I bought one yesterday. Very nice computer. Spent some time to install all the software I need to put it into a usable state.
Software installed: Firefox (w/ Littlefox theme and Web Developer extension), Thunderbird, putty, WinSCP, jEdit, Daemon Tools (so I can mount the Starcraft CD image and play some RTS game), Office 2003 Pro (got the home use licence from work, otherwise I would just install OpenOffice), ActiveState Python, Twisted Framework for Python, Sun Java runtime (before I realized that the IBM Java runtime is already installed), Flash plugin for Firefox. Will look into getting MySQL, Apache and PHP installed.
The SP2 built-in firewall got in the way, as it prevented Thunderbird from sending mail out via mother with TLS by default, and the message given by the firewall wasn’t very helpful at all, althou I did manage to disable this much of the firewall. Still I am more comfortable using public wifi hotsports on my TiBook running Mac OS X than on this X40.
Free Norton Antivirus for a year. I suppose I’ll probably have to pay for some sort of antivirus software next year, and if I were paying good money there are tons of choices. Mind you, as I am using Firefox and Thunderbird to browse the web and read email, I am much less vulnerable.
As I have been mostly using this machine on my lap, I have yet to plug a mouse in, and I am fast getting used to the TrackPoint device. The keyboard is nice, but I think the X30/X31 keyboards are probably maginally better.
Have yet to activate Bluetooth. Still haven’t found out how to use it.
So far, I absolutely love the form factor.
Supplement (20/1): I was told by the shop that IBM has this new warranty scheme. If anything bad happens (e.g. accident, theft) to my X40 within the three years warranty period, IBM Hong Kong (or Lenovo) will repair or replace my machine for HK$2K. This is on top of the normal warranty against workmanship and component failures under normal use. Certainly couldn’t beat that. No wonder why IBM PC Dept. has been losing money.
If this is as good as it sounds, and Lenovo doesn’t screw up the ThinkPad line, it almost certainly will be another TP for me when the X40 is due for replacement.
2 responses so far ↓
1 James // Jan 20, 2005 at 11:03 am
Even if it were stolen and could not be recovered?!
2 tin_the_fatty // Jan 20, 2005 at 11:29 am
You would need to report it to the Police, but yes, HK$2K for a new machine if it comes to that.
I know there may be rooms for abuse in this scheme. It would however be fraud, which no sensible person would want to be involved.
The scheme creates so much goodwill, I am sure it makes sense to IBM HK.