The IBM ThinkPad T42 is a notebook that combines plenty of punch and portability. It only weighs 2.25kg, making this one of the lightest notebooks in this review. It features an Intel Pentium 1.7GHz M processor with 512MB of RAM, ATI graphics, 40GB hard disk, and DVD/ CD-RW drive.
This IBM notebook uses a titanium composite in the top and bottom covers which makes this notebook robust and light. In general the build quality is superb -- only Apple could say otherwise. The display on this model is only 14.1in, which is a little on the small side these days but it does help to keep the weight down.
The T42 offers Wi-Fi, but unlike any other notebook it has a dual antenna built into the display for increased signal strength. Another nice feature is the differently coloured functions keys. Having the option of using either a trackpoint or glidepad is also nice.
This notebook also comes with a fingerprint recognition scanner -- like the Fujitsu, it uses a slide scanner rather than a touch scanner. Setting it up is a piece of cake thanks to the IBM fingerprint software which asks you to scan your finger three times. You can also set up more than one finger to be recognised, giving you protected booting using fingerprint.
As for performance, the T42 is fast enough to handle any office or desktop publishing type applications. Its battery life time isn't too bad; it manages to run for four hours and eight minutes.
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Sorry guys, but the reviewed x86 machines seem rather lame to me.
On 10th September 2004 I bought a Clevo M375E notebook that beats nearly every specification of the reviewed units.
This unit has a Fujitsu 100GB HDD, Intel Dothan 2GHz, 2GB of PC2700 SDRAM, Pioneer single layer 2x DVD-RW burner, 54MB WiFi, build-in camera, 3 format card reader, 15.6" wide-screen LCD @ 1680 x 1050, S-Video out, dual display support, FireWire, Gigabit LAN, v.92 modem, IR, 3 x USB2, 1 x Type 1 PCMCIA and serial port.
It is the fastest PC I have ever worked on, easily beating most P4 desktops in everything that is not hard drive or CDROM intensive.
The only thing it lacks is BlueTooth, which was available as an option.
The 2GB of RAM dent the battery life a little, as do the 2GHz Dothan and huge screen resolution, but I still get over three hours of practical work on a single charge with the WiFi turned off.
When I bought it, the RAM was very expensive, but this has come down considerably since.
This unit retail now for less than $4500.
For taxation reasons, I normally replace my notebook once every financial year. If this reviewed collection is exciting the "envy crowd" now, I may hold on to this unit for another year. I can't see that updating only to get dual-layer or BlueTooth is worth my while...