Gizmodo

Who cares! Geez, enough already.

Now i wish they'd swap my T43s out for these bad boys at work.

Thinkpads are cool running machines. My gateway and T42 share the very close hardware configs, same chip set, CPU, thinkpad has more memory, but the T42 runs luke warm and the gateway can burn you if not careful

CNET needs to push f1 and read up on how to change the font and icon size.
I still haven't found a true replacement for my 5 year old Dell Latitude C400. Everything is wide screen or missing the touchpad or too heavy or poorly designed like the air.

Wow, that just makes me want one even more. The only concern I have is how linux compatible all the parts are.

got a thinkpad in 2000, sent it back 3 times to IBM for repairs during the 3-year warranty and then the screen died 2 days after it expired. got an ibook in late 2003 and have been using it since then and have NEVER had a problem. i will never ever ever again buy a thinkpad.

it is not an ultra portable...stop adding to the confusion. It is a thin laptop

@chipmunk_knowitall: I likey, so shutty!

6th take: It's in black! (Come on Apple. You offer the Macbook in Black and not the MBP, MBA nor even any other Mac in your lineup. Jobs, didn't you run NeXT? Those cubes and pizza boxes were black. wtf???)

I LUV the thinkpad brand! I still have a perfectly functioning t20 that we bought new, and we use it for surfing the web, and with it's cd-bay battery, it gets over 7 hours of computing time! I also have an A-30 that works fine, and sits next to my bed for that late night internet fix (read vpn-ing into work to fix that pager call...) I don't know how well they are since lenovo, but before they were rock solid in my book.

I also wish they would offer more options on all the hardware for all the laptops. There is no reason not to offer the different hard drives at least.

@enine: poorly designed macbook air? And you love the Dell Latitude C400? Did you say, well designed and Dell in the same sentence?....... bahhhhhahahahaha

@atstriker2000: 1.8" drives using conventional internals are absolute garbage, because if their slow spin speed. Just look at the MBA and how poorly it performs, even though it has a faster processor. Now with SSD, it does better, but not by much because they used a slow SSD and use PATA.

Perhaps when Toshiba releases their 1.8" 5400RPM drives in the coming weeks, then there will be an option for 120GB with a traditional drive. But if i were to pick either a MBA or X300, i would for sure buy either one with the SSD, or not at all until those drives comes out.

@techy42: haha. Lenovo isn't exactly known for their parts being linux compatible. More the exact opposite...

Looks like a good machine, event though I personally dislike Lenovos.

Sweet machine. I might consider it if I liked laptops.

@pferde_schwanz: In one case you got un-lucky, and in the other case, you got lucky.

It happens to all of us. My iBook from 2006 completely lost its ability to read CD's and DVD's a few months after the warranty expired. Ive been living with a MBA like laptop since then and i hate every minute of it.

Would i buy another one? No, but its not because it broke, because ive come to terms with the fact that my case is an exception, but because i can get a better laptop from Asus with discrete graphics for about the same cost as an equally loaded MacBook.

@pferde_schwanz: Ah, good ol' anecdotal evidence, thriving on blog comment boards everywhere just like those mushrooms growing in my bathtub.

Sorry, but I'm still not understanding how thin means ultra-portable Ultra-portable laptops include the Sony TX-series or it's predecessor, the T series, not the Lenovo or the Air. In my opinion, the Air and the X300 should be compared to other 13" laptops, like the regular Macbook, which cost far less, are much more functional and powerful, and are just as portable.

I'm interested in the Air, but only when the specs are up to speed with the Macbook (with regards to processor, RAM, and hard drive capacity, and price).

@jibbly: yes YES i admit it! to be fair (to me) many of my RPI class who were issued this same computer also had myriad problems.. maybe we were given a bad batch.

They're dumb for not allowing regular hard drives. It would reduce the price to be a total Air killa!

@pferde_schwanz: It's cool, man. Those mushrooms in my bathtub turned out to be a bad batch too. I was looking mellow trails, but alls I gots was permanent and debilitating paranoid schizophrenia.

From Notebook Review:

"ThinkPad X300 equipped executives will never have to tote their external speakers to watch DVDs by night in their hotel rooms again."

ThinkPad X300 equipped executives who watch DVDs by night in their hotel room? Yeah, that's what I would tell my wife back at home too (if I had the misfortune of being married).

Could Lenovo have been waiting for those new Toshiba drives?

The X300 looks very sweet, and I would get one if I needed an ultra portable. I'd never get an Air, though.

I can't believe that nobody's brought this up yet, but the x300 has an ultrabay in it.

