MrDave's (David Yack) Blog!

End of last year I ordered a Thinkpad X61 tablet - I was excited to have it arrive just before the end of the year so I would have time to play with it.  As it turns out, it shipped with the wrong display and the one I received would only do 1024x768....ack!!  After a few calls, It turned out that certain processor configurations can only be shipped with the 1024x768 configuration and Lenovo's site was failing to tell you when it automagicaly changed your configuration.  With much disappointment, I boxed up the new tablet and shipped it back and started the wait for the replacement.

A little over a week ago I received the replacement and of course the first thing I do is blow away the factory install.  I made the decision that I wanted to give 64bit Vista a try.  I've heard mixed reviews from people so I've been a little more cautious.

My install went fine, and I have been slowly adding only the minimum amount of Lenovo drivers as needed.  I always find that stuff so buggy from any vendor I hate having any more than I need. 

I've been able to install all my normal stuff - I have been running now for about a week.  So far, I have yet to find something that doesn't work or doesn't install that I care about using the 64 bit Vista.  I do have a backup plan just in case - figure I will keep a VPC around running 32bit and I also have two desktop computers I use regularly when I'm in the office or working at home.

I really like the fingerprint reader and not having to type a password.  I've had them before, this one seems to be a little more accurate and less frustrating when it fails.

I'm so used to Vista on the 32 bit boxes only reporting 3gb of memory it's refreshing to see the full 4gb reported.  I also elected for the larger 200G/ 7200rpm hard drive - it's nice to have a little more disk space. 

With the new display I get 1400x1050 which is good usable size - fonts are a little small for some people, but I think it just reduces the amount of people reading over your shoulder! Another big change for me is the mouse - I'm use to the slide area moving your finger around, and the X61 only has the track pointer - the little thing in the middle of the keyboard that you use your finger to point with.  It took me a couple days but I actually think I'm doing better on it than I was on my old dell.  The keyboard on the X61 is great too - other than the fact that the escape key is way far away above the F1 and I keep hitting F1 and getting help when no help is needed....Clearly a hand training issue that I just need more practice!

I need to do some more testing with battery life - I was really concerned at first but then realized unzippping drivers does not = installing drivers.  Once I installed the power management it seemed to be a little better at conserving battery life.  I ordered the laptop with the 4 cell, and just recently got an 8 cell for travel.  I don't sleep on airplanes so I needed to make sure that wouldn't be a problem.

So for now, I'm happy going 64, let's see how it goes!