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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Jan. 26, 2007 / 7 Shevat, 5767

The Tablet ThinkPad — First Impressions

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Spend about $1900 or so for a notebook computer, and you should expect some things. One of the interesting surprises of the Lenovo (nee IBM) ThinkPad X60 - on first contact - is what comes with it: 1 Gbyte of RAM, a 120 Gbyte hard disk drive and the tablet display, which is activated with a pen-stylus device. All this in a package which weighs less than 4 pounds, and with approximately 5 hours of battery life, enough, I hope, to cross the continent by air.


Now, that might not seem like an incredible value for money, but remember, there's still an IBM logo on this thing: you're paying for image, for style and for cachet. Not to mention some pretty cool engineering.


During an initial "spin" with the ThinkPad, the computer impresses on several levels. There's an integrated fingerprint scanner for added security. It's a good idea, but apparently doesn't work as well in situations with low ambient light, when it failed to scan my index finger properly. The built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking is quite good and easy to use, connecting to available work and home networks at 54 Mbps, which is a good speed; Bluetooth computer-to-cell-phone-modem connectivity was a bit more tricky.


Other operations were rather pleasant, however; more than I might have expected. This is a computer with a 12.1-inch, diagonal measure, display screen, and that might seem antediluvian in a world where the 15-inch display is a de facto standard, and where Apple Computer's 13-inch display for the MacBook isn't all that bad. It took some getting used to for my eyes to accommodate the 12.1 inch screen - yes, even nine-tenths of an inch can make a difference - although in "portrait" display mode when used as a tablet, the screen seemed perfectly fine.


The keyboard on the ThinkPad X60 is a delight. I've long maintained the IBM-branded notebooks have been among those with the best keyboards around, and this new model doesn't disappoint, which is encouraging given that a Tablet PC, by definition, should be designed as much for pen input as for typing. They keys are responsive and pleasant to use, especially for combinations of letters and control characters; this may not seem important, but experienced users will likely recognize a good keyboard when they encounter one, and this is a good keyboard.


The joystick/click-button combination for the mouse function, as opposed to the very popular trackpad setup used in many portables from Hewlett-Packard, its Compaq subsidiary and Apple Computer, to name three, was for me a bit of a challenge at first, but I'm getting used to it. Having a Wacom pen-based system in this Tablet PC is a good thing; Wacom's stylus systems are among the best out there, and I've enjoyed using them.


Because the machine arrived late last week, and because we're on the cusp of Microsoft Corp.'s expected Jan. 30 release of Windows Vista, it's going to take some time for me to work with this machine, and hopefully with Vista's Tablet PC version, to see just how useful this kind of a machine really is. I'm not sure how many applications there are which can take advantage of all the pen-input capabilities a Tablet PC should offer, and I'm still a little uncertain as to whether it's worth the hassle.


But for the executive-on-the-go, or for any other kind of road warrior, having a fair amount of power in a rather light package is not at all a bad thing. I'm hoping for positive experiences with this computer, and will be sure to report back in a few weeks.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.

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