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IBM THINKPAD R40 P4M-2.2G 60GB 256MB XPP DVD/CDRW 15-XGA 56K ENET (IBM-2681L7U)

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IBM ThinkPad R40 Review

by Carla Thornton

- WHAT'S HOT: Like its predecessor the R32, the ThinkPad R40 stuffs so many great features into a lightweight unit that you'd never know it's supposed to be a bargain-line notebook. The modular bay and easy-to-use keyboard are just the beginning: The 6.3-pound (not including power adapter) R40 is the first two-spindle ThinkPad you can order with a 15-inch screen and dual pointing devices (previously available only with the ThinkPad T series). It's also the first of any of IBM's ThinkPads to have USB 2.0 ports (two of them), and the first with built-in antennas that support both Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless networking and the faster 802.11a standard. (Our test machine wasn't completely wireless ready--like some configurations, it lacked the necessary wireless mini-PCI card, which costs about another $50 for Wi-Fi. And the 11a/11b card that makes full use of the dual antennas was not available in time for our review.) The R40 bundles three swappable caps for the eraserhead pointing device, including the new Soft Rim and Soft Dome. We didn't receive the Soft Rim, but the Soft Dome installed on our unit was bigger, softer, and much easier to use for cursor control than the old, stiff Classic nub.

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User Reviews for IBM THINKPAD R40 P4M-2.2G 60GB 256MB XPP DVD/CDRW 15-XGA 56K ENET (IBM-2681L7U)

Reviewed by: good2know

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Powerful and nice looking

Weaknesses: No firewire

Overall Evaluation: I got it really cheap from a friend works at IBM. P4 running 2.2Ghz, 15" LCD, 40Gb hard drive, 256Mb RAM build in Cisco Mini PCI, DVD/CDRW combo drive for $1900 CND ( around $1350 US ). I order it online and got it 3 days later even it said on their web page that will take up to 2 weeks. The only thing I don't like is only got one PCMCIA slot! If it has a buildin firewire then one PCMCIA should be fine but I think for the money taht I paid I should not ask for anything more. Very happy with it.
Reviewed by: Methuss

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Fast...durable and light.

Weaknesses: 32MB video memory is somewhat anemic.

Overall Evaluation: IBM has another winner in the ThinkPad line. The amount of video memory is my only complaint. I would like to see an option for at least 64MB. The Pentium M model is fast and runs a good 6 hours between charges. The multiple trackpoint caps are a nice touch. The best configuration is with the 15 inch display, at least 512MB of memory and the DVD-R/RW "multi-burner" added on as an option. I found myself upgrading to 1GB of memory when I got into doing some serious video editing on it. The firewire port certainly helps out with transferring large amounts of video data from a DV camcorder. The clincher is that if you look hard enough you can get one of these for as little as $1400.

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