IBM Thinkpad A31

One of IBM's first ventures into the Mobile Pentium 4 market is a chunky number, weighing in at over 3kg. Its remarkably sturdy exterior makes it ideal for the road warrior who fancies a spot of weight training while on the move.

Packed with a 1.6GHz Mobile Pentium 4 and 256MB of PC2100 DDR SD-Ram, performance is more than we could ask for from a notebook, or even need.

Running under Windows XP Professional, the overall Sysmark score of 147 is one of the highest we have seen from a notebook. But performance is not the be all and end all and, at just under £2,500, this notebook has a lot more to prove.

Scouring the exterior, the first thing you notice is the plethora of ports and features. The most impressive inclusion is that of a spare 5.25in bay. With one on either side of the chassis, you could have both the included eight-speed CD-RW/DVD combo drive and a numerical keypad extension installed at the same time - quite a rarity, even for a notebook of this size.

The Soundmax chip is better quality than expected, as are the stereo speakers, and the three audio-in/out ports are clearly labelled to the side. Two Type II PC Card slots sit alongside the left-hand 5.25in bay, and at the rear of the Thinkpad are the usual array of I/O ports: two USBs, one serial port, one parallel, a PS/2, Ethernet and modem.

But if we were shelling out £2,500, a few more options - such as Firewire and a couple more USB ports, even USB2 - would have been appreciated.

The 15in LCD screen is superb, filling the whole side of the chassis, and has a native resolution of 1,400 x 1,050. The anti-glare covering on the screen is what really sets it apart from the crowd: everything is very clear and crisp.

The Thinkpad A31 comes with a 40GB hard drive. While this may seem huge (almost excessive), considering what you can actually do with this behemoth, the extra storage space could easily come in handy.

The keyboard is, on the whole, excellent. Buttons are large and feel good to the touch. But the lack of a Windows key is unforgivable, considering how much most people use it. On the plus side, the trackpoint is truly excellent, though we expect nothing less from IBM.

Sadly, the IBM gives us a measly one hour 42 minutes of battery life; a particular surprise considering the size of the battery that could have been fitted into the Thinkpad's mammoth chassis.

Price: £2,469.85 (£2,102 ex VAT)

• 1.6GHz Mobile Pentium 4 processor
• 256MB of PC2100 DDR SD-Ram
• Intel 845 chipset
• ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chip
• 15in LCD screen - 1,400 x 1,050 max resolution
• 40GB hard drive
• 8x CD-RW/DVD combo drive
• Windows XP Professional
• Weight: 3.5kg.

Contact: IBM 0800 169 1458
www.pc.ibm.com/uk