IBM ThinkPad T42

IBM ThinkPad T42 Review

Overview

The IBM ThinkPad T42 is a versatile laptop for business users who are highly mobile and need a machine to handle their demanding, ever-changing business. The ThinkPad is perhaps one of the best laptop for business rugged case, solid performance, and outstanding features, all packed in a thin-and-light construction.

IBM offers several customizable configurations of the T42, from the economical model with mediocre performance offerings starting at $1,499, to the higher performing model utilizing the latest technology such as Bluetooth wireless, faster Pentium-M processor, and bigger display for approximately $2,200.

We tested the faster performing model at 1.7GHz with 14.1-inch display, and weighing in at 4.9 pounds and only 1 inch thin. Although we were impressed with the keyboard, performance, and portability; the XGA screen quality was average looking.

Design

Portability
The IBM T42 is a thin-and-light portable laptop measuring only 1-inch thin, and 4.9 pounds with the battery. The T42 is lightweight so it's comfortable carrying around, even during extensive traveling. The T42 is 12.2-inches in width and 10 inches in depth, close to the size of a textbook, making it very suitable in most carrying cases and backpacks. I use the T42 for most of my business purposes. It is very convenient to carry around and a pleasure to use practically anywhere. The T42 is all about mobility.

Case and Design Layout
The ThinkPad T42 exterior is all-black, an interesting design that represents high quality and ruggedness. The top/back display cover is constructed of a strong magnesium material held on by 2 metal hinges connecting to the body, perfectly suited for heavy use in most working conditions. The tough magnesium material (which is quite thick) prevents the LCD display from bending or warping. The rest of the body is made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic that is stronger than standard plastic. The flexible metal hinges allow the display to open completely back to a flat 180 degrees. When the lid is closed, there is an indicator located at the top edge for the battery status and sleep mode that illuminates a green light.

With the 14.1-inch display lid opened, at the bottom of the display there is a system and power status indicator: Standby status, Battery status, Power on, Drive access, Caps lock, Numeric lock, Bluetooth (if available), and Wireless Status that all illuminate green or orange (charging).

Located at the top edge of the display there is the IBM ThinkLight keyboard light, the device illuminates over the keyboard under low-light conditions.

IBM ThinkLight shines over the keyboard

The full-size ergonomic keyboard feels comfortable and evenly positioned. The keys are soft to push and allow for quiet and precise typing. The keys on the T42 depress deeply (feels firm); more so than other laptop keyboards I've used, which are more short and flat. The Windows key is excluded however the Forward and Back arrow keys are present. They keyboard offers useful one button access. There are function keys to adjust the display brightness, sleep, magnifying documents, turning on the ThinkLight, and switching the external display mode. Above the keyboard there is a button to adjust the volume or mute the sound from the ThinkPad. There is also an Access IBM button to open the on-board help system to access software tools and other helpful resources.

In the center of the keyboard there is the IBM UltraNav TrackPoint pointing stick along with the associated TrackPoint buttons (left-click button, window scroll button, and right-click button). The TrackPoint pointing stick is a neat way to control your cursor and selection without moving your fingers from typing position. I found the pointing stick a little more difficult to use than the touch pad but nevertheless, it is a convenient feature to have.

Below the TrackPoint buttons is the touchpad and the left and right click-buttons. The touchpad is probably one of the most accurate and responsive touchpad I have used. It's very sensitive yet the cursor responds very precisely. The palm rest is made from thick plastic to ensure the heat is barely noticeable. In fact, the palm rest area feels very comfortable on your palms (one of the most comfortable palm rest areas on a laptop) so you can type for long periods without any discomfort.

Heat
The heat is dispensed through the vents on the left side. The internal fan and louvers allows air to circulate in the computer. The internal fan activates more frequently when using the ThinkPad for an extended period or when the processor is set to full performance. After extensive use on my lap, the heat was noticeable from the bottom of the ThinkPad however it was tolerable.

There are ports and connections located on the left, right, and back side of the laptop. The CD-RW/DVD combo drive is installed on the right side.

Upgrading
IBM offers the option for you to connect a dock or Port Replicator with the IBM Docking Connector (Dock II/Mini Dock or Port Replicator II) to expand more functionality such as providing a DVI out port. The memory can upgraded (512MB SODIMM is installed in one SODIMM slot underneath the keyboard, leaving an open SODIMM slot to upgrade) to a maximum of 2GB by just simply opening the latch located at the bottom.

Replacing the hard drive is a breeze: remove one screw that secures the hard drive, pull the cover outwards that is attached to the hard drive, detach the cover from the hard drive and attach the cover to a new hard drive. The great thing about this is IBM conveniently places the hard drive in the front right-side for easy access to upgrade.

