Big Blue is marketing its latest ThinkPad notebook - the T30 - as a thin, light computing powerhouse.
The machine has 55 patents and is fitted with Intel's new Pentium 4-M processor, ATI Technologies' ATI Mobility FireGL 7500 graphics card, DVD/CD-RW combination drive, 256 megabytes of random access memory (Ram) and 802.11b wireless communications. Personal-computer makers Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba last month launched high-end notebooks based on the Pentium 4-M chip.
Most PC makers have built their Pentium 4-M notebooks with the best components, including high-resolution 15-inch screens, hard drives in the 40 to 60 gigabyte range, and top of-the-line graphics from Nvidia and ATI Technologies. IBM Hong Kong and China PC division general manager Alfred Cheng said the T30 was a 'portable workhorse that is a desktop replacement system'.
With so many PC makers pushing notebooks containing Intel's latest chip, IBM is trying to differentiate itself with unique design features such as the UltraNav multi-pointing system.
The UltraNav is IBM's name for including two pointing methods in its machines - the Track Point and the touch pad. IBM ThinkPad models feature the Track Point red pointing device. Now the firm is touting the UltraNav system as 'the most radical design change in a decade' perhaps forgetting the 1995 ThinkPad 701 series, popularly known as the Butterfly because it featured a fold-out keyboard, was a far more radical departure in design. The company is also overlooking the Transnote, a slim Thinkpad with an attached tablet for handwriting recognition.
Mr Cheng said the touch pad was included because some customers asked for it. The corners of the touch pad can be used as hot buttons to launch up to four applications or Web sites.