IBM Thinkpad R51

Finally, after using an old Gateway 9150 for five years, my company provided me with a new laptop. I've never been a fan of the Thinkpad, but this machine might just change my mind.

The quick specs:

Series: R51
Type: 1836
Processor: 1.6GHz Pentium-M
HDD: 60GB 4200RPM
RAM: 1.5GB RAM
Display: 15" SXGA+ TFT; ATI Radeon 9000 w/32MB
Networking: 802.11b/g; 1GB Ethernet; Modem
Media: DVD/CD-RW
Ports: USB, Firewire, S-Video Out, PC-Card

Now, perhaps I'm now spoiled since my frame of reference is an obsolete PII-400 with 256MB RAM and no working peripherals, including the keyboard. But this thing rocks.

One feature that so far has proven itself quite useful is a small LED that when activated, illuminates the keyboard. While not all that bright, it actually helps a lot when using the laptop in the dark (i.e., on your lap while watching television at night, or while riding in a car at night, etc).

Not that it's directly related to the Thinkpad, but I'm also currently using VirtualPC to create sandbox environments to isolate my development tools. Now, granted, I won't be able to run a lot of different VPC's at the same time with only 1.5GB of RAM, but I can keep a cleanroom onhand for testing, etc, while not polluting my main environment with a bunch of ad hoc software installations.