Replacing an X60 tablet

[_Rick_]

Hey all,

So my sister's X60 tablet apppears to have died after five years of good service, with a broken hinge. Guess those plastics don't last forever, but overall she had mostly a good experience, especially after adding some RAM and an SSD.

So, she's looking into replacing it - and guess what, it appears to be impossible.

The X200 series tablets all only have ridiculously low screen resolutions (she would have to downgrade from 1400x1050 to 1366x768) and she doesn't want some fancy multi touch, but instead proper pen support.
She loves the precise absolute pointing device so much, that she's also gone for a big graphics tablet for her main computer, and she was using both laptop and tablet configuration roughly equally. She was also using the note-taking capability intensively.

So, are there any laptops out there that are still good laptops (with a decent, high resolution screen) and also graphic tablets (and not wannabe ipads)?
Everything I found was either pure tablets (while they accept keyboards, you can't actually use them on your lap) or low resolution screen, like on the X2x0 series.

If anyone has any recommendations besides 'get a used X61', I'd like to hear them.

 

[xSauronx]

i mean at this point id wait for the surface from ms to come out and see what the reviews are like

http://www.engadget.com/tag/microsoft+surface/

but if she needs a replacement now...maybe an asus transformer? the infinity version is out this month with a 1920x1200 ips display and you can get a solid, proper keyboard (which you can use on your lap) to go with it (you can get similar accessories for the ipad, im pretty sure). not sure what kind of compatibility it would have with her current workflow, however. probably depends on what software/formats she uses and she may really be better off getting a used tablet to tide her over until windows 8 models come out in force :-/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5586/...d-infinity-1920-x-1200-display-krait-optional


http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/asu...inity/4505-3126_7-35332613.html?tag=mncol;txt

kinda been running into a similar problem at work. I work for an IT consulting company, and we have been contracted out by a large medical group to convert acquired clinics onto their network/ehr system, and a lot of them do NOT want to get away from their legacy ehr software, and they damn sure dont want to use the new laptops we give them.

a lot of them have either small, light laptops with a digitizer pen that they can carry around and work with, or similar models that are tablet pcs with the same functionality, and the medical group just replaces those with....big dell laptops and a rolling cart. people hate it. it's tremendously inconvenient. the medical group supports EHR access from ipads, but does not provide them (they will set up one for a doctor if they request access)

 

[gorobei]

the only remaining convertibles with active wacom digitizers are

hp elitebooks 27xx series,
lenovo x200 series,
fujitsu lifebook

if your sister needs something for right now, i would go on ebay and look for some of the refurb elitebook 2730 available for ~$350. it is an older sandybridge model with a 1280x800 screen but at least it is 16:10(vs lenovo's 16:9) and usually an ips panel.

with a ssd and ram upgrade it should compete pretty well with even full size notebooks. the only real issue is for all day work scenarios it will need the slice battery pack.


if you can wait, there are some tablets coming out with full pc notebook internals running w7(similar to the axiotrons). no indication of digitizer but assuming samsung's galaxy note series gets enough attention other may follow. also w8 may change her requirements.

I am waiting for an ivybridge update for the elitebook series, but hp is taking their time since the 2760 only came out last winter.

 

[_Rick_]

16:10 (1280x800) vs 16:9 (1366x768) is pretty much a wash. Losing 250 or 282 vertical pixels (vs 1400x1050) makes close to no difference - it's in both cases a huge and (probably) unacceptable loss.

I don't think she needs anything desperately right now - but I was kind of expecting there to be a higher resolution screen for the current crop of convertibles and hence a replacement being relatively painless, even if the form factor ends up being wider. THis not being the case, I do feel some kind of desperation - that of a replacement being impossible.

As for tablets: the problem is, when you use them on your lap with a keyboard, you need to have a third hand, holding the screen, as most lack physical docks (at least in the 12" form factor). iOS and Android aren't really options, so it would have to be an Ivy Bridge Windows tablet with Wacom digitizer and physical keyboard dock. Possibly the more expensive surface tablet will be good enough for this.
Looking at the Samsung 7 Series tablet reviews turned me off of that, otherwise it might have been an option - if a solution for getting it to work on a lap were to be found.

I guess she'll have to wait, or troll ebay for used x61s in decent shape...

 

[weovpac]

The last Thinkpad X series to offer a 16:10 panel is the x201, looked at that?

 

[_Rick_]

it doesn't matter which WXGA (1366x768 or 1280x800) - it's all a step down from SXGA+, and therefore useless.

The 16:9 factor may actually be helpful in a tablet (I wouldn't know...) but unless it's WSXGA there's no point in going down that route.

I wonder how difficult it would be to buy a broken (electronics) X60 tablet and just transfer the electronics into a working chassis... Probably not impossible, and if you get a chassis with working screen, it might even be doable.


Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

 

[cl-jeffrey]

Good luck finding those type of tablets now.

I had an HP and it broke so I took it back to the retail store for a replacement but they said they don't have those models anymore. They said something that the wire from the screen to the main board would keep breaking.

