Paul Thurrott reviews T43 in Windows IT Pro UPDATE newslette

[pmcg]

I subscribe to Paul Thurrott's Windows IT Pro newsletter and in today's issue is a "Tale of Three Notebooks". The T43 is one of the notebooks compared and I include his opinion of it here:

Mainstream Business Notebook: Lenovo ThinkPad T43

Lenovo Group's latest T-series ThinkPad, the ThinkPad T43, continues
the tradition of excellence that has always marked the high end of the
ThinkPad product line. The ThinkPad T43 adds a PCI Express-based
motherboard with ATI Mobility X300 graphics, Gigabit Ethernet, the IBM
Embedded Security Subsystem and Integrated Fingerprint Reader for
security, and the patented IBM Active Protection System, which protects
the hard disk from losing data in a bad fall.

Like earlier ThinkPad T series machines I've used, the T43 provides
an industry-best keyboard feel, although I hope the recent sale to
Lenovo will result in the addition of a Windows key, a feature IBM
refused to add. The machine includes the legendary ThinkPad eraser head
pointing stick, which I prefer, and a more standard trackpad. You can
configure a ThinkPad T43 with a 14" or 15" standard aspect ratio
display, typically with resolutions of 1024 x 768 or 1440 x 1050. The
display is wonderful, but I prefer widescreens and would like to see
Lenovo move in that direction.

Available with 1.6GHz or 1.86GHz Pentium M processors, the ThinkPad
T43 is a speedy notebook, but I suspect the X300 graphics chip, with
its dedicated 64MB of RAM, is more than partially responsible. One
small concern: The unit includes just two USB 2.0 ports, which are
right on top of each other. Beyond that, the ThinkPad T43 is almost
infinitely configurable with a wide range of options. The test unit
featured a low-profile removable CD-RW/DVD combo drive, but numerous
other optical disks are available, as are various RAM, hard disk, and
battery allotments.

One buys ThinkPad products because of the quality and support, and
the T43 is the nicest ThinkPad yet. Add some widescreen display options
and a few more USB ports, and it would be perfect. ThinkPad T43s are
expensive, however. A system like the one I tested costs just under
$2000, although you can get lower-end T-series ThinkPads for as low as
$1300.

Paul Thurrott's columns are published here:
http://www.windowsitpro.com/Authors/Aut ... 9/879.html

But I didn't see a reference there to this newsletter article which compares three notebooks:

HP Pavilion dv1000 - Thin and Light
T43 - Mainstream Business
Dell Latitude D810 - Desktop Replacement

[sugo]

Another 15 minute "pro" review?