The ThinkPad Takes On The MacBook Air

An anonymous reader writes "Walt Mossberg has an early look at the ThinkPad X300, Lenovo's answer to the MacBook Air. He says the ThinkPad is almost as skinny and light as the Air, but has many of the ports and features lacking on Apple's machine. The biggest downside: it costs much more and will be limited to a paltry 64 gigabytes of storage. 'Unlike the Apple, which can be ordered with a higher-capacity, lower-priced hard disk, the new ThinkPad will only be available with the expensive, limited capacity solid-state drive. So it will start at between $2,500 and $2,800-up to $1,000 more than the Apple's base price.'"

Comments

Mossberg has seen it...

[wild_berry]

Walt's seen the thing -- but not tested it. The biggest let down with the MacBook Air was its battery life (and then Remote Disk). Does this ThinkPad have decent battery life? And is it as sturdy as we expect Thinkpads to be?

Re:Mossberg has seen it...

[Renegade Lisp]

I think only a Slashdot Poll could answer this definitely.

Further anecdotal evidence, though: I've had a Lenovo T61 now for about two months, after having had a Pre-Lenovo T40 for more than four years, which had been my sturdiest Thinkpad up to that time. So far, I see no difference in the build quality of both machines, but only time will really tell.

I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[FatSean]

In a few years, when we look back at the Apple designs which have become tacky and dated, the Thinkpad still looks elegant and clean.

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[Kickersny.com]

Case in point.

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[techpawn]

I loved the idea handle on the iMac!

Gave you a good position to throw the thing from when you realized there was no floppy drive...

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[Brian Gordon]

Well I think thinkpads look sleek now, and even the ancient 3-inch-think thinkpads, which have identical styling look great too. They're solid, performance, business laptops, not balance-on-your-knee make-a-home-video mac commercial laptops.

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[darjen]

I am a complete Thinkpad convert after using them for work exclusively for a year and a half. I used to think Thinkpad's design was ugly myself, but they really grew on me. My personal Asus notebook has pretty glossy coating which is very worn now, and looks like crap. The Thinkpads look much less worn after years of use.

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[dekemoose]

Oh for mod points! Nothing is more beautiful in my eyes than a machine which does it's job well day after day. It's simple, it's rugged, it's the best laptop series that was ever produced. This all goes for the IBM ThinkPad line as I have not had an actual Lenovo machine yet, hopefully they haven't mucked it up.

Re:I disagree, the Thinkpad is beautiful.

[rbanffy]

Granpa... What is a floppy disk?

The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[Clockwurk]

The price for an Air with SSD is $3100. The thinkpad also has a nicer display (1440x900 vs 1280x800), removable battery, a faster processor (2.0ghz vs 1.8ghz), and weighs less (2.5lbs vs 3lbs), more ports (ethernet, usb), better speakers (LOL Airbook has mono), a microphone, and a built in DVD burner.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[bkr1_2k]

There really isn't much point in "comparing" these two machines, they're so different. Seriously, the comparison that the Thinkpad is nearly $1k more than the Apple is ridiculous when you consider the extra functionality of just the DVD alone. I don't think most people use more than one USB port, but having a wired E-net and removable battery make the cost difference worth it, if you're in the market for a light machine.

I have Macs at home, but you have to recognize that the Air may be pretty, but it's sorely lacking in features that many people consider necessary these days.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[Saint Fnordius]

The issues I do not see addressed when comparing these two notebook computers are not many, but they do play a role:

Case design: which case is more robust? Is Apple's metal case better suited for a thin notebook or is Lenovo's ThinkPad design better suited for fitting in your briefcase? Oh, and what about the power brick? Those few minutes untangling a power cord when setting up for a long meeting can be important. Design means not only looks, but also workflow and durability of the components.

Apropos meetings: which of the two is easier to use to make a presentation with a strange beamer? How about logging into a free WiFi hotspot? Sharing files?

Workflow: which job type would benefit from which computer? Although reporters and writers seem to be the target of both computers, what about sales reps? Developers and support techs who go to their clients? If your company uses Lotus Domino servers, will the MacBook Air make your IT staff nervous?

