RSSLenovo takes on the MacBook Air with its X300 ultra-portable
By Tim Conneally | Published February 26, 2008, 3:15 PM
Topping the MacBook Air in features but not price, Lenovo has announced its answer to the ultra-portable laptop, the ThinkPad X300.
At 0.75-inches thick, and 2.9 pounds in weight, Lenovo's Thinkpad X300 shaves a tremendous amount of girth from the company's traditionally boxy laptops. Precisely what class this model belongs to is somewhat mysterious because of this.
The X300 is equipped with an Intel Centrino processor with vPro technology, a 1.8-inch solid state hard drive with up to 64GB of storage, a 13.3-inch LED backlit WXGA+ high resolution display, 3G wireless, gigabyte Ethernet and even WiMax connectivity.
Unlike Apple's lightweight offering, Lenovo's latest falls into the "full-featured" category, which means it comes with an optional 7mm slim DVD burner, a feature which many users require if only for a sense of comfort. Supplied to further ease consumers' minds, the X300 comes standard with a fingerprint scanner, I/O port disablement and 32-byte password protection for enhanced security.
"It's a real study in contrast going back and forth between the X300 and the MacBook Air. While they're both in the same core category of device from a 50,000 foot view, they really will appeal to different market segments and purchase funnels," remarked JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg.
LG's 13.3-inch UMPC will provide more competition to the X300 and MacBook Air later this year. The Korean company's own P300 U has a 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, 2GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M graphics card. That unit weighs slightly more than the X300 or MacBook Air, at 3.9 pounds. Neither price nor release date have yet been confirmed by LG.
Lenovo's X300 starts at $2,799 USD and is available immediately through Lenovo's Web site, and through business partners. While the MacBook Air with solid-state hard drive runs more than that, Apple's base model with a traditional drive starts at only $1,799 USD.
At least this ultra-portable laptop has an optical drive. There's no excuse for leaving this out on any category of laptop. As for the appearance, I always prefer function over form. At least it's not arctic silver.
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|Why? 1st thing I did on my top of the line ThinkPad was pull out the optical drive and replace it with a 2nd hard. Didn't switch it back once in the last 6 months...
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|The only reason to remove the optical drive is if you need more battery power. How else would you access information stored on an optical disc? Most people aren't going to rely on a network just to access information stored on CD's or DVD's (like on the MacBook Air). That's way too complicated for the type of person most likely to own an ultra-portable.
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|LG one sounds far more impressive - it has a decent CPU (unlike this Lenovo) and modern graphics chip. If it's the same sort of form factor the others don't really have a chance.
Except it's well, LG. :p
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|processor is not nearly as impressive
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|The Air is a wonderful machine if it fits your needs. Computers, notebooks especially, aren't limited to business droids anymore and are often "life-style" choices. Apple recognizes this and their software (OSX) and hardware have the looks and behavior to attract this growing audience. Apple software and hardware are simply more enjoyable to use and look at. Lenovo make practical, quality laptops - but that's where the comparison stops.
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|I prefer Windows Vista over OS X any day. It's easier to use and is blazing fast on a computer that uses a dual core processor with at least 1GB of memory.
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|Agreed... and has fewer security issues and less broken functionality.
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|Why would I want a thin notebook?
Am I going to shave with it?
I won't even be able to use it as a doorstop once it reaches end-of-life because it will slide under the door.
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|I don't know, hard to imagine why anyone who has to carry a laptop to and from work or school every day would want a thin and light one. I guess it's a mystery.
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|Lenovo is also known for their dim and dismal screens. That's really been their Achilles heel. If it weren't for their garbage displays they'd be perfect laptops. Hopefully the LED backlight isn't just for extended battery life.
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|'dim and dismal screens' what?!
I've used IBM\Lenovo Thinkpads of every model in the last 5 years and a range of other makes my firm has had in on evaulation and I have never had or seen an issue with the display being dim or dismal in any way.
Perhaps you just didn't read the manual section on controlling the brightness!
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|It's true if you just want to sit around and admire your machine or be seen "with it" in some cafe or other (as opposed to getting to work on it), then, by all means, you should go for the "air". Airs are for "those" sorts of people. :) I think IBM thinkpad style machines are simply the most tested form factor going, and they will be far and away a more reliable machine than anything Mac could put out. You have to hand it to Lenovo... they're doing a bang up job taking over where IBM left off with the Thinkpad.
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|Lenovo notebook is know for reliability. Not for the cosmetic design. And it's just a freaking cover, and Apple charged $2000 for that.
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|With that kind of a price tag? Hell of a take on! Best of luck.
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|Haha. Lighter and thinner than the MacBook Air by 0.1 and 0.01 respectively.
Cheaper too.
Nice one.
Shame it's ugly and it's Lenovo (and doesn't have OS X).
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|Cheaper? It's $1,000 more!
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|"...and doesn't have OS X"
That's one of it's greatest strengths.
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|Man that thing is ugly, I have an IBM ThinkPad that I use strictly for MAME emulation in an arcade cabinet. This thing looks just like it, no style, just utilitarian and boring.
I'll give one thing to Apple, they can wrap the biggest turd in the slickest veneer better than any other company on Earth.
At least this poor thing has an optical drive.
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|I like it, looks like a computer instead of a big shiny cosmetics case.
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|I think it's a beautiful looking machine. It's elegant too, for the business-centric world. People go to business meetings in black suits, not silver ones ;)
This thing is a little bigger, but has just about everything. I held the macbook air, I felt like I was going to break and bend it. That machine is more like a concept car, it's just for looks, but good to use to build upon. Nothing more.
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