All hail ThinkPad 560X
While the IBM ThinkPad 770 gets all the raves and awards, IBM has also managed to upgrade and improve its ThinkPad 560 with the new ThinkPad 560X. To my mind, this is the notebook of choice for the serious traveling computer user who maintains a desktop system as a home base. But even if you use the ThinkPad 560X as your only system, it can satisfy your needs. You simply combine it with a port replicator, a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse.
Unfortunately, the notebook category is getting squeezed again by the fat boys. Chubby laptops weighing in at 7 to 9 pounds (or more) and incorporating CD-ROM drives (or even DVD) are making headlines: Just take a look at the ThinkPad 770 or Micron's TransPort XKE 233. Although I have yet to try the ThinkPad 770, I've been playing with the Micron system; when I combine it with its powerful port replicator (it has SCSI and USB I/O as well as a variety of video I/O), I see that this kind of system is designed from scratch to replace a desktop system. In fact, having a desktop computer in addition to one of these notebooks would be silly.
The ThinkPad 560X, on the other hand, can replace your PC, but it isn't optimized to do so. It's a satellite unit for power users and executives. The infrared port that has been part of the ThinkPad 560 since the product's invention is now always active and looking for something to communicate with. I don't know of any software that allows two alien ThinkPad 560s to chat with each other across the boardroom table, but I suggest the interesting possibility. The ThinkPad 560X is definitely more hip and cool to bring to the boardroom than one of those fat boys.
Besides having to compete with that group of chubsters, it now has to face the emerging 3.5-pound machines. IBM indicates that the ThinkPad 560X will evolve into something lighter over the next year or two.
What the new ThinkPad 560X lacks isn't processing power. It was one of the first systems to use the 233-MHz Intel Tillamook MMX chip with 256K of L2 cache. And its standard memory is 32MB, upgradable to 96MB. This machine is very fast and noticeably faster than any previous ThinkPad 560. It has that stunning 12.1-inch screen and a 4GB hard disk.
Outwardly, the ThinkPad 560X looks the same as the old ThinkPad 560 except for a small bulge in the case, a new USB port, and a new docking station port for a more full-featured port replicator. Little plastic pieces that tended to fall off the old machines are now attached with rubber hinges. The PCMCIA slots have been upgraded to CardBus-compatible slots. (Some people find that those slots have incompatibilities with old cards. I've had no problem yet.)
The screen looks brighter than those of the old units, and the video subsystem has been upgraded for better color. The original ThinkPad 560 only offered 16-bit high color at 800-by-600 resolution. Now you can get 24-bit true color at 800-by-600, and the unit will drive a monitor at an 85-Hz refresh rate. Still, IBM should have added some 1024-by-768 capability for those who want to use the notebook as their only system.
IBM decided to load its own Lotus software, SmartSuite 97, on the ThinkPad 560X. That should be fine for most people, but I immediately erased all that stuff and loaded a prerelease version of Microsoft Office 98. The company has also replaced a very compact Korean-made power supply/charger with a bulkier, heavier Japanese one that requires a three-prong plug.
IBM can't do much more with the ThinkPad 560 line; I think we're seeing the end of the road for what has become something of a classic. In fact, a used ThinkPad 560 will be better for you than most notebooks if you like to travel light. I consider the product as notable as the original NEC Ultralite, the incredible TI-2000, and the Toshiba Portege.
When the ThinkPad 560 was first introduced, the competition did little more than shrug. A notebook like the IBM 770 will impress you if you simply want to stuff as much hardware into a case as you can and add the largest screen you can buy. But the IBM 770 doesn't have the engineering elegance of the ThinkPad 560. And notebooks that attempt to enter this arena often have unacceptable flaws such as funky keyboards or quirky pointing devices.
The next notebook in this historical progression hasn't arrived yet. Until it does, the ThinkPad 560 will still be king in this category. I highly recommend this notebook and consider it one of the best things IBM has ever produced.