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Designed as powerful desktop replacement notebook PCs, the A series from IBM combines performance with notebook versatility. The top-of-the-range A30p comes with a wealth of connectivity options and also offers superb 3D performance.
The A30p is powered by a 1.2GHz Mobile Intel Pentium III Processor-M, backed by 128MB of PC133 memory, and can accommodate up to 1GB of memory via two DIMM slots. The CPU speed drops to 800MHz when running under battery power and the 3,600mAh battery gave a life of 1 hour 58 minutes when tested with BatteryMark 4.0.1.
The A30p comes with two modular drive bays, an Ultrabay and an Ultrabay Plus, both of which can accept a number of other drives, as well a second battery. But the Ultrabay Plus has the added advantage in that it can also accept either a WorkPad (Palm) cradle or a numeric keypad.
Only the basic Ultrabay was used in the review system, being occupied by a Toshiba DVD-CD/RW 4/4/24/6-speed combo drive. IBM provides the A30p with a huge amount of internal storage space in the form of a 48GB 5,400rpm IBM hard disk drive. There are also two Type II PC Card slots, which are stacked so they can also take a Type III card.
All the usual I/O connectors are on the rear panel, including serial, parallel, VGA, two USB modem, Lan, S-Video and two PS/2 ports. The sides of the chassis house three audio ports, an infrared and one four-pin IEEE 1394 port.
The keyboard on this system is well positioned and the keys are responsive, as is the trackpoint and the three mouse buttons. Situated on the left-hand side of the keyboard are six web navigation buttons - Mail, Home, Search, Favourites, Reload and Stop - while above the keyboard sit the volume controls and a button to access the built-in proprietary ThinkPad help software.
One of the IBM ThinkPad A30p's strongest points is its flexible range of connectivity options. As well as an integrated Intel Pro/100VE NIC and a V.92 modem, it also comes with both Bluetooth and 802.11b wireless networking, so connecting to wireless office networks should be easy.
The 1,600 by 1,200-pixel TFT screen is driven by a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon, an AGP 4X chipset that uses DDR memory and gives the A30p true 3D performance - a rarity for a notebook PC.
It also comes with a three-year warranty, which disappointingly isn't on-site.
Contact
IBM: Normandy House, Bunnian Place, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7NZ
Tel 0800 169 1458, Fax 01256 364607
www.pc.ibm.com/uk/thinkpad.html
See also:
A Pentium 4-based notebook that's ideal as a desktop replacement system. 21 May 2002
This first 2GHz Pentium 4 notebook offers cutting-edge power and portability. 15 Mar 2002
A hot new processor and power to burn in the new Apple notebook. 15 Feb 2002All Notebooks & Tablets PCs
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