We already showed you
a review of the thing, but now we've got an
X60t of our own, and we thought you'd give you our impressions, along with a nice bevy of pictures of this tablet in the flesh. As always, you can find the pics after the break, so lets get on with the impressions. Tablet PC Review was no liar when it complemented the build quality of the X60t: the unit is a rock. The keyboard feels wonderful, the hinge is solid and even the TrackPoint "nipple" (of which we're not normally a fan) works great. The pen is solid, and when writing on the screen there's just the right amount of friction to make pen-based input feel just right. Aside from an overly zealous complement of pre-loaded, taskbar-hogging software, our only real problem was with the battery life, but it was a big one: the stock 4-cell battery choked out at around 1.5 hours of use for us. Granted, the display was at max brightness (which is plenty bright), and WiFi and Bluetooth were on, but it was still rather disconcerting to be able to visibly watch the battery meter lose percentage points, and then have the thing conk out altogether at a supposed 8 percent of battery left. So, if you can spring for the 8-cell, or stand to live without wireless or a backlight, the X60 comes highly recommended as far as
Tablet PCs go, but we do have that minor caveat. Keep reading for the pics.
Lenovo packed in a webcam, headset and dock. Wasn't that nice of them?
Pretty dang small for a power brick.
The recessed ports are a nice touch.
The screen automagically reorients itself based on how you hold the tablet.
The latch works both ways.
Sure they're dusty, but boy do they feel good.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Grant H @ Nov 16th 2006 11:25AM
Why is it so ugly?
Rod @ Nov 16th 2006 11:31AM
It's ugly because this reviewer, unfortunately, did not use a tripod to compensate for low light and instead used obscene amount of on-camera flash.
Seriously, Engadget- your hands-on stuff would be so much nicer with better photographic skills. Use tripods or DSLRs with image stablization, VR, or whatever and stop posting washed out images with flash or blurry pictures from handheld 1/5 second shutter speeds.
PLEASE.
As for the X60t, I am sure it looks fabulous in person, contrary to what these pictures suggest.
Apothus @ Nov 16th 2006 11:49AM
I agree, a diffuser wouldn't go astray. You guys at engadget do great work but it wouldn't hurt to make some aspects look a bit more professional. All you need is a bit of cloth for backing ($5 at most) a tripod or even a piece of wood to rest the camera on top of (free from construction site) then even placing a piece of paper over the camera flash will help to diffuse it and provided it is a TTL camera it will work fine.
So there you have it, highly professional photos with a bit of effort and $5. Of course this is no substitute and would look better still with some decent gear but i can imagine it would make Lenov a lot happier to have there demo gear displayed a bit nicer.
morty salt @ Nov 16th 2006 11:36AM
why is there an ESC key on the bezel of the screen? Why does the screen look like it has 3 years worth of grime and grease on it. Are these loaner pre-used units. I really can't buy from Lenovo anymore since they really aren't padding my wallet anymore. Has anyone had a swivel/hinge break crack on one of these?? Seems little scary with only one swivel point.
Bryan Pettit @ Nov 16th 2006 11:54AM
I'm thinking that the escape key on the bezel is supposed to be an easy way out of a program when holding it sideways in tablet mode. I have a gateway m285 convertible, and when holding it in tablet mode sideways it seems like a button there would be easier than dragging the pen up to the corner and clicking file/exit or the X.
cjrenaud @ Nov 16th 2006 1:43PM
So...how would it work with more than one swivel point?
Stephen @ Nov 16th 2006 12:02PM
Agreed..... Learn how to use a camera. These pictures look like camera-phone leaks on the web. Work in daylight, use a tripod if neccessary and take some good clean pictures for once. This looks like a great new tablet from Lenovo by the by. Rock solid as usual.
Newman @ Nov 16th 2006 12:07PM
Considering that this guy has no decorations in his apartment and he's sportin' off-brand monitors and speakers from 1992, $5 might be a stretch.
