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Date:      Thu, 11 Nov 1999 15:34:14 -0700
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        John Reynolds~ <jreynold@sedona.ch.intel.com>, Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net>
Cc:        freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Quick question on IBM ThinkPad
Message-ID:  <4.2.0.58.19991111152205.0454a2e0@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <14379.13030.781773.165594@hip186.ch.intel.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.05.9911111336570.12797-100000@fw.wintelcom.net> <14379.9777.612177.194709@hip186.ch.intel.com> <Pine.BSF.4.05.9911111336570.12797-100000@fw.wintelcom.net>

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I own a ThinkPad (a 760), and will not make the mistake of buying one again.

First and foremost, no matter what the company says in its marketing
literature, the ThinkPad is designed to be a Windows-specific machine. 
There are no audio or modem drivers for ANY version of UNIX; as a
result, the company's vaunted MWave DSP is useless unless one is running
Windows. (I understand that there are OS/2 drivers, but that when you
use these to run the modem at 33.6 Kbps they make the system highly
unstable and cause sound to stop working.) Power management and BIOS
configuration are likewise not possible under any version of UNIX,
since the company does not provide a setup utility within the BIOS.
And the Cyber chipsets function slowly, if at all, with most X servers.
The SCSI adapter in the docking station is not compatible with many
drivers for the chipset on which it's based (though FreeBSD's drivers,
thankfully, seem to work). The hard disk connector is proprietary and
supported by only a couple of third parties.

Second, the machine lacks physical integrity. The case is rubber-coated
metal, and the slightest jar or scratch exposes the metal to view. The
RAM compartment door works loose easily, causing memory errors, and the
RAM is directly behind the hard disk and thus is heated by the hard
disk's motor. When the machine is in the docking station, heat dissipation
from the "heat pipe" on the bottom of the unit is blocked by the plastic of
the dock, causing the machine to become incredibly hot. (PCMCIA cards
ejected from the unit are frequently too hot to touch.) The cover latches
and keyboard have fragile plastic pieces which are easy to snap.

Other problems with the physical design include a CD-ROM drive which
gets in the way of the battery (you must remove the drive to change
battery packs) and tiny, tinny, weak speakers.

Finally, there's poor support and service. There are no dealers nearby
who actually have the capability to service the unit, so it must be
shipped to Memphis. Loaners are generally not available, so one must
make do without the computer in the meantime. 

In short, I'd give the ThinkPad a miss.

--Brett Glass

At 02:19 PM 11/11/1999 -0700, John Reynolds~ wrote:

>[ On Thursday, November 11, Alfred Perlstein wrote: ]
> > 
> > Well, urm, how are we supposed to know if you don't even know?
> > 
>
>Yeah I know, I know ... ;) But you see, around here, you get issued what
>you get issued. 99.9999999% of the people here are too ignorant to know the
>difference between hardware and don't *care* what's compatible with what or
>why because they're gonna run Ebola98 or WinNoT which are the only two
>"supported" platforms. IT doesn't issue hardware not supported by either, so
>no end-user has to care what they receive as a desktop PC/laptop. Therefore,
>it's tough for me to find out what I'd get before I get it because knowbody
>knows or cares assuming blindly that I'm a Windoze drone. :)
>
> > --------------------------------^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > 
> > geez, I wish someone would force me to take a laptop... :)
>
>:)
>
>point taken, but A) I do not like the thinkpad series, and B) it makes my
>life more of a security nightmare than it already is (more freaking procedures
>to deal with laptops for corporate security reasons, etc. etc. etc.
>
> > good luck,
>
>cheers,
>
>-Jr
>
>-- 
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>| John Reynolds               CEG, CCE, Next Generation Flows, HLA          |
>| Intel Corporation      MS: CH6-210   Phone: 480-554-9092   pgr: 868-6512  |
>| jreynold@sedona.ch.intel.com  http://www-aec.ch.intel.com/~jreynold/      |
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>
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