More importantly, the T42's battery runs for more than five and a half hours on a charge. The newer ThinkPad T43 performs slightly better than the ThinkPad T42, but at the expense of 30 minutes of battery life. We think the T42's longer battery life makes it a better choice for business users running typical productivity software; if you intend to run more-intensive programs, consider the ThinkPad T For a laptop offering the latest in processor technology, the IBM ThinkPad T42 is strikingly modest in its design which is par for the course for the all-black ThinkPads.
We tested the larger model, which has a inch screen and weighs in at 5. The smaller model has a inch screen and weighs less than 5 pounds, but it is still a good deal bulkier than IBM's new ultralight, the X As on all IBM models, the metal hinges connecting the T42's lid to the body are tough as nails and well suited to day-in, day-out business use. You get a touch pad and a pointing device that nestles in the middle of the keyboard.
We also like the simple buttons above the keyboard, including volume controls and an Access IBM button that directs you to support and troubleshooting information. Optional six- and nine-cell batteries are also available for the bay. Around the rim, you'll find two USB 2. That covers the basics, but accoutrements such as FireWire and flash media slots are missing. The ThinkPad T42 also comes preloaded with IBM's new Rescue and Recovery platform, a secondary operating system that lets you recover data on your hard drive and access the Internet even when your primary operating system won't boot.
Not indecipherably so, but enough to be annoying. Dialogue scenes from the Lord of the Rings DVD were stunning in their clarity and detail, but once the action started, things got blurry quick. It was even worse in the restored The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
A black-and-white concert film from the Sixties left considerable streaks every time Sinatra took a step left or right. A moving white square in a monitor test looked like a comet with the tail it left behind.
I didn t test the screen with any action-oriented games, but watching the animated opening montage of Civilization III made me feel like I just ate a Vicodin sandwich chased with a bottle of Cuervo. Everything was a blur.
The actual game, full of still images, looked fabulous, however. Scrolling through documents looking for keywords can be a chore because the text becomes a blur once set in motion.
There s also a touch of ghosting on a few web pages with sharply contrasting layout colors. There s also a thin brown discoloration of the screen running down the right side of the screen that gets darker and more noticeable at the bottom, where the taskbar displays the time. This sounds worse than it is, but other Flexview users have reported the same problem. Speakers The ThinkPad T42 s speakers, situated beneath the palmrest, are just plain bad.
Some reviewers claim the sound is acceptable but tinny. To me, the ThinkPad makes any kind of music sound like it s being played on a cheap transistor radio circa. There s no bottom, and the high notes sound thin. The only things that are halfway listenable through these speakers are clips of old radio broadcasts, which sound remarkably authentic given the poor sound. Headphones are a must. The T42 is not a computer for long trips away from electrical outlets, in large part because of that power-guzzling Flexview screen.
The six-cell battery lasts between two and three hours on most normal settings. This might be acceptable for a desktop replacement, or a cheaper mainstream notebook, but it s disappointing for an expensive machine ostensibly designed for mobility.
With the screen at its top setting and the processor set to adaptive, a full charge from the six-cell battery lasts barely two hours when web surfing.. Turn off the wireless or dim the screen and you might get an extra minutes of light use.
Plug in a set of headphones and that drops back to two hours. With the processor at the very slow setting and the display turned down two notches to five out of seven , the battery yields about 2 hours and 40 minutes of web surfing and word processing.
A DVD played less than two hours on power-saving settings very-slow processor speed, screen set to its middle brightness before the machine shut off.
I suspect much of this is due to the Flexview s power consumption, which is significantly greater than a non-IPS display. Turning the screen down to zero with a minimal processor setting will allow greater computing time, but if you re going to do that, why bother buying the expensive display and fast processor?
It also adds about an inch to the back of the base, which could make it a tight fit for some computer bags. Bottom Line True to IBM s name, the Flexview T42 is a great machine for business applications word processing, number crunching, reading documents, creating spreadsheets, etc. It s hard to say enough about the build quality and how wonderful it is to use the machine for many common tasks, provided you re near a power outlet.
The battery and ghosting should be addressed, but like an attractive woman in bad shoes, the T42 s flaws are glaring only because the rest of it is so damn great. If IBM would ship a bigger battery or otherwise improve power management, this would be the ideal computer for many users. Improve the screen, and it s the perfect thin-and-light. Use the NotebookReview.
The preload and recovery partition left about 50 GB free on the 60 GB hard drive. ThinkPad T42 Performance Performance-wise, the 1. ThinkPad T42 Display The inch screen may or may not be in the same class as the best displays on Sony or Toshiba machines, but will still make most other notebooks look bad when comparing text, still images or even some animations.
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