IBM's New ThinkPad Is Thinner, Lighter And More Affordable

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The ThinkPad laptops from IBM have been the gold standard in portable Windows computers, with excellent screens, industry-leading keyboards, rugged construction and superior wireless reception.

But in recent years, IBM hasn't had a truly tiny model. Its smallest ThinkPad, the X31, weighs in at about 3.6 pounds, while some other companies have ultralight laptops that weigh less than 3 pounds.

Next week, however, the ThinkPad will get thinner and lighter, when IBM rolls out a new model, the X40, which is 20% smaller and 25% lighter than the X31. The X40 will also come with an unusual new feature: a clever rescue-and-recovery utility that can restore lost files and get you onto the Internet even if Windows becomes inoperable.

The new X40 breaks with IBM tradition in another way: It's pretty reasonably priced. IBM has tended to overprice the ThinkPad, but the X40 starts at $1,499, which is very good for an ultraportable.

I have been testing the X40 and have been impressed. It's a terrific little computer.

The new model has the same roomy keyboard and vivid 12.1-inch screen found on the X31. It uses IBM's trademark pointing device, embedded in the keyboard, instead of a touch pad. Wi-Fi wireless networking is standard. Like all ultraportables, the X40 lacks an internal CD or DVD drive.

But the X40 weighs just 2.7 pounds with its standard battery such as IBM ThinkPad 240 battery, IBM ThinkPad 240Z battery, IBM ThinkPad A30 battery, IBM ThinkPad A31 battery, IBM ThinkPad 600 battery, IBM 02K7016 battery, IBM ThinkPad G40 battery, IBM 08K8026 battery, IBM ThinkPad T21 battery, IBM ThinkPad T20 battery, and its tapered case ranges from 0.8 inch at the thinnest point to 1.06 inches at the thickest. Its footprint on a desktop is just 10.5 inches by 8.3 inches -- smaller than a standard sheet of paper.

The base model, at $1,499, comes with 256 megabytes of memory, a 20 gigabyte hard disk and a Pentium M processor running at 1 gigahertz. For an extra $50, you can double the hard-disk capacity, and an extra $150 doubles the memory. Various bundles that include a docking base, CD or DVD drives, and larger batteries are available at prices of up to $2,299.

The X40 still isn't quite as thin or light as Toshiba's R100 laptop, which is 0.6 inch thick at its thinnest point and weighs 2.4 pounds. But it finally puts IBM in Toshiba's ballpark, and it has better battery life.

The IBM is also less expensive than the Toshiba. The R100 starts at $2,299 with the same processor and memory, but with a 40 gigabyte hard disk. Toshiba also throws in a snap-on battery that adds more juice, but also more weight. The comparable package on the new IBM would still be much cheaper, at about $1,747.

There are three different batteries available for the X40. You can replace the standard battery with a higher-capacity model, for $100 extra, that more than doubles the battery life, but sticks out about an inch from the back of the machine. IBM claims the standard battery gets 3.5 hours of life and the high-capacity battery gets 7.5 hours. You can also choose to snap an extended-life battery onto the bottom of the X40 to add 2.5-3.3 hours of life. It costs $198.

I subjected the X40 to my harsh battery test, where I turn off all power-saving features, turn on the Wi-Fi radio and play an endless loop of music. The standard battery logged 2 hours and 10 minutes, which suggests that with power-saving on and a more normal work pattern it would get around three hours of battery life. The high-capacity battery logged about 5.5 hours in my test, which suggests it could approach seven hours in normal usage.

This computer feels very solid overall. The metal hinges for the lid are thicker than those on the X31. Wi-Fi wireless network reception was very good in my house, even in areas where signals were weakest.

It has a decent array of ports: two USB 2.0 ports, jacks for Ethernet network cables and a phone modem, a plug for an external monitor, and headphone and microphone jacks. There is even a slot for an SD memory card, used in digital cameras, PDAs and music players.

The X40 is the first laptop to offer IBM's new Rescue and Recovery software. This program automatically backs up your files to a special area of the hard disk hidden from Windows, and so is nearly impossible for viruses to locate. If you lose any files, the program makes it easy to restore them. I tested both backup and restore, and they worked well.

The Rescue and Recovery system also can be summoned in what IBM calls a "preboot" mode that appears before Windows is loaded, or even if Windows refuses to load. In this mode, you can still retrieve files, and a special bare-bones Web browser can get you online, but only via a wired network connection, not a dial-up or wireless connection.

The X40 has only a few downsides. It lacks the parallel printer port and the FireWire port that the X31 includes. And the docking base, which can house a CD or DVD drive and has extra ports, is still overpriced. If you buy the dock with a CD-RW/DVD drive as part of a bundle with the laptop, it costs at least $300.

Still, the ThinkPad X40 is a beautifully designed ultraportable with some nice extra features. I can recommend it heartily.