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Thinkpad X300 Specs Leaked
Kyokushi writes "Gizmodo reports that some specifications of a new ultralight Lenovo X300 have been leaked. 'It appears that Lenovo have themselves a new ultralight X300 series Thinkpad — and outside of the price and release date, we have all of the specs that you need to know. At a glance, some of the major features include: a 13.3-inch LED backlit 1440X900 screen, an ultralight 2.5 pound form factor, and Intel Merom Santa Rosa Dual Core CPU (2.0 Ghz / 880 Mhz ), a 64 GB SSD, up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-5300 memory, and 4 hours of battery life.' If this is true, then Lenovo looks to have some heavy competition for the Macbook Air." Update: 01/20 22:55 GMT by S : Corrected Gizmondo->Gizmodo.
Gizmodo is the tech blog reporting this.
But does it run OS X?
This sounds really interesting, but I'm waiting to hear more about video and wireless card. Thinkpads have been very good for me in running Linux, but Linux on laptops these days often comes down to the video card, modem, and the wireless card. Modems are usually winmodems, which are hard to support - but I haven't used a modem in years. Anyone have other details to point to?
It even has wired ethernet. But Apple still has the branding that the general populace flock to nowadays.
I still cannot understand the rabid obsession with thinness the most people have, the two most importent things for me are weight and battery life, the laptops thickness is its least problomatic dimension. i would rather have this over the Air, this should also be tougher than the Air, which cannot be too tough. This also has 4G Ram, which is a must for any media work. The Air is more of a fashion accessory than a serious laptop IMO
Unfortunately much to the chagrin of the Gizmodo reporter, tv-b-gone remotes don't seem to have any effect on the new laptop.
I have nothing compelling to say
Why do all thinkpads look like they are from 1995? I know they are targeting businesses, and are great laptop's, but seriously, that laptop looks the same as my 300mhz Pentium 2 thinkpad
There are of course people going for the specs, but they are just as much about branding. The target markets has very little overlap.
:-), someone in the market for a new Volvo is unlikely to be swayed by a Porche, and vice versa.
The guy on the Gizmondo blog that compared it with Volvo vs Porche got it right (a car analogy always helps
The rest of the bloggers aso got it right, they focused on how ugly, boring, old fashioned, and conservative the Thinkpad looked (it looked like every other Thinkpad), which is exactly what the Thinkpad market wants. They don't want something looking flimsy and flashy as they would consider the MacBook Air to look.
Good it's not one of those ultraheavy 2.5 pound laptops.
As someone who's used IBM Thinkpads for a while, I have to ask: is it actually a Thinkpad, or is it based on Lenovo's own designs (like the ideapad)? If it comes with the titanium-alloy reinforced case, the HDAPS and support from IBM's standard thinkpad support line I'm sold. If not... *shrug*
A quick glance at the picture suggests it could be either way- it has the keyboard light that most thinkpad users come to love and adore yet the screen hinge looks plastic instead of the heavy duty metal hinges that give thinkpads that smooth and secure feel while adjusting the screen you just don't see with most other laptops.
It's only competition for the Airbook (yes - I know it's a "MacBook Air") if the intent of the Airbook was to lure droves of Windows users. As to the idea that it was "leaked" - please - this was nothing more than a press release in the guise of a leak. It was stunningly reminiscent of the Windows "yeah - we've got that too - next week! - so don't go anywhere" tactic.
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>If this is true, then Lenovo looks to have some heavy competition for the Macbook Air
Lenovo already has a computer in the ultralight space, the X61. The X61 has almost identical specs to the macboook air, at a much lower price and significantly higher clockspeed.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3765
Looking at this new machine, I really like that they've lowered the weight more and slightly increased the screen size; however, I have to wonder what the point of a 1440X900 resolution is at 13' inches.
I also have to ask what the point of including a touch pad is, when you have one of those "keyboard nipple" trackpoints. The trackpoints are so ridiculously and unambiguously superior to a touch pad, that it just seems like a waste of space.
The third issue with the new spec, is that it is still VGA output instead of DVI output. Pretty much all modern monitors have DVI inputs, so I don't see the point of going with the old standard.
