IBM Thinkpad 600X - series

Hi All!

IBM has been on the Laptop scene for as far as I can remember. In fact they were the pioneers of the industry with a sackful of awards under their belt to boot.This is my second Laptop. Before this I had a COMPAQ Armada 7400 Pentium II. IN Comparison I can say that the IBM is lightyears ahead of most of the other notebook companies. The IBM 600x is one of the slimmer laptops and is suitable for frequent travellers who want to use their machine in the huddled up seat of a plane, or while in a train or car. The first thing you notice about this baby is its size. Its really slim, not the slimmest but quite comfortable to carry around. Under this slim hood roars a P3 500Mhz CPU which is pretty good for handling complex office jobs and also for medium intensity graphical work. The battery lasted for about 2 and a half hour which is pretty decent though nowadays the newer ones have the technology to churn out at battery hours in excess of 3 hours. Well, no complaints in that area. One place where there is a teeny weeny problem is the absence of a built in Floppy Drive. The floppy drive is external and has to be plugged in. Also there is no Lan port. I use a PCMCIA Lan card which is OK for me but would be a bit difficult for frequent LAN users. This machine originally shipped with a CD ROM drive but the later models come with a 6X DVD ROM Drive like this one. It works excellently well movies run flawlessly thought the screen is not too big. The 13'' TFT screen is the best I have seen in a while. With images so crisp and clear it's a treat to sit for long hours as it doesnt cause any strain to the eyes and is easily dimmable with a convenient slider placed just below the screen. If you are looking at playing very graphically intense games like Quake 3....Sorry. This laptop was not with the gamer in mind and has a measly 4 MB of video Ram which plays quake 2 pretty okay but QUAKE3 or F1...forget it! The 10 Gb hard disk is silent and quite adequate for storing stuff. 128 MB Ram does its job quite well. One noticeable aspect of this machine is its exterior finish. It has a kind of soft rubberized coating which prevents your hans from slipping and also gives it a nice matty finish. But watch it...taking this unit out in extreme heat for long periods causes this coating to wear off and then yu start getting patches on the exterior. Input device is a Trackpoint system which is really good and I feel is better than the newer touchpads. There is an infrared port which can be useful if yu have an infrared enabled mobile phone or handheld device. Unlike many laptops which have only a MIC and a Headphones socket, this one also has a auxiliary socket with which you can hook this machine to a amplifier or mixer and record your voice or instruments. With this feature and recording software I have recorded a full fledged CD with 8 Tracks. Just goes to show the power it has. You may ask why did I choose IBM over the other brands with so many of them introduced nowadays with superior technology. One basic reason is experience. IBM has been in the industry right from the beginning. You can never go wrong with a veteran. Secondly, IBM tech support is the best I have seen. I called them up once for some clarifications and they were more than willing to help. This is a very decisive factor as well.Add to that the reliability of award winning IBM components which are trusted worldwide for many years and you have a real good deal in your hands. All in All the 600X has excellent build quality. It has survived 2 small height drops and also some amount of rough use but never stops going. This is one rugged powerhouse.Very light and portable. Good keyboard feel and well placed control buttons. Dont let this go if yu get a good price. You WON'T be disappointed!!!

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IBM Think Pad 600x is so comfortable that you would forget that it cost you would stop being concious that u spent a fortune on it.

The best part about this machine I feel is the physical structure of it and the comfort it gives in looks. I have been using this for past 7 months for all my presentations and never gave me any trouble.

It has a DVD and not a CD Rom as specified in the official description ABOVE

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I bought my first laptop--a Toshiba machine like 10 years ago. Since then, I have used Dell, Toshiba, Compaq, IBM and Acer.

The reasons am telling you all this, is to provide a perspective about the different machines I have used.

I bought my first IBM laptop in December 1999 and it's never looking back since then.

It's a P-III machine with 128MB RAM. I was recommended IBM after I complained to my friends about the short battery time of Dell machines. I complained the bulkiness of Toshiba...am not saying that my ThinkPad is very light. It's abt 2.3 kg.

Since December 1999, I have treated this machine like a workhorse...and it's powerful. I have installed NT on it, which has never crashed.

I connect it to my corporate LAN using the Xircom Ethernet card. It works great. I have used it in the comfort of my car...chauffeur driven, so that allowed me to work. I have used it in the crowded, sardine-packed trains of Bombay...yeah I managed to get a seat!

Believe me, I have used it in the dusty cabs of Bombay...the cool cabs. I have used it on Ships on my trips to Nhava Sheva from Bombay's Ferry Wharf... I have used it ruggedly in Airlines and it's still working.

Once when I was in Dubai, my battery almost died...well it was not dead yet...I tried to charge it but it wouldn't charge to the full level of 3.2 hours. Tring tring...IBM in Dubai is a phone call away. I called them up and within no time, Mr. Manji of IBM Dubai replaced my battery. I just could not believe that it took almost no effort for me to convince him that my batteries needed to be replaced.

Once in Bombay, last month my sound card gave some problems. Spoke to Ashmita Chaudhary at IBM Mumbai...boom the problem was fixed.

Well, the only problem with the machine that irritated me was the space in front of the keypad...it's made of steel and coated with high-quality paint...whatever that is. It seems that in India, due to the hot weather if you rub the palm of your hands, this paint chips off. Well of course, Sudhir at IBM Mumbai replaced it free but then IBM should look at modifying it for the Indian weather conditions.

Overall, it's a great machine...Very stable and reliable. I hope it lasts until I have enough money to buy a newer ThinkPad with more power...and DVD.

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