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This thing is awesome. I have been playing and configuring it for almost a week now and i cant rave enough about it. I waited almost 4 months for it. The news release was on Feb 25 and i purchased it on Feb 28 (but i already knew about this in Dec). Anyway when i opened the box i was impressed with the quality of the box (its one of those really heavy boxes that can withstand quite a bit of abuse. In taking it out you realize how streamlined the initial setup is. IBM takes you through the whole process, which takes several minutes. Windows update was a little longer.

Specs:

CPU: Pentium m 770, 2.13 Sonoma chip.

15 inch screen. uxga 1600-1200 resolution.

Fingerprint reader

Firegl v 3200 gpu.

1043 system memory.

60g 7200rpm hard drive

Accessories:

Mini dock II

Second 9cell battery.


Synopsis:

First thing you notice is the build quality. The chassis is a combination of titanium corbon fiber metal which blows away any other laptop i have owned or used (yes including my alienware area 51). This thing has no flex, it is extremely light, and can be handled like a true mobile laptop should be handled (one handedly).

Body:

This thing is very well build. Port-wise, it sux. Only has two usbs, I parallel port, Svideo out, 1 audio, 1 headphone, 1 VGA, 1modem, 1 Ethernet. It has modular bay that works great. It takes 2 seconds to pop out your DVD rewrite drive and pop in anything you want (hard drive, battery). What sux bigtime is that it doesn't have a firewire port and a couple more usbs. What also impressed me was the placement of the fans. The fans are placed on the side of the laptop(left) this way if i want it on my bed or lap i don't have to worry about it overheating or choking. Did i mention that it doesn't get hot. I'm talking not hot at all Not on the bottom nor on top. this to me is refreshing especially when coming from an alienware laptop that i travel with. The only hot air i can feel is when i place my hand over the fan when I'm using the laptop intensively.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is unbelievable (it took me no time to get used to it plus the trackpoint is invaluable). The mouse pad has five programmable buttons that i set up just like my external mouse. First thing you realize is that the keys are wide apart and fully sized thus the transition between your desktop keyboard and this is very small. On top of the keyboard there is a role of Function keys that does everything you want: turn wireless/bluetooth on/off, increase/decrease volume, Brightness key, keyboard light key (yes it has a light that lights up the keyboard), and various other power buttons(sleep, hibernate, battery power manager, etc). And a last buttom that is totally cool. Its called the Access IBM which does everything from reseting your laptop to factory settings, restores stored info (option to backup whatever you want), driver update (this thing records all the hardware/software on your hard drive and updates all the drivers).

Screen:

The screen is very beautiful. Fonts are bright and clear and multimedia junk play excellently. I just watched a DVD and the screen is excellent. The only thing is that this screen is a wide viewing angle screen so you wont get much privacy (people besides you can see what your dong). I also played game and had no problem with the screen ( i read someplace that it has 20 ms response but i don't know the validity of this but its fine for me since my favorite game on the place is chess ).

The Machine:

This thing is quiet. I read some horror stories of certain machines have a loud fan and getting very hot. My machine does none of these. The fan only gets loud when loading something or when i have full CPU usage, which is rare (in fact even when i have maximum performance running and playing Command and conquer" Generals ( the game I'm currently playing now) the fan does not go on loudly(you have to stick your ear by the fan to hear it).

The lid closes nicely. The way it closes leaves nothing to be desired. The screen goes over the body thus there is no gap between the screen and the keyboard part (no paper or other junk can slip imbetween). When you grasp the laptop with one hand (no matter where you grab it) the body feels very sturdy and no flex (yessssssssssssssssss). The only problem people might find is the 9 cell battery which protrudes from the back (about 1 inch). The 6 cell is flushed with the system but not the 9 cell. Which to me is no problem because i get close to 5 hours on one charge (when playing a game i think i get around 3 hours but haven't really clocked it). But i do know that i get 5 hours when surfing the net and listening to online talk radio and news. Which to me is impressive since i have the power management to maximum performance.

Overall remarks:

What impressed me while running the machine is the speed. This thing restarts and runs excellently. In fact there is very little difference between this and my Pentium 2.66 MHz desktop. I haven't placed this against my game machine (Amd 64 bit 3800 since i have this totally decked out and overclocked). I like the DVD rewrite drive because it players everything i throw at it without being picky. Its also allot more quiet than my desktop drive. The trackpoint rawks. This thing works like a joystick (which works nice in games). Also what i should mention is that this thing is totally configurable. everything can be tailored (and i do mean everything). Also when i bought this thing i was afraid that i wouldn't be able to upgrade it but that was a useless fear. Man to take out the keyboard and get into the body takes literary a few minutes (I'm new at this so it took me longer but once you do it all the other times takes less than one minute). The harddrive and memory modules can be upgraded by your grandmother thats how easy it is (one screw and your done). Did i mention that the screen is also easily upgradeable or replaceable. No work whatsoever (IBM even has movies for doing it).

Concluding specs

Model: 2668H2U

Warranty: 3 years global warranty covering everything including purchased (meaning software bought at IBM). software support. Everything is paid by IBM including shipping (box arrives at your door the next day).

Price: out the door $3,753
Laptop price $3,199 Docking station: $169 2nd battery: $49 Tax $249

Overall I'm very happy and would do it again in a hardbeat(edited im such an idiot{dont do work while typing] i mean heartbeat).

Oops forgot to mention that i called tech support to see how it goes and was happy to get connected within 2 minutes with a person in the great USA (Georgia). Cool