Finally, I'm not convinced of the benefits of a flash harddrive. If they are saving weight, that's nice (although I'm not sure they are lighter). However, it's a pretty small drive, and it is a myth that flash drives are faster. Flash drives have better random access, but slower sequential access, and most accesses are sequential. Things are going to seem *slower* moving to flash, not faster.
why is one core 2.0 Ghz and the other 880 Mhz?
looks lopsided to me = O o
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Light is nice but Steve Jobs seems to have a bit of a Clive Sinclair complex. He just pushes the envelope one bit too far. Sinclair did it on cheap (microdrive not a floppy), Jobs does it on practicality (no exchangable batteries).
The Lenovo looks like it is slightly less cool but a lot more practical. I bet you can swap out the battery. In fact I bet that nobody even thought of not allowing the user to swap it out.
Looks to me like this is a deliberate, sanctioned leak in response to the Air. Looks like solid state drives are becomming mainstream. Getting rid of the mechanical components from the board is going to make it much easier to do thin.
I suspect that the actual battery life is 3 hours and 6 with the extended battery pack, my T43 still does that reliably with two year old battery packs.
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Looks like a fantastic machine, could compete very well with the Sony TX ultra-small, full-powered laptops (models I have used for several years). The only thing obviously missing is the option to buy it with no OS and/or with Linux. Before someone cries about "Linux isn't ready" or "Linux isn't mainstream", I would stress the word *OPTION*. Let consumers decide what they want, if it means no OS, so be it... Lenovo doesn't HAVE to offer Linux support, although that would be even more courageous.
MS-Windows can be preinstalled but licensed separately, meaning there only has to be a single packaging, model, inventory, etc. They could even choose a free, redistributable Linux distro and install that too and the user can have a working machine in minutes, even if they opt to not spend money on Vista. Initialization of the machine can automatically remove the space consumed by either, based on the user's choice.
I kinda doubt Microsoft would allow such competition, though... but it seems a reasonable objective to combat such restrictions based on an anti-trust lawsuit.
I'm personally not a fan of ultraportable laptops with the footprints of ordinary laptops. If a laptop is going to be minimalistic, its manufacturer ought to go all the way. A subnotebook will never replicate the functionality of a typical 14" computer, so it's pointless to give it the footprint of one. I'd much rather see a diminished footprint than a minuscule thickness. I would personally prefer an updated version of my Thinkpad S30 than this MacBook Air competitor.
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Why is it every time you buy a new piece of hardware, the next day something cooler is announced? :)
I've owned various thinkpads since '98, and they have never let me down. I'm currently running a t21 (850mhz, 14.1" 1400x1050, 512mb) that's suffering from case fatigue. I bought it almost 7 years ago, and it's been running the same Debian/sid install the entire time. I use it for at least 6-8 hours a day (home machine) in all kinds of awkward positions (laying down, on the easy chair, etc)... it's travelled around the world, and to many a datacenter.
I did have to deal with IBM service once. At one point in 2003, I sent it to IBM (their cost) with what I believed to be a bad hard disk (I/O errors). After they ripped it open, they told that I'd spilled coffee in it.... I was quite upset at this as I didn't believe them, so they sent me pictures. At some point, probably while it was on the floor (I really abuse my machines), I must have kicked over a mostly empty cup of coffee or something.
After apologizing to them in a phone call, they explained to me that they didn't find anything immediately wrong with it at that point (it was booting), except the coffee spill. I told them about the I/O errors, and they ran a thorough scan, confirming the problem. Because the coffee was unlikely to have caused a disk failure, they offered to replace the drive, but after doing so, found that the problem persisted. It was the controller (or connector)... and, to my astonishment, I received an email later that day along the lines of: "Sir, we just need to get you back up and running. You're a long-time valued customer, so we're going to replace whatever parts need to be replaced."
3 days later, an express shipped package arrived with what used to be my laptop - 90% of the components had been replaced (except, amazingly, the original hard drive, which was fine). I was floored, and wrote a quick thank you note to the CSR's boss.
Here I am, 5 years later, with the same machine chugging away. I can't even hazard a guess to how many hours it has on it. It's starting to make funny noises, and 850mhz just ain't cuttin it anymore. :) Time for a new box.
