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Thinkpad 701 Questions and Answers ... These are my two cents after 3 weeks with l'il butterfly. Love it. After ten years and 17 different systems this is the one I wanna be buried with. Glad to hear your opinions. This has been posted in comp.sys.laptops before and a few answers trickled in, the ones helpfull I appended after each question. P.S. Don't you think it was time for a TP 701-only List or Newsgroup ? P.P.S.: I'm running good 'ole DOS622 & WIN311. OS/2, LINUX or WIN95/NT look fancy but are they worth the hassle ? (Don't answer this one, I'm decided. Besides, I like to use my computer now and then, not fiddle constantly.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments: #1: Don't push in the battery to hard, or it'll break the spring mechanism. #2: Tape the battery release switch to ensure the thing won't move and data is lost. The Thinkpads internal capacitators can't handle even a split second of powerloss. Even if your mechanism is ok, most of us won't change the battery ever so why not secure it. #3: The butterfly dropped from 1.5 metres, sent my Hardisk flying accross the room, plugged it back in and works fine. #4: I use the dragon dictate speech recognition system and it works fine with my thinkpad microphone, speaking in a normal voice at a comfortable viewing distance or even further, with medium background noise. #5: I recorded a full CD (Beasty Boys, Pauls Boutique) onto my harddrive, with some quality clipping which is ok because the speakers aren't that good. The 54 Minutes take up 70 MB of space and it plays loud and clear in the background running WIN 3.11. #6: Scanning a Map of your City is a good idea. Uses 2-3 MB and helps a lot. #7: I was impressed how I could call system functions like volume or even BIOS without crashing DOOM or other protected shells. I had other laptops, none could handle this. #8: I prefer a DST (cheap) color display over a fancy TFT display. The image quality at typical working distance is nearly as good, except for high speed moving actions (games), but at an angle you can't see a thing. I find it comfortable that others can't peek when I'm using it in public. #9: For those using the 520MB HDD or bigger versions, note that the critical value for big cluster sizes and thus more waste are partitions >511 MB. Better use 2 Partitions here. #10: With the ThinkPad now, I don't regard it as a computer, rather as a TypeWriter, TapeRecorder, Diary, CityMap, PhysiciansDeskReference, Dictionary, ChessBoard, Translator, RoutePlanner, GameBoy, Bookshelf, Terminal, TelephoneDirectory, FAX, I-Ging ... I try to automate the paths to each function, so I don't think of it as something to fiddle with, but something that works. Please suggest other 'REAL' applications, not just system or utility aspects. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions: #1: The Suspend/Resume functions are a bit tricky sometimes. Sometimes the machine wakes as soon as I open the lid, but sometimes keystrokes or mouse moves wont do and I have to tickle it with a system procedure, like going to the Bios, but sometimes I even have to use the power switch. It awakens ok but I'm always a bit nervous about my data. What are the parameters for this? #2: The Mouse sometimes slithers untouched after a bit of pointing, nothing bad, a little counter pressure will stop this. But is this normal ? <It is for me. Another way to stop it is to take your finger off the button and wait.>[jberry@IslandNet.com] <Unfortunately, this seems to be all too common amongst trackpoint users... just suspend/resume - always takes care of it!>[getwired@tico.com] #3: My System Timer is slow sometimes, it looses hours sometimes in an instant. I presume it has to do with a certain function I am calling, but I can't pin it down exactly. Any clues ? Other people experiencing this ? #4: The Contrast function (With the Sun symbol, located on Home/End Keys) don't change anything on the display, or very very little. Only the hissing of the display is altered. Comments ? <I had the same thing. No change in brightness. But the 3n BIOS upgrade fixed that. I presume 3o (the current level) does, too.>[jberry@IslandNet.com] <Likewise - I've really given up all hope of figuring out if this actually does anything.>[getwired@tico.com] #5: The Loudspeaker hisses constantly, the left channel only, with earphones plugged in. This won't change when disabling speakers by function keys only when disabling all audio in BIOS. Does IBM repair this ? <I also have loud hiss from the speaker.>[jberry@IslandNet.com] #6: Since the hissing stops when Off is selected in BIOS, I deduce that selecting Auto doesn't work since the hissing is on all the time, even when hours without sound funtions. Is this so ? <Yes>[jberry@IslandNet.com] #7: My PCMCIA Modem and Ethernet cards are inserted all the time but used seldom. If the System can't handle automtic Audio shutdown (see #6), how can I test if it shuts down PCMCIA slots with Auto selected in BIOS ? #8: How long does it take them to send me my Name Plaque ? 1 Month now ... <Took from Oct... through, ummm Feb, so I'd look at 4+ months.> [getwired@tico.com] #9: Wouldn't it be nice if the hibernation files could be stored and be called at random ? is this possible ? #10: The Harddrive looks like a normal 2,5'' AT in a special plug-n-play casing. I didn't want to crack this case, anyone did further examination ? >Appended: Yes, they are the same, except for the TP720 (MFM-HDD) #11: I'm using the german version, with a german BIOS and the Modem disabled because of legal technicalities. If I load a US BIOS and remove the cover over the telephone jack, can I get it to work ? >Appended: Doesn't a single chip handle Sound and Modem ? Then it could work. But haven't had the hard to fracture the little fellow. #12: There is a small square lid in the front left corner (when looking at the machine from normal working position), covering just a bit of obscure cabling plugged into a connector. What's the use of this ? <CMOS - That would be your battery cover, allowing you to disconnect your CMOS battery and pop in a new one w/out ripping the whole cover off> [getwired@tico.com] #13: A company called Portable Enhancements at pepsales@portables.com, offered CPU upgrades for soldered CPU's. I mailed them but got no answer. Anybodys got experience with them or on the possibility to upgrade at least to a AMD 486 DX4-120 ? #14: The Text-reader "Monologue for windows" sounds rather trashy, anybody using a better programm to let the butterfly talk to you ? #15: Has anybody got details of how much power is consumed getting the HDD up after suspend ? Or the display ? This could be helpfull for a realistic evaluation how much suspending makes sense #16: What is in the realm of a BIOS update ? what are the limits ? #17: What happens when I delete the hibernation file and fill the disk before it gets a chance to restore it ? <You cannot hibernate, __If__ you have hbernate off in the bios. Otherwise, you may notice it will keep re-creating the .hib file.>[getwired@tico.com] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PCMCIA: People Can't Memorize Computer Industry Acronyms I am Joachim Loeblein, ud1b@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de I Fear Nothing. P.S.: This is a long text, please cite only the parts you comment on. If THIS line stil is included it'll show you can't handle your editor.