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>
> I find it strange that Apple's Powerbook and Duo series have several dock
> and accessory options, yet there are none for the Thinkpads. Why no third
> party port replicators, battery chargers, batteries(!) or AC adaptors?
>
> What I'd really like to see is a mini-dock with SCSI on it. The regular
> dock may be semi-portable, but I really don't need all that..... The
> additional PCMCIA slots on the Port Replicator2 don't make a lot of sense
> to me personally.
>
What seems really strange to me is that the ThinkPad itself is
impecably designed and built like a rock, but the Docking bay is garbage.
If you open the cover and look at the ridiculously shaped speakers, you
find a cheap half-dollar sized speaker like you'd buy at Radio Shack for
$1.50. I was also genuinely annoyed when I purchased a very expensive
digital storage oscilliscope ISA card and found that the power supply in
the Dock I was unable to power it. Finally, the construction of the
Dock I itself, as well as the locking mechanism belongs on an Acer laptop,
not on an IBM ThinkPad.
I guess they drew straws and the first-string engineers got to design the
ThinkPad, and the summer co-ops designed the Dock I.
| Robert George | Army Research Laboratory |
| robertg@assb01.arl.mil | AMSRL-SS-IC |
| Voice: (408) 656-3316 | 2800 Powder Mill Road |
| Fax: (408) 656-2814 | Adelphi, MD 20783-1197 |
A designer knows when he has achieved perfection not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery