Product Reviews

It may come as some surprise that the cheapest notebook we've seen for quite a while is from IBM - not a name you'd automatically associate with bargain prices. But this is a sign of the times - every player now wants a piece of the lucrative consumer market, and the big brands are no exception.

Weighting in at £1,104 (£1,1297), the IBM ThinkPad I Series 1400 is an A4-size design built around a 300MHz Pentium MMX processor. It sports 32Mb of RAM, a 4.3Gb hard disk, built-in modem and 12.1in TFT screen ('thin film transistor' screens are brighter than the cheaper DSTN variety). This processor and RAM pairing is pretty average for the cheaper notebooks in this group.

Portability is also distinctly average for this type of machine. Its size and weight are unremarkable, as is battery life, lasting just under two hours in test conditions. It's about twice as heavy as the new wave of ultra-light weight notebooks around, which cost about the same, but often aren't as speedy, and have CD-ROM and floppy as external units.

The ThinkPad has an excellent keyboard. The keys are raised above the level of the wrist support,

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a feature that makes hitting the space bar more comfortable than if it were flush. The keyboard's action was a bit rubbery, but was nevertheless responsive and had plenty of travel. The keys were also of a generous size.

IBM chose not to fit a touch pad, opting instead to employ something it calls a 'TrackPoint Stick'. This red pimple sticks up above the 'B' key, and is used like a joystick to move the mouse. While we feel a touch pad would have been better, you may disagree.

The wrist rest on the IBM drew our attention because it has a raised semi-circle of plastic. This makes the notebook a look a bit like a record player. Beyond this, we found it became distracting during typing. Happily the 12.1in TFT was harder to criticise. It was sharp, bright and free from reflections.

IBM was an excellent musical performer, a fairly unusual trait for a notebook. Its screen has a thick black border around it, which houses speakers that run the height of the display on each side. Sounds were clear and crisp, with good stereo separation. Pump up the volume, however, and things get rather ropey.

The IBM was pretty disappointing in our speed tests, hampered by slow graphics in the form of the NeoMagic MagicGraph 128XD. This is a shame because, teamed with a better graphics adapter, the 300MHz Pentium MMX is an excellent processor. Here, it was beaten by machines rated at 233MHz.

There's a fair amount of stuff that IBM get right, not least its price, which marks a breakthrough for the company. However, performance isn't one of them. And neither is battery life. A good notebook should be comfortable to use, powerful and very portable. Ergonomics are good, but one out of three isn't really enough.