IBM R30 62G

IBM has a reputation for producing excellent notebooks, but they're usually expensive. With its new R series of Thinkpads, the intention is to offer cheaper models without compromising quality.

The savings have to come from somewhere, however, so a number of the components in the R series are from a cheaper bin than its cousins. The question is whether IBM has cut too many corners, or whether it has reached an acceptable compromise between quality and value.

Measuring 36 x 313 x 254mm (h x w x d) and weighing about 2.6kg, the machine is in the middle territory size wise. It's not too unwieldy to take out in public, but you won't have much space for anything else in your briefcase.

On the style front it's traditional Thinkpad all the way, but with one or two subtle design changes to make it stand out ever so slightly from previous models, if you know where to look.

The R30 boasts a 1GHz mobile Pentium III processor, the older variant with 256Kb of Level 2 cache instead of the newer 512Kb M version fabricated at 0.13micron. The processor is allied to a 30Gb hard drive and 128Mb of Ram.

It comes with Windows 2000 Professional as opposed to XP, which makes it less memory hungry, although you'll still probably want to fill the spare internal memory slot with another 128Mb, costing £36 including VAT. A 14.1in display with 1,024 x 768 native resolution is driven by a run-of-the-mill Trident Cyberblade AI1 graphics chipset, which steals 8Mb of main memory, making a Ram upgrade look even more sensible.

You'd think the size of the R30 would leave quite a bit of space to play with, but IBM's engineers have only managed to squeeze in one Ultrabay Plus removable device bay. To make up for it, however, they've filled the bay with a CD-RW drive - not exactly unheard of these days, but still a welcome novelty on a notebook.

On the connectivity front, the main feature is the integrated Wifi wireless network adaptor, complemented by a wired 10/100 network and 56K modem.

The machine's two USB ports are sensibly placed with one at the left of the case and one at the back. The rest of the ports comprise parallel D-Sub and S-Video out, plus the two PC Card slots at the left. There's no Firewire.

Above the keyboard you get a row of four shortcut keys. We're particularly pleased with the dedicated mute button, which comes in handy for curtailing those embarrassing moments when everyone near you on the train gives you a funny look as you scrabble for the volume control.

Also in the small but interesting details list is a feature requested by our 24/7 American cousins, who said they wanted a light to be able to work in bed while their partners were sleeping. IBM has obliged with the Thinklight, a white LED nestling in the top of the lid that shines on the keyboard.

It has to be said that it's pretty weedy, though: when using the R30 in the dark we still found ourselves squinting at the keys because our eyes had adjusted to the much brighter light of the screen. Finally, the Return key is blue, in case you can't find it.

IBM's preinstalled widgets include a useful and comprehensive power management applet, which unusually lets you select an express charge mode for the battery.

The R30 line continues the heritage of excellent Thinkpad keyboards, but we are a little worried that it doesn't feel quite as solid and rattle-free as those on the models of old. It's something we'll keep our eye on. The lack of a Windows key is also very irritating, but it depends on the way you work.

The cache deficit compared to the newer mobile Pentium IIIs leaves the R30 trailing a little in the benchmark stakes, but it's still plenty fast enough. Battery life is moderate, with the unit managing five minutes shy of two hours in our intensive tests. You should be able to get more out of it in normal use.

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