Product review: IBM's i Series 1200 and 1300 ThinkPads

Friday, June 30th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Many corporate road warriors consider IBM's ThinkPad the state of the art in mobile computing. Lightweight yet sturdy, these notebooks shut with a solid click, the kind of engineering one might expect in a good car. Their keyboards have a bouncy, roomy feel.

Now IBM is bringing these highly regarded portables to the consumer and small-business markets with satisfying results.

The i Series 1200 and 1300 notebooks are the most affordable ThinkPads yet. All the models in this series weigh in at a reasonable 6 pounds. Even the bottom-of-the-line model 1210, which I tested, is equipped sufficiently for basic computing tasks.

The 1210 is priced at $1,199. It comes with a 500-megahertz Intel Celeron processor, 32 megabytes of memory, a 6-gigabyte hard drive, a 12.1-inch SVGA display and a 56 Kbps modem. Those with an extra $200 would get a far better machine in the model 1230, which has a 13-inch display and 64 megabytes of memory.

Notebooks are more personal devices than desktops, so it's a good idea to see if you like the feel of the machine before you buy.

As a substitute for a mouse, for example, ThinkPads come with a TrackPoint scrolling device, a small eraser-shaped pointer that resides in the middle of the keyboard. For more information, call 1-800-426-7255 or visit www.pc.ibm.com/us/thinkpad/