Now, I really don't know the answers, but these questions are what I feel makes the decision important. I own both a PowerBook and a ThinkPad, and though the ThinkPad is newer and has a better screen, etc., I still prefer to work with the PowerBook. It simply fits my workflow better.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[eldepeche]

No wireless, less space than a Nomad.

When are you guys going to realize that most people care about more than a spec sheet? I think the Air sucks too, but it's for wealthy non-technical people to check their e-mail on the couch. If it was for real work, then they would have put a better battery in it, and it would have been heavier and bigger, and then it would just be a really expensive MacBook.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[costas]

Well, Lenovo just released this, which looks very nice to this road warrior...

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[pebs]

Apple's notebooks are also lacking a trackpoint-like mouse. I personally can't stand touchpads, even the ones on Apple's notebooks. The trackpoint is a much better input device when done right, and the ones on the Thinkpads work quite well.

My current notebook is an old Thinkpad T23 that only has a trackpoint and no touchpad. Although I really like OS X (own both a Mac Pro and Mac Mini) and really want a mobility for some of the apps I use on it, this seemingly small issue is enough to make me unsure about whether my next notebook will be a MacBook or a Thinkpad. It's a big issue to me, an analogy would be the touch screen keyboard on the iPhone being a reason people don't want it over a phone with a real QWERTY keyboard.

A used Thinkpad X-series is likely to be next laptop purchase (I bought the T23 used). And I would be running Linux on it of course, which I enjoy more than OS X anyway, but the few video and audio apps I use on OS X make a Mac possibly more useful to me. So I haven't really made a decision.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[TheRaven64]

I was surprised, when I bought a MacBook, how quickly I got use to the pad. It's definitely not as good, but it hasn't turned out to be a dealbreaker in terms of productivity Interesting. I feel exactly the same but going the other way. The trackpoint on my ThinkPad is much worse for large movements than a decent-sized trackpad (you have an accelerate then slow movement rather than just a long swipe) but the real killer is the lack of dimensions. Not being able to scroll horizontally and vertically is a huge pain. I even miss the MBP's trackpad when I am using the machine with an external display, keyboard and mouse, since horizontal scrolling is much harder with every other pointing device I've used. With the MBP, I just drag two fingers around and have 2D scrolling.

Re:The thinkpad pretty much spanks the Air

[pebs]

Most people disagree with you, and can't stand trackpoints, which is why they are in only very few laptops anymore. I am one of those who dislikes trackpoints, and it's why I have never, or will ever, consider buying a Thinkpad. I don't like having that little thing in the keyboard; maybe it's the way I type, but every time I have had to use a laptop which had one, my fingers were constantly 'tripping' on it. Very annoying.

Though you are probably correct that most people don't like trackpoints, most people don't like touchpads either (but like them more than trackpoints). Most people prefer real mice, but those are just not as practical when you are on the go. Everyone at my workplace uses a separate mouse with their MacBook Pros or other laptops. It doesn't help the MacBooks that they only have one mouse button (hence an external mouse is almost a requirement for many people).

I think a lot of people haven't given trackpoints an honest chance. My girlfriend didn't like it at all at first, but one time when we were traveling I forgot to pack a mouse and she was forced to use it and she grew to really like it. Also, not all trackpoint clones are created equal. I bought a desktop keyboard that had a trackpoint-like stick, but it completely sucked as and was unusable; I had the same problems you described. The one on my Thinkpad T23 rocks, but that doesn't mean other manufacturers make good ones.

There is an annoyance with trackpads too - the base of my thumb sometimes hits it accidentally and then the cursor suddenly jumps to some random place and I find that my last few words have been inserted in the middle of some other part of my document instead of at the end. That is annoying but only happens once every couple of days despite how much typing I do.

When I had a notebook with only a touchpad this was a constant annoyance.

I wish that IBM would offer a Thinkpad without the trackpoint; how hard can it be to have a replacement keyboard, for the majority of people who don't use trackpoints (yes the modern Thinkpads have *both* a trackpad and trackpoint, but I don't just want to be able to use a trackpad, I specifically want to *not* have a trackpoint in there, and I think many people would agree. Besides, having two pointing devices really seems like a hack doesn't it?).

I am of course the opposite, I'm glad they have Thinkpads with *only* a trackpoint. Although it might be possible to disable the touchpad and use only the trackpoint (I hope you can do this at least), I think the touchpad is a waste of space. It's nice that on their ultra-portable (X series) you can get one with a trackpoint only.

You can pull the rubber eraser off of the trackpoint. It'll still be there (in the form of the plastic that rubber goes on top of), but I think it'll be mostly out of your way and your fingers will be less likely to trip on it. I'm not sure if you can specifically disable the trackpoint so that only the touchpad is active (or vice versa), but it would me nice if you could.

But There's No Illusion of Thin

[dsginter]

The problem with the Thinkpad is that it doesn't taper at the edges (not that this helps anything except for aesthetics). Apple really created an illusion of thin when they adopted this design (the Air is only like an eighth of an inch thinner that the MacBook but it looks *much* thinner because of the taper).

Apple really pulled off a magic trick with the Air. Marketing genius.

Re:But There's No Illusion of Thin

[businessnerd]

Your CEO doesn't sound like the typical globetrotting exec. Most globetrotting execs (or at least globetrotting businesspeople) need as much utility out of their laptop as possible. I should know, I'm a globetrotting consultant. Right now the only appeal that the Air has is weight. Most globetrotting execs don't just check e-mail and surf the web. So let's paint a picture of what a real globetrotter uses a computer for...

Wake up (at 4am) and quickly check e-mail and print boarding pass. Off to the airport. Check e-mail again while waiting to board. Get on plane. Cruising altitude reached, so out comes the laptop and start working on that presentation (here's where battery life and being able to replace that battery when it dies comes in). Arrive at destination, and off to client. Arrive at client and walk straight into meeting. Hook up laptop up to projector (here' where all of those external ports come into play). Meeting finishes. You do some more things at a guest cubicle. You break out a mouse for comfort (1 usb port) then someone comes by with a document on a memory stick (need another usb port, but the Air is all out of 'em) They want you to view a presentation that's on DVD or VCD (here's where that optical drive comes in handy and not so you can watch a hollywood movie - there's no time for that). End of day, go back to hotel. You need the internet. No wireless here, so it's gotta be wired (yeah that wired ethernet port really comes in handy right about now). Go to sleep.

So let's recap. What is really important to a globetrotting exec? Versatility. You need lots of standard ports (VGA, lots of USB, etc.) and an optical drive, which Air doesn't have. You need reliable battery life. This means that when the battery is dead, as in won't hold it's charge, you can replace that battery. My 1 year old Dell already has 32% health, which means 1 hour of battery life. Tomorrow when I'm actually in the same state as my office, I'll pick up a new one and off I go. Air does not have a removeable battery. And at the end of the day, you need durability. Usually I'm not checking my laptop (or anything) with the airlines, but it gets crammed in to overhead bins, kicked under the seat, thrown into TSA x-ray bins, dropped, bumped, etc. ThinkPads are known for their durability. I can't speak for Mac on this, so I won't knock the Air for this, but it is a concern for the globetrotter. In closing, your CEO is not a good example of the globetrotting exec. A real globetrotting exec demands much more from their laptop.

Critics!

[iknownuttin]

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.

Maybe, Apple knows what its customers want and builds their machines for what most of their customers and not for the critics? And, well looky there, you can configure the machine to include those features. Why does everything have to be built in? And the Thnkpad is making compromises to have those things built in. God!

Not that I'm a fanboy or anything, it's just that these tech "journalists" piss me off sometimes.

Re:apple fanbois

[Genevish]

DISCLAIMER: This Slashdot comments page will also be filled with Apple haters who can't spell and who will blindly reject any argument that appears to be in favor of Apple products. Please remember to contribute to your local home for the mentally disabled. Thank you.

Re:Too bad these SSHD aren't really worth it

[mwvdlee]

Ars only tests the speed of those.
They don't test how much physical abuse the SSHD can take compared to the HDD.
Which is basically the main reason for wanting SSHD; making sure data survives.

