IBM ThinkPad i Series 1200 review

When IBM sets out to make a new ThinkPad range, we're sure it looks long and hard at the silver shiny devices made by rivals such as Sony.

It takes them back to its laboratory, prods and probes them for their secrets, and marvels at the glamorous range of features. It then shakes its head at the folly of youth, and creates something almost (if not quite) identical to its previous ThinkPad. So it is with its budget i Series 1200. And in many ways we're glad that IBM has stucks to its guns, however dull that may seem.

IBM's conservative thinking is first reflected in its choice of basic components. The 500MHz Mobile Celeron might not rival the 850MHz Mobile Pentium III that Intel has just announced, but it provides more than enough power for the office and Internet uses you're likely to put this notebook to. Likewise, it could have been more generous than to fit 64Mb RAM, but you're unlikely to be planning much photo-editing or other memory-intensive work on a notebook PC anyway. And there's a spare memory slot free if the need arises.

With an 800x600 resolution, the screen is, again, functional rather than exciting. This is the ideal resolution for word processing, but feels cramped when browsing the Internet - as soon as you load up My Favorites or your History on the left-hand side of the screen, you'll have to scroll sideways to see all the main page's content. We've no criticisms of the screen itself, which is bright and sharp, and also extremely well protected by the lid.

It's build quality that sets the ThinkPad apart. The hard disk is kept away from harm thanks to a reinforced palmrest, and try as we might we couldn't find anything breakable. What impressed us most was the keyboard. Despite the restrictions on size, it's actually more comfortable to type on than many a desktop and, as IBM is loyal to the desktop keyboard's layout, it's also easy to get used to.

We're not so fond of the TrackPoint - the red nipple-like device in the middle of the keyboard for use as a mouse - but it is responsive and accurate enough when you're on the move. There's a PS/2 port available for an external mouse.

IBM doesn't go overboard with the other ports on the machine, forgoing the aging serial standard in favour of one parallel and two USB ports. It could be accused of throwing the baby out with the bathwater by not including a floppy drive, though. True, the floppy's 1.44Mb capacity is made to look rather pathetic when compared to the 650Mb of a CD, but there's no other way to easily transfer small files from one PC to another. Instead, we had to e-mail an 8K file across the globe and back to a PC sitting two metres away. We advise you buy the floppy option at time of purchase for £68.

The graphics are another area in which IBM has been less than ambitious. There'll be no Quake III played on this machine, as its Silicon Motion graphics chipset is about as potent as William Hague after 14 pints. This is fair enough for a budget notebook, but we're slightly more disappointed to see a nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery fitted. Unlike its more expensive lithium ion cousins, this has to be carefully looked after if you want it to keep performing at top whack. If you don't let it run down fully each time you use it, it's susceptible to the 'memory effect' characteristic of NiMH cells make the batteries appear flat prematurely. That said, the ThinkPad performed reasonably enough in our rundown tests, lasting for 1hr 52mins before it ran out of juice.