IBM Gets It Light!

New Ultra-Portable ThinkPad X40

By Hassen Fawaz, Reporter-DHL Enterprises, Inc.

September 3, 2004

Ft. Lauderdale, FL. 

Just when you thought it was safe to stake your claim that your ThinkPad X31 was as small as a ThinkPad could possibly get, IBM came back to prove you wrong.  The latest ultra-portable laptop from IBM is not only smaller than the current IBM ThinkPad X31; it’s lighter, sleeker, more compact, and definitely road ready!

The recently introduced IBM ThinkPad X40 is another achievement in the unrivaled line of ThinkPads that will make your fellow Starbucks buddies envious in every way.  From its slim 1 inch thick chassis, to its rather small footprint (smaller than a sheet of paper), you’d better have a drool rag ready.  I’ve not only been carrying one for the past few months, but have thrown everything but the kitchen sink at it to see how well it stands up to its older brother, the somewhat larger Thinkpad X31 ultraportable.  Let me tell you, the X31 has nothing over the X40 (except a bit more weight, size and a 1394 FireWire port).

The X40 comes in basically one size with a 12.1” XGA 1024x768 TFT panel screen.  Three different processors are available including a 1.0, 1.2 and a recently announced 1.4 GHz low voltage Intel Pentium M power-saving chip running on a 400 MHz front side bus.  Prices for the X40 start at $1,499, though the one reviewed here retails at $2,299.   Battery life is rated at 7.5 hours with the extended battery, which I found to be a bit exaggerated, but the tested time of six hours is not bad considering that I keep the LCD running at full brightness even while unplugged. The extended battery protrudes a bit from the rear of the X40 and comes standard on some X40’s, while a standard size battery that sits flush with the rear of the laptop is rated at 3.5 hours.

I have been testing the 2371-8WU model of the X40 line ($2,299), which is near the top of the X40 line.  It comes with a 1.2 GHz Pentium M processor, 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of  333 MHz RAM (expandable to 1.5 GB), extended life battery, and a removable X4 Ultrabase ($199 without a drive) which contains a 24x CD-RW/DVD drive.  It also includes 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless running on Windows XP Professional.  Only a handful of models come standard with the X4 Ultrabase (which provides a bay for an otherwise missing optical drive), but it is available as an option for all X40’s.  

Standard ports include two USB 2.0 ports-one on each side of the notebook, with a proprietary USB power port for special external optical drives available from IBM.  It also includes a VGA port for an external monitor, RJ-11 phone-modem jack, RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet port, infrared, and of course a microphone-in and headphone-out jack.  Unlike the X31 and its predecessors, the X40 comes with an integrated Secure Digital (SD) slot found on the right hand side, convenient if you use an MP3 player or digital camera that stores its files on SD media.  In past ultra portables from IBM (including the X20 thru X31 series), ultra portables instead  had a compact flash slot in addition to the still included single PCMCIA Cardbus PC card slot.

What sets the X40 apart is of course its small, sleek, and slim design.  Weighing in at less than 3 lbs. with a standard battery (2.78 lbs. to be exact or slightly over 3 lbs. with the extended battery), and just over one inch in thickness, this little marvel can easily go anywhere you do without much effort.  Encased in the traditional ThinkPad titanium composite black material, the X40 is as attractive as it is versatile and lightweight.

And what would an ultraportable be without an abundance of wireless connection options.  Naturally, the X40 doesn’t disappoint here either.  It comes with your choice of 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11a, or any combination of all three protocols for those with multiple needs (I run 802.11a and 802.11g at my office, and the model reviewed here has an 802.11b/g card pre-installed).  In addition, Bluetooth wireless is also an option on some models including the model reviewed here.  To date, however, IBM has not shipped a model with both an 802.11a/b/g combo-card and Bluetooth wireless (although they announced one at launch), however you can upgrade any Bluetooth enabled X40 with the 802.11a/b/g combo card if needed.

In terms of performance, the X40 is no slouch.  Running at 1.2 GHz, (a 1.4Ghz model was just announced) this notebook sailed thru most day to day operations including internet browsing, word processing, spreadsheets, email, and even photo-editing. While it probably won’t win any speed races (or qualify as a gaming computer), it holds its own and performs as good as any, and even ran faster than my current X31 ultraportable which also runs at 1.2 GHz.  

