Last year I got that connection from 3. I bought from them a USB mobile broadband modem and signed up for a prepaid month-to-month data plan.

[Source: PC World]

This year I went one better. I bought and got Lenovo to preinstall an internal broadband modem (the Qualcomm Gobi 2000) when I bought my tablet PC.

I did that because I didn’t want to carry around a USB modem that I’d have to plug in every time I was out and about and wanted to connect to the Internet.

My plan was to transfer my existing 3 connection over from the old modem to the new one. I considered going to a 3 store and asking them to do that for me but then realized that, being a technology geek, I could probably do all that (i.e. the SIM installation and network configuration) myself. And I was right :)

So, here’s how you do it…

First, Get a Connection

If you don’t already have a mobile broadband connection it’s pretty easy to get one from one of your local mobile carriers.

If you go with 3 in Australia, for example, you:

• go to one of their stores,
• sign up for an account (in my case, a prepaid one),
• tell them you’ll be using your own modem, and
• pick up the ‘3 Mobile Broadband Prepaid Starter Kit’ (which will include your SIM card).

Do read the BYO Modem page on their website before you go ahead and do that, though.

In my case all I had to do was take the SIM out of my USB modem.

Insert the SIM Card

Inserting the SIM card into your laptop (or tablet PC, as the case may be) is really easy.

In the Lenovo ThinkPad X210 tablet PC – as in other ThinkPad X-Series computers – the slot for the SIM card lies behind the battery bay (click images for larger photos):

Take the card, orient it according to the etching on the metal plate below the slot, and push it all the way in:

Then put the battery back on and you’re done.

Power-On the Modem

Assuming that you actually have a broadband modem installed in your computer and that all your drivers are up-to-date, you now need to turn your modem on.

To turn it on, use Lenovo’s Fn+F5 keystroke to bring up the ‘ThinkPad Wireless Radio’ window and press the ‘Power On’ button for the Wireless WAN Radio:

That should change the colour of the ‘Wireless WAN Radio’ text to green and should also light up (again, in green) the WWAN status indicator light just below the screen:

[Source: Laptop Mag]

If this doesn’t happen you probably don’t have a modem installed (check in Device Manager in Windows) or your modem isn’t configured properly (run Windows Update to get its latest drivers).

Configure the Connection

Next, you need to set up the connection to 3’s mobile network.

Since I use Lenovo’s Access Connections utility to manage my connections that was pretty straightforward to do. All I had to do was create a new Location Profile by clicking on the ‘Location Profiles’ tab:

And then pressing the ‘Create’ button:

Since I already have a Location Profile for my connection – called ‘3 Mobile Broadband WWAN’ – I’ll show you what its configuration is by clicking the ‘Edit’ button instead.

Under the ‘General Settings’ tab I’ve:

• named my profile,
• said that I want to connect using ‘Mobile Broadband’, and
• selected the Gobi 2000 modem (the only option in the list):

Under the ‘Mobile Broadband Settings’ tab I’ve said that this is an HSDPA/GPRS network that requires ‘Custom Settings’:

These ‘Custom Settings’ (which you get to by clicking the ‘Edit Settings’ button) are:

• the ‘Known WAN service providers’ option is ‘Other’,
• the ‘Custom service provider’ name is ‘3MobileBroadband Prepaid’ (this will be ‘3Mobile Broadband Postpaid’ if that’s the connection you signed up for),
• the APN is called ‘3services’:

There’s no need to change any advanced or additional settings. Click all the ‘OK’ buttons and you’re done.

Connect to the Network

Go back to the ‘Connect to the Internet’ tab and you should now have ‘3 Mobile Broadband WWAN’ listed in your Location drop-down list. Select that and click the ‘Connect’ button next to it.

In this screenshot I’ve already clicked ‘Connect’ so that button has changed to ‘Stop’:

It should take about 10-20 seconds to connect…and off you go!

If the connection doesn’t take place then something hasn’t been configured properly or your account with the mobile carrier hasn’t yet been activated. I can’t help you with the former (because I’ve already told you all I know) and the latter you should already have worked out with the salesperson at the mobile carrier’s store.

