The IBM ThinkPad i Series 1200 is a beautifully built laptop. I purchased it primarily for email and web browsing, as well as a machine that would be able to handle middle of the road multimedia tasks (mp3's, MPEG-4 videos).

The Specs
The i Series 1200 shipped with a 500 MHz Celeron processor, 64 megs of RAM, a 6 gig hard drive, a 24X CD-ROM, and a 12.1 inch active matrix TFT screen. The unit included 4 megs of video VRAM, an internal 56k faxmodem, 2 USB ports, a parallel port, VGA port, and PS/2 port, along with a NiMH battery and charger.
In order for IBM to keep the price point low on this model, a few standard notebook features were cut. The unit has no serial port, infrared port, S-video port, or 3.5" floppy drive (an optional USB floppy can be purchased separately). The PC Card slot can only accommodate one Type I, II, or III card.

Initial Impressions: The Look And Feel
This is the first laptop I have owned and I must say that I am very impressed with the quality of its make. IBM is known as the best name in laptop computers and with this model it is easy to see why. The unit is very compact and weighs in at just six pounds. The keyboard feels natural, with a large backspace key and two sets of Ctrl and alt keys. Four programmable quick launch keys are located above the function keys and can be used to launch applications or websites. The notebook uses a pointing stick instead of a touch pad for a mousing device, which is nice as it is difficult to accidentally move while typing, unlike a touchpad. IBM has placed left and right mouse buttons below the space bar, with a unique scroll button below those, which can be used to scroll through documents in conjunction with the pointing stick.
The units TFT screen is simply beautiful, I have used notebooks with dual-scan and HPA screens and the cannot compare to the sharp crispness of the TFT screen. Documents and webpages can be read while they are scrolled, without the nausea inducing blending that occurs with DSTN or HPA screens. Video clip playback is very crisp and smooth with no artifacts; the screen is able to draw frames as fast as they can be played. The built in stereo speakers are decent enough for voice playback, but music sounds tinny with no bass tones.
The battery supplied about 2 1/2 to 3 hours worth of power, which is very good from a NiMH battery.

Why The Celeron?
I would recommend the mobile Celeron chip to any cost conscience buyers. Unlike its desktop counterpart, mobile Celeron's run at a 100 MHz bus speeds, and contain support for Intel's SSE instruction set. To get a 100 bus and SSE in a desktop a Pentium III is required (Note: The newest Celerons running at 566+ MHz, the 'Celeron 2' processors, do include SSE support). The mobile PIII does have a larger cache, and Intel's new Speedstep technology, but if these feature aren't important to you the Celeron is a very viable choice.

Tech Support
IBM tech support is rock solid, the laptop comes with an auto update feature that allows it to download important driver and system updates from IBM's website. I was having problems with my modem, and the tech I talked to was very helpful. I inquired as to what the policy was if I needed to return the unit for IBM to test. Their policy is to have Airborne Express come to your residence to pick up the unit, have it delivered back to the customer within 3-4 business days. The downside of this policy is that the unit is only under warranty for one year, after that repairs and tech support can become expensive.

Recommendations
I have run a variety of applications on the laptop and have found it to be a very capable unit. For the best performance I would recommend upgrading the unit's standard 64 megs of RAM. The included RAM is built into the laptop and cannot be removed. One additional slot is provided which can accommodate up to 128 megs of RAM for a system maximum of 192 megs. The unit's hard drive is easily removable, and as of right now can be replaced with a drive up to 20 gigabytes. Future advances in hard drive technology will likely raise this limit in the near future.
Overall this is an excellent purchase for anyone needing a mid level portable computer. It is excellent for word processing, web browsing and email. Video and audio playback and most other multimedia tasks are adequately performed, with the units LCD screen very easy on the eyes. I purchased my unit as an open box special from Firesale.com for $999, but it regularly retails for around $1200-$1300. For this low price IBM has included quite a bit of power. This is an excellent laptop, with well built, quality components and gets my highest recommendation.



Recommended: Yes