The ThinkPad X41 Tablet promises to bring the dependability and security we love about ThinkPads to a tablet PC.The first ThinkPad tablet in four years, the new convertible ThinkPad X41 Tablet offers the type of keyboard, processor, and features you'd expect to find in an ultraportable laptop, but its 12.1-inch XGA display swivels and folds down, allowing you to take handwritten notes, draw diagrams, and navigate menus using a stylus. Though tablets were once mostly the domain of health care professionals and users who needed something other than a traditional laptop, this release from the venerable ThinkPad brand seems to signal that tablets are ready for prime time.
Upside: Weighing 1.6 koligrams, the ThinkPad X41 Tablet is significantly lighter than the HP Compaq tc4200. It also offers the kind of features you can find in today's slimmest ultraportable laptops: current-generation Centrino processors in 1.2GHz or 1.5GHz; hard drive capacities ranging from 20GB to 60GB; and a suite of connectors, including VGA, modem, Ethernet, and three USB ports, as well as PC Card and SD card slots. Add in the fingerprint reader and the Embedded Security Subsystem, and you have a machine that's well suited for the conference room or the field.
Downside: The ThinkPad X41 Tablet lacks an optical drive, and the companion UltraBase dock, which adds a CD/DVD drive to the setup, costs an extra AU$329. While it's not unusual for a tablet (or an ultraportable, for that matter) to forgo an integrated optical drive, it's something to consider when shelling out for an AU$3,749 device.
Outlook: Based on the specs, the ThinkPad X41 Tablet looks impressive, but of course, a tablet's only as good as its performance and battery life. We look forward to running it through our benchmark tests to see if it lives up to our expectations and we'll let you know what we discover.
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