contents of the thick x200/x200s beazel

I am waiting for my British x200s with WXGA+ screen. I am very annoyed for the lack of the webcam. Notwithstanding, I bought it, because I needed a new laptop.

However I would like to know *why* they cannot place a webcam inside the screen beazel when there is a LED WXGA+ screen. Isn't the averall size of the LCD panel identical to the size of the 1280x800 panel? Can anyone post some pictures of the *contents* of this famous big beazel?

Its thickness irritates me, not for aestetical reasons, but because i cannot find a convincing reasonable explanation for it. Normally everything in a Thinkpad has a reason, nothing is useless: this is why we like them. Is it still true in this latest model? Couldn't Lenovo find a different model/brand of the webcam?? all the new laptops have one; is going to be a common, small, very cheap component, such as the microphone. It is sad that this top thinkpad must envy a netbook or a 500$ laptop...

 

I think the top cover on the x200s LED is thinner than on the x200 (this may help explain the lack of a webcam). Back to your original question, the bezel contains quite a lot. It includes antennas for 802.11n, WiMax, UWB, WWAN (x200[t]), a Bluetooth module, microphone, Thinklight, and maybe some other things as well.

This thread about adding a bluetooth module has some fantastic pics of the contents of the screen bezel on the x200. It's definitely pretty loaded and it helped me understand why it is so thick.

The lack of a webcam and WWAN on the x200s (and the prescense of an AFFS+ display on the x200 tablet) was one of the deciding factors for me getting the tablet instead of the x200s.

 

Jon,

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but you seemed to answer his concerns pretty thoroughly.

I'm still holding out for the HDD-equipped X301, but assuming that doesn't materialize in the foreseeable future, I'm much more agreeable to giving the X200 tablet another look.

Quick question for you -- I would envision using the stylus a lot in place of the trackpoint. How does the surface of the tablet screen fare as far as resisting scratches, wear grooves, and other such noticeable marring due to friction with the stylus?

 

Thanks Jon. You gave us a very interesting indication. That thread was really nice. However its pictures are of an x200. It would be interesting to see the same pictures of an x200s, since it is of this model that I wonder why there is no webcam. I wonder how empty is the upper part of the beazel, where the webcam should be. How smaller is the top of the beazel?

A scary, heretic and probably horrible question is: could we maybe place a webcam manually in it, by modification?

 

The tablet screen surface seems pretty resilient to resisting scratches. The tablet actually employs a frameless cover. This means that the LCD itself is recessed about 2mm, has a digitzer grid on top of it, and a plexiglass cover/frameless border on top. This gives a very natural writing feel and means you are not writing directly on the screen. It is also not necessary to touch the pen to the screen. The tablet uses a Wacom active digitzer and will track the pen about 12mm from the surface (it is also pressure sensitive for more natural brush strokes in graphics applications [requires special Wacom driver]).

If you are particularly concerned about scratches (I am not) you could easily buy a screen cover. People seem to be having the most luck with a 13" screen cover (Macbook or similar) as this covers the LCD and the frameless border. However, this may reduce contrast and/or outdoor usability by a small amount.

The downside of the frameless border is a very small amount of parallax (cursor can be 1mm away from where you think the pen is) and the viewing angles are not quite as great as they could be because the recessed screen becomes hidden at extreme angles (it is still far superior to the x200 or any non-tablet computer [it has a AFFS+ screen that is exemplary]).

___________________

Sadly I have not seen any x200s dissection pictures, although in side by side shots the display cover definitely looks thinner. It may be possible to add a webcam to an x200s although I think this would be very difficult (you would need to wire it into the computer as well, probably run a custom BIOS, and I don't even know what else). It would actually be easier to buy an x200 (w/ webcam/WWAN) and swap in the LED screen from the x200s or x200 Tablet (AFFS+ extremely bright, color accurate, superior viewing angles but only WXGA). This would give you a good screen, tremendous power, and the features you want, although it would be slightly heavier and not get quite the battery life of the x200s.

 

the camera is driven by the LCD cable.   the X200 and X200s LCD cables are completely different and not interchangeable.

 

Jon,

Thanks very much for that detailed reply -- much appreciated!