IBM ThinkPad A20m 3SU

WHAT'S HOT: IBM's beefy new A series of laptops, including this midrange model, share the same extra-cost internal devices used by the lightweight new ThinkPad T20 travel notebook. This marks the first time the company has offered its corporate customers such cross-platform convenience. You can swap out the A20m's CD-ROM drive for any of six other devices, including a 6X DVD drive ($299), a SuperDisk drive ($195), a 4X/4X/20X CD-RW drive ($389), a Zip 250 drive ($289), a second lithium-ion battery ($189), or a second hard drive ($289 for 6GB, $399 for 12GB, or $539 for 20GB, plus a $45 bay adapter). Flipping a small switch on the side of the case causes a pull-tab to protrude; pulling this enables you to draw devices out far enough to grab them with your fingers. The notebook's primary hard drive is easy to remove, in case you store sensitive data: Remove a coin screw on the bottom of the notebook, and then withdraw the drive from the left side of the case. Like the portables in the T20 series, the A20m comes with a shortcut button at the top of the keyboard for launching the terrific onboard manual, Access ThinkPad.

WHAT'S NOT: Nothing significant.

WHAT ELSE: The A20m 3SU offers the same comfortable keyboard as its ThinkPad brethren, including deep-traveling leverlike mouse buttons and the famous red IBM eraserhead. Three buttons at the top of the keyboard quickly and smoothly raise, lower, and mute the above-average built-in audio. This all-in-one portable looks somewhat chunky, at 1.8 inches tall with the screen closed, but it weighs a reasonable 6.7 pounds. The fixed floppy drive and audio connections huddle together on the left side, beneath the beveled case's overhang, and the big, attractive screen closes snugly over the front of the case like a box lid. The A20m's docking station ($499 extra) adds a DVI port for digital monitors and replicates connections--including the two PC Card slots, for a total of four. The A20m ran for 3.3 hours on one charge in our tests, about 20 minutes longer than average. It also turned in a good performance for a Celeron-500 in our PC WorldBench 2000 application tests.

BEST USE: Configured toward the lower end of a line ranging in price from $1700 to $4000, the A20m 3SU makes a respectable choice for companies seeking a budget-priced desktop replacement to complement their workforce's T20 travel notebooks.

SUMMARY

IBM ThinkPad A20m 3SU PC WorldBench 2000 score of 113, Celeron-500, 128MB of SDRAM, 15-inch active screen, 12GB hard drive, eraserhead, 10X-24X CD-ROM drive, built-in V.90 modem, built-in NIC; 1-year parts warranty, 1-year labor warranty; free, unlimited 24-hour toll-free support during warranty period and $35 per incident thereafter. $2268 800/426-7255, ext. 4751 www.ibm.com/pc/us/thinkpad