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CNET editors' rating:
4.0 stars
Excellent
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 87 reviews
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Product summary
CNET Editors' ChoiceMar 03
The good: Long battery life; slim case; very thin media modules; integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; embedded security system.
The bad: Not the fastest Pentium M laptop; expensive.
The bottom line: The thin-and-light IBM ThinkPad T40 series offers an innovative design, top-notch performance, and tons of features.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Pentium M (1.6 GHz); RAM installed: 512 MB DDR SDRAM; Weight: 4.9 lbs; See full specs
Price range: $948.00
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 03/09/2003
- Updated on: 03/14/2003
- Released on: 03/12/2003
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 The keyboard has a familiar, desktop-PC-like layout. |
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The ThinkPad T40's case contains an internal, swappable bay for very thin, 9.5mm-tall drives and modules including DVD and DVD/CD-RW. Fortunately, you can use these drives in the bays of other ThinkPads, such as the R40, but you'll also have to buy an adapter for the bay ($59). The smooth, black-rubber coating on the ThinkPad T40's lid makes it easy to get a grip on the system.
The T40 series also includes another ThinkPad staple: a great keyboard with a familiar desktoplike layout and springy keys but, unfortunately, no handy Windows key. IBM's signature red pointing stick sits above the B key, with corresponding mouse buttons and a third scroll button under the spacebar. You can put one of three texturized caps on the pointing stick depending on the feel you prefer, or you can skip the stick altogether and use the touchpad; some less-expensive models in the T40 series include the pointing stick only, however. Unfortunately, the touchpad's own set of mouse buttons might be a little too thin for some people. Additional buttons include three volume-adjustment buttons--up, down, and mute--above the keyboard, plus an Access IBM button, which takes you directly to the company's support software. A tiny light above the screen beams down on the keyboard when you need it.
 Choose one of three different red caps for the pointing stick. |
 The mouse buttons under the touchpad might be too thin for some users. |
The ThinkPad T40 features a fairly standard selection of ports and slots. You'll find two Type II PC Card slots; headphone and microphone jacks; 56Kbps modem and 10/100/1000 Ethernet; S-Video out; and two USB 2.0 ports on the left edge. The battery bay and a parallel port occupy the back edge. The VGA port and a swappable media bay sit on the right, while an IrDA port and two hollow-sounding speakers lie embedded in the front edge.
In true IBM style, the ThinkPad T40 series comes with a dizzying array of choices when you buy it at IBM.com. Whether you go with a preset system or a customized one, you get a decent variety of component choices, including Intel's new Pentium M processor in 1.3GHz, 1.5GHz, and 1.6GHz speeds; the new Intel 855PM chipset; anywhere from 256MB to a big 2GB of speedy 266MHz DDR SDRAM; either a 30GB, 4,200rpm hard drive or a 40GB, 5,400rpm drive; 32MB of dedicated video RAM attached to an ATI Mobility 7500 or Mobility 9000 graphics chip; a swappable DVD or DVD/CD-RW combo drive; and a choice of batteries. The bigger of the two batteries, which is what we tested in CNET Labs, costs an extra $189; we did not test the smaller battery. (Some configurations of the T40 include only the bigger battery.)
The only display choice is 14.1 inches, but it comes in two native resolutions: the cheaper 1,024x768 or 1,400x1,050, which captures fine graphics detail but makes text extremely small. For especially intense mobile users, IBM offers a version of the T40 with a workstation-class, 64MB ATI Mobility FireGL graphics chip and a giant 80GB, 4,200rpm hard drive. The company will also sell older T-series systems with Pentium 4-M processors through this summer.
 The DVD drive is very thin at just 9.5mm high. |
 Handy buttons reside above the keyboard. |
Whether the T40 is an official Centrino depends on your choice of wireless hardware. If you opt for an Intel Pro wireless 802.11b mini-PCI card, you can count yourself among the Centrino crowd. But it's not a Centrino if you choose one of the other mini-PCI options: Philips Agere 802.11a/b or Cisco Aironet 802.11b. What to choose depends on a couple of factors, namely, if you want to use the faster (though currently less pervasive) 802.11a Wi-Fi standard; so far, the Intel wireless radio is 802.11b-only. Want 802.11a in an Intel Wi-Fi chip? You'll have to wait until later this year.
Whichever wireless solution you choose, the built-in, dual-band antenna on the side of the ThinkPad T40's display will help you maintain your wireless connection. In addition to a Philips Agere 802.11b/a chip, our evaluation unit included a 1.6GHz PM processor, 512MB of memory, a 32MB ATI Mobility 9000 chip, and a 14.1-inch display at 1,400x1,050 pixels.
