IBM Thinkpad T41

Worth a look if you want performance teamed with portability.

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Price: £1727.25

Manufacturer: IBM

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Pros:

Battery life; portability; wireless connectivity.

Cons:
Pricey; only 256MB of system memory.

Verdict:
If you demand performance and portability, this is a great choice.

Emilie Martin, Personal Computer World 07 Apr 2004

If you long to free yourself from the confines of your desk, then you may dream of owning a notebook such as the IBM Thinkpad T41, a good-sized notebook that's easy enough to carry around.

When opened you'll see that it sports the silver Intel Centrino sticker, so you can expect above average battery life and good wireless connectivity.

The T41 doesn't disappoint on this score. It's both Wifi and Bluetooth-enabled and in our battery life tests ran out of juice after three hours, six minutes.

At the core of the system is a 1.4GHz Pentium-M processor with 256MB of SD-Ram. As this is arranged as a single memory module in one of the two Dimm slots on the motherboard, it is possible to upgrade this to a maximum of 2GB, while hard disk capacity is generous at 40GB.

The IBM performed well in our system performance tests, with an overall score of 142 in Sysmark, and individual scores of 169 in our Internet content creation tests and 120 for office productivity. It also put in a fair performance in our graphics processing tests, scoring 4,095 in 3Dmark 2001 and 27.4fps in Unreal Tournament, which makes this system more than capable of dealing with any of the office-based tasks you're likely to throw at it.

The 14in TFT screen gives a clear picture and the viewing angles are fair. Over on the left-hand side of the unit there are two USB2 ports along with an S-Video out socket, modem and Gigabit Ethernet network ports, headphone and line out mini jack sockets. There's also a Type II PC Card slot.

Meanwhile, there's a tray-loading CD-RW/DVD-Rom combo drive on the right-hand side and a VGA port which means you can hook up an external monitor. There's also a parallel port at the rear of the unit in case you need to connect an older printer. Underneath the unit you'll find a docking station connection point.

The keyboard is solid, but in order to keep down the overall dimensions of the notebook, many of the keys are small and it feels a little cramped in use. In the centre of the keyboard is a red trackpoint for navigating if you'd rather not use the touchpad. It's a useful inclusion for scrolling through longer documents or web pages if you've activated the scroll lock function.

The scroll lock button itself is located just below the spacebar at the bottom of the keyboard between two buttons that act as right and left mouse buttons. There are two more buttons performing the function of mouse buttons located just below the touchpad, but these are awkward to reach if you're using the trackpoint.

IBM has included some helpful touches on this notebook that make it easier to use. The two sets of mouse buttons are one example, another is the pair of case clips fastening the two halves of the notebook shut, activated using a single release catch. The clips mean you are less likely to shut an object such as a pen, in the notebook by accident and risk damaging the screen, while the single catch means you don't have to fiddle around to open the notebook.

The T41 also features IBM's Active Protection System, to protect the hard disk from impact. This system uses motion sensors to detect when the notebook is jolted or dropped. If you do drop the notebook, the hard disk will lock into place to prevent it from banging against other internal components.

A pair of speakers are sensibly situated on the front surface of the notebook. This means your wrists don't cover the speakers while you're typing so you can listen to audio while you're working. With excellent all-round performance and some state-of-the-art technology, it's a superb product if you can afford the premium price tag.

Contact: IBM
www.ibm.co.uk

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