IBM Thinkpad R40 P4m-2.2g 60gb 256mb XPP Dvd/cdrw 15-xga 56k Enet

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.

The R line keeps improving in battery life. Our test machine lasted 3.3 hours on one charge, about 25 minutes longer than the 1.8-GHz Pentium 4-M-equipped R32 we tested in December. You can stretch battery life even further by swapping out the notebook's optical drive (a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combination drive at this price) for an extra-cost second battery. (Other bay options include a second hard drive and a Zip 250 drive.)

On top of all of that, the R40--carrying a 2.2-GHz Pentium 4 CPU--is zippy, too. Its PC WorldBench 4 score of 107 slightly tops the 104 average for 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 notebooks.

WHAT'S NOT: The R40's printed documentation is limited to one slim troubleshooting manual. A floppy drive costs extra, and IBM ends free technical support after one year. The touchpad on our review unit was sluggish, taking several seconds to respond to taps even at its most sensitive setting.

WHAT ELSE: Unlike the products in most value lines, which stick to the basics, the R40 leaves little to be desired in a notebook. It's designed for easy connectivity and upgrades, with the most common connections plus a TV-out port and FireWire. The hard drive is hidden behind the audio ports, but you can easily extract it after removing one screw from the bottom of the notebook. Both sets of mouse buttons depress deeply, offering much better feedback than the shallow, stiff buttons found on most other notebooks. Our model also came with IBM's cool spacebar magnifier: When used in combination with the function key, the spacebar maximizes the active window to fill the screen. The R40 lacks IBM's proprietary USB 1.1 Ultraport on the top edge of the display, but that omission isn't much of a handicap as the port accepts only a handful of IBM devices, such as a basic digital camera.

The R40 does have the ThinkLight, a small LED that illuminates the keyboard somewhat in dark rooms. The notebook's built-in speakers aren't of boombox quality, but they will do for users focused on work, as well as for unfussy music-CD listeners. Like the rest of IBM's new ThinkPad models, the R40 uses an updated docking station and port replicator that has USB 2.0, gigabit ethernet, and other new features. Older ThinkPads can use the new expansion devices, but the new ThinkPads can't use the old ones.

While there's little printed material documenting the notebook, IBM's on-screen manual is second to none, with step-by-step animation guiding you through many operations, such as upgrading the hard drive. IBM has revamped the help interface once again, this time into five sections, but figuring out where to find information is fairly easy.

UPSHOT: Though $2149 is still a substantial price, this ThinkPad dishes out excellent value.