There are many models of the 390E available as of August 1999 -- with CPU's from 300 MHz Celerons to 333 MHz mobile Pentium II's, from 32 to 64 MB of RAM, from 12.1" to 14.1" TFT displays, and from 3.2 to 6.4 GB hard disks. Currently the 390E's occupy the price range from about $1700 to $2700. This is considered IBM's "standard issue" general purpose all-in-one business laptop; a laptop for people who buy computers with their own money. :)

I have the E0U model, which is a mobile PII/333, 14.1" TFT, 64 MB RAM, and a 6.4 GB disk. While not the lightest laptop around by a fair stretch, the build quality is excellent, the screen is flawless, and the keyboard appears to be designed by someone who actually types for a living, which is rare. The integrated CDROM/floppy combo is clever and handy, and can be swapped out for a second battery, 2nd HDD, etc.

As of May 2000, IBM is currently producing the 390X series, which features Pentium 3 CPU's running at up to 500 MHz.

I will concentrate on the 390E model #2626-E0U for the remainder of this web page. However, IBM provides some specs for the entire 390E lineup in this PDF brochure.



Specs at a Glance: (2626-E0U model)

• 333 MHz Mobile Pentium II (Dixon PII core)
• 256KB L2 cache, on die, running at full clock speed
• 64 SDRAM standard, 256MB max (66 MHz FSB)
• 6.4 GB S.M.A.R.T. EIDE disk, ATA-4, 13 ms seek time, 7 ms latency
• 24X CD-ROM, up to 3.6 MB/s
• Uniformly bright spectacular 14.1" 1024x768 pixel display
• ESS Solo-1 Audio chipset: 16-bit Stereo audio, Line in, Microphone (integrated), microphone jack, MPEG-1 Playback, Sound Blaster Pro (compatible), Speakers(stereo)/headphone jack, Speakers (integrated), Video out, Volume control
• 2D/3D graphics using the Neomagic NM2200 (256AV) chipset, 2.5 MB video memory, maximum external resolution = 1280x1024 x 24-bit
• 2 Type I/II or 1 Type III CardBus with Zoomed Video support
• bay options:
  • CDROM + Floppy combo drive (standard)
  • DVD drive
  • 2nd hard disk (up to 10 GB currently, for a combined total of 16.5 GB)
  • 2nd battery (up to 8-9 hours of battery life)
  • LS-120 drive
  • Zip drive
• DMI-compliant infrared port (IrDA compatible), up to 4 Mb/s, Wake on LAN support (via optional Enhanced Port Replicator with EtherJet)
• Built-in 56K data/fax modem (but it's a sucky WINmodem, YUCK!)
• Sufficiently loud speakers
• High quality, full size 85-key keyboard
• Convenient Trackpoint pointing device, with left, right and middle mouse buttons!
• Quiet fan
• Rugged jet black case
• Li-ion battery, approximately 4 hours life, with 56-watt AC adapter. Charge time is 2.5 hours off, about 6 hours with power on.
• Feet (keeps it cool on a hot day)
• Ports: 1 serial, 1 parallel, 1 USB, 1 S-Video out, 1 SVGA out, docking station
• 1 year warranty
• 7 lbs.
• dimensions 1.8" x 12.4" x 10.2"
  
  
• BogoMips: 332.98, see this page for benchmarks

Greg Moulton, in a fabulous article on installing Linux on his ThinkPad 770X, summarized my sentiments perfectly, so I'll requote him here:

"If you judge a laptop by its specs only you'll miss what's most important. You won't know that the screen is hard to read in a well lit room (Toshiba Tecra 8000). That the fan roars (Abacus 2000). That it feels flimsy (Toshiba Tecra 8000). That it's sucking air in from a vent in the bottom and will melt-down if left running on a bed (Abacus 8260). That the speakers are bad or unbalanced (Dell Inspiron 7000). That the adapter takes 24 hours to recharge the batteries while the unit is on. That the DVD playback is seriously flawed. That there's no hardware volume control to silence it in a awkward moment. That the BIOS is non-standard. That it gets burning hot sitting on your lap. That the case is so thin you can damage the screen just carrying it wrong. Those annoyances add up in every day use."

There are a lot of lousy laptops out there, even amongst some of the big-name manufacturers. The specs simply don't tell a large part of the story. On the other hand, the highest-end laptops come at a substantial price premium. This middle ground is where the ThinkPad 390 series fits in nicely, IMHO. It's sturdy, well-engineered, well-supported, has one of the best keyboards I've encountered, an exquisite TFT display, runs cool and quiet, and has excellent battery life. 'Nuff said. :)

IBM Thinkpads:

IBM makes a wide variety of laptops. Here's are some IBM sites of interest:

IBM - ThinkPad Home Page

IBM Products

IBM Personal Computing Support

IBM ThinkPad Solutions

IBM ThinkPad Accessories & Upgrades

IBM ThinkPad Mobile Resource Center

IBM Corporation

IBM USA

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