X60/61 question

Hey Lenovo X60/61 owners..

I was just wondering if you ever miss a built in DVD?
Is it even difficult not to have a built in DVD-drive??

Regards,

/Sander

 

Surely that depends on your own requirements... and how often you need to use a DVD-drive.

 

Keep the ultrabase in mind

 

I bought two ultrabases, one for work, one for home. It was quite pricey having to buy two cdroms, but I find that I rarely use them anyways.

I would say to at least get an ultrabase, that way if you need to use a CD, you have means to use it.

Tools like Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% are infinitively helpful...Allowing you to mount disk images like they were in a CDRom drive.

 

I have had no rela problem missing the DVD drive. I didn't buy the base instead I have a Lite-On DVD-RW with Lightscribe ($69.00) from an Internet vendor I use. I hardly watch DVD's on it.

Phil

PS Daemon Tools or Alcohol is a great setup for virtual ISO's of DVD's CD's etc.

 

At first I thought I might, but the reality is that I rarely use the DVD drive. I have the X6 Ultrabase at the Office, which I use more as a general docking station (connected to a big monitor and a bunch of peripherals) than as a means of accessing a DVD drive.

If you only need a DVD drive I would go for an USB DVD drive which get its power directly via USB.

 

I don't miss the optical drive at all. I don't play games on my X61s, I don't watch DVDs, and I hardly install any applications that require a disk. If you don't do any of the stuff I mentioned, then you should be fine without an optical drive. An optical drive is just dead weight when you don't use it IMO.

I have an external USB DVD burner when I have to reinstall the OS.

 

Thanks a lot for all the answers..

Right now I have a 3 months old MacBook, and the optical drive is, as sp00n said, just dead weight..

atolbert: "Tools like Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% are infinitively helpful...Allowing you to mount disk images like they were in a CDRom drive."

Reason for asking, is that I think that the MacBook is to heavy compared to it's size..

I'm not really into computers.. What do those tools do??

 

They enable you to load (ISO) image files, i.e. converted from CDs/DVDs and play them without having an optical drive. It is a virtual CD/DVD drive.

Here's a link to the program I use:
http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-magicdisc-overview.htm

Needless to say, the virtual drive is no good if you just want to play a CD/DVD straight from the disc. You would have to convert the disc contents to an image file and store that file on your hard drive. After you have done that, you can bring your X60/X61 with you and play them without bringing either the docking station or USB DVD drive.

I hope this explains it.

 

And don't forget the X61 comes with Intervideo Virtual Drive. I use that on my X61t but use Daemon Tools on everything else.

I bought the X6 ultrabase with my tablet, and I use my DVD that came with my T61... No sense buying another drive, I never need to use them at the same time. I used the ultrabase for the initial setup and from time to time, but it largely sits on my desk at home gathering dust. It makes the tablet pretty thick in my bag when carrying it around, so I try not to unless I know I will need it on a certain day.

 

Well now it made a bit more sense..

Once again, thanks a lot for the answers

/Sander

 

i have a question.. if the thinkpad doesnt come with a recover disc.. how are we gonna burn on directly from the laptop without the optical drive?.. could we connect the laptop to a desktop or something like that?

 

There are three ways to burn a recovery disk with a Lenovo X-series laptop that doesn't have a CD-Rom drive.

1
Use an external CD burner that attaches via USB.

2
Use the X series Ultrabase. The ultrabase attaches to the bottom of the X-series notebook, it has a drive bay in which a CD drive can be placed.

3
The cheapest solution if you already own a desktop with a CD-rom drive is to network the desktop and the notebook and share the Desktop's CD-Rom drive on the network. This allows the notebook to use the desktop's CD drive (when the notebook is attached to the network).
This is the solution I chose cause it is the cheapest and other that installing new software and making the odd backup and don't need the CDrom drive for much else.

 

I agree with the post above.

 

what kind of cable/ connection do you use to attach the laptop to the desktop in order to burn the back up disc?

 

buy the portable external dual layar dvd burner with lightscribe. its really cool and run on USB! slim and protatble..then u will never miss optical drive!

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/29/lg-launches-ultrathin-usb-powered-external-dvd-burner/

available at circuitcity!

 

I have my laptop for 4 months now and I have used my external USB drive 4 times.

It's not a necessary but it's useful.

 

I am not an I.T, person but I will explain what you have to do as best I can. A great source of information on setting up a home network is Nicksphon’s Wireless Guide posted in the Networking & Wireless forum on Notebookreview.com
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=30162

Creating a home network is not the easiest thing to do if you've never done it before, but reading Nicksphon's guide can help. The information below is not a complete guide to setting up a home network and how to share a cd/dvd drive, it is just some info to try and help you out.


This is for the person who has a desktop computer at home and a notebook like the X61,X60 that does not have its own cd/dvd burner. I'm assuming your using Windows XP. I have no experience networking with Windows VISTA though it should be possible.

In order for you to share a desktop computer's cd/dvd burner with a notebook computer you have to (1) create a home network, (2) get both the desktop and the notebook signed onto your home network, (3) Share your desktop cd/dvd drive so that the notebook can access it.

First, Windows XP Settings
- in Windows XP on both computers make sure that they both have the same Workgroup. To set rightclick "my computer">computer name tab>click "change" and specify the same workgroup for both computers e.g. tomsworkgroup. Make sure that yoru desktop and notebook both that the same workgroup but different computer names e.g. TomsDesktop and X61.

Then, Set up the router
- use 2 lengths of Ethernet networking cable, available from any computer store. Connect the desktop's networking card to one of the router's networking ports with the Ethernet cable, then connect your notebook's networking port to the another of the router's ports with the other ethernet cable.
- you can also use a wireless router which allows you to connect your notebook to the network wirelessly.
- a bonus, but not required, is internet service to your house, like highspeed DSL or cable internet. You'd plug this into your router.

Once your network is set up, Share the cd/dvd drive:
- on your desktop, click my computer> right click your cd/dvd drive>click sharing and security> If your see a link that says "If you understand the risks but still want to share the root of the drive click here" click it">On sharing tab check of the box that says "share this folder on the network">click apply>click ok
- now with your notebook connected to your network do the following
- on your notebook: click start>network places>add a network place> up pops the add network places wizard click next> next> browse> you should see your desktop computer name, eg. TomsDesktop click it> you should see the cd/dvd drive that you've shared click it>ok

Now, access the desktop's cd/dvd drive with your notebook:
- On your notebook click start > My Network Places> you should see your desktop's cd/dvd drive e.g. "CD drive (F) on TomsDeskopt"
- now you should be able to use your desktop's cd/dvd drive with your notebook.

Special note about firewalls
- when I was setting this up for the first time I didn't realize how a firewall installed on the desktop can make it more difficult. I'm referring to a 3rd party firewall like zonealarm, commodo, trendmicro, not the built in windows firewall. You will have to figure out how to change a setting in the firewall to allow your notebook to connect. What I did is tell it to allow all traffic fro a range of IP addresses. To figure out what the range of IP addresses should be you'll need to know what IP address your router assigns.
- on your desktop, while it is connected to your router, click start, run, type cmd, type "ipconfig". You'll see it display the IP of your desktop, it will look like IP Address 199.xxx.xxx.1 where xxx is some 3 digit number. In your firewall set it to allow access to a range of 199.xxx.xxx.1 to 199.xxx.xxx.100.
- As I said, I'm not an IT person, I don't know if this is best way to configure the router, but it worked for me. If you set the wireless security on your router to require a password then you won't have to worry about someone being able to easily use your wireless network.

 

gmoneyphatstyle... you're the best.. thank you so much =]