If for some strange reason it wasn’t before, thin is officially in as far as notebooks are concerned. At least that’s what seems to be the case with Lenovo as it answers the MacBook Air with the ThinkPad X300. It’s thin, yes, but not quite as thin as the Air (the Air fits in an envelope, the X300 merely fits on top of a newspaper or whatever that is on the left there — hell, maybe it IS an envelope).
What it lacks in the not-as-thin-as-the-new-MacBook department it more than makes up for in the actually-comes-with-useful-stuff department, with a built-in optical drive, removable battery, three USB ports, Ethernet jack, and optional integrated high-speed cellular modem and/or GPS chips.
Says Walt Mossberg, who got a sneak peek at the X300…
Like the MacBook Air, this is a rare small laptop that is built around a full 13-inch-wide screen display and a full keyboard, rather than the little screens and cramped keyboards common in subnotebooks. And, like the Air, it offers a fast, rugged solid-state drive instead of a hard disk.
But, unlike the Apple, Lenovo’s new skinny ThinkPad comes with a hefty complement of ports and features, some of the very things critics complained Apple left out. It has a built-in DVD drive, removable battery, three USB ports, and a wired Ethernet networking jack. Inside, in addition to Wi-Fi, it can be ordered with a built-in cellphone modem and even GPS. It comes with either Windows Vista or Windows XP.
It’s not as thin as the Air but it still falls in at under an inch thick and at roughly the same weight (3.12 pounds). Also — and here’s some fodder for flaming, should you choose to accept it — the X300 will only come with a solid-state drive, so it’s hugely expensive right out of the gate. Mossberg says “it will start at between $2,500 and $2,800″ and it’ll sit staunchly at 64-gigabytes of hard drive space.
Super-Slim ThinkPad Sneak Peek [AllThingsD]
Apple reigns supreme in the land of eye candy for those who would eschew features
Agreed. My boss wouldn’t shut up about the Air until he found out it had no optical drive. Also, I forgot who published the findings, but it turns out solid state drives aren’t really that much faster than regular ones (which surprised and disappointed me).
SSD’s are quicker than hard drives on all fronts, however they’re much quicker in some areas than in others.
The typical access time for a SSD is about 35 – 100 micro-seconds, whereas that of a hard disk is around 5,000 – 10,000 micro-seconds.
In general SSD’s are also more reliable and last longer. As of right now the prices are just to high to really make a difference but as the prices come down it’ll make more and more sense to get SSD’s instead of hard disks.
If I had endless money, beyond getting more hookers than Matt Hickey usually gets, I’d buy a Think Pad.
The Air’s lack of a removable battery makes it about as appealing as a girl with the clap. I’m on my second laptop battery and they are expensive enough without having to pay for it to be installed.
On the outside, I agree, the Lenovo is much better as far as functionality goes. But remember…it’s still Vista. Vista sucks on even the best non-Mac computers.
So put Linux on it.
great post. i liked it…
I like OSX but contrary to the wider audience I regard MacBook Pro as plastic fantastic. Air look fantastic, but without HSDPA, proper deviceconnectivity and more battery it’s an overprized EmailReader. Provided OS requirements allowing such choice – as it does for me – I’ll pick the X300 any day of the week. On the other hand, 13,3″ seems to be the hype of the day and I therefore will await the T300 which will become true workhorses. I have great expectations.
One catch though: Could anyone please advice Lenovo that there’s hardly VGA monitors left in the industrialised world – Learn from Apple and provide DVI/HDMI and dongles.
The Apple Air looks so much better and Vista is crap. Drive and battery aside, I prefer the Air. Tell Lenovo to stop making brick computers
Hmm.. might not be bad, too expensive though ;)
And.. it’s year 2008 now, not 1988. When will lenovo hire ANY designer?