Measuring 27.4cm wide by 26.7cm deep by 3.3cm high, the ThinkPad X60 tablet is nicely sized for using as a notebook or for taking handwritten notes. Its 1.71kg weight is a bit bulkier than its predecessor's but is lighter than the HP Compaq tc4400; in our experience, the ThinkPad felt light enough to carry around every day and even hold in one arm while taking notes in tablet mode.
Arguably the most innovation on this new ThinkPad tablet can be found on its 12.1in. XGA display. The touch-screen lets you use your finger or the included stylus to navigate menus; we appreciated the additional mode of input, especially when we were surfing the Web in tablet mode. The touch-screen's indoor/outdoor viewing capability meant we were able to use the tablet in direct morning sunlight that washed out the displays on other notebooks.
Neither of these features are unique to ThinkPads, but the new Active Rotate feature, standard on all ThinkPad X60 Tablets, is a true innovation. Most convertible tablets include a rotate screen button so that users can manually adjust the screen from landscape to portrait mode; the Active Rotate feature on the X60 Tablet uses the computer's internal accelerometer to detect the tablet's angle and adjust the screen position accordingly. This feature is convenient for showing notes to a colleague or toggling back and forth from note-taking in portrait mode to reading in landscape mode. Although unusual angles or uneven surfaces can throw off the system, during our tests it almost always aligned correctly. You can disable this feature, and Lenovo also includes a manual screen-rotation button on the display bezel. In addition, you get standard tablet navigation features such as a button that calls up a convenient tablet shortcut menu, power and Esc buttons, a circular four-direction navigation button and a fingerprint reader.
The display's surface provides enough drag to make onscreen writing feel natural, if not exactly like pen and paper. The ThinkPad X60 Tablet's stylus has a bit more heft than its predecessor's; Lenovo also added a rubberised finish for comfortable gripping and a digital eraser on the top that works just like a pencil eraser. For working in notebook mode, the X60 Tablet includes the super-comfortable ThinkPad keyboard as well as a red TrackPoint pointing stick; beneath the keyboard are three mouse buttons (the central one acts as a scroll button).
The port selection on the ThinkPad X60 Tablet is about average for an ultraportable system, including mini-FireWire, VGA and three USB 2.0 plugs (two side by side), plus headphone and microphone jacks. All that's missing is an S-Video port, as found on the HP Compaq tc4400. Networking options include modem, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi; 802.11n wireless and WWAN are available as upgrades. A Type II PC Card slot reads ExpressCards via an adapter, and there's a handy Secure Digital flash card reader, though not the multi-format flash card reader we're used to seeing on traditional notebooks. We understand Lenovo's decision to save on size and weight by forgoing a built-in optical drive, but we do wish that an external drive was included in the ThinkPad X60 Tablet's price.
The rest of the specs are impressive for such a lightweight tablet, starting with a 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo L2400 processor; 1GB of swift 667MHz RAM; an 80GB, 5,400rpm hard drive; and integrated Intel graphics. In our performance benchmarks, the X60 Tablet wasn't quite as good at multitasking as ultraportable competitors such as the Asus S6F and the Dell Latitude D420, and it fell between the two systems on our Photoshop tests. But when it came to the processor-intensive iTunes encoding test, the ThinkPad X60 Tablet's slightly higher processor speed resulted in performance that was at least 10 percent faster than that of the Asus and the Dell. All of this adds up to an ultraportable tablet that feels and acts like a real notebook when it comes to typical productivity and maybe even some light number-crunching.
We are still testing the battery life on the ThinkPad X60 Tablet; check back to this page for the full report later this week.
Fixed-configuration models of the ThinkPad X60 Tablet (including our review unit) are backed by a lengthy three-year warranty, during which you must carry in your system to an authorised repair centre; upgrades for onsite repairs are reasonably priced. Configurable models of the tablet will start with an economical one-year warranty. The company's support Web site includes a handful of troubleshooting topics, as well as the expected driver downloads; the site lacks interactive features, such as customer forums and the chance to chat in real time with a technician.
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