Well, my first review on MS. I’ve been a regular visitor on this site for a long time now, and I think it is an excellent concept to go through actual user reviews before deciding to buy any product. MS helped a lot in that way.
Getting straight to the review, I was in search of a laptop which would be suitable for me in the long run. My requirements were clear enough - my budget wasn’t high, certainly not beyond 50K Rs, and there were certain features which were a must in the machine. Other than that I didn’t have any brand preferences. I wanted a wireless network adapter and a DVD drive. Firstly I started off with the new Compaq V series (the ad which is on TV nowaday), the one with the widescreen. Personally, I wasn’t too big a fan of this series because the wide screen troubled me a lot. Till now the aspect ratio of most laptops and desktops has been standard approx 4:3. Now this new widescreen (but flatter) laptops come up, and I’m thinking, I don’t need this kind of screen. I mean it would be useful only for widescreen DVDs (of which I’m not a fan yet) and also current games don’t completely support the wide screen and could lead to distorted displays.
So I got that series out of the way. I asked a few dealers about the older M series but they said that they didn’t stock it anymore. Compaq has only widescreen laptops available now. IBM wasn’t my first choice till now as I was in the impression that they provided only high-end (over 1lakh Rs laptops). But the dealer assured me that they have lower end models as well. The only catch would be that it would have Linux or DOS installed in it! I decided that wouldn’t be a problem. I wanted good quality and dependability on the hardware part.
So after a few comparisons, I settled for an IBM R51 Thinkpad. And I must say that IBM doesn’t have a strong brand name for nothing. Lookwise the laptop seems dull at first sight, but gradually you start to fall in love with it. The build quality is excellent, and it seems sturdy to hold. This model came with no software installed :-( but I plan to install Linux on it and that will take care of that. For the meanwhile, I’m running it on windows. My dealer helped me get the driver cds and the utilities for the various extra functionalites such as the Active Protection system (the air bag funda) and many other nice features. Of course I don’t have the heart nor the courage to try out if the Active protection is working :-D
One more hot feature is the presence of a night light at the top of the screen. Its perfect for working in the dark whereby it beautifully illuminates the entire keyboard. The drivers installed, everything worked like a dream. I had a few problems with the network adapter in the beginning, but I realized that was a software problem.
The battery life is very good. I can get around 4 to 4:30 hours easily. Of course playing games and using other graphic intensive apps can bring it down.
Even the machine doesn’t heat up like other brands I’ve seen e.g Compaq which heats up even just after starting. The fan starts when the temperature gets up and cools it down perfectly.
Input devices consist of an excellent tactile keyboard, with extra function keys, but unfortunately no Windows key. but that’s not a problem because I swapped a Ctrl key with the Win key. Both the trackpoint and the touch pad are provided. But in my opinion, IBM/Lenovo should do away with the trackpoint (the red thingie in the centre of the keyboard) coz I don’t think anyone uses it if the touch pad is present. But beware, some models don’t have the touch pad, in those cases I think an external mouse is required.
This model doesn’t have any firewire ports, but no complaints, Firewire is mainly used by the Mac side. Windows fans can stick with USB. Still haven’t tried out the Wireless adapter, the modem or the PC card slot. But I guess these things won’t disappoint my either.
IBM has an excellent support site as well. so I’m looking forward to spending a long time with this baby.
All in all, an excellent decision to buy this machine and I’m really happy with this choice. Go for it.