If further tweaking fails and you can’t find the answer on the Internet then you should take your laptop to the mobile carrier’s store and ask for help (or, alternatively, call them up and get help over the phone).

But if all this has worked then you should now be connected to the Internet via your mobile broadband connection. Yaay!

This was doubly unexpected because others around the world have reported that it’s taken them 3-4 weeks to get their X201 tablets. Mine, luckily, left the factory six days after I placed the order and took only four business days for delivery (since it weighs less than 5kg).

Not that the Lenovo website told me any of this: The package arrived before the website’s order tracking page had even been updated with the DHL tracking number!

System Specifications

Let’s start with the system specs:

• Intel Core i7-620 processor (2.00GHz, 4MB L3, 1066MHz)
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 12.1” multi-touch display (two finger touch & Wacom pen)
• 4GB RAM (DDR3)
• 500GB hard disk (7,200RPM)
• Intel Centrino Ultimate N-6300 wireless adapter
• Integrated mobile broadband modem (3G WWAN)
• Fingerprint reader, integrated camera (2MP), 5-in-1 media card reader, Bluetooth adapter
• 8 cell battery
• Upgrade to 3 years warranty

This what it looks like:

I’ll post more photos and some video of it over the comings weeks.

So, What do I Think of It?

It’s awesome.

I don’t have the time right now to explain just how awesome it is so here are some quick thoughts:

• It looks really good – simultaneously sleek, sexy, and businesslike – and feels strong and solid to hold and carry around.
• It runs really fast (I did get to spec it out nicely) and the screen is excellent.
• I love the keyboard, though the palm rest area in front of it is a little narrow.
• I like having both the track pad (which is tiny, though usable) and track stick (which is great for scrolling down pages) available. That said, I did also buy a Lenovo Bluetooth mouse for when I’m doing fiddly, precise stuff on the laptop (like image editing) while sitting at my desk. That external mouse is great, but is a little loud with the clicking.
• Both the two-finger touch and pen interfaces are fabulous. They do, however, take a while to get good at since you have calibrate them to your writing and touching styles.
• Using Windows 7 with touch (both finger and pen) is really fun, easy, and intuitive.
• The speakers are tiny, but surprisingly loud and usable at a pinch.
• I’ve found some of Lenovo’s software ‘enhancements’ to be a little irritating because they replace Windows functionality that works just fine and I know really well with something I had to learn, set up, and then get used to. For example, the Windows wireless connections interface has been replaced by Lenovo’s Access Connections software. I could uninstall this, of course, but now that I’ve learnt how to use it and have set it up properly, I can ignore it.
• Finally, as mentioned in various forums, I did have to upgrade the system’s BIOS because, after its first charge-discharge cycle the battery wasn’t charging beyond 45%.

How Are You Using It?

Since the X201t arrived earlier than expected – that, too, in the middle of a really busy week at work – I haven’t had much time to play with it, explore it as thoroughly as I would like, or put it through its paces (like editing HD video on it, for example).

It has already become part of my daily work life, though:

• I take notes on it at meetings
• I use it to work away from my desk (without having to undock my existing work laptop from my dual monitor setup, which is a real pain)
• I annotate documents with it

More broadly, I have started to collect and centralize my work and home lives into OneNote on it.

Before I start using it at it fullest potential, though, I need to do some housekeeping. Specifically:

• I need to install some more software on it. I’ve got the basics done but need to add a few more things.
• I need to upgrade my desktop PC from Windows Vista to Windows 7. That’ll make it easier for me to sync files across the two computers. This I started today (by manually backing-up all my desktop data onto my tablet PC) and will finish tomorrow (by doing a clean install of the desktop’s OS).
• I need to explore Windows 7 properly.
• I need to scan all my paper documents.

All that will happen in good time (particularly the last bit). For now, though, I’m having a blast using it and will keep you updated as it becomes a more central part of my life.

Oh, one thing, though: Using it to read e-mails and check my RSS feed subscriptions (using Gmail and Google Reader, respectively) is brilliant!

