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IBM doesn’t differentiate its ThinkPad range between consumer and business models, offering a uniform degree of build quality and scalability. In the same way, it does not specify the type of machine it offers, so on first appearances there’s little to inform the user that the IBM ThinkPad T42p (£2200 inc. VAT) is pitched as a mobile orkstation. Such laptops are suitable for those who use graphic packages on a daily basis. Therefore, the quality of the screen and graphics sub-system is as important as that of the main specification. IBM has moved away from the 14.1-inch screen it offered on its T41p workstation and the T42p comes with a 15-inch TFT panel.
While the main advantage of this, namely that of a larger visible area to work within, is obvious, IBM has also taken the inclusion of a larger screen to up the native resolution of the display to an impressive 1600 x 1200 pixels. Images appear crisp and clear and we were more than impressed with its overall quality. The panel is supported by the ATi Mobility Fire GLT2 with 128MB of dedicated VRAM. Under test, this graphics adapter returned a 3DMark 2001 score of 9204. While this falls short of the 10000 plus expected of the latest generation of ATi Mobility Radeon cards, it still represents excellent performance, making it capable of running all but the most strenuous of 3D tasks with comparative ease.
The main system of the T42p is powered by an Intel Pentium M processor 745, which has a speed of 1.8GHz and is supported by 1024MB DDR SDRAM. The ThinkPad can support up to 2GB of memory. The 60GB hard drive is made by Hitachi, which merged with the old IBM hard drive division in 2003. The disk has a rotational speed of 7200rpm, which is currently the fastest available in the 2.5-inch laptop format. Such a pedigree of components should be able to manage any number of tasks and when it came to benchmarking we were not disappointed, with the T42p recording a MobileMark 2002 of 214. The 200 barrier has only now been broken with a number of machines using the Dothan processor. This is smaller in size so it allows for 2MB of Level 2 cache rather than the 1MB found on the previous generation of Intel Pentium M chips.
With so much power packed into the chassis, it comes as little surprise that the standard battery pack is a large nine-cell unit and extends from the rear of the chassis by 20mm. While this makes the laptop less ergonomic than it may have been with a small pack, it returned a respectable battery life, under test, of 371 minutes. It’s also worth considering that in order to give our review laptops an equal comparison, IBM’s battery management software is switched off. Therefore, it’s likely that the T42p will last even longer than we managed to achieve.
The build quality of the laptop is on a par with the previous version of the ThinkPad, with the toughened plastic shell sitting over an aluminium skeleton. This adds strength and keeps the weight of the unit down to a portable 2.9kg. Wireless is fitted as standard in the form of an 802.11a/g adapter, which means it will be able to take advantage of hotpsots regardless of your global location. The IBM ThinkPad T42p matches and builds upon the reputation of the T41p and the impressive specification can only add to that reputation. If money isn’t a problem, or you’re looking for a system that will outclass and outlive most machines, then this is the laptop workhorse for you.
RATING: 8
PRICE: £1879/£2200 (EX/INC. VAT)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium M 745
MEMORY: 1024MB DDR SDRAM
HARD DRIVE: Hitachi 60GB
SCREEN SIZE AND TYPE: 15-inch TFT
DISPLAY RESOLUTION: 1600 x 1200 pixels
GRAPHICS CARD: ATi Mobility Fire GL T2
DIMENSIONS: 329 x 268 x 36mm
WEIGHT: 2.9kg
PC CARDS: (TYPE II/III) 2/0
WIRELESS LAN: 802.11a/g
ETHERNET: Yes
MODEM: Yes
USB PORTS: 2 USB 2.0
FIREWIRE: No
STANDARD WARRANTY: 3 yr on-site
WARRANTY UPGRADE: N/A
CONTACT:
www.ibm.com/uk
08705 727272
VALUE FOR MONEY: 5
PERFORMANCE: 8
FEATURES: 8
MOBILITY: 5
BUILD QUALITY: 8
OVERALL: 8
BATTERY: 371 MINS
MOBILEMARK: 214
3DMARK: 9204
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