x201 Ultrabase questions

Need some advise before purchasing a x201, regarding the Ultrabase.

1) Does the x201 with a 9-cell battery fit on the Ultrabase ? Or has the battery to be removed first before docking it ? (the 9-cell battery in photos seems to protrude, compared to the 6-cell one)

2) Where from could someone purchase a (X201/x200) UltraBase, besides the Lenovo shop, at a reasonable price ? The online price there seems to be at 60$ (200$ with the optical drive, 140$ without it), but at Ebay for example seems to be sold at least 150$ without the burner/optical drive. Same goes for Amazon, asking $186 for a new one.
Could someone please suggest a reasonable store ?

Thank you

 

the battery doesn't affect its attachment of the laptop to the ultrabase.

 

I think your pricing for buying from Lenovo directly is incorrect. It's approx. $200 WITHOUT the drive. I purchased from the Lenovo outlet for only $75 (no drive). Got it yesterday, and sure can't find the evidence of it being a "scratch and dent" anywhere.

 

14 left in stock (over 60 a week ago). If you want one I'd order it soon.
$75 for scratch and dent http://outlet.lenovo.com/accessories/docks/57y2613.html

If you want an optical drive you'll need to buy one as well.
$58 for a DVD+RW http://outlet.lenovo.com/accessories/storage/55y9248.html
$37 for a CD-RW/DVD-ROM http://outlet.lenovo.com/accessories/storage/55y9246.html

 

Good deal's in the outlet that jon posted.

 

I was going to order one from Lenovo outlet but the site seems to be down...again.

 

Seems to be up...

 

Oh man.. $75 is an amazing price! I paid $170 for mine We can't order from the outlet in Canada...

 

Please delete this post -- question turned out to be irrelevant.

 

Why should it be deleted? The OPs question was answered regarding the battery. And why dig it back up...

 

I think he is talking about his own post - it seems like he posted a question but then edited it out

(And sorry for bumping the thread again... lol)

 

Got my Ultrabase yesterday (Lenovo's outlet, "scratch & dent").

It has no cosmetic blemishes, and all ports work fine. The 9-cell battery fits just fine, and i love the "power-on" button at the front of the ultrabase (that was a very pleasant surprise!!).

The only thing i've noticed though, is that the ultrabase's audio-out port, ends to more noise from my Logitech speakers than the default x201's audio-out port. Not really audible at low volume, but when i increase the volume, the extra noise is clearly audible. So that's why i'm now still using the x201's audio-out port.

Not sure if there's a remedy for this situation.

 

any analogue signal (vga and audio out) from the ultrabase is actually more noisier, there is no actual fix for it.

 

I ordered one of these puppies today, too. They're back in stock for the time being. Also picked up one of those AC/DC Ultraslim power adapters. Buying off the outlet sure is a lot cheaper than new, whew!

 

What about cooling solutions for the ultrabase & x201 ? Until i received the ultrabase, i had been using a Sweex notebook station with 2 (silent) cooling fans. But now I'm using my x201 mostly on the ultrabase, for long hours.
Any suggestions for cooling ?

 

is it overheating? if the answer is no, then you don't really have to cool it with anything.

 

Anybody have photos of their ultrabase in use? I'm having a hard time figuring out the purpose of these things.

 

well you will need it if you are going to run the ultrabay optical drive.

Also, the ultrabase has 4 extra usb and the displayport (digital video output).

External power on and off button.

http://www.small-laptops.com/images/g/lenovo-thinkpad-x200-ultrabase.jpg

http://tpholic.com/xe/files/attach/images/63/705/788/x200_ultrabase.jpg

X200 UltraBase - ThinkWiki

 

What makes the displayport different from the one on the laptop?

 

there is no displayport on the laptop itself, there is only the vga connection. Displayport is digital video connection that supports up to 30 inch LCD with extremely high resolution where only dual link dvi would support.

If you don't need to connect the laptop to external high resolution LCD, then the value of the ultrabase maybe diminished.

 

No it's not overheating. I just noticed the fan comes on more often than when i was using the sweex base.
So i thought maybe there was something extra i could do...

 

there is not much you can do if you have the ultrabase attached.

 

I am too lazy to post a photo right now (sorry), but I use the ultrabase because I use to rip and pull the laptop for use on the go a lot and then come back home each day and put it back into the docking station.

My x200 is my main computer. I have a 24inch IPS monitor, keyboard, external hard drive, USB audio DAC/AMP, and mouse plugged in. For me the ultrabase made a lot of sense because I was constantly using my laptop on the go but did not have a dedicated desktop at home that was in active use (by choice for power consumption reasons).

If you don't constantly use the laptop on the go AND at home/work with tons of things plugged in then it isn't worth it (though if you can get it at the outlet pricing I'd consider it). Also if you want an optical drive in the ultrabase that is a use too but that's bought separately. Personally I bought a USB external drive because I found it more convenient for the cost since I could use it on other systems.

 

My (advanced mini) dock arrives on Monday. I grappled with precisely the question that the OP mentioned and your post helps contextualize things. The way I see it, my use of the dock will help me to do the following:

(1) Plug in an external monitor (which I need to use in tandem with the screen of my laptop)

(2) Plug in either 1 or 2 external HDDs.

(3) Plug in a speaker system (a run of the mill 2.1 variety)

Coming to think about it, this is what the dock would do for me.

PS: If I get the Wacom tablet, I hope I can plug that into the dock as well!

Edit: One quick question: I can add a 2nd monitor to the setup right?

 

the dock can output 2 LCD via DVI and VGA, but in this setup the internal LCD will shutdown.

 

Hmmm...this would be a problem then! Well, not really a problem, I suppose. But just out of curiosity, any way to have all three on?

 

no, the GPU can only support two using this mode. The only way to get the third monitor or more up is either to use the DIY vidock or the Lenovo usb2dvi converter.