Features

Processor
The ThinkPad T42 is powered by the Intel Pentium M Centrino 735 (1.70 GHz) processor. The Pentium M Processor 735 features a 2MB L2 memory cache, and 400 MHz front side bus. The system utilizes Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM memory PC2700 at 333MHz. With the support of Intel's SpeedStep technology, the Centrino processor can automatically adjust clock speeds and power usage depending on the applications' demand. Essentially, the processor can either run at optimal speeds for full performance or clock down to preserve battery usage. To utilize this feature, simply access the power options in the operating system. I always try to extend battery life by allowing the processor to clock down to approximately 600MHz when I travel with the ThinkPad. When I dock the ThinkPad at home, I connect the AC adapter so that the processor can perform at 1.70GHz.

GPU
The ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 with 32MB DDR SDRAM powers the graphics processing. The ATI Mobility RADEON 7500 supports simultaneous external display. In terms of the visual quality, 3D game demos looked good with 3DMark 2001 SE PRO. The color was not as vibrant and did not appear visually stunning compared to 3D games ran with the RADEON 9700 from the Apple PowerBook 17-inch. Performance wise, the IBM T42 with RADEON 7500 is not intended for gaming as you will see in our performance test.

Display
The 14.1-inch XGA TFT display runs at a native resolution of 1024 x 768. Setting the display brightness to maximum is sufficient but still not as bright as the LCD screen found in Dell Inspiron 8600. The brightness is adjusted with the function key from 1 (low) to 7 (high) bars displayed on screen. Color is vibrant in Windows but text is not sharp due to the low native resolution. The viewing angle both vertically and horizontally are poor as the color and brightness shifts noticeably when viewing the screen from different angles.

To test DVD playback, I played Pirates of the Caribbean and overall it ran smooth. The pixel-refresh rate is slow since ghosting occurred when scrolling documents and with some on screen motion from DVD playback. Text became noticeably blurry when scrolling through certain websites.

Please note IBM offers more display options for the ThinkPad T42 such as with SXGA+ (1400 x 1050 resolution) and UXGA (1600 x 1200 resolution) for the 14.1-inch and 15-inch models respectively. These display options are most likely sharper and may not exhibit the same ghosting effects we experienced with the basic 14.1-inch XGA.

Sound
The stereo speakers are built-in in front/underneath the ThinkPad and is powered by the AC'97 SoundMax audio card. Sound quality is poor, not a surprise coming from a laptop. MP3 playback sounded a bit muffled, as it was missing treble and bass. I plugged in a set of earphones to the headphone jack and music sounded substantially clearer.

Wireless
Our model has the integrated IBM 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi wireless mini PCI adapter. IBM offers different mini PCI cards such as the Cisco Aironet Wireless or Intel PRO Wireless. The wireless antennas are built into the display, in the top edge and in the right edge of the display for optimal reception. The signal strength sustained an excellent status within 10-15 ft. range from our Netgear router. We moved the ThinkPad T42 20-25 ft. away through 2 rooms from the router and signal strength reported a good signal. Essentially, I did not encounter any dropped connections at places (Univeristy and hotels) that provided Wi-Fi. In addition, there is a neat pre-installed software feature allows you to turn off, reduce, or increase the Wireless Radio for best network performance or saving power.

Features Continued

Connections
The IBM ThinkPad T42 provides you with flexibility to connect external peripherals on each side. On the left-side, connect your Internet/LAN connection to the Gigabit Ethernet port (10/100/1000Base-T) for faster file transfers. There are two USB 2.0 ports stacked on top and bottom for connecting to high-speed external devices such as digital camera or external storage solutions. The ThinkPad comes with a security keyhole so you can use a security cable to lock it down. The S-Video-out connector allows for connecting to a television or projector. There is an internal modem port to connect a standard phone line. There is an audio line-in port to connect to a line-level microphone and also a stereo headphone out port to connect external speakers, headphones or other sound devices.

Lastly, a PC Card slot is available to insert PC card compatible devices such as data storage, memory card media, and modems.

Left

On the right-side of the ThinkPad, the VGA out port is available to attach to an external monitor or projector to the ThinkPad. In order to use a monitor with DVI, you must use the optional IBM ThinkPad Dock II.

Right

The rear-side contains a power jack and parallel connector to connect a printer or parallel device. At the front, the ThinkPad offers an Infared (IR) transceiver to wirelessly transfer data and files with other IR devices such as PDA's and mobile computers. Speeds can reach up to 4MBps.

Front

Rear

Optical Drive and Storage
The IBM ThinkPad T42 has a bay for Ultrabay Slim devices (can hot swap the bay to install other drives or battery), as this model is installed with a Matshita CD-RW/DVD combo drive. With a push of a blue button located on the CD-RW/DVD drive, it will eject an inch outwards so you can pull the rest out. The drive is quite loud when it's reading a CD or DVD disc. The drive is capable of writing a CD-R disc at a max 24X, CD-ReWrite at 24X, CD read at 24X and DVD read at 8X. I did not encounter a single write error with this drive. IBM RecordNow burning software is included.

Our model included the Fujitsu 40 GB ATA/100 2.5" hard drive with 5400 RPM. The hard drive is extremely silent in idle and seek mode. IBM includes its Active Protection System to protect the hard drive when the shock sensor detects system tilt, excess vibration or shock.