Complaints:

[r_jensen11]

Regarding the product:
The thing has a 13" screen and weighs more than 3 pounds. What niche is this trying to target? Other members of the X-series have 12.1" screens, and one of those has a beginning weight of 2.8lbs. I'd imagine the extra inch of screen would be more of an issue than the half-pound, but still.

Must purchase an OEM copy of either XP or Vista. R and T Series Thinkpads are being sold with the option of SuSE Enterprise Desktop 10, so why not the X Series?

Regarding the article:

... and will be limited to a paltry 64 gigabytes of storage. I'm sorry, but for the applications these laptops are going to be serving, 64GB of internal storage should be plenty. If not, well, there are plenty of external storage needs, whether NAS, thumb/pen drives, or full-fledged external hard drives (which one can choose a "portable" version or a not-so-portable version.)

No mention of a possible entry in the Reserve Series (and with the base price for the "standard" X300, who wouldn't want to pay $5,000 for a laptop!?)

That word does not mean what you think it means

[DragonHawk]

And, well looky there, you can configure the machine to include those features.

I think you mean "you can configure the box the machine ships in to include those features". Because all those devices are external to the machine.

Generally speaking, it's safe to assume that anyone wanting a super-mobile computer like an Air or this ThinkPad doesn't want to have wires and dongles they have to carry in their bag and/or hanging off the computer. I know with the Dell's we buy at work, the fact that the Latitude D400 series super-mobile only has an external optical drive is often a deal-breaker for the users. They'd rather a bigger/heavier unit that includes everything in one piece.

Re:ThinkPads have always been expsensive

[slaker]

There is no such thing as a well built Toshiba. There probably were some 10 or 15 years ago, but Toshiba is a company that, like Sony, trades on its name in place of any actual quality. Not that I'm bitter about the shitty laptops I have to support.
However, speaking to the quality of current Thinkpads... my cat managed to knock my T61 off my desk a couple weeks ago. It fell four feet or so on to a hardwood floor.
There's a ding on the floor. My Thinkpad is fine.

Re:ThinkPads have always been expsensive

[Idbar]

Wow! First time I head someone talking that well about toshibas on /.

I've only had toshibas, one felt from my hands while I was writing on the hard drive, bounce on the floor and kept working for 2 more years with no problem (of course 3 years for a computer that was totally abused, I think is great). My current laptop is a Toshiba, and I'll keep buying them.

The reason why I buy them? Different than Apple's they.. really.. just work. Recently, to take their prices down, they fill them with tons of bloatware, which is a bit annoying, but the price difference you find between those and Apple/Lenovos/Sony is huge, and Toshiba built their computers, mostly, with their own toshiba parts. I love it! And CNET still have the best ultra portable to be a Toshiba!
 
We'll see if they can keep it up with the Apple aggressive marketing strategy.

Re:ThinkPads have always been expsensive

[Spokehedz]

ThinkPads have always been 'business class' machines. Or, what they really are, 'VP Class Machines' which means...

You can throw them in a bag (from being turned on all night working on a presentation) and then check them into your baggage, have the baggage claim people beat the snot out of them, you drag your computer on the ground with some actually luggable luggage and bash them into the back of a cab, up 14 flights of stairs banging it on each step on the way, then throw it down on the expensive mahogany table and open it up and...

The damn thing still works.

IBM doesn't make the most cutting edge stuff. They make the most cost-effective, durable, laptops out there. I don't care about that so-called 'rugged' PC from Toshiba. No VP is going to take that ugly pile to a conference. But an IBM with it's matte black exterior and classic looks, not to mention it matches their suit, they will pick over and over again.

I have used the new T61 laptops as well--and besides being as heavy as a brick--they are quite the little powerhouses. Ubuntu runs on them just dandy, all the hardware detected upon install.

Your Air? Yeah. It looks pretty, but I guarantee that thing will break within a day of giving it to a VP. It would maybe last 15 seconds going through ATL on the way to ORD through CLE. The design of the Air--to me--just screams cheap and flimsy. Pretty, but flimsy.

Re:ThinkPads have always been expsensive

[eclectic4]

Well, there you have it. If it "looks" flimsy on a web page image, then it must be so...

Seriously though, if you have ever actually handled one of these those fears disappear pretty quickly. I've configured two of them in the last week and they are surprisingly solid.