IBM ThinkPad X31 Review - Bundled Stuff
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IBM's ThinkPads ship with Windows XP Home or Professional, and the X31 ships with XP Professional. Don't go looking for the OEM CD to put on eBay though – IBM allows you to completely reformat and reinstall Windows with a Service Pack 1 installation with all the drivers without a CD. They accomplish this through the blue 'Access IBM' button that takes you to the BIOS setup screens. The BIOS option launches a script that reformats, repartitions, and reinstalls Windows XP by decompressing files that exist on a several gigabyte partition on your hard drive. As a result, when you first fire up the X31, you may be wondering where your hard drive space went and why its only reporting a 35 GB drive.
The ThinkPad shipped with a suite of software from IBM. IBM Access Connections is used to manage your network settings and can be used with 'profiles' to make life easier. Other software, such as the Battery MaxiMizer Wizard, are easy to use and straightforward. My only complaint about the software that IBM provided is that the program that does the updates updated IBM Access Connections without updating my wireless driver, and Access Connections is dependent on having a particular version of the wireless driver available. This killed wireless access until I could upgrade the wireless driver manually.
Also, the X31 shipped with a 90-day trial of Symantec AntiVirus 2003, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, and a Java Plug-in configured for use with Internet Explorer.
Up Close and Personal with the X31
The X31's maximum resolution is 1024x768x32 bit colour. Some of you are probably cringing at the thought of running at a resolution that low, but keep in mind that the screen is only 12 inches. Resolutions that are higher than that will require a magnifying glass to read. The Mobile Radeon 7000 that is in the X31 produces crisp pictures on the LCD display, and the colour depth is good enough to distinguish very dark or very light colours.
At the back, there is a USB 2.0 port, an integrated modem and Ethernet jack on the right, as well as a parallel port on the left. The serial port comes as a bit of a surprise since I do not have any devices or know of any popular ones that use a serial port, but the parallel port makes a bit more sense. The PS/2 port for regular mice (in case the TrackPoint eraserhead mouse drives you crazy), and an RS-232 serial port are included in the dock, not the system.
A VGA-out connector is also available for use with projectors and/or other monitors and can be controlled through the standard Windows Display properties screen. Pressing a hotkey allows for five video modes, including a dual display mode that can be very useful.
The massive blue button is the 'Access IBM' button mentioned earlier that allows you into the BIOS setup screens. Right next to it are volume controls, some status lights, and the Power button. The X31 comes with the trademark TrackPoint mouse, which comes standard with a head that is much wider and easier to use than the smaller ones. Alternate heads are available if the head wears out or if the default one is not to your liking.
On the side there is a singular PC Card (PCMCIA) slot, and the FireWire and IrDA ports. The left side has the second USB 2.0 port, and the three jacks for the sound card. Below those jacks is a Compact Flash reader. It's nowhere to be found in the documentation, but CF camera users will find that extremely useful.
Next: Using the X31 >>
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