Evan Jones @ Nov 16th 2006 12:15PM
Give the poor guy a break, he's trying. Bloggin', like pimpin', ain't easy.
jalapeno @ Nov 16th 2006 12:30PM
Geez, all you bashers need to take a deep breath, the photos are fine, this is not the freaking Wall Street Journal, it's a blog!
Patrick Selvey @ Nov 16th 2006 12:49PM
How do you point out grammatical/spelling errors? Just post? If so, check the first line please.
Aigars Mahinovs @ Nov 16th 2006 1:59PM
Get a pro photographer, please.
Dave in MI @ Nov 16th 2006 2:00PM
What happens to Windows Tablet in the brave new world of Vista?
cromas @ Nov 16th 2006 2:31PM
Is the latching mechanism on this thing still plastic? They need to switch these to some sort of metal. The latch on my X41T just fell out one night, and the replacement process was a pita, involving ordering five or six different replacement parts and disassembling the entire display. Thankfully it was covered under warranty...but still crappy.
bogey62 @ Nov 16th 2006 2:33PM
I've got the X41 from work, the swivel point is no issue. It's a great laptop.
James Rainey @ Nov 16th 2006 2:45PM
1. You can use the ThinkVantage Keyboard Customizer to utilize the Esc key for multiple funtions (e.g. Exiting a program).
2. Vista will have a Tablet version
3. The laptop is much lighter and thinner in person.
4. The construction of the hinge is excellent, don't let the black plastic fool you. It will hold up to heavy use.
5. Thank you engadget for posting so many pics
ventivent @ Nov 16th 2006 3:12PM
Battery life is disappointing...I am seriously considering getting one of these for my medical practice. BTW, Engadget, which screen version did you get? The the XGA Multitouch (which allows pen and finger touchscreen entry) or the XGA Multiview (supposedly brighter for outdoor viewing)?
SuperQ @ Nov 16th 2006 3:13PM
I have been using an X41 tablet for just under a year now. It looks like the hinge is the same style on the X60 tablet. It's solid.. I probably abuse mine a bit more than I should.. I've grabed the machine by the screen more than once while running to/from meetings. Because the pen input is magnetic, not touch based, the screen has a bit of extra protection.
That said.. I almost never use the pen input.. I think the only thing I have used it for was plaing AisleRiot or Mahjongg on Ubuntu.
Now that the SD card slot driver works on Ubuntu 6.10, I'm super happy with it.
Robotronik @ Nov 16th 2006 4:15PM
I have the precursor x41 tablet. It looks like they got rid of the "enter" button on the screen bezel. Also, it seems as though they removed the 3 button pen for a 2 button with an eraser.
SpoonDogSVT @ Nov 16th 2006 5:25PM
Love my x41t, & soooo want the x60t! I use the tablet every day as a returning student.
They did remove the 'enter' key on the left screen bezel, but moved it to the 5-button scroll dealie on the right-hand side of the screen.
Higher end versions of Vista have tablet edition built in (business on up).
I like the new eraser, but wish they didn't get rid of the side 2-buttons.
Roy @ Nov 16th 2006 5:30PM
Ok i think everyone is looking over the biggest problem with this so called "article" on the x60. It is not a "nipple" why would you ever call a "pointing stick" a nipple. Its a little red dot which brings computer users great pleasure, kicking the ass out of any F*cking internal mouse out there. It is the "clit" and always will be! You are commiting a sin against computing by refering to it as a nipple!
dee-dee-deetarded @ Nov 16th 2006 5:52PM
I agree, Roy.
kev @ Nov 16th 2006 5:38PM
That battery life isn't disappointing, it's downright pathetic! What the hell are you guys doing! Quick! Steal plans from Panasonic! :|
dee-dee-deetarded @ Nov 16th 2006 5:50PM
...we've got an X60t of our own, and we thought you'd give you our impressions...
