RELATED TOOLS RELATED ITEMS Technology Archive

Two years ago, IBM redefined the executive notebook computer by introducing the ThinkPad 600. This is a category where style counts, and until the 600 came along, the corporate status symbol was a high-powered big box, featuring the biggest displays, the largest hard drives, and the fastest processors. The typical laptop in those days also weighed in at a shoulder-busting 8 lb. or so.

The 600 weighed 5.7 lb. and was just 1.4-in. thick. It, and the host of other thin-and-light laptops that have come along since, proved that it was possible to shed weight and bulk with little or no sacrifice in function.

NIFTY NOTEBOOKS. On May 1, IBM announced the ThinkPad T20 as the successor to the 600 series. In one sense, it shows how much these products have matured: The T20 is a relatively small refinement of a highly refined product. But little things mean a lot, and the new design offers an assortment of hardware and software improvements that can make life much easier. (IBM's competitors haven't been sleeping, either. See the May 22 issue online at www.businessweek.com for a look at some notebooks from Acer, Apple, and Dell.)

The first thing that strikes you on opening the T20 is the display. The 600's 13.3-in. screen has grown to 14.1-in. (a 13.3-in. is still available as a low-end option.) You can only use a floppy disk now if the computer is installed in its docking station. But the laptop still has a bay that can hold a CD drive (the standard read-only or optional read-and-write), a DVD, or an LS-120 SuperDrive. The T20 also offers built-in Ethernet and a modem, plus connections for a standard TV, especially useful with the DVD player.

The T20 has lost one-tenth of an inch of thickness and about a half-pound from the original 600. Only one measure has deteriorated. This laptop is about a quarter-inch taller from the base to the top of the cover in its normal working position, critical for determining usability on an airplane tray table. Don't expect to use the T20 in a coach seat if the person in front of you reclines. And you may not want to work with the T20 on your lap since the case has a hot spot under the high-powered Pentium III. The case is a big reason the T20 has lost weight while adding features. IBM had stuck with carbon-reinforced plastic cases while other laptop makers have moved to magnesium for their thin laptops. The T20 uses a new titanium-reinforced plastic developed at IBM's Yamato (Japan) lab to allow thinner, lighter moldings.

The T20 is part of a general overhaul of the ThinkPad line. The bigger and heavier A20 series replaces both the workhorse 390 and former top-of-the-line 770 models with versions from a basic $1,800 notebook to a powerful $4,000 desktop equivalent. The T20 and A20 lines share components including drives and batteries, which will please corporate technology managers. But the components cannot be used with the older models. And IBM has finally abandoned the annoying three-prong plug on its power supplies.

A couple of the hardware innovations are a bit goofy. The ThinkLight is a little lamp at the top of the display that illuminates the keyboard in dim lighting. And the UltraPort is a connector that can mount accessories at the top of the display with no external cables. The first product is a little video camera that could be used for conferencing, but it's hard to think of many accessories I want to put up there.

POWER TRACKER. The software innovations are more impressive. A utility called Presentation Director makes it simple to set up your ThinkPad to work with a projector and to avoid blanking the screen or suspending during presentations.

A much improved battery monitor, beyond giving an estimate of remaining battery life, lets you keep track of current power consumption. For example, I learned that moving from the brightest to the dimmest screen setting cut power use by more than 30%. (In normal use, I got about 3-to-3 1/2 hours of battery life, not bad for a laptop of this class.) The T20 also features excellent online help, which is customizable so that businesses can add company-specific information.

It's hard to call a computer that's just two years old a classic, but I think it's justified as a description of the ThinkPad 600. IBM redefined the premium notebook with the 600, and the improvements in the T20 leave it well-placed to stay on top.

STEVE WILDSTROM'S reviews and commentaries are a regular feature of Business Now, a weekly program on some ABC-TV affiliates. For a list of stations and times, go to www.businessweek.com/mediacenter/