An entry-level notebook that is not to be taken lightly
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): When it comes to designing notebooks, I believe we still have reason to respect Big Blue. The ThinkPads, as I've mentioned in this column time and time again, have always raised the standard of portable computer design.
The 600 Series and the newly introduced 570 Series in particular are my clear favorites at the moment. I'm still waiting for my chance to test drive the latter, which has just been launched in Indonesia.
It does not mean to say that IBM has always made great notebooks though. ThinkPad 310 Series, for example, was not really a successful one. It was meant to be a low-end retail product, but it was not marketed in Indonesia because IBM did not seem to think there would be much interest in it. Luckily, there was the ThinkPad i Series, which debuted about a year ago.
Courtesy of PT USI Jaya/IBM, I have been able to tote around a ThinkPad i Series 1400 for almost two months now. This notebook even accompanied me on my recent trip to CA-World in New Orleans, and it was truly a faithful and pleasant companion all the way. Too bad I will have to return it to IBM soon.
Almost Everything
This notebook has nearly everything you would expect from today's mainstream notebooks, although sometimes the i Series is still perceived as a low-end ThinkPad.
It runs on an Intel Mobile Pentium II 300 MHz. While this one is not exactly the most current mobile processor available from Intel today, it is still very, very fast.
My test unit came with 64 MB of SDRAM, a large 13.3" TFT monitor with 1024x768 resolution, 2 MB of video RAM, a 4 GB hard disk, a built-in V90 56Kbps modem, two free PC Card slots with Zoomed Video support, a 3.5" floppy diskette, a very slim 20x CD- ROM drive, Windows 98, Lotus SmartSuite Millenium and Norton Antivirus.
The speakers, which produce quite acceptable sound, are located on either side of the monitor. There are jacks for external speakers, a line in and external microphone. The TrackPoint now comes with a third button for scrolling down Internet pages. A USB is also available. The only thing I found missing was the infrared port.
Although the monitor is not as brilliant as the ones in the other ThinkPads I have seen, I still like it because it gives quite a good contrast level. The larger monitor also helps me a lot. With my limited vision I can still read the text on the screen with ease without having to increase the font size.
The keyboard is as good as what you would expect from a ThinkPad. Because of the large real estate, IBM didn't have any difficulty designing a full-size keyboard for this notebook.
Using Fn together with F5, F6, F7 or F8, we will have four customizable extra keys. And, unlike the previous ThinkPads that I have played around with, the two standard Windows 95 keys now appear on this one -- one for invoking Windows' Start menu and the other for calling up the system menu.
The two legs at the back, which can flip out to raise the rear end, make the keyboard more comfortable to work on. The legs can also prevent the notebook from sliding on the airplane seat tray.
The ThinkPad i Series is not for globetrotters though. It is very bulky and quite heavy. It was so large, I could not fit it into my favorite Mimeo Mendoza bag. Luckily the unit came with its own very classy handbag specially designed to hold it.
The bag still looked beautiful and exclusive even after the long trip to New Orleans -- which also involved a lot of running around the airport terminals.
Like all other ThinkPads, the power adapter is external. The Li-ion battery gives me almost two and a half hours of computing time before I have to find a power outlet.
When used as an audio CD player, it can play music for hours with the system shut down. That should be considered as added value rather than the main purpose of buying it, of course.
The design of the audio CD control panel could be made much more elegant, but it does allow us to turn the CD player function on and off, eject the CD, skip forward or backward without having to turn on the system.
The sound system itself, which uses Yamaha's OPL3, can also be adjusted to produce different 3-D effects, as can be seen in the accompanying picture. I got very good sound even when I connected the notebook to a pair of cheap, locally made power speakers.
Lately, the prices of notebook computers have really dropped -- like bank interest rates in Indonesia. When the 310ED came out two years ago, the price was US$1,999. It featured a 133MHz Pentium Processor with MMX Technology, a 12.1-inch dual-scan display, 16MB of RAM, a 1.6GB hard drive and an integrated 10- speed CD-ROM drive. Today, this ThinkPad i Series 1400 costs about US$ 1,650.
With all the pluses and minuses, the ThinkPad i Series is just right for students living in a boarding house, a SOHO entrepreneur who is just starting his own business venture or for the entire family using it as a home PC.
If you're looking for an entry-level notebook that is not light in features and capabilities, ThinkPad i Series 1400 or its successor should definitely be on the list of products you should look at. Just remember that it is not light on the shoulders and arms.