IBM ThinkPad T40
This thin-and-light isn't the speediest Pentium M laptop, but it offers tremendous battery life and many outstanding features.
IBM's long-lasting ThinkPad T40 series combines a svelte, thin-and-light chassis with Intel's new Pentium M processor, the 855PM chipset, and a choice of wireless adapters. (Choosing Intel's Pro wireless adapter would make your T40 a true Centrino notebook.) The ThinkPad T40 also offers a dual-band, 802.11a/b antenna; an excellent keyboard; and wafer-thin swappable modules. It's not the fastest Pentium M notebook we tested, but it's a business traveler's dream nonetheless: an extrathin, loaded laptop with superb battery life if you buy the bigger of the two batteries. Those who crave more speed should consider another Pentium M notebook, the Acer TravelMate 803LCi, but businesses who add the ThinkPad T40 to their lineup can rest assured that they're getting an exceptional notebook.
Other thin-and-light manufacturers would do well to mimic the ThinkPad T40 series' exceptionally solid design. At 31cm by 28cm by 2.5cm and 2.54kg, the T40 is very svelte by thin-and-light standards--most of its rivals weigh more than 2.7kg. Configurations such as the system we tested that include a large, more-expensive battery aren't as compact, as the battery extends almost two and a half centimeters off the back.
The ThinkPad T40's case contains an internal, swappable bay for very thin, 9.5mm-tall drives and modules including DVD and DVD/CD-RW. Fortunately, you can use these drives in the bays of other ThinkPads, such as the R40, but you'll also have to buy an adapter for the bay . The smooth, black-rubber coating on the ThinkPad T40's lid makes it easy to get a grip on the system.
The T40 series also includes another ThinkPad staple: a great keyboard with a familiar desktoplike layout and springy keys but, unfortunately, no handy Windows key. IBM's signature red pointing stick sits above the B key, with corresponding mouse buttons and a third scroll button under the spacebar. You can put one of three texturised caps on the pointing stick depending on the feel you prefer, or you can skip the stick altogether and use the touchpad; some less-expensive models in the T40 series include the pointing stick only, however. Unfortunately, the touchpad's own set of mouse buttons might be a little too thin for some people. Additional buttons include three volume-adjustment buttons--up, down, and mute--above the keyboard, plus an Access IBM button, which takes you directly to the company's support software. A tiny light above the screen beams down on the keyboard when you need it.
The ThinkPad T40 features a fairly standard selection of ports and slots. You'll find two Type II PC Card slots; headphone and microphone jacks; 56Kbps modem and 10/100/1000 Ethernet; S-Video out; and two USB 2.0 ports on the left edge. The battery bay and a parallel port occupy the back edge. The VGA port and a swappable media bay sit on the right, while an IrDA port and two hollow-sounding speakers lie embedded in the front edge.
In true IBM style, the ThinkPad T40 series comes with a dizzying array of choices. Whether you go with a preset system or a customised one, you get a decent variety of component choices, including Intel's new Pentium M processor in 1.3GHz, 1.5GHz, and 1.6GHz speeds; the new Intel 855PM chipset; anywhere from 256MB to a big 2GHz of speedy 266MHz DDR SDRAM; either a 30GB, 4,200rpm hard drive or a 40GB, 5,400rpm drive; 32MB of dedicated video RAM attached to an ATI Mobility 7500 or Mobility 9000 graphics chip; a swappable DVD or DVD/CD-RW combo drive; and a choice of batteries. The bigger of the two batteries, which is what we tested in our Labs, costs extra; we did not test the smaller battery. (Some configurations of the T40 include only the bigger battery.)
The only display choice is 14.1 inches, but it comes in two native resolutions: the cheaper 1,024x768 or 1,400x1,050, which captures fine graphics detail but makes text extremely small. For especially intense mobile users, IBM offers a version of the T40 with a workstation-class, 64MB ATI Mobility FireGL graphics chip and a giant 80GB, 4,200rpm hard drive.
Whether the T40 is an official Centrino depends on your choice of wireless hardware. If you opt for an Intel Pro wireless 802.11b mini-PCI card, you can count yourself among the Centrino crowd. But it's not a Centrino if you choose one of the other mini-PCI options: Philips Agere 802.11a/b or Cisco Aironet 802.11b. What to choose depends on a couple of factors, namely, if you want to use the faster (though currently less pervasive) 802.11a Wi-Fi standard; so far, the Intel wireless radio is 802.11b-only. Want 802.11a in an Intel Wi-Fi chip? You'll have to wait until later this year.
Whichever wireless solution you choose, the built-in, dual-band antenna on the side of the ThinkPad T40's display will help you maintain your wireless connection. In addition to a Philips Agere 802.11b/a chip, our evaluation unit included a 1.6GHz PM processor, 512MB of memory, a 32MB ATI Mobility 9000 chip, and a 14.1-inch display at 1,400x1,050 pixels.
The ThinkPad T40's corporate bent comes through in its software. A host of operating systems serves businesses that use both old and new OSs: You'll get your choice of Windows XP Professional, XP Home, 2000, 98 Gold, 98 SE, or NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 6a). Microsoft Office XP Professional and Small Business Edition are options for smaller companies that don't already own software licenses; licenses for Lotus SmartSuite Millennium and Notes are also available. Optional titles in finance, education/entertainment, graphics/Web design, and utilities/security can be bought at varying prices. IBM's hardware-and software-based Embedded Security System comes with all but a few of the lowest-priced T40s; the notebook offers an extra layer of security to prevent the pilfering of important info in PKI (public key infrastructure), VPN (virtual private network), and other secure environments. Finally, the T40 ships with InterVideo WinDVD for DVD play, as well as Norton AntiVirus 2003 and PC-Doctor for antiviral duties.
Mobile application performance
Compared to other Pentium M-based thin-and-lights, the ThinkPad T40 demonstrates below-average mobile performance. The 1.6GHz PM-based system came in last place in the pure-business notebook category, 12 points behind its nearest competitor, the Dell Latitude D600. This lag is likely due to the T40's 4,200rpm hard drive, which is slower than the 5,400rpm hard drives of the other systems we tested. However, while not the mobile-performance king, the ThinkPad T40 still scored better than most non-Pentium M notebooks we've tested.
SysMark2002 performance
The ThinkPad T40 scored the lowest overall in maximum performance in this Pentium M test group. The T40's bottom-rung office-productivity score was likely due to its relatively slow, 4,200rpm hard drive. Its Internet-content-creation score, which does not depend as much on hard drive speed, proved a more palatable five points lower than the second-place Dell Latitude D600. These differences would not be discernible to an everyday user, but ultimate speed-seekers such as gamers or multimedia pros may not be satisfied with the ThinkPad T40.
3D graphics performance
The ThinkPad T40 edged the Dell Latitude D600 out of the second-place spot in our 3D graphics test. But while the IBM's 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics adapter proved powerful, it wasn't brawny enough to beat the Acer TravelMate 803LCi's Mobility Radeon 9000 chip with twice the amount of video RAM.
All of the Pentium M-based systems we tested showed impressive battery lives of four hours or more. But the IBM ThinkPad T40, which blew everyone away by chugging along for nearly seven hours, had a major advantage: a huge 10.8V, 6,600mAh battery that's so big it sticks out from the back of the notebook. (The battery slot is on the back of the T40.) While our evaluation system included this big battery, most ThinkPad T40 configurations include a smaller, less expensive 10.8V, 4,400mAh battery.
IBM ThinkPad T40
Company: IBM
Price: From AU$3,899
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