The ThinkPad T40's corporate bent comes through in its software. A host of operating systems serves businesses that use both old and new OSs: You'll get your choice of Windows XP Professional, XP Home, 2000, 98 Gold, 98 SE, or NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 6a). Microsoft Office XP Professional and Small Business Edition are options for smaller companies that don't already own software licenses; licenses for Lotus SmartSuite Millennium and Notes are also available. Optional titles in finance, education/entertainment, graphics/Web design, and utilities/security can be bought at varying prices. IBM's hardware- and software-based Embedded Security System comes with all but a few of the lowest-priced T40s; the notebook offers an extra layer of security to prevent the pilfering of important info in PKI (public key infrastructure), VPN (virtual private network), and other secure environments. Finally, the T40 ships with InterVideo WinDVD for DVD play, as well as Norton AntiVirus 2003 and PC-Doctor for antiviral duties.
Mobile application performance
Compared to other Pentium M-based thin-and-lights, the ThinkPad T40 demonstrates below-average mobile performance. The 1.6GHz PM-based system came in last place in the pure-business notebook category, 12 points behind its nearest competitor, the Dell Latitude D600. This lag is likely due to the T40's 4,200rpm hard drive, which is slower than the 5,400rpm hard drives of the other systems we tested. However, while not the mobile-performance king, the ThinkPad T40 still scored better than most non-Pentium M notebooks we've tested.
Mobile application performance (Longer bars indicate faster performance)
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SysMark2002 performance
The ThinkPad T40 scored the lowest overall in maximum performance in this Pentium M test group. The T40's bottom-rung office-productivity score was likely due to its relatively slow, 4,200rpm hard drive. Its Internet-content-creation score, which does not depend as much on hard drive speed, proved a more palatable five points lower than the second-place Dell Latitude D600. These differences would not be discernible to an everyday user, but ultimate speed-seekers such as gamers or multimedia pros may not be satisfied with the ThinkPad T40.
Maximum application performance (Longer bars indicate faster performance)
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To measure maximum notebook application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark2002, an industry-standard benchmark. Using off-the-shelf applications, SysMark measures a desktop's performance using office-productivity applications (such as Microsoft Office and McAfee VirusScan) and Internet-content-creation applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver).
3D graphics performance
The ThinkPad T40 edged the Dell Latitude D600 out of the second-place spot in our 3D graphics test. But while the IBM's 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics adapter proved powerful, it wasn't brawny enough to beat the Acer TravelMate 803LCi's Mobility Radeon 9000 chip with twice the amount of video RAM.
3D graphics performance (Longer bars indicate faster performance)
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To measure 3D graphics performance, CNET Labs uses Futuremark's 3DMark2001 SE. We use 3DMark to measure desktop replacement notebook performance with the DirectX 8.1 interface at the 32-bit color setting at a resolution of 1,024x768.
Find out more about how we test notebook systems.
System configurations:
Acer TravelMate 803LCi
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB; Toshiba MK6022GAX 60GB 5,400rpm
Compaq Evo N620c
Windows XP Professional; 1.5GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32MB; Hitachi DK23EB-40 40GB 5,400rpm
Dell Latitude D600
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB; IBM Travelstar 40GNX 40GB 5,400rpm
IBM ThinkPad T40
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB; IBM Travelstar 80GN 80GB 4,200rpm
All of the Pentium M-based systems we tested showed impressive battery lives of four hours or more. But the IBM ThinkPad T40, which blew everyone away by chugging along for nearly seven hours, had a major advantage: a huge 10.8V, 6,600mAh battery that's so big it sticks out about an inch from the back of the notebook. (The battery slot is on the back of the T40.) While our evaluation system included this big battery, most ThinkPad T40 configurations include a smaller, less expensive 10.8V, 4,400mAh battery.
Battery life (Longer bars indicate longer battery life)
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To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002. MobileMark measures both application performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications (Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6.0, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0).
System configurations:
Acer TravelMate 803LCi
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB; Toshiba MK6022GAX 60GB 5,400rpm
Compaq Evo N620c
Windows XP Professional; 1.5GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 32MB; Hitachi DK23EB-40 40GB 5,400rpm
Dell Latitude D600
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB; IBM Travelstar 40GNX 40GB 5,400rpm
IBM ThinkPad T40
Windows XP Professional; 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M; 512MB DDR SDRAM 266MHz; ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB; IBM Travelstar 80GN 80GB 4,200rpm
The ThinkPad T40 is expensive, but as usual, you get what you pay for. Whereas cheaper laptops ship with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, the T40 comes standard with a three-year warranty on everything but the battery, which is covered for one year. You can increase the coverage with a range of options lasting up to five years with onsite service for $549. Around-the-clock, toll-free phone support endures throughout the warranty.
IBM offers one of the better support sites among laptop makers, too. The extensive site includes decently intuitive navigation through helpful sections, such as an online troubleshooting assistant and a user forum for chatting with other customers and IBM support representatives. Like Dell, IBM preloads its own help application, called Access IBM, which provides tips and tricks, as well as links to online support.
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