IBM ThinkPad T40

INTEL REALLY DID PUSH its Centrino all the way earlier this month, as its ideal platform to combine low-power mobile computation and broadband wireless communication, all in one sleek package. Supposed to have better real application performance than Pentium4-M, but at power consumption lower than a PentiumIII-M, the new Pentium M is expected to be the mobile CPU of choice.

We got a hold of one of new Pentium M based models, the IBM T40 - its thin-and-light notebook option. Compared to its predecessor, the T30, IBM has completely redesigned the T40, supposedly for better performance (due to Pentium M) and improved battery life (again Pentium M), portability, ergonomics and secure wireless access available on some of the models.

The Looks
Again, a spankingly good-looking laptop - IBM could maybe continue with these 10-year old ThinkPad looks for ever. Its square, rugged looks and sturdiness make the "Mercedes of notebooks" moniker deserved.

The review unit was a thin (just an inch) model with 1.5GHz Pentium M, 14.1" XGA, 40GB HD, 256MB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32 MB, internal 56Kbps modem, 802.11b wireless, TouchPad and TrackPoint, Secure Chip, very slim 9.5mm high DVD-CDRW combo, and Windows XP Pro SP1. With the DVD drive, the unit weighs just 2.2 kg.

There is also a version with 14.1" SXGA+ 1400x1050 display, and a workstation version with a more OpenGL ATI graphics flavour. In the maximum off-the-shelf configuration, the T40 can have a 1.6 GHz Pentium M, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, Gigabit Ethernet, 1400x1050 SXGA+ display, dual-mode 802.11a&b wireless and Bluetooth combo, and ATI Mobility FireGL 9000 64 MB OpenGL 3-D graphics.

Does it stay up long?
Well, we ran the system as it comes from IBM, with WinXP SP1 and the usual IBM utilities. The system did run fine, except until we let it fall into sleep mode during the power consumption test - it couldn't wake up in any possible way, not even via power button. However, my old trick from the buggy Nokia 9210 Communicator (when it hangs, just remove the battery and put it back) worked as a perfect cure, and the system was up again in no time. It also hung two more times when either of the built-in pointing devices just refused to obey: the stick didn't respond, and the pad didn't remained immune to our frustrated and less than sensual rubbing. Again, the only way was the hard way...

Due to the short time with it, we did not run any benchmark tests on the system, but overall the Office XP bloatware felt somewhat snappier on this system than on a similarly-configured 1.8 GHz P4-M (no surprise with the doubled cache and more PIII-like higher-efficiency Pentium-M processing).

At maximum power saving settings, the unit survived about 4.5 hours before calling it quits, while in maximum performance mode it managed only 1.5 hours. This is more, but not that much more, than a Pentium 4 - M which managed 3 hours in lowest-power and over an hour in high-performance on a fat, bulky ThinkPad A31 with 1.8 GHz P4-M a few months ago.

Conclusion
Overall, a nice system, in the usual IBM tradition - it is not cheap, the prices go from US$ 1,600 to US$ 3,200 in the States depending on the configuration, and probably a bit more in Europe and Asia. Of course, you pay extra for that IBM prestigious look, and pretty good features, sturdiness and reliability (well OK, that battery episode didn't really count - or did it??).

Watch this space for a review of the higher-end Pentium-M 1.6 GHz offering soon! µ