A21m. The legendary ThinkPad.
Written: Mar 15 '01 (Updated Mar 16 '01)
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Pros: design, keyboard, 15" screen
Cons: expensive.
The Bottom Line: Features and quality. Hands down, it's the best laptop on the market.
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| liquidjay's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad A20 2629 (262962U) PC Notebook |
Review of IBM ThinkPad A21m
(they changed the name from A20 to A21 last Fall):
Background:
One day, while testing my programming assignment, waiting forever for the UNIX mainframe located in the campus to respond to my command, it hit me. I need a laptop! No need to wait forever for an empty spot in the PC Lab, dreaming of what it would be like surfing over a T1 line. No need to suffer again with my measly 56K connection when I'm at home. And that's how my journey towards laptop heaven began, about two months ago.
With my own laptop, I can connect to the LAN at anytime, surf and get my homework done much faster. Not to mention all the chicks looking over :) When you're attending a university with literally 25% of the student body are Computer Science majors, a ThinkPad is just as good as a black Porsche 911 :)
I've had this laptop for almost two months now and so far there are no problems. I'm very satisfied with IBM, especially their customer service. I initially ordered a different model (smaller screen, and harddrive), but right after shipping it, I changed my mind and decided to go all the way and get the 15 inch screen. I called customer service (I only waited for about 2 minutes) and they said since the original order was shipped already, I could just order a new one and tell the UPS dude to "return to sender" for a refund. Just like that. The best part: it was delivered in a week.
The specs:
- ThinkPad A21m model name: 2628FSU
- Intel SpeedStep Pentium III 750 MHz
- 15" XGA screen with 1024x768 resolution
- 192 MB RAM (I added 128 MB more from www.crucial.com)
- 20 GB harddrive
- Integrated 10/100 Mbps Ethernet card by Intel (highly recommended)
- Windows 98 Second Edition
- CD-ROM drive in the Ultrabay2000
- built-in floppy drive
- weight: 6.7 pounds
Pros:
1. 15" screen: crisp, bright screen. It's huge!! And no dead pixels! The screen dims a little bit when you use the battery. It does this to save energy. And the SpeedStep processor also slows down by 100 or 150 Mhz (depending on your processor). You can easily change the setting though to run at full-speed even when using the battery with a mouse click or two at anytime.
2. The legendary ThinkPad keyboard - very quiet, excellent feel, great for typing. The best keyboard I've ever used! It's so quiet, you can just sit at the back row and surf the web during a lecture and the professor won't even know it :)
3. Eraserhead (IBM calls it trackpoint) - very easy to use.
I don't understand what's all the fuss about the age-old argument: eraserhead vs. touchpad. In my experience, there's not much difference between a touchpad and the trackpoint. At least with this one. If you like touchpads, you can easily get used to the trackpoint. IBM executed this one perfectly.
I must admit before I bought this laptop, I was concerned about it not having a touchpad. But after trying it for the very first time, I have to say the trackpoint is better. It's right in the middle of the keyboard - no need to move my hand away to move the cursor and reposition my hand back to type.
The third button is for activating the scrolling function - press and hold it down and use the trackpoint to scroll up and down or left and right. The more pressure you apply, the faster the scrolling. You can adjust the sensitivity of the trackpoint.
But, as good as the trackpoint is, I still bought the USB mobile mouse. Since I use this laptop mostly for programming (major text editing) and some web design, there is no substitute for a mouse.
4. Access ThinkPad: excellent documentation - located on the harddrive. A lot of computer magazines doing a review say that the ThinkPad lacks a good printed documentation, especially for setting it up the first time. Who cares? If it's running Windows (ThinkPads can also come with Linux factory-installed), all you have to do is answer a few simple questions like what is the current time and stuff and off you go.
The Access ThinkPad more than makes up for the lack of printed setup documentation.
You can launch the Access ThinkPad by pressing a button located just above the F2 key. What sets it apart from other manuals, aside from it being stored in the harddrive, is that when it's appropriate it also has an animation on the side showing you what to do. For example, when you search for "memory" and then go to the installing section, there's an
animation that shows your laptop turned over, then the battery flies off, a screw driver starts turning and the plate comes off and a memory module is inserted... blah blah.
This might be trivial stuff, but when you're dealing with laptops - where a small "Oops" can result in a very expensive paper weight, it's better safe than sorry.
