I have owned quite a few laptops in my life. They have come from ASUS, Fujitsu, IBM, Sony, Toshiba and a few brand X units. Each has had advantages and disadvantages with hardware evolution being an important part of that. But, there is one, now ancient, laptop that stands out above anything else I have ever used. Today it is a nine year old system but I think it is still better than anything else ever made.

What is this magic laptop? An IBM ThinkPad T23. To get us started, here is what Wikipedia has to say about T2x series.

Comprising the T20, T21, T22 and T23, these were Mobile Pentium III or Mobile Pentium III-M, sub-5 lb (2.3 kg) class machines. Contained processors ranging from 0.18 micrometre (?m) Mobile Pentium III 650 MHz to 0.13 ?m Mobile Pentium III-M 1.20 GHz. Typically had 14.1 in (360 mm) XGA screens, Ultrabay 2000 optical drives, S3 Savage/IX-MV graphics chip and Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24 sound chips; although variations along the line existed. Introduced the ThinkLight, a LED mounted inside the upper screen lip that illuminates the keyboard (activated with Fn-PgUp, the extreme diagonal keys); and titanium-reinforced and rubberized screen lids. Used MiniPCI form factor cards, which could be modem and/or Ethernet. With the T23, an internal WiFi antenna became available, so WiFi miniPCI cards could be used. These models did not contain the active hard drive protection or touchpad pointing device which appeared in later models. They were clad in black non-slip rubber with embedded glitter. The case lid had tabs along the edge that interlocked with depressions in the lower case when closed, to reduce case flexing. Comparatively more stylish, functional, and rugged machines; and easy to disassemble for repair or upgrades.

What isn't said is that the T23 was the only one of the series that had USB2.0 ports. That is the one thing that makes the T23 virtually state of the art. I personally have owned a T20 (the display finally died), T22 (loaned to a friend) and T23 (happily OK). I also have responsibility for three other T23 systems. All of these have been purchased used. They were the choice of big corporations who leased them and became available for a fraction of their original cost once they came off-lease. The last three T23s I purchased for an average price of $200.

So, why are they better than everything else on the planet?

1. They are indestructable. Titanium frame, display that really locks down. Generally just really sturdy.
2. They have an amazing, full-sized keyboard.
3. For a laptop, they are easy to repair. (One of the used ones I received had a problem not charging the battery. I did a Google search, found a page explaining the typical reason for this compete with pictures, opened up the unit and fixed it by re-soldering a connection.)
4. The keyboard light is just downright cool.
5. They don't have a lame-ass touchpad.
6. Reasonable screen with at least 1024 x 768 resolution on 14.1 inches.
7. They can be configured to do what you want. That includes one-screw removable covers to access the RAM and the mini-PCI areas and the bay which can hold a CD drive, DVD drive, floppy, LS-120 drive, ZIP drive or even an extra battery).
8. They are fast enough for anything a sane person would ever want to do on a laptop.
9. They are low-power. I didn't realize this until I was checkiing what a friend's HP laptop draws. About 50 watts compared to about 20 for my Toshiba A600. Well, the T23 also consumes only 20 watts.
10. Whatever disk size. While officially they had 30GB up to maybe 60GB, the BIOS doesn't care. I have put 100GB drives into many of them with no problem.
11. There are so many of them out there, everyone knows about them, and everything works on them. Am I wrong? Is there anything better today? If there is, I sure don't know about it.