Thinkpad X300: insanely great

That new X300 is the sexiest laptop on the planet. And you can actually use it to get work done. Sorry, Apple. You’re outclassed on this one.

4 thoughts on “Thinkpad X300: insanely great”

  1. The least expensive X300 is hundreds of dollars more than the most expensive MacBook Air (and more than a thousand than the base MBA), is 20% thicker, has a CPU clocked 25% slower than the slowest MBA with half the memory (on the other hand, the memory is expandable). The version with an integrated DVD-ROM weighs slightly more than an MBA, though the version without an optical disc weight a smidgeon less. As far as I can tell in the ad, they plugged in the external optical disc, a fingerprint reader, and an ethernet port in the most godawful way (as well as a DVI cable they left dangling…)…

    That said, the X300 (and the predecessor X61) are truely lovely pieces of kit that I would love to have… if I could get someone else would pay for them.

  2. Dare ye not to profane the name of Apple nor all good fruits to come from the Holy One, for if ye do the Faithful shall fall upon thee with swords and maces and harsh words and Reality Distortion Fields. Blessed be the name of Jobs.

  3. Kayle,

    look, the MB Air and X300 are admittedly targeted at very different markets. The MBA might be a cool machine for some people but it’s simply a complete waste of money for people like me who use their machines to get work done in a flex computing environment. I approach it from my usage model; your mileage may vary.

    That said, if we are going to compare the two, let’s do so with open eyes. You raise a number of issues:

    – cost. The X300 comes standard with a solid-state drive. That’s the future of hard drive technology and even my dinky Asus EEE boots Windows XP faster than my T42 because of the SSD inside. SSDs are faster, more rugged, and more reliable. If you want to do a fair cost comparison between the X300 and the MBA then you should add the SSD option to the MBA which equalizes the price.

    – 20% thicker is utterly irrelevant. It also imposes a severe constraint: you cant replace the battery on the MBA. Thats just a joke. The MBA also is prone to overheating to failure: http://tinyurl.com/3kyolb

    – CPU speed is no longer measured by hertz, but by cores, and power consumption profile. The X300 performance smokes the MBA, even when pitted SSD version vs SSD version: http://tinyurl.com/5kh3le

    sure, id happily accept an MBA if someone else was paying for it, but the MBA is a status symbol, beautiful by design as an end in itself. the X300 is the kind of art that is beautiful because of its function.

    Plus, black is better 🙂

  4. That is an ugly laptop.
    As a matter of fact, all IBM laptops needs an Extreme make over.

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