[Source: Engadget]

So, yes, more than three years after I first blogged about wanting a tablet PC, I am finally about to get one :)

But Wait…Weren’t You Getting a Fujitsu?

Yes, I was.

I did, however, say in my last tablet PC post that the Lenovo X210t was “still my #1 choice if I could afford it”. And, as it turned out, thanks to a massive sale at the Lenovo Australia website I could.

In fact, I ended up getting a system worth $5,400 for only $3,200! :)

When Will You Get It?

Towards the end of the month.

It was shipped from the Lenovo plant in Shenzhen on the 13th and will take about 10 business days to arrive. I don’t yet have its tracking number – the Lenovo store site takes a frustrating couple of days to get updated – but I’m guessing it’ll get to me on the 28th.

The funny thing is, there were two other items in my order: a Bluetooth mouse and an extended warranty. Both will get to me before my tablet PC does.

I should get the mouse tomorrow, in fact, because it shipped separately a day before the tablet PC and packages under 5kg take only 4 business for shipping. And I already have the extended warranty because I got a confirmation e-mail from Lenovo telling me that it had been processed. 

Oh, and to make it even harder for me to be patient, I even know the computer’s serial number because it was included in the extended warranty e-mail!

Actually, I shouldn’t complain. There’s a global shortage of Intel Core i5 and i7 processors so, when I placed the order about 10 days ago, the website said the tablet PC would ship from the plant “within 4 weeks”. I’m just thrilled that it shipped from the plant 8 days after I placed my order and not 28 days after!

There is one glimmer of hope, though: The tablet PC itself weights under 3kg so, if I’m lucky, the entire shipped package will weigh less than 5kg. If that’s the case then shipping will take 4 business days and I could get it as early as the 18th! I’ll find for sure tomorrow because that’s when the order tracking page on the Lenovo website will most likely get updated.

X201t Reviews and Information

Meanwhile, if you want to know more about the X201t, check out these reviews:

• Lenovo ThinkPad X210 Tablet Review [Engadget]
• Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Review [Notebook Review]
• Lenovo ThinkPad X210 Tablet [Laptop Magazine]
• Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet Video Review [Mobile Tech Review]
• Chris Swan’s reviews: First Impressions and Week 2

I will, of course, post my own review once my tablet PC arrives :)

It’s a good thing that I did talk to them because I have changed my mind once again: I will now be getting for myself a Fujitsu Lifebook T900.

[Source: Fujitsu]

Changing My Mind

Just to explain: When I use the phrase “changed my mind once again” I don’t mean to imply that I am indecisive or unsure about what I want to get.

I keep changing my mind because I continue to:

• research tablet PCs (particularly new ones as they are released),
• get advice from people (specifically, experienced tablet PC users), and
• clarify how I see myself using the machine over the next few years.

That helps me define my tablet PC requirements better which, in turn, helps me choose the specific make, model, and system configuration that will suit me best.

So Why the Switch?

The reason for my switching from the HP tm2 to the Fujitsu T900 is simple: the T900 is significantly better than the tm2 without costing significantly more.

In my previous post I listed the things the tm2 had going for it. The T900 has most of those as well:

• Capacitive multi-touch screen: yes
• Active digitizer: yes
• Cheaper than other dual digitizer tablet PCs: yes, though not as cheap as the tm2
• Great track pad and keyboard: yes and yes
• Independent graphics card: no, but it does have an awesome CPU and the updated Intel on-board graphics chip (which handles high-definition video natively in hardware)

I also listed a few things going against the tm2. The T900 has none of these:

• Processing power: The T900 I’m going to get has the newest, top-of-the-line Core i7 processor from Intel so it’s really powerful
• Keyboard: Because the T900 has a 13.3 inch screen instead of a 12.1 inch screen, it has a larger-sized keyboard and that means (in this case) the Page-Up, Page-Down, Control, Function, Backspace, and Delete keys are all in the right places
• Glossy screen and viewing angles: The T900 has an anti-reflective coating (so it’s not glossy) and its viewing angles are much better than those of the tm2

Further, the T900 has some other things going for it:

• It has a modular bay which can contain a DVD writer (which the tm2 didn’t have at all), a second battery, or a weight saver
• Fujitsu tablet PCs have awesome build quality and Fujitsu’s after sales service in Australia is pretty good
• It has a 13.3” screen instead of the usual 12.1” screens that you find on tablet PCs

It also has one thing sort-of going against it:

• It has higher-powered processor which generally means shorter battery life though, fortunately for the T900, isn’t as short as you would expect (and is further offset by the modular bay which can contain a second battery)

So What’s the Catch?