The LCD screen is bright, vivid, and sharp from every angle. IBM manages to always choose the best LCD’s for its laptops, and the X40 is no exception.  I was lucky enough to get one with zero pixel defects, a blessing in itself.  

The keyboard doesn’t feel cramped in any way and is considered full size with a nice tactile feel that is also an IBM trademark. The thoughtful keyboard light mounted on the top of the LCD lip is yellow instead of the traditional white light.  It’s pretty bright, but I prefer white light over the new yellow incarnation.

So how did IBM manage to cram all these features into such a small package, and where are the compromises you ask?  I’m happy to report that there are few, if any.  IBM is using a new half size Hitachi hard drive that comes in 20 GB and 40 GB sizes, so upgrades to larger drives are not currently possible.  In addition, the backspace key, along with a few others (e.g., Tab, Caps Lock, Ctrl, Alt, Enter), were somewhat downsized, but it really doesn’t affect overall touch typing. An IBM TrackPoint is of course standard on the X40 with three new trackpoint heards (standard, flat, or rounded). Sorry touch pad lovers, you have to move up the ThinkPad T-series ThinkPad if that is your cup of tea.

Battery choices for the X40 are plentiful, so making this a 12 hour plus unplugged notebook is not out of the question.  The X40 has an extended battery slice option ($199) available that attaches to the bottom of the notebook and extends unplugged time up to four additional hours.  This battery attaches to the bottom similar to the dock, and raises the rear end to put the laptop in an ergonomic position. In addition, you can use an Ultraslim bay battery ($169) in the X4 Ultrabase to do the same if you so choose.  This would preclude you of course from using an optical drive in the bay simultaneously.  You can however only use two batteries at a time.

Enterprise worthy features supplied with the X40 includes utilities to configure the hardware options, switch between wired and wireless connections and perform system management tasks. The “Active Protection System” is a sensor that detects sudden motion and parks the hard disk to reduce the risk of a system crash in the event of a fall, a Thinkpad exclusive feature.

Other impressive rescue tools include “Rescue and Recovery” which works even if a virus attack or accidental file-deletion disables the Windows installation.  If you interrupt the boot-up process by pressing the blue “Access IBM” button above the keyboard (which also launches various diagnostic and help screens when Windows is running), the ThinkPad loads a built-in, Linux-based utility toolkit including diagnostic tools, the Opera Web browser for downloading patches or other files (if an Internet-connected Ethernet network is available).  It also includes a rudimentary file manager for copying items from the hard disk to safer storage.  Warranties range from one to three years standard with options of up to five years of on-site service.

Overall, I couldn’t find much that I didn’t like about the X40, except maybe the hard drive capacity limitation, but I suspect that will be addressed in the future once Hitachi ships a larger capacity half-size drive.  I would have also preferred a white keyboard light instead of yellow, and a FireWire (IEEE 1394) port would have been nice as well, although USB 2.0 makes up for this shortfall.  The only other improvement could have been the audio speaker found on the bottom of the notebook, which isn’t very loud at half a watt, even with the volume turned up to its maximum setting.  Unfortunately, this little marvel isn’t cheap, and I consider it a bit pricey, but for the size, weight, and no compromise feature set, it’s worth the price of admission.

 

If you are in the market for an ultraportable, or simply must have one of the lightest and most powerful laptops available today, the IBM ThinkPad X40 is definitely worth considering.  With a laundry list of features and amenities, as well as performance that rivals that of traditional laptops and desktops, you hardly can go wrong with IBM’s latest offering.  Pick one up today, and never feel like you missed the weight again.

To learn more about the ThinkPad X40, click on http://www.ibm.com/products/us/, then click on Notebooks and then click on the ThinkPad X Series link.

Hassen Fawaz is a reporter for THINKPADS.COM, the President of DHL Enterprises, Inc., a value added reseller (VAR) and computer and networking consultant for small businesses.  He can be reached at via e-mail at shf@usa.com or at (954) 473-6100 for questions about this review.

Hussien Fawaz contributed to this article.