Rob Tiffany » Laptop http://robtiffany.com Author, Mobility Strategist at Microsoft, Speaker, Advisor, Technology Executive, Former Navy Submariner Wed, 16 May 2012 01:19:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 The ThinkPad x120e is a Pocket Rocket! http://robtiffany.com/the-thinkpad-x120e-is-a-pocket-rocket/ http://robtiffany.com/the-thinkpad-x120e-is-a-pocket-rocket/#comments Sat, 09 Jul 2011 01:51:11 +0000 Rob Tiffany http://robtiffany.com/?p=771 Continue reading →]]> I just picked up a Lenovo ThinkPad x120e for around $500 last week and have been using it as my only computer for the last 7 days.  It features the new AMD Fusion E350 dual-core processor with integrated Radeon HD graphics and Windows 7 Pro x64.  This ultraportable has 4 GB of RAM, an 11.6″ screen, a 7200 RPM hard drive, built-in webcam, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and a full-sized HDMI port.

ThinkPad x120e

While it may appear to be competing with high-end Netbooks, there’s actually no comparison. The AMD Fusion processor blows the latest Intel Atoms out of the water.  The snappy performance leads you to believe you’ve got a Core i3 under the hood, but the 5+ hours of battery life reminds you that this is something different.  This laptop has the fit and finish that you would expect from a $3,000 ThinkPad.  It’s super-sturdy and comes with an unparalleled scalloped / chiclet keyboard that feels like you’re typing on a Selectric typewriter.  This thing is absolutely tiny and only weighs around 3 lbs with the 6 cell battery, so I don’t feel it in my backpack when I running through airports.

I’ve been using Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, IE9 (with 8 tabs open), Tweetdeck, Visio, Live Writer, Chrome, and Lync without issue.  In fact, they were all very responsive.  HD videos were great.  Since I also write software, I installed Visual Studio 2010, plus the Windows Phone 7 tools and emulator.  This is where things ran out of gas.  I totally get that Visual Studio is a giant piece of software, but the x120 just wasn’t up to the task when it came to fast compiles and having a responsive IDE.  Running Windows Phone 7 apps in the emulator was also a very sluggish experience.  Yes, all the tools worked as expected, but you might lose patience.

To be fair, this tiny laptop was not designed to be a developer workstation but I thought I’d see how far I could push it.  Actually, it might be possible to make the x120e fast enough for giant tools like Visual Studio and Eclipse by bumping up the DDR3 RAM to 8 GB and swapping out the spinning hard disk with a fast SSD.  I’ll probably give it a try.

To sum up, the ThinkPad x120e is a pocket rocket of a business productivity and I highly recommend it.

-Rob

 

 

]]> http://robtiffany.com/the-thinkpad-x120e-is-a-pocket-rocket/feed/ 2 Making MEAP Real http://robtiffany.com/making-meap-real/ http://robtiffany.com/making-meap-real/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:53:03 +0000 Rob Tiffany http://robtiffany.com/?p=107 Continue reading →]]> After all the logical diagrams of Microsoft MEAP and spelling out how it meets Gartner’s critical capabilities, I thought I’d show you a picture that provides a more concrete view of what our MEAP offering looks like. Hopefully, this will better crystallize how Microsoft lines up with those critical capabilities and how our reusable mobile application platform plugs into a customer’s enterprise. I think we have a great story here that shows customers how we can save them money on a platform that:

1. Works the same across laptops, tablets, Netbooks and phones.
2. Gives them reusable mobile middleware that can support multiple simultaneous applications rather than needing something different for each point solution
3. Lowers risk to their projects by reducing the amount of custom code needed to build any given solution.
4. Gives them adapters that plug into the existing enterprise packages they use to run their business.

MEAP Physical Diagram

Regards,
Rob

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