The catch is that the Fujitsu T900, while still cheaper than the Lenovo X201t (still my #1 choice if I could afford it), costs quite a bit more than the HP tm2:

• HP TouchSmart tm2: AU$2,000
• Lenovo ThinkPad X201t: AU$4,000
• Fujitsu Lifebook T900: AU$3,000

So while I will be spending 50% more on the T900 than what I would have spent on the tm2, I’m confident that I will have a significantly superior overall tablet PC experience. And that makes all the difference.

There is one further catch, though: I won’t be able to afford this till the middle of April. Oh well, better late than never (particularly for a better overall system).

Evolution of Choice

My original choice was essentially a fully featured laptop that you could use as a tablet. This was the Toshiba M750, which has since been upgraded to the M780:

[Source: Engadget]

Then, once I got a desktop PC at home and a really good PC at work, I realized I didn’t need another full-power computer in my life.

So, instead of going for the normal-laptop-plus-tablet-PC type of device, I decided to get the thin-and-light type that was:

• less powerful,
• more portable, and
• had a better overall tablet PC experience.

This was the Lenovo X200t, which has since been upgraded to the X201t:

[Source: Engadget]

Since then, however, two things have happened:

1. I realized that I didn’t want to spend over $3.5k on a tablet PC. I don’t have the money and, at this point in my life, a tablet PC that’s as fully-featured as, say, the Lenovo X201t is not worth the expense.
2. A viable alternative entered the market when HP upgraded their highly affordable TouchSmart tx2 line to the tm2 line (now with an Intel CPU instead of an AMD). This made the tm2 the only multi-touch tablet in the market that has both an active digitizer and an independent graphics card.

So, now, the HP TouchSmart tm2 is the tablet PC I’m going to get:

[Source: Engadget]

For much more on the tm2, check out:

• Mobile Tech Review’s excellent review and series of videos (parts 1, 2, and 3)
• Heartless Sun’s series of videos: overview, hardware, multi-touch, e-reader, gaming.

Is it Worth it?

Definitely – even though it costs half of what the Lenovo X201t does. And, while it certainly doesn’t have all the features of the X201t, it does have all the ones I really want.

For example, it has these awesome things going for it:

• It has an independent graphics card (i.e. it has a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU), which is awesome.
• It has a capacitive multi-touch screen, though you can only use two fingers at a time on it (which is fine for my needs).
• It has an active digitizer, which for me is a pre-requisite because I expect to be doing a lot of note-taking on it.
• It’s cheaper than all the other tablet PCs currently in the market that have dual digitizers (i.e. both capacitive and active); and it does this without compromising on too many other features.
• It has a track pad (which is also multi-touch) and a pretty darned good keyboard.

That said, it has some things going against it:

• It isn’t as highly powered as some of the newer thin-and-light tablet PCs. Specifically, it doesn’t contain Intel’s new i-series processors. That, however, is okay because its independent GPU more than makes up for its lack of CPU power (at least for my needs).
• Its keyboard takes a little getting used to. For example, it doesn’t have dedicated Page-Up, Page-Down, Home, and End keys though you can still perform all of those functions via keystroke combinations (i.e. Fn+Up = Page-Up, etc.). Aside from that, though, I really like it’s keyboard. I know because I tried it out at Dick Smith Electronics, where it’s currently available.
• It has a glossy screen (so, for example, it reflects overhead lights very easily) and limited viewing angles. Fortunately, I’ve played around with it at Dick Smith and it’ll do for my purposes.

All told, these compromises – which you’d expect from something this low-cost – aren’t that much of a issue after all.

