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Review of the New Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop:It still really doesn't sound right - "Lenovo ThinkPad". In my mind, it will always be "IBM" ThinkPad. Anyways, IBM sold their PC line to the Chinese company Lenovo, and now the ThinkPad line bears their insignia. The good news is that the engineering and product design that made the original ThinkPads famous is still working today, with the latest ThinkPads being solid little laptops. The latest laptop model from Lenovo, the ThinkPad X300, is being compared to the Apple MacBook Air. While these two machines share some features and designs, the X300 fails to match the Air in size while surpassing it in functions. Below, we will take a look at the features of the X300 -- the good, the bad, and the ugly - along with prices and where to buy the X300.
ThinkPad X300 Specs and FeaturesOne feature that sets the X300 apart from the competition is also found in the Air - a solid state drive vs. a regular spinning hard drive. Solid state drives are basically flash memory based storage drives, like you find in your iPod Nano, iPhone, or other devices with built-in memory. However, these laptops feature 64GB of storage instead of the 8GB or 16GB you might find in your iPhone. The benefit of these SSDs are faster response, load, and boot times, and no moving parts, which means better reliability and less energy use (ie, longer battery life). The drawbacks of SSDs are lower storage capacity and very high prices. Of course over time, capacities will increase and prices will decrease, so if you are willing to wait a few more years for this feature in your laptop, you will get a much larger drive at a nicer price -- if you can wait! In the meantime, here are the specs for the ThinkPad X300:
As you can see, it is thicker than the Air, quite a bit thicker, but overall still one of the smallest laptops you'll come across. The lowest-end model, without the DVD drive, comes in at just under 3 pounds, but we recommend keeping the DVD drive at the expense of a few ounces. Unlike the Air, this ThinkPad has 3 USB ports (instead of 1), a removable battery, ethernet port, etc. (and of course that DVD drive we mentioned above). So feature-wise, we think the ThinkPad is the winner. Battery life is expected to be good, at about 4 hours with the larger battery. You can get a model with an additional battery in place of the DVD drive, which can boost battery life to 5-6 hours, which is pretty incredible in a laptop. If you look at the prices (see below), you may find yourself facing some sticker shock. The thinnest, smallest, newest machines in the ultra-portable category usually cost alot, and the X300 is no exception to this rule. So we see this machine targetted at the corporate road warrior who has an ample budget -- for the casual laptop user, we'd opt for 2 cheaper, larger notebooks at about $1000 each, which would still leave you with $500-$1000 in spending money! But if you got the $$, this ThinkPad is a great addition in a long line of ThinkPads - thanks IBM/Lenovo for a solid product! Buying or Pre-Ordering a ThinkPad X300How much does the X300 laptop cost? Where can I buy the ThinkPad X300? Is the X300 available for sale yet? If you are reading this in Feb. 2008, this laptop is currently available for pre-order only and should be released in the next few weeks. The X300 will come in a few different flavors. If you check out some online stores right now, like J&R, you'll find models priced at $2799 and $2999. The Lenovo site, for comparison, currently lists the 2 other ThinkPad X models (which are their thinnest and lightest designs), the X61 and the X61s, for $1060 and $1228 respectively. The X300 should be available at the Lenovo.com site for pre-order next week. Most electronic and computer retailers will have it available after March 2008. The lowest cost model will go for around $2500.
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