ThinkPad A31p: New workstation from Big Blue

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

Do you want a notebook that really has it all? Tons of computing power, an extra large screen, ample storage capacity, complete connectivity?

Big Blue has done it again. It has made one with all of these features available. Although Big Blue is not necessarily the first in implementing the latest and the most advanced notebook technologies in the industry, it does have a reputation for making a notebook that also serves as a very powerful workstation.

And the latest mobile workstation from IBM is certainly not for those with weak arms and shoulders -- especially those who are always rushing through airport terminals to catch the earliest connecting flight. Unlike your compact and lightweight notebook, the new ThinkPad A31p, at a little less than 4 kilograms, is really heavy and bulky. Just released two months ago, I was quite lucky to get an early chance to run a quick test drive on this US$4,200 plus machine -- courtesy of PT IBM Indonesia.

Workstation

What is a workstation? In the old days, a workstation might mean a keyboard and a monitor that were attached to a mainframe computer. In other words, a workstation was a console or a station where people worked with the computer. In today's vocabulary, a workstation is normally taken to mean a very powerful computer that performs very serious tasks -- such as running mechanical design, simulation or animation applications.

Today's workstation can be a standalone machine, or it can also be networked because the user may need to access the Internet or share very large files with other co-workers. Needless to say, not very many people will require a mobile workstation.

The size and the weight factors -- not to mention the price -- are not attractive at all to globe trotters. Yet, there are a bunch of professionals that truly need to have the ability to work on their projects away from their desk, and they will find this class of notebook a tremendous help in boosting their productivity.

Hobbyists may also find mobile workstations a blessing. Think of the emerging independent moviemaking activities, for example. With a mobile workstation that has a lot of hard disk space, they can edit video footage and creatively combine them into award- winning video clips without having to remain glued to their desktop workstations.

Users of such a notebook will certainly need a power outlet where they want to work, though, because a machine with the A31p configuration, for instance, will consume the battery juice very quickly. IBM claims that the notebook's battery can last more than two hours, but you must adjust a couple of things to achieve it, including dimming the screen.

Just what does IBM ThinkPad A31p have under the hood?

The processor that propels it is a Pentium 4 Mobile running at the speed of 1.7 GHz. My test system also came with 256 MB of DDR SDRAM, a 60 GB hard disk, an IEEE 1394 FireWire port on the right side, a built-in modem, a Fast Ethernet port, both the Bluetooth and the 802.11b WiFi wireless connections, an infrared port, two PC Card slots, three multimedia ports, an S-Video port and two USB ports. The installed operating system is Windows XP Pro.

The screen's real estate is 15 inch, which makes this workstation so huge compared with mainstream notebooks of today. The graphics chipset is ATI Mobility FireGL 7800, which is equipped with 64 MB of DDR RAM. A removable floppy diskette drive is still there on the left side of the notebook, and on the other end is a removable DVD/CD-RW combo drive. Despite the obviously power consuming components, the battery is quite small in size.

There are very few competitors in this category of notebooks, understandably. One of the latest is perhaps the 1.8 GHz Dell Inspiron C840. However, IBM distinguishes the A31p by using the workstation-grade graphics processor from ATI and a hard disk with a larger capacity.

First impressions

Obviously, the 1.7 GHz processor produces far more computing power than what we need for creating text document or browsing the Internet. That is why this expensive machine is not for the majority of us. But, as the industry goes, we are going to see notebooks with 2 GHz processors in no time, for sure.

Besides the powerful processor, the large screen is another strong point of this notebook. IBM fits an LCD panel that it calls FlexView to the notebook. The screen has excellent contrast ratio and color saturation. In addition, its viewing angle is also very good. I can still see the images quite clearly from all sides of the screen at a wide angle.

The maximum resolution of the screen is 1600 x 1280, which is usually available only on a 20 inch or larger CRT monitor. At this level of resolution I simply cannot use the notebook because the screen items are so small, and my eyes are not very good. I can adjust the size of the screen items or increase the size of the screen fonts to Extra Large in Display Properties. However, I feel most comfortable using the usual 1024 x 768 resolution, and the graphics subsystem is intelligent enough to fill the entire screen at this resolution level.

The reviewer before me had installed a 3-D game to test the 3- D performance of this notebook. It ran very well. The movements were smooth and the images were realistic. In fact, I almost failed to meet the deadline for this story because I was immersed in the game for quite some time. The two speakers under the palm rest produce pleasant sound. They were good enough to let me enjoy Itzhak Perlman's Encore.

Because of its extra large size, the full-size keyboard still has some space on the left that IBM filled with a new row of six additional buttons for Internet navigation. There is one extra button for loading the e-mail client program, for example.

The tactile feel of the keyboard is not as pronounced as on many other ThinkPads, but the keys are large enough. IBM still has not added the Windows buttons on the keyboard, and I hope they never will. I always find the Windows button between the Ctrl and Alt buttons on today's keyboards annoying rather than useful. IBM has added two navigation buttons -- Backward and Forward -- in the group of the arrow keys. Pressing the Backward key, which is located above the left arrow, will make Internet Explorer jump back to the previous URL.

The bag, in which this notebook came, features a new safety Velcro strap called SafePort. It prevents the notebook from accidentally gliding out of the bag and plunging onto the hard floor -- if you are unlucky -- as you take it out of the bag.

All in all, this notebook gives us what we expect for its price. But if you are a design engineer working with Catia, a video editor or a pro that needs a portable powerhouse, this notebook should be on your list of top candidates.