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Difference between revisions of "IBM Thinkpad 370C"
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<div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;"> | <div style="margin: 0; margin-right:10px; border: 1px solid #dfdfdf; padding: 0em 1em 1em 1em; background-color:#F8F8FF; align:right;"> | ||
IBM Thinkpad | IBM Thinkpad 370C Overview | ||
== Features == | == Features == | ||
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The plastic quality of most of the chassis is quite good for such an old laptop and the liftable keyboard allows easy access to the floppy drive, hard-drive, battery and RAM. | The plastic quality of most of the chassis is quite good for such an old laptop and the liftable keyboard allows easy access to the floppy drive, hard-drive, battery and RAM. | ||
The LCD screen has a fluorescent backlight that is potentially difficult to replace as screens used by IBM on similar laptops can be quite cumbersome to dissassemble (the IBM Thinkpad 755 series) | The LCD screen has a fluorescent backlight that is potentially difficult to replace as screens used by IBM on similar laptops can be quite cumbersome to dissassemble (the IBM Thinkpad 755 series). | ||
== Review == | == Review == | ||
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The Western Digital branded video chipset was already obsolete by the time of the laptop's release. The lack of any acceleration functions means that even running Windows 3.1 in 640x480 feels sluggish and Windows 95 operation feels very slow. It is very difficult to understand why IBM insisted on using such video chipsets that do not even expose VESA capabilities, requiring loading a special VESA TSR to be able to run Windows in 640x480 resolution. Also, although resolutions such as 1024x768 at 256 colors are possible, they are clearly beyond the user's patience. | The Western Digital branded video chipset was already obsolete by the time of the laptop's release. The lack of any acceleration functions means that even running Windows 3.1 in 640x480 feels sluggish and Windows 95 operation feels very slow. It is very difficult to understand why IBM insisted on using such video chipsets that do not even expose VESA capabilities, requiring loading a special VESA TSR to be able to run Windows in 640x480 resolution. Also, although resolutions such as 1024x768 at 256 colors are possible, they are clearly beyond the user's patience. | ||
The inclusion of a relatively modern TFT screen, having a good contrast ratio and response time is one of the few saving graces in terms of technical prowess. RAM capabilities are mixed. The lack of standardization means that memory upgrades are quite difficult to find, as the laptop require a potentially proprietary memory module standard, the so-called memory module adapter, that looks like PCMCIA but is not PCMCIA, to be used. | The inclusion of a relatively modern TFT screen, having a good contrast ratio and response time is one of the few saving graces in terms of technical prowess as most laptops of its era either had poor color LCDs or good but monochrome ones. RAM capabilities are mixed. The lack of standardization means that memory upgrades are quite difficult to find, as the laptop require a potentially proprietary memory module standard, the so-called memory module adapter, that looks like PCMCIA but is not PCMCIA, to be used. | ||
The included standard capacity harddrive is not adequate as even modest Windows 95 installations with a Microsoft Office 95 package can take around more than 300MB. The harddrive itself is noisy and very bulky (12mm height) but the plastic drive cage along with the laptop's own casing offer excellent noise damping capabilities as metal frames are almost entirely avoided. | The included standard capacity harddrive is not adequate as even modest Windows 95 installations with a Microsoft Office 95 package can take around more than 300MB. The harddrive itself is noisy and very bulky (12mm height) but the plastic drive cage along with the laptop's own casing offer excellent noise damping capabilities as metal frames are almost entirely avoided. | ||