Battery
The battery included is a 6 cell, 10.8V, Lithium-ion battery installed underneath the laptop and is advertised by IBM to operate for a total of 5.5 hours. Battery performance is affected mainly by the displays' brightness setting, wireless, CPU speed, and hard drive access. With the Pentium M processor clocked down to 594 MHz, the brightness set mid way, the battery status indicator reported 3 hours and 15 minutes. You will see a more accurate reading in our batterymark performance test.

Users can manage the battery power by using the included battery MaxiMiser software and Power Management features utility. In addition, another battery can be installed into the Ultrabay Slim slot (must remove the CD-RW/DVD drive) to increase battery operating time.

Software
The ThinkPad T42 includes a wide array of sophisticated applications to ensure your work and laptop both operate efficiently. Microsoft Windows XP Professional is pre-installed. Communication applications include Adobe Acrobat Reader and IBM Access Connections. Utility applications include PC-Doctor, Norton AntiVirus 2004, IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore (to make system restore discs). Multimedia applications include IBM Record Now to burn CD-R/CD-RW discs, InterVideo WinDVD Creator to view DVD movies, and other applications such as Access IBM for trouble shooting solutions and IBM Drive Letter Access. In addition, IBM offers programs to maximize the battery and wireless performance.

The only thing missing from this bundle were the original restore discs. IBM offers a built in recovery software with Windows XP so you can create recovery discs yourself but I decided to contact IBM support to obtain the discs. The support representative was extremely professional, prompt, and polite. She promised to ship the discs the following business day. The recovery discs arrived 3 days later.

Performance

During the benchmarks, the ThinkPad T42 was set to run at full performance meaning it ran at 1.70 GHz. For the battery performance test, the power scheme was set to Portable Laptop therefore the processor speed was automatically clocked down and the display brightness set to mid-level.

System Configurations:

	IBM ThinkPad T42	Dell Inspiron 8600
OS	Windows XP Professional	Windows XP Home
CPU	Pentium M 735 1.70GHz	Pentium M 715 1.50GHz
Bus	400 MHz	400 MHz
RAM	512MB DDR333 CL2.5	512MB DDR333 CL2.5
Hard Drive	Fujitsu 40GB 5400RPM	Hitachi 40GB 5400RPM
Video	ATI RADEON 7500 32MB	NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 64MB
Battery	6 Cell Litium-Ion	9 Cell Lithium-Ion

General Usage:
(Business Winstone 2004)

The extra 200MHz processor advantage allows the IBM ThinkPad T42 to lead ahead the Dell Inspiron 8600.

Multimedia Content Creation:
(Business Winstone 2004)

3D Performance:
(3DMark 2001 SE PRO) Default settings, resolution 1024 x 768

The Inspiron 8600 leads ahead in the 3DMark test thanks to its nVidia GeForce FX 5200 GPU.

Battery Performance:
(Business Winstone 2004 BatteryMark)

The ThinkPad T42 is only equipped with a 6-cell battery, therefore lags behind the Dell Inspiron 8600 with 9-cell battery in the BatteryMark conditioning run and life run tests.

Conclusion

Pros:

• Thin and light design; very portable
• Black magnesium casing is rugged and durable
• Excellent keyboard and pointing system
• Fast performance
• High abundance of features
• Relatively quiet operation
• Sophisticated IBM software and wide array of useful applications
• Good support: Three years parts and labor (system battery: one year)

Cons:

• Expensive
• Average screen quality
• Mediocre battery performance
• Lacks FireWire and DVI output
• Not intended for (RADEON 7500) gaming or graphic intensive applications

Recommendation:
Despite the lackluster screen quality with our review model (if we had chose the SXGA+ or UXGA display than this would eliminate one of the setbacks), the ThinkPad T42 proved to be a very useful machine. The plentiful features and fast performance packed in a portable construction will allow mobile users to do their computing virtually anywhere. Battery operating time is average due to the 6-cell battery. The keyboard and trackpad is simply outstanding and a pleasure to use.

In terms of graphics performance, the bottleneck relates to the ATI RADEON 7500' GPU. The IBM ThinkPad T42 is not intended for graphic demanding 3D games or graphics design. Particularly, the IBM ThinkPad is tailored for business related work such as office applications, E-mail, and programming. This laptop would also be a good fit for students who need a portable computer for work related purpose. For the price-conscious consumer, the suggested retail price for this review model is $2,149 (expect to pay around the same price range for a good configuration), you can find a laptop with similar features and performance offerings for a much lower price tag.

With the combined thin-and-light construction, superb wireless range comfortable keyboard, and good performance, the ThinkPad T42 is highly recommended for business professionals and even for students if they can afford it.

Price and Availability
The IBM ThinkPad T42 model 2373JTU is available now for a suggested retail price of $2,149 from www.ibm.com. IBM offers Web promotions, dropping it down to $1,869.63. In addition, IBM offers a wide number of models including custom models for you to configure the specifications and features. Please note IBM recently announced it is selling its personal computing business.