IBM ThinkPad S30

Staying in the spirit of the last post, today's featured guest is the soon to be 7 years old, IBM ThinkPad S30.

It was first introduced in Japan in 2001 - many years before Lenovo acquired the ThinkPad division from IBM. If you've never heard of it, don't worry - you are not the only one. It was only available in a few Asian markets, such as Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. One of the rarest and most exclusive ThinkPads, the S-series is more or less a collector's item today.

With a screen size of only 10.4 inches and a weight of just over 3 lbs, it is very sleek and nimble, even by today’s standard. In fact, if placed next to my Lenovo ThinkPad X61, I have no doubt that it would make it seem a bit big and masculine.
Needless to say, with an Intel Mobile Pentium III 600 MHz processor, 128 MB RAM and 20GB hard drive, it is however no performer anymore. But at the time it was introduced, it was no slouch – especially considering its size. You could even get it with built-in Wireless LAN which made it truly portable.

Should you be lucky enough to get a hold of one today, upgrade it to its maximum 256 MB RAM for more smooth operation in Windows 2000 or even XP, if so desired. That is if you are going to use it. I’d probably just carry it around with me, so it could make me look cool.

You might ask why one would get this outdated grandfather of a ThinkPad. Well for starters, it is very pretty. So pretty in fact, that quite a few people to this day are trying to source them from Japan. Secondly, for simple tasks such as a bit of web surfing and office applications, it is still quite capable. Just don’t try and install Vista on it. And third, it is very rare.

If you ask me, it is by far the coolest ultraportable to wear the ThinkPad badge. Heck, I would go so far as to call it the all time coolest ThinkPad, period. So Lenovo if you are reading this, please revive the S-series. And this time, make sure to sell it worldwide. It would probably be your new bestseller.