The ThinkPad T40 Is A Great Choice For Notebook UseWhen it first came out, the ThinkPad t40 was a true gem. It was also considered one of IBM's best one-bay notebooks, with a speedy processor that impressed many users. It may not be one of the most recent models put on the market, but it can still deliver some fantastic results for a lot less money than new ThinkPad models. The ThinkPad t40 specifications make for great reading. The magic behind the ThinkPad t40 was that it included many of the features of the t30 series. These features had already been debugged by the time the ThinkPad t40 came along and were running at optimum level. Some of the features that were carried forward were an impressive big screen, as well as multiple options for wireless use. It also included the two-in-one pointer in a thin, yet tough laptop that many users simply loved. On the inside, the ThinkPad t40 had a modular bay that could hold a combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive, battery, zip drive, hard drive, or floppy device. To make it even more enticing, users could specify an 80 GB hard drive and up to 2 GB of system memory which was outstanding in that day and age. For those who had to travel with the unit, it came in at a light 5.4 pounds and had a depth of only one inch. This light weight and thin profile made it perfect for traveling and for storing in carry on bags. All of the above was fine and left a good impression on the people who used the units, but the surprise was that the ThinkPad t40 was incredibly fast. This was due to Intel's newest line of thin-laptop processors. They used the Pentium M which was faster and at the same time cooler in operation. As far as battery life, the units ran on a 9-cell pack and would run for over 6 hours or on a 6-cell pack that weighed less but delivered less time. This is one of the major advantages of the ThinkPad t40 battery. Still, that is a lot of time on battery power, and it was one of the reasons so many people bought them. When this model first came out it cost a little over $3000. You can now find these same machines for a fraction of the price at many online computer outlets. In some cases, the price decrease can be significant and is a good motivator for anyone looking for a powerful machine but does not want to spend too much on it. The ThinkPad t40 had all the same connectivity and connections as the model t30, such as the legacy parallel and the PS/2 ports. However it has no FireWire port. There are built-in antennas. These will handle three wireless protocols: 802.11b and 802.11a Wi-Fi standards along with Bluetooth. |