IBM ThinkPad T42p
Like all recent ThinkPads, the T42p incorporates IBM's Active Protection System, which protects the hard disk from damage when the notebook is bumped or dropped. You also get IBM's Rescue and Recovery features to ensure that you don't lose everything if your data becomes corrupt or your hard disk crashes.
The extended battery pack shipped with this T42p, so it's probably safe to say that the battery life will be excellent, like the T41p I reviewed. Of course I'll test the battery life when I receive a production unit that I'm allowed to run benchmarks on.
The Left side of the chassis sports two stacked PC Card slots that will accept one Type III or two Type II cards. You'll also find two USB 2.0 ports, an S-Video port, a headphone socket and a microphone socket. As if that wasn't enough there's also a modem socket and a LAN port for the Gigabit Ethernet adapter.
On the right of the case is a DVD/CD-RW combo drive. This is a good addition since you can backup data to CD, although it would have been nice to have seen a DVD burner. That said, IBM does offer a DVD writer as an option. Next to the optical drive is a D-SUB output, in case you want to use an external display. Finally at the rear is the power socket and a parallel port.
Even the front has some functionality squeezed in. Nestling in the left, front corner is an infrared port. This is something that most notebook manufacturers have done away with in favour of other wireless standards. But IBM has covered absolutely every base, just in case you want to connect to a mobile phone or PDA that only has infrared support.
With dimensions of 329 x 36 x 268mm (WxHxD) and a weight of around 2.6kg, the T42p is larger and heavier than the T41p, but the larger, higher resolution screen more than makes up for the slight increase in physical size.
I have to say that I really like the T42p and if the performance of the production model can match the ergonomic excellence of this early sample, IBM will have a winner on its hands yet again. There is a bit of noise from the internal fans when using the notebook in a very quiet room, but in the majority of environments I found that the ambient noise drowned this out anyway.
I should have a production version of the T42p within the next few weeks, at which point I will benchmark it and write up a full review. So if this preview has whetted your appetite, make sure you check back with TrustedReviews to get the full story.
