The review unit, by contrast, came with a 100GB hard drive, Bluetooth, an 8-cell battery and the Ultrabase docking station, which includes a recordable DVD drive. While the RAM upgrade is essential, these other upgrades depend on your specific needs and your budget since these options raised the price of the review unit from US$1,998 to $2,691.

Performance of the test unit was generally good, with processor, RAM and hard drive scores of around five in Vista's Windows Experience Index, a testing feature in Vista that scores various subsystems in a computer on a scale between 1 and 5.9. Microsoft claims that any score above 3 is sufficient for most users.

However, while the primary system scores were good, the X60's overall score was dragged down a 3.1 subscore for gaming graphics performance, which shouldn't be an issue for most ThinkPad customers, and a 3.3 score for desktop performance using the Vista Aero interface, which could be an issue.

A laptop and a tablet

As a conventional laptop, the X60 is certainly a little gem. The 12.1-in. screen, with its 1024x768 resolution, feels a bit cramped if you're used to a greater expanse of display space; Vista's Sidebar is not really useful on such a small screen at that resolution. On the other hand, the X60 is small enough to let you work pretty comfortably -- if that's the right word -- in an airline coach seat. And the keyboard lives up to ThinkPad's much-praised high standards.