Quite an upgrade from my old Dell Inspiron 7000!
Written: Jun 02 '03 (Updated Jun 04 '03)
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Pros: Ultralight, long battery life, bright screen, fast video, new Trackpoint
Cons: Terrible 802.11b support, flimsy shell, no serial port
The Bottom Line: Get this laptop if you want something well rounded. It can play games, but is very stable and great for business computing.
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| dmatsumo's Full Review: Lenovo ThinkPad T40 2373 (237319U) PC Notebook |
At last, I finally was able to get my company to buy me a laptop. Since I try to work at home whenever possible, it's nice to be able to bring my work home without having to worry about slow downloads over a VPN connection or burn files to a CDR. I've long been a fan of IBM Thinkpads, but could never get the one I wanted because of the high prices.
I finally found a pretty good deal on the latest Thinkpad the T40. My particular model is the 2373-19U, which has the following features:
- XGA screen, 1024x768
- 256MB RAM (I upgraded to 768MB)
- integrated 10/100 ethernet
- integrated 802.11b wireless
- 30GB hard drive
- ATI Radeon 7500
- Pentium M 1.3Ghz
- DVD/CDRW combo drive
I had pretty mixed feelings about the laptop when I first received it. When removing it from the box, I was thinking, "Wow, this is incredibly light". The battery design is extremely cool, too; it's no longer a rectangular block, but looks more like a long bar. To attach it, just slide it into the back of the laptop. The really nice thing about this design is that you can purchase an extended life battery, which is slightly larger than the standard battery. The extended battery protrudes from the back of the case, but this solution is much more elegant than having to give up an internal drive in order to add a secondary battery!
Once inserted, the battery adds a bit more weight to the T40, and this is especially evident when moving the laptop from place to place. I have this really bad habit where I grab the laptop (with the screen open) from the lower right corner of the keyboard. Well, I could get away with this with an older T20 I was borrowing, but not anymore! The T40 flexes noticeably when doing this, so I highly recommend using *two* hands when moving from desk to desk.
After I charged up the battery, I turned on the system and completed the Windows XP Pro installation. Everything went smoothly, as expected, until I decided to test the integrated wireless. My co-worker's T30 has this really handy profile software that came preloaded that allows him to configure profiles for different locations. He has a work profile that stores the SSID of our access point and the WEP key. When he goes home, he can switch to his home profile. Well, my T40 has none of those options. In addition, I haven't been able to get the wireless to work at the office, yet. I figured that the driver was outdated, but according to IBM's website, it wasn't. For some strange reason, I can't get the driver to accept the 128 bit WEP key... it always truncates it as if it wants a 64 bit key.
I was extremely disappointed about having a laptop with a wireless connection that I can't use, so I decided to test out my current favorite game, Battlefield 1942, to see what the graphics performance was like. Wow, it was nothing short of impressive! I've never been able to play a FPS on a laptop, even with all of the video options set to the minimum values, but on this T40, I can play at 1024x768x16 at medium settings without any slowdown. This alone made me feel better. =) The funny thing is that I had to up the graphics detail, because at the low setting I would get strange artifacts on the screen, such as incorrect Z ordering.
I then brought the laptop home to do some work, and decided to try the integrated wireless again. Believe it or not, it worked fine with my home access point's 128 bit WEP key! I guess there is some compatibility issue between the Intel 2100 chipset and the access point in the office. FYI, at work we have the Netgear ME102, and at home I have a D-Link DI-614 .
I've been sitting on the couch this evening, surfing the web, composing this email, and tinkering with the laptop, and the one really pleasant "feature" is that this laptop does not get hot at all. The T20 I was borrowing would get so hot it was uncomfortable to work with unless I had a tray of some kind. My wife's T23 is the same, and so are my co-workers' T30s in the office. I'm really glad that I held out for the T40.
IBM also changed the material used in their Trackpoint erase head navigation device, and it's much more comfortable to use now. Instead of using a dry, abrasive head, IBM now uses a textured, rubber head. I don't use the Trackpoint anymore because there's a Glidepad, but I'm still glad that they changed the material.
The T40 has the standard output and peripheral connections, but they have been moved around quite a bit. Where the past T series laptops have their connectors on the back of the laptop, the T40 has them mostly on the sides, since the battery takes up 75% of the back. On the left side are 2 USB 2.0 ports, an S-Video output, a modem jack, a 10/100 Ethernet jack, a headphone jack, and a microphone jack. The parallel port is at the rear of the unit with the power input, and the standard DB-15 VGA output is on the right side. The PCMCIA slots are on the left side of the laptop, but towards the front of the laptop, instead of in the middle.
But where is the serial port??? I typically connect my computer to serial devices, since many of our products use RS-232. I guess I'll have to invest in one of those USB-to-serial adapters soon.
One last gripe... something that I complain about all of the time with Thinkpads -- where is the Windows key? I use that key all of the time on my workstation. One trick I use now is to map the right Alt key to the Windows key, but it's not the same thing. In addition, I like having the Ctrl key on the far left, but because the Fn key is there, and isn't remappable, I'll have to live with it.
All in all, I'm really pleased with this laptop. It has all of the features I'm looking for: great speed, FPS playability, a decent keyboard, runs cool, and is very portable.
Please note that this is a preliminary epinion. I've only had the laptop for one day, so I'm likely to revise this review as my feelings change, or as problems are resolved.
*** UPDATE ON 6/5/2003 ***
Well, I was wrong, that fancy IBM connection configurator is included in this laptop, but it doesn't load on startup unless you start it from the Programs folder. Go to Start | Programs | Access IBM | IBM Access Connections. This program is really nice, because it allows you to easily switch from one wireless profile to another.
Unfortunately, after spending an hour on the phone with a support technician, it turns out that the Intel wireless card in the T40 is INCOMPATIBLE with the Netgear ME102. However, it does work with all Linksys and D-Link access points. I guess I'll head out and get a Linksys one today. =(
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
dmatsumo
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Location: San Jose, CA
Reviews written: 81
Trusted by: 19 members
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