I have a sata adapter for the ultrabay in my t60p. When I need it I've got an extra 250 gigs of storage on hand. If these nerds really are going to spend 2800 dollars on the laptop without spending 50 on the sata adapter, they shouldn't be allowed to complain about the lack of storage.

viva la thinkpad.

@imTheKing:

Yes, remember its a latutide not an insprion. Apple's silly idea of not wanting a removable battery to not have breaks in the case then has that opening door for the ports.
Then there all the problems with apple hardware, overheating being one. I've seen so many problems with apple hardware over the years that I'd never buy one.

Both look pretty nice to me. March of progress.

But I have to say that I do still like my five-year-old Dell Inspiron 600m: 4.9 pounds, 1.4GHz Pentium M, 1GB RAM, 1400x1050 64MB Radeon 9000, DVD writer, built-in wireless b/g, built-in Bluetooth. It runs for about 6 hours with the extra battery in place of the DVD writer. The only thing I've ever needed that it didn't handle was Firewire, so I added a PC card to it for that. It would run cool, except for the hard disk. That's the spot where it gets pretty toasty.

@Samifumi: Lol. But they do have a point:

Client: "Great meeting. And I love your new Macbook Air, never seen a laptop so thin! Anyway, here's the TV spots we talked about for the new ad campaign. We'll go over your notes tomorrow morning." (hands over a DVD)

Consultant: "Uh...do you have that on flash drive?"

Not to mention you can also put up to 4gb of memory and the air is limited to 2gb. also the dvd drive can be hot swapped with an extra battery.

it is just better.

@Samifumi:
No No No...no way that the macbook is as portable as the Macbook Air...
not if you REALLY need portability...

I made a few trips last month and i couldn`t stand carrying my macbook (which i LOVE with all my heart) around on my backpack....

A few pounds less makes A LOT of difference.

All these x300 stories are like watching the demise of HD-DVD. Each one being another nail in the MBA coffin. Only fan boys would disagree.

@enine: I've had over 10 Macintosh computers since 1997 and not one of them has had any issues. I did however go through 3 Dell computers between 2000 and 2002 that had such significant problems, I landed up throwing them out! I believe they also are rated one of the worst computers in reliability which at one point brought up that huge lawsuit against the company. Last I checked, there were over 10 million people on the lawsuit list that qualified.

@Samifumi: You'll never get married and it's not by choice but by circumstance...

@TallDudeFromBrazil: When I travel overseas in a couple of months (a place where wireless exists in very limited locations), I'd rather take the Macbook than the Macbook Air with all the extra accessories that it needs to do the same thing as the Macbook. Personally, I'd rather have everything built into one unit than have to deal with all the separate USB powered accessories.

Portability depends on where you are going really. When I travel I need something that mimics a full computer as much as possible, not one that tries to deviate it and rely on a desktop of some sort.

@aussie: If you are trying to direct an insult my direction, please be more clear and elaborate. Otherwise, the message you are trying to convey gets lost in your feeble attempt to seem witty, concise, and wise beyond your years.

@Samifumi: Beyond my years, I'm 73!

The 64GB SSD option is what the x300 debuted with for two reasons:
1. The engineering designs for thsi form factor gave them two choices for 1.8-inch storage: 4200RPM drives that sucked big time in the X40/41 series or an SSD, which currently has a sweet spot of bang for buck at 64GB. If you're really complaining about capacity, then you are in the wrong laptop segment!

2. This laptop is targeted at roadwarriors with big wallets, not a huge segment.

I'd love to have an x300 to compliment my loaded t61. lenovo's newer laptops kick butt. besides a single dead pixel this came with, this laptop is a beast and it's fairly small for a 15.4" notebook with discreet graphics (256meg) and all the trimmings.

It actually only around $2178.54, if you use some of their coupon. That's with no cd, but a extra battery. It still expensive, but it not as bad as over 2700.
[www.dealigg.com]

@Samifumi: hello smarty..

..get this! few pounds less make a difference, no comparison between macbook and MBA, for some people space in the hand bag (thin notebook) plus few pounds less. IS a big difference!

Its not your scenario or my situation but I understand some will pay more for something a few pounds less, and that it will also leave some extra space for notes and papers inside a bag.
Why some of u cant understand that?

kthnxbye

@aussie:
then we won't have to put up with you for very much longer, now will we?

@Brookespeed: I see what you did there.

@FLegion: Hehehe. I can almost picture the twinge of buyer's remorse in his face.

