Jørgen Sundgot tackles Lenovo's ultra-small ThinkPad X41 tablet convertible, finding a finely tuned road warrior tool for Mr. or Mrs. Productivity in need of longer battery life.
Review summary of the Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet:
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 The Lenovo ThinkPad X41 is productivity first, and everything else second. A modest set of specifications and a small screen are both features which lend themselves well towards keeping size and weight down whilst still providing sufficient power for most usual tasks. Battery life, however, is only average considering the hybrid tablet nature of this convertible - and a compromise clearly made to keep size down. In the case of the X41, users also pay a slight premium to get the smallest convertible out there - but it’s money well spent. Release: June 2005. Price: $1900.
Pros: Exquisitely small and light; solid build quality; titilatingly tactile keyboard
Cons: Battery life only average; modest specifications; indicator lights gone bad
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Full Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet Review:
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All it took was a transition from IBM to Lenovo, and voilá; the first tablet ThinkPad was born. The X41 is the newest member of a long and distinguished line of laptops which have always been the favourites of business travellers due to their sturdy designs, and this model is no different. Despite being a tablet convertible, the X41 still feels like it's made out of brickwork yet offers a good set of features with an apparent focus on battery life.
Judging a book by its cover
Granted, a ThinkPad may seem a bit drab at first sight with its jet black, angular design - yet for a road warrior, this signals nothing but reliability. A 12.1-inch screen with XGA resolution and anti-glare coating offers viewing and text entry with a very comfortable tactile sensation, the latter of which also holds true for the marvellous keyboard complete with bright red pointing stick and three-button mouse setup.
Necessary buttons including an ingenious key lock slider are always at hand whether in laptop or tablet mode, and the ability to lock the laptop in either mode is also quite welcome. In a package sizing up to a very modest 10.5 x 8.3 x .8 inches and 3.5 pounds, we're also pleased to find the inclusion of a biometric fingerprint reader for added security - and we also favour the software which replaces multiple logins with a swipe of the thumb. We're less pleased by the row of indicator lights which flicker like mad just below the lower left screen corner; outright annoying.
To keep the X41 as light as it is, sacrifices such as the lack of an optical drive have been made, and the convertible also sticks to the basics in connectivity; dual USB 2.0 ports (one powered), 10/100 Ethernet, a 56K V.92 modem and VGA out is what you get alongside microphone and earphone jacks; an SD/MMC card reader and a PCMCIA Type II expansion slot.
Open, sesame
Powering the X41 is a rather average Intel Pentium M 758 processor at 1.5 GHz, although the tablet can also be had with a 1.2 GHz processor. 512 MB of snappy 400 MHz DDR2 RAM is also part of the base configuration, running in tandem with a somewhat sluggish 40 GB hard drive at 4,200 RPM and a rather dull Intel GMA 900 chipset for graphics. All in all, a configuration which - thankfully - places more of an emphasis on battery life than on raw processing power.
Why thankfully, you ask? Well, the standard four-cell battery of the ThinkPad X41 would be hard pressed to last beyond 2,5 hours with average use - possibly a tad on the short side depending on the degree to which a user wants his or her ultraportable to be truly portable. Naturally, for those in need of frequent use of the built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g (802.11a/b/g is an option) and Bluetooth 1.2 connectivity, this would be even more of a pressing issue - which is why the availability of an 8-cell extended battery could come in very handy.
Further expansion is courtesy of the X4 Docking Station, which among other things holds a drive bay and further connectivity options - whilst also increasing the size and weight of the X41 to the point where one might as well go for a larger tablet with those options built in.
The final touches
Running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, the X41 also comes with a few pieces of bonus software, the most notable of which is the biometric password replacement functionality and a copy of InterVideo's VirtualDrive which allows for the creation of CD or DVD images to alleviate the lack of a built-in optical drive.
Also worthy of note is the small and compact charger unit which has graced numerous former ThinkPads - a treat for any road warrior, as is the shock-protected hard drive which is equipped with gyro sensors to halt drive heads in case of sudden drops.
Availability
The Lenovo ThinkPad X41 is at the time of press available in Europe and the US, starting at €2,100 EUR and $1,900 USD, respectively.
Price and availability
The Lenovo ThinkPad X41 Tablet will start selling for $1900 () in June 2005.
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