5. ThinkPad Configuration Applet: another excellent feature. Accessible from the system tray, you can edit all the laptop's settings like the trackpoint's sensitivity, the display, power management settings, from one simple, centralized location.
6. Speakers: the speakers are one of the largest I've seen on a laptop. It sounds very good - nice and clear. But like all laptop speakers, it won't be mistaken for that system you have in your living room. For playing games like Quake3, wear headphones instead.
7. Ultrabay2000 (mediabay): hotswappable, easy to take in and out. Just slide a switch on the side of the bay, wait a second or two for the system to go to stand-by mode, pull it out completely and the CD-ROM pops out. Pop another drive in such as a DVD or a CD-RW drive and you're ready to go.
8. Integrated network interface card (10/100 Mbps Ethernet card by Intel): This is one of my favorite features.There's a built-in RJ-45 jack at the back for connecting to a LAN, BUT you can only use it if you bought a model with the integrated card. Otherwise, it's useless. They'd probably cover it up or something. Check the specs carefully. I highly recommended to go with this feature even if you already have a NIC. There's no need to bring a separate, easy to misplace NIC and its adapter cord or whatever it's called. Just connect a cat5 cable to the jack at the back and to the wall and surf the web at high-speed.
9. Built-in floppy drive: At first I didn't know what ThinkPad I wanted, whether the T-series or the A-series. After a couple of weeks of research, believe it or not, it all came down to the old floppy-drive. And maybe a little bit of the beautiful 15" screen factored in (T-series' largest screen is 14.1").
I don't like those slim portables that weigh only 4 pounds but you have to swap the CD-ROM and the floppy drives. The A-series have everything built-in, except the kitchen sink. That's one less thing to keep track of.
10. Finally, the design: sleek black case with sharp angles everywhere, you can easily mistake it for a scaled-down model of the stealth bomber :)
I read a review from a magazine and the writer said something like, "If Darth Vader had a laptop, it would be an A-series". That's exactly what you'll get with this laptop - a fantasy worth every penny. I recommend this laptop 100%!!
Cons:
1. Price - at $2,700 it comes with only an 8MB AGP graphics card and only a CD-ROM drive. A Dell laptop at that price range would have a 16MB AGP card and a DVD drive. Then again, this is the legendary ThinkPad we're talking about!
2. Charging the battery: when the battery is connected it is automatically charged. This is very convenient when the laptop is turned off and all you want to do is charge the battery (the laptop doesn't have to be turned on to charge the battery).
In order to maximize battery life, the manual recommends charging the battery only when it's really low, say 20% full or something. The problem comes in when the battery is say 70% full and you don't want to charge the battery but you want to use the powercord because you're in your office or something. So you either end up charging the battery when it doesn't need to and decrease it's life and end up buying more batteries per year (they cost $150 each!!) or you'll have to constantly take it in and out when using the powercord. I don't know about you, but I'm not a dot com executive with $150 just laying around in between the sofa cushions.
The quick and painless solution is for IBM to add an applet that enables me to manually turn on/off the charging.
Miscellaneous:
If you do decide to get a ThinkPad, here's a few must-have accessories for it:
1. Carrying case ($80) - I highly recommend getting the 390/A-series case by Targus (available from IBM's website under accessories) instead of the I-series/A-series case. It's the size of an average size briefcase, with a width of about 5 inches.
It doesn't scream, "Expensive laptop inside! Steal me!!".
2. APC SurgeArrest notebook surge protector ($50) - pocket-size. Easily fits inside the carrying case. It also has a modem surge protector. Can't go wrong with a $5,000 5-year equipment protection guarantee.
www.apc.com
3. Targus Defcon1 lock ($50) - not just a normal cable lock, it has a resettable combination lock and motion sensor. Even if you don't activate the motion sensor, if someone cuts the cable, it will trigger the 110 dB alarm.
When I'm in the library or something, I don't have to worry about leaving it on the desk when I go and get a book. Just put the Defcon1 on top of the keyboard with the motion sensor activated and I know it won't go anywhere.
www.targus.com
Wow! What a long review. I've researched this laptop for over a month before buying it. And a lot of the epinions members opinions' have helped me a lot. Hopefully, my review will help you a lot too in your decision.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 2,700
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Pentium III
Processor speed: 701-800
Screen Size: 15
RAM: 64
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
liquidjay
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Location: NJ, USA
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Computer Science major attending NJIT.
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