IBM ThinkPad R50P 1832-22U
P-M 1.7Ghz
512MB
60GB 7200RPM 8MB
802.11 a/b/g
Bluetooth
15” 1600x1200
128MB ATI Mobility FireGL T2
DVD/CD Burner: CD-R/CD-RW, DVD-R/DVD-RW, DVD-RAM
Pro:
-Extremely Fast
-Does not get hot
-Very Quiet
-Best keyboard
-Long better life
-Very nice LCD
-Both of 802.11 and Bluetooth
Con:
-Quality is lower than previous ThinkPad series, such as A21P
Very first thing that I noticed after I opened the box is the quality. Compare to my old A21P, they are now using cheaper plastic. You can easily tell by just looking at it. Using the lower quality plastic is my only disappointment with this laptop. But still the quality is much better than any other laptops I have tried and returned. The whole laptop is very solid. Close the display and carry it around. You will immediately feel the difference.
I don’t know whether IBM is making their own LCD for ThinkPad or buying from other company. I just have to say that I really love the display. It is very bright. The text is crisp and clear. After I play games on it for hours, I have nothing to complain. Mine does not have any dead pixel by the way.
I am writing this review on my new ThinkPad. Even though I have a very power desktop, I love to type on ThinkPad. That is how good the keyboard is. I have tried Apple, HP, Gateway, ProStar (Clevo), etc, none of their keyboards would come close ThinkPad’s. But there is one thing that I don’t like with IBM’s new keyboard layout. They placed the arrow keys in between of the forward and backward keys (for web surfing). I frequently hit the backward key by the accident. I guess it is a matter of time of getting used to it.
Every other feature of this ThinkPad has, I love them all. It is very nice to have 802.11 a/b/g and Bluetooth together, which is very hard to find the laptop with these two. I was quite surprised with the DVD burner. I knew that it can burn –R/RW, but I did not know that it can burn –RAM also. You cannot put the DVD-RAM cartridge in it. You have to take out the disc from the cartridge in order to use it.
The new thing that is added to R50 and T41 series is the Hard Drive Active Protection System. I did not have high expectation of this feature, but once again IBM surprised me. It actually works. It comes with software that shows you the real-time status. When I lift the laptop very carefully and slowly, it immediately detects the movement and pause the hard drive until the movement stops. This will help to prevent the hard drive from damaging itself during on the move or accidental drop. Of course there is an option to ignore the frequent repetitive shocks for the uses in the car, train and airplane.
Games work fantastically. I tried the Simpsons Hit & Run, Postal 2, Call of Duty, and Unreal. They all run smoothly expect Call of Duty. Sometimes I experience Call of Duty does not run smoothly at the night map and crashes. I hope the future patches and drivers will fix this problem. Since Mobility FireGL T2 is based on Radeon 9600, I don’t think it would run any faster than Radeon 9600 on gaming. I have not installed 3D Studio MAX yet, but I am sure that you will see the big differences in such program.
And I forgot to mention about the boot time. Surprisingly, it takes only about 15 seconds to boot WindowsXP Pro after you press power button. IBM really did excellent job designing R50P.
P-M 1.7Ghz
512MB
60GB 7200RPM 8MB
802.11 a/b/g
Bluetooth
15” 1600x1200
128MB ATI Mobility FireGL T2
DVD/CD Burner: CD-R/CD-RW, DVD-R/DVD-RW, DVD-RAM
Pro:
-Extremely Fast
-Does not get hot
-Very Quiet
-Best keyboard
-Long better life
-Very nice LCD
-Both of 802.11 and Bluetooth
Con:
-Quality is lower than previous ThinkPad series, such as A21P
Very first thing that I noticed after I opened the box is the quality. Compare to my old A21P, they are now using cheaper plastic. You can easily tell by just looking at it. Using the lower quality plastic is my only disappointment with this laptop. But still the quality is much better than any other laptops I have tried and returned. The whole laptop is very solid. Close the display and carry it around. You will immediately feel the difference.
I don’t know whether IBM is making their own LCD for ThinkPad or buying from other company. I just have to say that I really love the display. It is very bright. The text is crisp and clear. After I play games on it for hours, I have nothing to complain. Mine does not have any dead pixel by the way.
I am writing this review on my new ThinkPad. Even though I have a very power desktop, I love to type on ThinkPad. That is how good the keyboard is. I have tried Apple, HP, Gateway, ProStar (Clevo), etc, none of their keyboards would come close ThinkPad’s. But there is one thing that I don’t like with IBM’s new keyboard layout. They placed the arrow keys in between of the forward and backward keys (for web surfing). I frequently hit the backward key by the accident. I guess it is a matter of time of getting used to it.
Every other feature of this ThinkPad has, I love them all. It is very nice to have 802.11 a/b/g and Bluetooth together, which is very hard to find the laptop with these two. I was quite surprised with the DVD burner. I knew that it can burn –R/RW, but I did not know that it can burn –RAM also. You cannot put the DVD-RAM cartridge in it. You have to take out the disc from the cartridge in order to use it.
The new thing that is added to R50 and T41 series is the Hard Drive Active Protection System. I did not have high expectation of this feature, but once again IBM surprised me. It actually works. It comes with software that shows you the real-time status. When I lift the laptop very carefully and slowly, it immediately detects the movement and pause the hard drive until the movement stops. This will help to prevent the hard drive from damaging itself during on the move or accidental drop. Of course there is an option to ignore the frequent repetitive shocks for the uses in the car, train and airplane.
Games work fantastically. I tried the Simpsons Hit & Run, Postal 2, Call of Duty, and Unreal. They all run smoothly expect Call of Duty. Sometimes I experience Call of Duty does not run smoothly at the night map and crashes. I hope the future patches and drivers will fix this problem. Since Mobility FireGL T2 is based on Radeon 9600, I don’t think it would run any faster than Radeon 9600 on gaming. I have not installed 3D Studio MAX yet, but I am sure that you will see the big differences in such program.
And I forgot to mention about the boot time. Surprisingly, it takes only about 15 seconds to boot WindowsXP Pro after you press power button. IBM really did excellent job designing R50P.