While I did take a good look at various others (dell, hp, acer) - some of which less than half the price - I eventually settled on a refurbished t43p (2.13ghz, 2gb ram, 1400x1050). I want the trackpoint, and 3 mouse buttons. I want the rigid case. I want the support (we'll see how Lenovo does) and I want the well tested, mature components (particularly for Linux). Can't wait!
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Is that it has both GPS and WIMAX on board. That is what makes it a more interesting and forward looking design than Mac Air. Physically, it's boring. The cornucopia of ports is boring. Laptops have these things. It looks so like every other Lenovo laptop that there's nothing 'must have' about the appearance. But I am convinced that the next killer application will be location sensitive and require ubiquitous mobile connectivity. WiFi doesn't have it and 3G isn't very fast.
Steve Jobs isn't going to lie awake tonight kicking himself because Lenovo have brought out yet another dull black corporate laptop. He's going to be kicking himself about the GPS and the WIMAX.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
For everything I want to do:\
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Abiword
Civilization 2
Burn CDs
Play mp3s
That system is overkill. Don't get me wrong, extra horse power is always a good thing, but aside from burning a cd, a EEE will do everything I want and (I'm sure) is much cheaper and smaller, and easy to carry. I'd like to see more competition in the ultra cheap department, once I can get something of EEE functionality for $150, I'll be considering lots of extra fun little projects.
I mean, other than running Vista (why would you do that to yourself, anyway?), is there a point to spending more for that much horse power? Ubuntu runs well on a pentium 3 and does 99% of what most people need!!!
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for reference, the MacBook is 123 cubic inches (1.08 x 12.78 x 8.92), making it about 30% bigger than this machine. Interestingly, it weighs twice as much, so the ThinkPad must have a lot more airspace inside.
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned that this apparently has a DVD-RW built-in. That makes it, in something a little thicker than the Air, less weight, a swappable battery, an optical drive and a heck of a lot more ports.
If we get out of the realm of special purpose laptops, I don't think the current low cost SSDs are up to snuff. Try working off a fast thumb drive if you don't believe me. There's good points and bad points but the bad point is very bad: very slooow write times. Finding the information is great, getting into the SSD (and to a lesser degree getting it out) is not so great.
It's not that I'm against SSDs, but I'd prefer to have both flash and regular hard disk, or a hybrid disk. I've been experimenting with fast thumb drives and CF cards up to 166x, which is rated just like a CD-ROM drive: 1x = 150kb/second, so 166x is 24 MiB/sec. You can go higher form more $$$, maybe 40 MiB/s? Not shabby for flash, but orders of magnitude below a cheap hard drive.
I'm considering going with a SSD for booting and most static data, a nice hunk of RAM with 64 bit linux to avoid much swapping, then a very modest hard disk for thing where there's a writing, including swap space. Why wear out your flash drive to experience frustration.
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The appeal of the Thinkpad (to me at least) is the complete lack of any gimmicky styling. It looks like a thinkpad. My thinkpad from 5 years ago looks like a thinkpad and the one I buy in 5 years will also just look like an f'in thinkpad.
Also I love the 'nipple' pointer. So much nicer to use than a trackpad (although mysteriously I find myself in a greater minority on this every day). If I want to move the cursor across the screen, it's easier/faster and doesn't leave me pawing away like a cat at a window.
There is no part of the MacBook Air where 0.6 or 0.7 of anything will fit, no matter the width. Remember, the MacBook Air is 0.16 to 0.76 inch thick, including the screen. I measured the base, the thickest it gets is 0.35 inch, near the hinge. On both sides of the computer these spots are already taken; on the left by the power connector, and on the right by micro-DVI, minijack and USB.
By the way, MacBook Air doesn't want to be your next "dull work notebook" or "corporate workhorse". The MBA is a computer for people with smooth hands. If you need a tricked out notebook meant as desktop replacement, try the MacBook Pro. Just don't compare that ThinkPad to a MacBook. The MacBook is a $1100 consumer laptop, the ThinkPad X61 is a $2000 mammoth tanker.