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IBM ThinkPad A30 Review - A30, A30p
The IBM's motive for skipping directly from A22 to A30 model was to stress the change to the next generation of hardware. That move is fully justified as you find in A30 many major changes comparing to previous models.
The A30 is based on the same line of Intel Pentium Mobile III processors with SpeedStep technology as its predecessors but with higher core and bus clock rates. Depending on model and configuration you can meet versions with 933MHz to 1.2GHz clock. All processors work with 133MHz FSB speed. Together with FSB, memory clocking also changed from 100MHz to 133MHz, so different PC133 SDRAM memory modules are used. You can also install up to 1GB of memory in two 512MB modules.
Intel 830M chipset, that is the base of A30 mainboard, features Ultra-ATA/100 disk interface and faster AGP 4x graphics bus. You will find full set of ports and interfaces - parallel, serial, PS/2, VGA, two USB 1.1, FireWire/IEEE-1394, two PC Card with CardBus and ZV support, port replicator connector and S-Video out port.
Nice change from the previous models are two USB ports instead of one, but I bet many people would like to ask - why only two if there are three USB host controllers in the chipset that allow connecting up to 6 USB port connectors directly? Looks like IBM always reserves one host for UltraPort, but... there isn't any UltraPort neither in A30 or A30p. Someone might expect also USB 2.0 instead of USB 1.1 as ThinkPad A30 was announced at the end of 2001, when USB 2.0 was released over year before, in April 2000. Unfortunately, A30 and A30p features 82801CAM I/O Controller when the first version supporting USB 2.0 was 82801DAM.
ThinkPad A30/A30p comes with integrated, up to 48GB 5400rpm hard drive. It lacks integrated FDD, but has second modular bay - Ultrabay 2000 Plus that additionally to the range of drives and second battery can accept also WorkPad cradle or numeric keypad. If you need FDD you can buy it as Ultrabay 2000 module and still have one Ultrabay free for optical drive. Originally, A30 was sold with CD-ROM drive and A30p with DVD/CD-RW Combo drive. These are also configurations you will mostly meet looking for second hand, refurbished item.
ATI Mobility Radeon with 16MB or 32MB VRAM, working on AGP 4x bus, makes A30 very effective in 3D applications, comparing to its competitors. ThinkPad A30 comes with a range of excellent displays, well known from previous A-Series laptop models. The A30p version features the best 15" display with 1600 x 1200 x 16M maximum resolution. The smallest display you can get with this laptop is 14.1", 1024 x 768 x 16M mounted in some A30 versions. One thing with graphics you could complain about is lack of S-Video in port, always available in "p" versions before.
Wide and flexible networking options are also advantage of A30 and A30p laptops. One mini-PCI and two Daughter Cards connectors allow installing V90 56.6kpbs modem, 10/100kb/s Ethernet card and 802.11b wireless LAN card together or in various configurations.
Keyboard is very comfortable and quiet. It has well spaced keys and nice touch. Except typical set of keys you have also set of volume and muting control buttons, ThinkPad button for one-touch access to online help and a set of buttons for Internet features control. ThinkLight illuminating the keyboard when working in dark spaces is also very useful feature.
Both A30 and A30p have very short battery lifetime. IBM estimates A30p battery lifetime for 2.5 hours only, while some tests showed it might be even under 2 hours. As A-Series notebooks are desktop replacement systems, they are a little heavy, but that's the price for high expansion capabilities, two integrated modular bays, big screen and comfortable keyboard.
This is a very good desktop replacement. If the weight is not an issue, you may install two additional batteries and work for as long as 10 hours without external power supply. Top-shelf components and legendary IBM workmanship guarantee long life of this laptop as well as your satisfaction.
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