So, here we are and, if all goes as planned, I should buy one of these by the end of the month! :)

It’s one my most frequently used keys — which I press using my left thumb or, simply, the side/edge of my left palm — and I like its location to be consistent across all the desktops and laptops that I use.

I use the Control key to:

• cut-copy-paste (ctrl+x, ctrl+c, ctrl+v)
• select all (ctrl+a)
• select entire words/paragraphs (ctrl+shift+left/right/up/down arrows or ctrl+shift+page up/down)
• move to the start/end of documents (ctrl+end, ctrl+home)
• move forwards/backwards by one word (ctrl+right/left arrows)
• delete the rest of the current line in a text editor (ctrl+delete)
• undo/redo (ctrl+z, ctrl+y)
• zoom in/out of PDFs, documents, browser windows, etc. (ctrl+mouse scroll wheel up/down)
• duplicate drawing elements in Microsoft Office (ctrl+click & drag)
• move between worksheets in an Excel spreadsheet (ctrl+page up/page down)
• create a page break in a Word document (ctrl+enter)
• open files/documents (ctrl+o)
• save files/documents (ctrl+s)
• switch between window panes (ctrl+tab)
• select multiple items (ctrl+mouse left click)
• (and a bunch of other things I can’t remember right now but I probably do unconsciously)

Many laptops, however, have the Fn (Function) key located at the bottom left hand corner of their keyboards and, though it’s not the end of the world, this placement irritates me no end.

[Source: Engadget]

That’s why I’m really excited by Lenovo’s recent announcement that it will let users swap the functionality of the Control and Function keys directly through the BIOS!

They plan to offer this in “all future ThinkPad models” so I have a bad feeling it won’t be available on the ThinkPad X200 tablet PC that I’m saving up for these days. Still, it’s a step in the right direction and the Lenovo keyboard — which is already one of the best out there — just got a whole lot better.

You can read more about this here, by the way:

• Lenovo goes crazy, lets you switch Fn and Ctrl keys in BIOS [Engadget]
• World Turns Upside Down: Lenovo Allows CTRL Key Switching [GottaBeMobile]

And speaking of my plan to buy the X200 tablet PC, so far I’ve saved-up about 60% of the funds needed. However, I’ve had to put this saving on hold because we’re shifting to a bigger, better, and closer-to-work apartment early next week and doing so will cost us quite a bit of money (especially since we’re breaking our existing apartment’s lease).

If all goes well, however, I should have enough saved-up by the middle of January 2010. Here’s hoping there are some good sales or deals to be had around then!

The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablets we reviewed performed very well in almost all categories. Battery life was excellent with the 8-cell battery, reaching 8 hours and 48 minutes on the sunlight readable version, and 5 hours and 32 minutes on the touchscreen model. Screen quality on both models was phenomenal, with the sunlight readable display being one of the best screens we have ever seen in our office. [...]

Overall performance was very good on both models, with little impact to battery life or system temperatures. Considering the low starting price compared to the Dell XT2, the ThinkPad X200 Tablets are a clear winner. For its amazing screen, great build quality, and excellent battery life we are also awarding the outdoor viewable X200 Tablet with our Editor’s Choice award.

Now, I’m not getting the outdoor viewable X200 tablet PC because I am willing to sacrifice awesome screen quality in favour of two-finger touch capability but the “touchscreen model”, as O’Brien refers to it, is pretty awesome too. Read the review for more.

Meanwhile, the two new touch-enabled ThinkPads models – the X200 and T400 – also got a mention in a blog post about crapware on Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows.

Crapware, which you get on all new PCs, is irritating even while it makes PCs cheaper to buy. According to Thurrott, Lenovo partly redeems itself by adding bundled software that “expand[s] on core Windows capabilities or, increasingly, simply provide[s] new capabilities that are not present in Windows at all”. Read his post for details.

Anyway, Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile posted a couple of videos on the new multi-touch screen on the X200 which you can watch here:

• GBM InkShow: Touch on the Lenovo X200T Tablet PC
• GBM Shortcut: Pinch and Zoom with Lenovo X200T Tablet PC

Enjoy :)

[Source: Lenovo website]

What Research Did I Do?

