From: Scott Wilcox (swilcox_at_indy.rr.com)
Date: Tue Feb 05 2002 - 23:20:17 EST
Don't forget that the A30p has two ultrabays meaning that if battery life is
a concern, the secondary battery can be used in the ultrabay. I don't need
the floppy very often so I have mine set up with an 8X CDRW in one bay and
the DVD in the other. (I also have the CDRW/DVD but like the speed of the
8X CDRW) If I need to go mobile, I replace one of them with the ultra bay
battery. Obviously there are a number of options with 2 utlrabays. I
upgraded from an A21p and have no desire to go back. The graphics in Win XP
and a gig of ram, combined with the A30p's display are fantastic. Any
tradeoff's with the A30p are definately worth it. sw
----- Original Message -----
From: "STeve Andre'" <andres_at_msu.edu>
To: <thinkpad_at_cs.utk.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: Advice sought on ThinkPad A30p
I've had my A30p for three weeks now, and I really like it. No
problems with the hardware, and the screen was perfect.
The only disadvantage to the A30p that I can see would be its
weight for some. It's about 7.7 pounds if I remember right. This
is not a lightweight unit, but then again, considering its power,
It IS... The battery life is about 2:15 for me, so the battery is a
little disappointing, but as Bill points out this is a 6 cell battery
as opposed to 9. I guess IBM figured that as a desktop replacement
battery life wasn't as high a concern. Given how small the battery
is, having spares wouldn't be that bad.
The install of Windows 2000 SP2 was good; no flaws there.
Nitpicks: the USB system is USB 1, not the faster USB2, so that
was disappointing. The built in ethernet card (3com?) seems
a little slow to me, both in Windows and OpenBSD. Given that
I can do something about it (or at least see why) in OpenBSD,
thats where I'll do my digging. This isn't to say its horrid, but
I ought to be able to get 6M/s across my lam at home, and can't..
I'm happy I got it. I currently have 1G of ram which is great; the
Crucial 512M sodimms work perfectly.
All in all, a great unit. Not small, but you should be able to take
it with you on the train. I take mine aound every day from home to
work.
--STeve Andre'
On Monday 04 February 2002 02:54 pm, Pascal wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am new to this list, so this is my first message and already a question
!
>
> I have been using the ThinkPad A21p (first on Win2000, later on XP) since
> last July. The TP is now sold and I am thinking about getting the A30p.
>
> This one has impressive specs and is fully loaded. I especially like the
> dual bays where I could at the same time use the combo DVD/CDRW drive and
> the Ultrabay Zip 250 drive. Plus the integrated wireless LAN card is neat
> (I would be using the machine on an Apple AirPort wireless base station).
>
> I would really like to hear some comments and advice from users of this
> machine.
>
> Are there any disadvantages or issues I should be aware of? How does its
> weight compare to the A21p (already a heavyweight)?
> Would I be better advised to get the model with wireless LAN card (XP) or
> with both wireless LAN card and Bluetooth (W2000)?
> How about battery life? This seems to be a concern compared to the A21p
> which wasn't too impressive either (at least compared to my PowerBook G4
> titanium).
> Does the IEEE 1394 Firewire port work well?
> Can the same Port Replicator as for the A21p be used?
>
> Thanks in advance for your feedback and advice.
>
> Pascal
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