Maybe that's why they made so little quantity also it came out when the ipad tablet came out.

It was great while it lasted.

 

[gorcorps]

Well... it sounds like you can't really wait but Asus is bringing their Transformer design to the Windows tablet world later this year with Windows 8.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5897/new-asus-transformer-book-ultrabook-meets-tablet

Unfortunately I haven't heard much on release date, price, or if it'll have a digitizer.

 

[kevinsbane]

What dose she need a higher resolution screen for?

 

[_Rick_]

What dose she need a higher resolution screen for?

It's not so much "higher".
It's that she'd be losing screen resolution compared to what she had, and what she's been happy with for half a decade. That's not something any one should have to / would accept, when replacing five year old hardware.

Plus, she used to use the thing a lot, for Photoshop, for taking notes during class, for TeXing, coding - plenty of activities where more content/higher resolution matter.

Also, for her it's all about the pressure sensitive stylus. She does a lot of sketching, and the X60 has been the perfect companion for that.
Never mind annotating PDF's, and other stuff. The naturalness of the pressure sensitive stylus can't quite be surpassed.
I'm worried that MS' "inking" platform won't be pressure sensitive, but if it is decently precise, then it might become an option.

It's not that urgent, as far as I can tell (being some 600 miles away), as the hinge isn't completely gone, and as long as she props up the screen/lid, the thing is still good to go.

 

[kevinsbane]

So, for the higher resolution screen (I mean in comparison to 1366x768) it's purely an issue of principle?

Photoshop I could see it being a problem, but to be honest, I am running an x220 with the measly 1366x768, and I can use AutoCAD Civil 3D 2013 on it. Could I use more desktop space? Sure, I could, but it's easily manageable. Of course, compared to my 3840x1080 I use at work, it's a lot smaller, but it gets the job done while I'm on the go.

The tradeoff at the moment is that low resolution screens are the only thing available on convertible laptops (that I know of). Does she need that resolution on the go? If not, then I would not hold my breath too long waiting for a higher resolution touchscreen stylus type laptop, especially if it is not absolutely necessary for mobile work. If she still needs it, but intends to use it most at home, then an external screen could help out on that front.

I personally wasn't terribly happy about the smaller screen space on my x220 when I first started using it... then I realised that I wanted more resolution simply because it was more. I didn't need it. And it still looked better than my friend's (higher res) x201.

 

[gorobei]

the difference in aspect ratio is pretty minor unless you are filling out a bunch of pdf forms for official/legal/business (8.5x11)documentation. even then, the extra vertical space in portrait mode is usually a good thing for program menu bars.

the biggest problem with tablets is that no one has worked out how to coordinate having capacitive multitouch and digitizer inputs working at the same time. it's usually one or the other but not both. for artists who want to scroll/pinch-zoom while sketching with the pen it becomes an issue as detection for switching between inputs is slightly laggy.

 

[_Rick_]

the biggest problem with tablets is that no one has worked out how to coordinate having capacitive multitouch and digitizer inputs working at the same time.

Actually, that seems to work rather well. The bigger problem is, that the tablet support still isn't that great for the convertibles. At least on the x60 at the beginning, pressure sensitivity in PS was a bitch to get working, IIRC.

 

[gorobei]

sensitivity is fine nowadays.

my 3 yr old hp tx2500 works fine for sketchbook pro, PS, and painter pen inputs. i even got an axiotron surplus pen which works perfectly. new drivers from wacom are usually available within a couple of months of a really crippling problem. plus the cintiq 12.5" is where wacom sorts out most of their issues before it releases to the convertibles.

I cant imagine anything made today would have any real problems.

 

[sm625]

In a world where millions of sheeple rush to fork over their money to apple for no rational reason, thus completely killing the market for real productive machines in tablet form, you may have to settle for a lower screen resolution.

 

[_Rick_]

I think in the end she might just get a 12" cintiq - the resolution is the same, but at least it's a 92% aRGB screen, much cheaper, and more oriented towards sketching.

She's already got a laptop sponsored by her employer in any case. Only downside would be the lack of portability. But then she's just finished her studies, so mobility isn't as important anymore if you only travel every few months, and mostly sit either at home or in the office.

Only downside would be that couch-sketching becomes more difficult, unless she gets some really long cables...
What a depressing world

 

[quest55720]

You should just search for a new hinge. We have a ton of X60's at work and plenty have come in for hinge repair. I am not sure were work orders them from but I know they are out there. With how many broken hinges we have seen I am sure this is a common problem.

 

[_Rick_]

You should just search for a new hinge. We have a ton of X60's at work and plenty have come in for hinge repair. I am not sure were work orders them from but I know they are out there. With how many broken hinges we have seen I am sure this is a common problem.

Thanks for the info, just bounced that suggestion off of her, and she'll check with her local Thinkpad specialist, whether they can do replacement at reasonable prices.
Screen part of the chassis also appears to have suffered a bit, so it may not be just a hinge swap, but still, if these things still are being repaired, there's hope that it won't be prohibitively expensive.