...we've got an X60t of our own, and we thought WE'D give you our impreesions...
that's gotta be a pretty dang drunk editor/photographer
ScooterJP @ Nov 17th 2006 4:09AM
three posts on this one fugly beast already. Please move onto something more interesting than a laptop with a spinning display. They are so 1990s. Just looking at Lenovo's Henry Ford approach to colour (black) and the 1980s IBM logo make my head spin.
.myke @ Nov 17th 2006 4:36AM
Those headphones look suspiciously like my Sennheisers, right down to the en-wire remote.
n3ldan @ Nov 17th 2006 9:20AM
Good ol' thinkpad keyboards, the greatest things ever.
They are the only laptop keyboard I can use, and I like them better than desktop keyboards.
The only real question about this thing is what's the linux support like?
Rod @ Nov 17th 2006 9:58AM
Scooter,
If you're more interested in pink products, go to the Apple store for your own iPod nano.
For the rest of us who care about the tablet functionality for various reasons, we'll be happy to see more posts on this or any other upcoming tablet PC worth mentioning.
AlexE @ Nov 17th 2006 12:03PM
Anyone know when these will be out in the UK?
atom @ Nov 17th 2006 12:37PM
.myke -
the reason that this headset looks like sennheiser is because....
it is actually sennheiser headset sold by lenovo (check their accesories and you will see Lenovo Headset (Sennheiser))
shigeru go @ Dec 15th 2006 12:13PM
why can't they figure out a way to give tablet pc a built-in webcam? ... USB interface is nice but not the most ideal interface. I am sure if they can manage to fit a 2 mega pixel camera into cell phones.. they should be able to figure out a way to fit in a webcam, and possibly blue tooth if they don't have it yet.
Luke Stebbing @ Dec 21st 2006 11:15PM
The battery life sounded pretty crazy, so I went looking for some reviews and it doesn't sound that bad:
http://forbesontech.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/lenovos_x60_tab.html
http://www.gottabemobile.com/TakingTheLenovoThinkpadX60TabletPCForASpin.aspx
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2064501,00.asp
Granted, they all had the 8-cell, and this wasn't under continuous max usage, but the fact that several different people had no trouble getting through the day seems promising to me. I'd like to see some real benchmark numbers, but for some reason no review seems to have them (it's conspicuously missing from CNET's review, even though they said they'd update the article with the info more than a month ago).
J Franzen @ Mar 1st 2007 12:25PM
I like my new X60 - not sure worth the upgrade from my X41 tablet but nice machine.
BEWARE of the external battery charger they offer. Worst piece of engineering I have seen escape a big company engineering lab - impossible to use, connect and stay connected - wait for second generation.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=40Y7625¤t-category-id=BB4F0E920BE54557894A3B4C33B5864B&model-number=1707
Tal @ Mar 5th 2007 5:07PM
Does anyone know when they will launch in with the new processors - e.g. T7200, with 4mb cash? Other companies have (HP, Fugitsu). I need a new tablet and I'd like to get the x60, but I rather wait for additional 2mb cash...
shmuel zaks @ Mar 25th 2007 4:57AM
i am interested in the lenovo x60 tablet.
does anyone know what isthe difference, in functionality, between the 1400x1050 and the 1024x768 screens?
(arethey both multitouch, for example)
ranron @ May 20th 2007 9:50PM
The XGA is multiview/multitouch. The SXGA is not.
stu @ Jul 9th 2007 2:18AM
have been using the x60 now for two months. there is a slide switch on the bottom front edge that turns the wireless radio on/off (x41 doesn't have it). it always flips off when putting it in the sleeve. the switch is not recessed deeply enough.
the extended battery goes for about 4 hours.
the other annoyance is that this thing tends to crash in sleep mode. the only way to bring it back to life is to remove the battery- altF4, ctr-alt-del, the little reset button, and the 1/0 buttons have no effect.