In my opinion, the three best places to learn about tablet PCs in depth are:

• Gotta Be Mobile
• Tablet PC Review
• JK on the Run

Every time I want to learn more about any tablet PC, those are the three sites I visit first. Not only are the authors incredibly knowledgeable about tablet PCs (or mobile computing in general) they use tablet PCs as part of their day-to-day work so they bring a lot of real world experience to their reviews and opinions.

They’re also quick to recognize that your mileage may vary when it comes to using computers. They do this by comparing and contrasting their tablet PC preferences with the preferences of others and this makes for a much more well-rounded discussion.

Microsoft itself has recognized their contributions to the tablet PC space by making a number of them Windows Touch & Tablet PC MVPs (i.e. Most Valuable Professionals).

What’s particularly valuable about those sites, though, is that the official site authors and reviewers aren’t the only ones contributing. Gotta Be Mobile (GMB) and Tablet PC Review both have excellent discussion forums that I highly recommend.

What Have I Learnt So Far?

A lot; some of which I shared in my previous blog post (with specification data gathered from Tablet PC Review).

But, as a quick overview of my research, here are the reviews and discussions covering the ThinkPad X200 that I looked at.

From Tablet PC Review:

• Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC Review

From Gotta Be Mobile:

• GBM Review: The Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC
• GBM InkShow: Lenovo X200 Tablet PC Hands-On Video Review
• GBM InkShow: Interview with Lenovo’s Mika Majapuro on the ThinkPad X200T Tablet PC
• The Lenovo/HP Tablet PC Shootout: Which Would I Choose?
• Lenovo X200T and Fujitsu T2010 In Pictures
• Lenovo / Dell Shootout: X200 Tablet PC vs Latitude XT Tablet PC – Pictures

From JK On the Run:

• ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC with Multitouch – First Impressions
• ThinkPad x200 Tablet PC With Touch – Second Impressions

There were more articles and reviews that I looked at, of course, but those were the main ones.

But, What About Cost?

Ah, yes…cost. That’s the interesting thing because, even though I’m switching to a lower performance tablet PC when I move from the Toshiba Portege M750 to the Lenovo ThinkPad X200, the ThinkPad actually costs a little more (about A$250 more). Well, at least in my chosen configuration.

But that’s okay because, what I lose in processing power, I more than make up for in longer battery life (about double), a multi-touch screen, a special portable dock, and a better overall tablet PC experience. So, instead of getting a powerful workstation that is also a good tablet PC, I get a great tablet PC that isn’t all-powerful but still packs a real punch.

The only unfortunate thing, as far as cost is concerned, is my timing. That’s because, as part of the launch of multi-touch screens on the ThinkPad X200, Lenovo is giving lots of discounts if you order online from their site. Lenovo US, for example, is giving a 15% discount and is throwing in the X200 UltraBase (which is the portable dock mentioned above) for half price (US$100 instead of $200). Lenovo Australia, meanwhile, is giving 25% off for all ThinkPad purchases till midnight tonight and is extending your warranty from 1 to 3 years for just $1.

I, unfortunately, won’t be able to afford a tablet PC till November at the earliest. That means I’ll miss all the back-to-school and new-feature discounts and specials that will be offered over the next month or so. Indeed, I’ll be getting my tablet PC bang smack in the middle of the Christmas shopping season. The only way I’ll get lucky is if I am in time for a pre-Christmas sale offer, but I doubt that’ll happen. Oh well. It’s still worth it.

One Last Thing: Hands-on Experience

The one last thing I am hoping to do before finalizing my choice is getting some hands-on time with these tablet PCs. Unfortunately, that’ll be really hard to do here in Melbourne, Australia.

I know I can get my hands on an HP tablet PC (the tx2000 and possibly the 2710p) at a local HP reseller but I don’t know of any Lenovo or Fujitsu resellers that have tablet PCs on display. Finding out will involve lots more research and, hopefully, some help from the Tablet PC Review and GBM forums. I’m hoping something works out, though, and I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.