X300 hardware maintenance manual now available [ Edited ]

[erik Community SuperMod]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-69207

a few noteworthy points:
- the LCD panel is manufactured by TMD
- all keyboards are manufactured by NMB
- 64GB SSD are from both samsung and TDK
- a 120GB samsung mini-SATA drive is listed and will eventually be available

good stuff.

Message Edited by erik on 02-26-2008 10:47 AM

[vkyr]

Hmm, adhoc I would say, I wished the LCD panel would be from Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) instead, since the 13.3" WXGA CMO LED panel,  which I already have in use in one of my notebook, is in all viewable aspects much better than a similar 13.3" WXGA TMD (Toshiba Matsu**bleep**a Display) LED panel. Those TMD LED panels I've seen so far had all bad viewing angles and a noticeable cristal effect on white surfaces. - However, the X300 LED panel is a new 13.3" WXGA+ one from TMD and thus hopefully better than the normal res TMD WXGA LED panel I've seen so far.

NMB Thinkpad keyboards are the best and my favorite, so I believe this one will be fine to use. 1.8" HDDs are AFAIK available with a max. capacity of 160 GB now and those harddisks are usually produced in these GB sizes by Samsung and Toshiba.

[erik Community SuperMod]

even the chi mei display in your apple macbook pales in comparison to the BOE-hydis, ID-tech and LG IPS displays from past thinkpads.   unfortunately none of them excel for true design/photography work as they are all 6-bit with limited gamut, including apple.


edit: typo

Message Edited by erik on 02-26-2008 03:00 PM

[vkyr]

Well, I don't have a Macbook and never had any Mac notebook at all so far, but I have a Dell with one of those rare 13.3" LED CMO panel inside...

--> http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=159938&highlight=m1330+screen

 Beside that I have other notebooks (those from the company with the three letters), one with an 15" UXGA IPS ID-tech panel, one with an 14" ID-tech panel.

BOE-hydis makes some good AFFS panels for the 12" notebook panel segment, though those used in Thinkpads are sadly not very luminant,  for example the measured data for the X61Tablet SXGA+ panel is...

- luminance average 131 cd/m² (nits)
- luminance at brightest area 145 cd/m²
- contrast = 1062:1
- horizontal viewing angle >80°
- vertical viewing angle >80°

...in comparison, those of a HP 2710p are...

- luminance average 256 cd/m² (nits)
- luminance at brightest area 281 cd/m²
- contrast = 1099:1
- horizontal viewing angle >80°
- vertical viewing angle >80°

...so the luminance of the X61Tablet is not this great at all, especially for outdoor viewings. - Generally the luminance of most Thinkpads wasn't this great at all and the most luminant Thinkpad display I know, was the MaxBright for the Thinkpad Z60m. - Now the new X300 will hopefully mark some point of change here into the right direction, at least related to more luminant displays.

[vkyr]

BTW, in the final NBR Thinkpad X300 review there are now some added display images and Samsung (?) is named as the panel manufactor of their X300 unit. Well from the images there, the vertical and horizontal viewing angles of that TN panel don't look very well and seem to be somehow worser than I expected. However, I would have to see the panel myself with my own eyes in reality, in order to judge this better. The thermal design and heat points are looking normal for such thin devices with a much fewer overall volume than bigger notebooks have.


Message Edited by vkyr on 02-29-2008 12:24 AM