Regardless, it's the consultant's fault for purchasing a computer that doesn't meet his needs. If he regularly gets items on DVD, he's not likely to buy a MBA, or he's going to buy the external DVD and leave it in the hotel or something.

While I wouldn't spend the money on a MBA, I also don't have a need for an optical drive. My ancient iBook has only a CD ROM, so I've become accustomed to living without. It's not as horrible as everyone thinks.

@nutbastard:
Ouch.

@apple: @fan boys:
".....it seems like the Lenovo X300 is a no-brainer." Thanks Mark.

Other than the price I would have to agree.

Done & Done.

do you still need to shave off some $'s to make it win over the MBA?
I disagree, this thing PWNS it, hands down.
I'll take usability over sterile looks and a cpl hundred dollars.

seriously this thing is a total apple killer!
MBA, go and hide in an envelope!

@TallDudeFromBrazil: I will agree that the MBA is a more portable computer than the Macbook, but as one who has traveled back and forth twice each month to Montreal with a Macbook, I can't say that the MB has been much of a burden at all. It's still a pretty thin laptop, thinner than most out there, so it fits just fine in most bags.

What the Air has, that I hope filters down to the Macbooks is that rigid outer casing. Macbook Pros feel flimsy as hell compared to it.

@imTheKing:

Again, Latutide, not inspiron. In the corporate world we buy Latauides by the 100's and have 4-5 failures. Companies may buy 10 apples and have 4-5 failures. Your 10 over the period of several years is a drop in the bucket. I'm sitting in the middle of a row of 10 cubicles and can see a couple dozen rows of cubicles to either side of me. Every one has a Dell Latitude sitting on it.

@pferde_schwanz: Funny how that works. I've had a Thinkpad T40 for work since 2003, and it's still running like a champ. The battery is on its last legs, but it's never had a hardware failure of any kind.

I'm glad that Apple has done well by you, but you should know that your Thinkpad experience was not the norm.

Gotta call bullshit on that apple failure rate. Our department has probably 40 macs. Don't know of any failures. We had 1 ship to us with a dead secondary internal drive, but that's about the only thing I can think of.

@enine: You are completely off your rocker. I work for a Motion studio in NYC called Shilo. We're the ones that do the Scion commercials. Know those? All Macs. Theres over 80 just in our office and then you have companies like The Mill and others that have even more. You have no clue what your talking about. We have had hardly any hardware failures in the past 4 years. BARELY ANY. Keep your Microsoft word running comps.

@ekornblum: Exactly. The guys probably a pencil pusher for Morgan Stanley. Dell has by far the worst failure rate of any manufacturer. Its just about a damn fact.

I'll take my T61p powerhouse over this road warrior any day... unless of course I was a road warrior.

@imTheKing:

Here's PC Pro's awards for 2007:

[www.pcpro.co.uk]
[www.pcpro.co.uk]

Anything else to add or do you want to just go and quietly sit in the corner now?

@Sleeper_Service: lol from PC Pro.co.uk? You douche bag. Why dont I post all of the Mac awards from Macmall.com.... dipshit.

Go eat some fish and chips.

@imTheKing

Fine, you can have PCWorld's ones instead:

[www.pcworld.com]

These show Apple and Lenovo top for laptops with Dell comfortably mid table.

Which means you're a fuckmuppet. :)

@Sleeper_Service: Yet another PC link. You have to be the dumbest pos ever.

1. I never said anything about the Lenovo being a bad computer. In fact, its a damn good computer.

2. You attempt to backup statements with incredibly useless links. (According to Zune.com, the Zune is the best MP3 player on the market)

3. Go hang yourself and do us all a favor.

@imTheKing:

Calling someone a "douche bag", a "dipshit" and "the dumbest pos ever" and then telling them to go hang themselves does not change the fact that unless your involved with manipulating video/media of some kind, or listening to a jobs state-of-the-crapple pod-cast, an apple is as horrible a choice as you can make.

Plus it gives our mates over seas the impression that we are a bunch of clod hopping temper-ridden morons who can't express themselves any other way than to regurgitate a list of curse words at them.

@Sleeper_Service:
Apologies to our mates from Blighty. We're not ALL morons here in the states.

Not sure on failure rates for either, but Dell IS as shitty as they come. That being said, I'd still take a Dell over an apple any day.

Ya seriously. The Macbook Air was released as the thinnest laptop,(which it succeeds at)and not the world's best laptop!

@Out2gtcha: did you happen to miss his fuckmuppet comment? Your another pos. Where do you live? Idaho? Just because your incompetent in choosing a good computer doesn't mean you can excuse yourself. If I didn't know better, I'd guess you were a republican who has a confeder