I didn't test this with a light
meter, my prebeta unit had the brightest, clearest screen I've seen on a notebook.
Powering the LCD is a 64-bit Trident chip set, providing SVGA at 1280 by 1024 pixels. Clear viewing is maintained at about 45 degrees off-center in all directions. Try as I might, I couldn't find a single blurry spot or dead pixel, and even the brightness is more or less consistent.
For raw power, the 770 beats its predecessors by a mile, offering either a 233- or 200-MHz MMX Pentium CPU. (A less-expensive 13.3-inch screen is available on both models, which range from $5500 to $7000.) You can squeeze in up to 256 MB of high-speed synchronous DRAM (the system comes with 32 MB). The high-end model has a 5.1-GB hard drive.
Besides improving existing features, IBM made some major design changes. The keyboard is now integrated into the main unit rather than on an angled, pop-up plane. IBM says that it adopted the keyboard from the ThinkPad 560 line, and it expanded the palm rest for greater comfo
rt.
The ThinkPad's eraser-like Trackpoint mouse controller has also changed. You can now double-tap on it directly to select a screen item without having to press the buttons on the palm rest. Joining the latter is a new center button that you can use for fast scrolling and panning around documents, as well as for zooming in.
Eliminating the pop-up keyboard removed the entry point for the older ThinkPad's UltraBay storage slot. The new slot, called the UltraBay II, now sits in the front of the notebook's right side. You get to it by moving a small front-mounted slider, which releases a large lever that pushes out the storage device. The digital videodisc (DVD) drive will go here when it's ready later this year. This bay also accepts a removable floppy drive, a CD-ROM or Zip drive, a second hard drive, or a battery. An optional screw underneath lets you lock the storage device in place for added security.
As a piece of multimedia road equipment, the 770 needs to keep up on standards. Boy, doe
s it ever. Hardware-based MPEG-2 offers full-screen, full-motion video -- a big improvement in pixelation over the already-decent quality of the 760's half-horizontal-resolution MPEG-1. In addition to the typical microphone, headphone, and audio/video in/out ports found on older models, the 770 now has ports for universal serial bus (USB) peripherals and Sony/Philips Digital Interface (SPDIF) audio devices.
My test unit wasn't ready for benchmarking, and I couldn't use the PC Card slots or DVD, so performance and reliability are unknowns. But by upgrading its multimedia ThinkPad line on nearly every front, IBM has made a great notebook even better.
Where to Find
ThinkPad 770....................Approximately $7000
(estimated at press time)
IBM Personal Computer Co.
Somers, NY
Phone: 800-426-2968
Fax: 800-426-3395
Internet:
http://www.us.pc.ibm.com/thinkpad
The Best ThinkPad Gets Better
