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| IBM ThinkPad A20p Notebook Computer | Hardware |
 I spend a lot of time in airports, jet planes and other places
where typing with voice recognition would not be polite or possible due to noise. As a
result, I write on my notebook computer a lot. I thought my Gateway 2000 Solo 2500 was a
pretty good desktop replacement. But when I saw the prerelease reviews and specifications
on the IBM ThinkPad A20p, I wanted to try it.The A20p (specifically model 26296VU) has a three-spindle design, which allows a hard drive, floppy drive and CD/DVD-ROM to be used at the same time internally. It’s equipped with an Intel 750 MHz Mobile Pentium III processor, with a built-in swappable DVD-ROM, a 15-inch monitor and the legendary IBM ThinkPad keyboard. Five years ago, the standard upscale desktop monitor measured 15 inches diagonally. The A20p’s 15-inch display doesn’t disappoint, and the keyboard fully lives up to its legend status. As reported, the keyboard is as good or better than standard desktop keyboards. For instance, the keyboard has a ThinkPad button. Pressing it takes you into a comprehensive, informative and easy-to-use help system, which explains the specific functions of the notebook. The A20p also comes with configuration software with useful information you could get only with additional diagnostic software on other computers. Also with its 128 MB of RAM and 20 GB hard drive, this really is a desktop replacement. It’s bigger than my Solo (which has a smaller monitor), but it’s much thinner and the same weight. Ergonomically, it’s as close to perfect as I have touched. Like the more popular (and more reviewed two-spindle IBM T20 series), the A20p has a titanium cover, which appears to enormously increase the notebook’s rigidity. While my Solo feels flimsy (but has never broken), the A20p feels bulletproof. The A20p also has a Mini PCI V.90 modem 10/100 local area network (LAN) adapter card, which allows the two PCMCIA cardbus slots to remain unpopulated and ready for your cardbus cards, such as a slim-SCSI (small computer system interface) or bar code reader. The mini PCI card containing the modem and LAN adapter allows you to plug standard telephone and LAN cables directly into the back of the notebook without dongles, an expensive connection. These little extras make it the most convenient machine I’ve used. The A20p also features an external monitor port, COM port, parallel port and audio ports. The A20p has an excellently designed pointing stick — a pencil-shaped tool that functions like a mouse. While I can live with either a touch pad or pointing stick, I slightly prefer the two-fingered operation of the pointing stick: index finger on the stick, thumb on the left or right mouse button. The 26296VU model of this product has Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional preinstalled. (A Windows 98 version with the same hardware also is available.) Windows boots up quickly and comes out of Standby/Suspend mode quickly. With the stability and robustness of Windows 2000, the A20p would be hard to beat as a basic business desktop replacement. But not all the roses in the A20p ThinkPad garden smell sweet. First, even after conditioning the A20p’s nine-cell lithium ion battery for several cycles, the tested A20p got nowhere near the five hours of battery life promised on IBM’s product Web page. (PC Magazine’s May 11 issue reported it lasted five-and-one-half hours.) Using the built-in software, I discovered the battery supplied with the A20p, which was first released to the public in August 2000, was manufactured in April 1999. When I asked IBM’s technical support workers about this, they were uniformly surprised the battery was supposed to yield five hours of use. In August, IBM tech support offered to replace the battery with either a new or refurbished battery. I opted for the new one. But three weeks later, another technician persuaded me to accept a refurbished battery. I received the refurbished one manufactured in March 2000 about a month after the initial diagnosis. The “new” battery yields about 4 hours and 40 minutes in the default power management mode — a vast improvement. IBM’s toll-free technical support was a wilted rose. I called these technicians on many issues. In each case, they couldn’t tell me how to fix the problem over the phone. Some technicians didn’t seem to know much about the tested machine. One even said they were providing support without a ThinkPad in front of them. Though polite, they acted as if they only wanted to get me off the phone even though they had not solved my real or test problem. For example, in response to a question about the external monitor port for using a multimedia projector, a technician said the port was not working and sent me a prepaid box to return the computer for repair. Though IBM’s repair policy is admirable, I would prefer to keep the computer and deal with more knowledgeable technicians. Provided the battery issue will be resolved, IBM tech support still was unable to resolve one issue: The infrared port will not transmit a print job to my infrared-equipped HP LaserJet 2100TN. I have been able to print to the LaserJet with two other notebooks, so the printer is OK. I (and IBM) have been unable to determine whether the failure is due to a Windows 2000 incompatibility (Windows 2000 purports to be able to print to an infrared port) or hardware failure. IBM has offered to send me another prepaid box to send back the A20p for repair. Not yet convinced the hardware is at fault, I have declined. To IBM’s credit, all of the surveys I have seen indicate the ThinkPads are more reliable than their competition. The 15-inch display is fabulous in part because of its native resolution of 1,400-by-1,050 pixels, but most current multimedia projectors have a resolution of 1,024-by-768 pixels. If you connect the average projector to the spectacular A20p, you won’t see the same thing on the wall as on your display. Fortunately, IBM has included an excellent presentation manager that wizards you to the best resolution for your projector and yields acceptable results. Still, it’s not quite as good as the combination of my Solo (with its 1,024-by-768 pixel native resolution) and the projector. So there is a trade off. The bottom line: As with any notebook/projector combination, check them early and often, before you are committed to keep one or the other. Also the A20p doesn’t require a dongle to watch a DVD movie on the television. An S-video connector is built right into the A20p. But inexplicably, it’s not Dolby Digital 5.1-capable, as is my year-old Solo. The A20p, which uses a software rather than hardware DVD decoder, must be rebooted after selecting television as the primary monitor type before you can see a picture on the television. You then have to reboot after reselecting your computer screen and resizing your display to continue working after the movie. It works fine and looks great, particularly on the A20p’s display. But it’s a clumsy procedure unnecessary on my Solo. This ThinkPad came with virtually no written documentation. As good as the online documentation and the ThinkPad button are, you can’t see them until you turn on the computer. And people are justifiably reluctant to press the Power button of a $3,599 computer before they know anything about it. Despite these criticisms, if I could get near five hours of battery life (10 hours with two batteries) and the A20p worked well with my multimedia projector, I would buy it in an instant. If these things aren’t important to you (battery life, projector, infrared printing, DVD watching on TV) and you are looking for a desktop replacement, this is the machine for you. |
IBM (800) 426-7235, ext. 5242 http://ibm.com/ smallbusiness/legal Price: $3,599 with a three-year warranty. Reviewed by Steve Schmidt, an attorney with Singer Smith & Williams, Albuquerque, N.M. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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