IBM ThinkPad A31 review

IBM's ThinkPad is one of the most recognised brands in the world, so to a certain extent we can forgive the company for never veering from the black, angular approach that typifies its look, even if it's never going to win a beauty pageant. IBM isn't thinking about sleekness with this particular notebook either - the A31 measures 53mm from top to bottom at its thickest and weighs a hearty 3.3kg.

In return, you get an extremely well built machine; it's no coincidence that IBM has won our Notebook Reliability award (as voted by PC Pro readers) for two years running. The extra girth also allows room for a full-width keyboard, which feels superb. Another nice touch is the ThinkLight, which can illuminate the keyboard in dark conditions. The keyboard's only problem is the lack of a Windows key, meaning several handy shortcuts are unavailable.

The screen is equally impressive, its 15in diagonal playing host to 1,400 x 1,050 pixels. When on mains power, it's one of the best on show, with bright, even backlighting and good viewing angles. On battery power, though, IBM forces you to use a lower brightness setting, making the screen look more subdued.

If IBM was hoping for great battery life in return, it was wrong. The A31 lasted for a mere 69 minutes in our intensive tests, and only 91 minutes when playing a DVD movie - just long enough to reach the 'so the murderer was...' climax before it cuts out. Even under light use, it couldn't quite reach the two-and-a-half-hour mark.

The ThinkPad didn't stun us with its speed either, although the combination of a 1.6GHz Pentium 4-M processor and 256Mb of RAM was enough for 0.84 in our 2D benchmarks. With the help of ATi's popular Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics chipset, the A31 rustled up 4,428 in 3DMark2001 (XGA resolution, 16-bit colour), so it will cope comfortably enough if you want to use it for games after hours.

This notebook has room for growth too. In this configuration, IBM supplies a combo DVD/CD-RW drive in the right-hand Ultrabay Plus bay, but the left-hand Ultrabay 2000 sits empty. You could add a DVD-ROM drive, second battery or even a second hard disk to complement the 40Gb unit already in place.

With integrated wireless LAN (the antenna for which IBM sensibly positions in the lid for maximum signal quality) and Windows XP Professional as the OS, it's clear the A31 will appeal to the corporate buyer. The only problem is the price. But if you can afford this notebook, its excellent keyboard, expandability and build quality make it worth the extra money.