IBM T41 laptop

Real stories from real people about ThinkPad? notebooks surviving adverse weather, fire and the weight of a rolling pickup truck. ThinkPad notebooks have long been known for their impressive reliability ?you could even say "legendary" performance and portability. But over the past 13 years, as ThinkPad grew to become the world's most popular notebook computer, something else emerged: Legends of ThinkPad.

ThinkPad ?Because we mean business.

Designed for highly mobile users,ThinkPad T Series notebooks are the perfect balance of performance and portability. Many notebooks come and go but the no-nonsense black brick seems to go on for ever outliving any number of newer, shinier, silver and grey laptops. The latest skew on a very successful theme is the Thinkpad T41, a slim-line unit weighing 2.2kg.

Certified for graphics-intensive applications, ThinkPad T41 mobile workstation offers high performance in a thin and light notebook. ATI's Mobility Radeon 7500 chip provides the horsepower for the graphics and while the Thinkpad T41 certainly isn't a gaming notebook, the graphics controller lets you have a stab at all but the most recent games. A ThinkPad mobile workstation is an ideal solution for displaying detailed designs, dramatic demos and high-powered presentations - in the office or on the road.



As with all Thinkpads, the keyboard is a joy to use and its positioning is spot on. IBM's notebooks are famed for their legendary keyboards, the ThinkPad T41 bears the traditional standard-sized keys and a large spacebar and it is really comfortable to type on - with a nice tactile feel to boot. The pitch between the keys are spacious enough and the depth is just right on our fingers. If you're the sort who types furiously while on the go, you really can't go wrong with a T41 here. The T41 also features the ThinkLight which is a built-in LED lamp which is used to illuminate the keyboard at the touch of a button (well, two actually - Fn+PgUp). The ThinkLight is definitely a thoughtful feature for many users who likes to work in the dead of the night. It also comes with both a Trackpoint and a Trackpad, so it should suit everyone, and has mouse buttons for both options. IBM has also equipped the Thinkpad T41 with the full suite of ThinkVantage technology... An IT manager's dream, this is based around Access IBM, a collection of tools to help to keep the notebook secure and running properly, as well as helping to bring the system back to life should it be attacked by viruses or other malware. Access Conections is a tool which allows easy shifting between all forms of Network connection through a single interface.

As with most modern Thinkpads, it's what you don't see that is sometimes more impressive than what you do, and the Thinkpad T41 has a gem of a hidden surprise - intelligent hard drive protection. Or, as IBM calls it, the patent pending Active Protection System, which shuts down the hard drive when it senses rapid acceleration to prevent damage before a violent impact occurs. In our drop tests, the hard drive did indeed shut down briefly, but it returned to normal use in a few seconds. The ThinkPad T41 series also features IBM's Security Subsystem 2.0 with both BIOS-level and software components to make these notebooks some of the most secure in the industry.

IBM's ThinkPad notebooks have never been the flashiest laptops around, and the upgraded ThinkPad T41 series continues the black-slab tradition. But IBM doesn't need a lot of bling bling, because this fast, solid thin-and-light delivers all the amenities that make IBM notebooks endearing, such as a firm keyboard, a bright screen, cutting-edge security, and a keyboard light. Available in a wide range of configurations with a standard three-year warranty, the ThinkPad T41 series is also extremely IT- and business-friendly. It's not the least-expensive notebook around, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a better travel companion.