back light is the cause of the dimness of the machine? But C2D 2.16GHZ is SL9600 no? That should mean the model has LED screen. ??

CCFL backlight? Not sure what this is. presumably an LED screen is dimmer but saves power?

My favorite sleeve of all time for any laptop is the Zeroshock III laptop sleeve. But it is US$35 including shipping to my state, and mostly supplied by ebay seller yap (imported from Japan).

cheers - had a look at these and I might just order one

[excalibur1814]

I was wrong it's an Asus Blu-ray drive

ASUS Blue External USB Slim CD/DVD-RW 6x Blu-ray Combo SBC-06D1S-U | eBay

SBC-06D1S-U

[Steve B]

CCFL backlight? Not sure what this is. presumably an LED screen is dimmer but saves power?

No, generally LED is brighter but also saves power. CCFL takes a while to "warm up" after you boot up the computer. It'll appear dimmer for the first few minutes, and reach full brightness after that. LED is instantly as bright as you want it. If you think it dim, you might not have gotten the Superbright model, which is 300 nits and relatively bright. The "normal" one is something like 200-250. Perfectly usable indoors, but probably not bright enough for bright light situations.

[hitman]

One issue I have is that I can't change the screen from landscape to portrait. Also sometimes in Journal I can't get the pen to work but if I select a new note, everything works ok.
Anyone know how to solve this?

[Cads]

I just use an IDE to USB adapter along with an old DVD-R from a retired tower.