Home | Forums | Article Search | Subscribe & Shop | Contact Us | Log Out IBM ThinkPad X21 Email This Print This View My Personal Library Heavy Gear December 2001 • Vol.1 Issue 1 Page(s) 33 in print issue Add To My Personal Library IBM ThinkPad X21 Notebook users can be a fickle bunch. On the one hand, they want a notebook with all the features you'd expect from a desktop, such as an optical and floppy drive. On the other hand, they want a thin, light model that's easy to carry around. The IBM ThinkPad X21 attempts to deliver on both counts. The X21 is a mininotebook, but the optional Media Slice clips to the bottom of the notebook letting you turn the one-spindle waif into a three-spindle multimedia machine. Specifications. The 700MHz processor in the X21 is a few hundred megahertz behind processors found in high-performance notebooks, but a slower processor does offer some gains in terms of battery life. The X21 features 128MB of SDRAM that's upgradeable to 384MB. The limited available space within the X21 precludes additional drives beyond the 20GB IBM hard drive. An ATI Rage Mobility M graphic chipset with 4MB of SDRAM drives the 12.1-inch TFT display. Being lucky enough to have a broadband Internet connection at home, I was happy to see our X21 came equipped with integrated Ethernet. When I'm on the road, I probably won't have such luxuries, but the V.90 modem provides a fallback option. A single Type II PC Card slot lets you add other networking capabilities, including wireless networking support (which is not integrated with the X21). IBM sent the optional X2 Media Slice ($189) along with the X21. The X2 Media Slice includes an UltraBay 2000 device bay and an integrated floppy drive in addition to several extra ports (such as a serial, parallel, and PS/2). Through the UltraBay 2000 device bay, you can add an optical drive or one of many other accessories (including a camera, Bluetooth module, or infrared port). The X21 will also fit IBM's ThinkPad Dock ($502), and ThinkPad Port Replicator ($170). Design. If you've seen one ThinkPad you've seen them all. There's nothing in the black plastic case, red TouchPoint nub, and angular shape that ThinkPad admirers haven't already seen. I found the overall design to be sharp and professional but perhaps a bit on the tired side. Then again, the X21 isn't intended to be a fashion accessory. ThinkPads traditionally have great keyboards, and the X21 is no exception. Despite its small size, the keyboard remains spacious and easy to use although we wished the keys were a bit firmer. With the X2 Media Slice clipped on, I was ready to check out DVD performance. The X21 seemed to handle DVD playback admirably. We didn't notice any pauses or skips, and the display looked good. Just as importantly as looking good, DVDs sounded good. The dual speakers in the X21's docking station provided better sound than most notebook speakers, but they're still not as good as a good pair of external speakers. The X21 has its own single speaker that it uses when not attached to the Media Slice. The speaker is fine for system sounds, but you'll want the docking station or a pair of external speakers if you plan on listening to digital music. Performance. Initial scores of the X21 were disappointing and, in fact, slightly lower than the scores for the older X20. After speaking with IBM, we found the SpeedStep software was disabled by our benchmark software forcing the processor to slow to about 500MHz instead of 700MHz. Retesting the X21 provided significantly better scores that were competitive with other notebooks of the same size and price. The X21 posted an Office Productivity score of 127 and an Internet Content Creation score of 146 for an overall score of 135 (comparable to SYSmark2001 scores of 78, 77, and 77 respectively). Video 2000 scores were decent for a notebook this size. A Video Mark score of 1539 doesn't look too good at first glance, but considering the ATI Rage Mobility graphics chip is only accompanied by 4MB of video RAM, the number isn't too bad. The 4MB of dedicated video memory is better than using system memory, a solution some notebooks turn to in order to cut size and expense. If you purchase the optional Media Slice and a DVD-ROM drive, you'll have plenty of hardware to handle DVD movies. According to IBM, the X21 should have a battery life of about 4.9 hours. As always, your mileage will vary depending on how you use the device. Final word. The X21 is still a great mininotebook, but for multimedia capabilities, you'll need to invest in an optional Media Slice. We recommend the X21 to frequent travelers who may need additional resources. by Chad Denton ThinkPad X21 $2,449 IBM (888) 746-7426 (914) 499-1900 http://www.ibm.com  User Reviews Be the first to write a review of this product Want more information about a topic you found of interest while reading this article? Type a word or phrase that identifies the topic and click "Search" to find relevant articles from within our editorial database. Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): ALL Words (‘digital’ AND ‘photography’) ANY Words (‘digital’ OR ‘photography’) Exact Match ('digital photography'- all words MUST appear together) Home      Copyright & Legal Information      Privacy Policy      Site Map      Contact Us Copyright © 2010 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.