Too bad the Lenovo is hella ugly, especially compared to the Air.

As much as I like the X300, I feel like they're really reaching here. Why bother making this chart when they're not competeing for the same demographic?

The battery bit is a little silly. Lighter, better battery life. Well not really. Its one or the other with the specs listed there.

@nathangimpel: yep, because when business is concerned- its all form over function.

/sarcasm

Heh, "hella ugly." Because I like to buy my computers for their looks, not overall performance. Who needs to get work done when you can just sit there with a nice looking computer?

A picture of the macbook air is conspicuously missing in the side by side comparison. Still it's impressive to see them give props to the MBA on some points.

only 800Mhz? That's slow!

@nathangimpel: True. But far more functional.

I would take a Air over the X300 though, and I am a windows user.

I like black. But, Lenovo's True Vantage drivers and software are C R A P on wifi... The Airbook will integrate easily with an Airport network. The Thinkpad's I've setup require removing most of the Think Vantage software. (failed to mention support and ease of configuration where the Apple shines).
Still, Apple designs form over function. Don't you get it, yet?

If they're going to knock the MBA for not having things like GPS, then they need to include GPS in the price of the X300. If they're simply offering the same stuff at the same price, I fail to see how that makes the X300 'better'

Better security? Yeah, well, you're going to need it.

They could at least throw a couple bones to make this seem somewhat unbiased - like the fact that the X300 has no multitouch, or that the MBA gives you the option of OS X / Vista / XP.

Then theres the points they make such as "No Firewire" that applies to both. Why not say "No Floppy Drive" if they're going to go through and list the things neither of them has?

@confab:
but they dont - every "Advantage" column entry gives the award to the X300 - even for patently obvious contradictions like the "Lighter, better battery life" entry when, as someone pointed out, the two are mutually exclusive.

@nutbastard: Clearly this is marketing at it's best, but I think the point with the gps is that you CAN get it internal on the x300. Of course, they should have listed the gps on the MBA as External, because it's not like it's impossible to plug a gps into the MBA

Sure helps when you group your categories, huh?

@nutbastard: I'm not sure what you mean by the security remark...is this in regards to the OS vulnerabilities or data security?

Yo, SigmundTheSeaMonster...[sarcasm]I know what you mean. I hate it when I sitting down somewhere, open my Thinkpad and it auto-detects the wireless network and connects with the push of a button and offers to create a profile for the location.[/sarcasm]

I don't understand all the Thinkvantage haters. I find them to be extremely useful...especially Access Connections and the Presentation Director.

One runs Windows.... I'll take the Macbook Air

@jibbly:
ah just a cheap shot at the OS

@imTheKing:
they both (can) run windows

I agree wid Jason...these 2 are not fightin for the same credit cards....X300 is perfect for on the move business users who actually need to get some work done...MBA is for the pretty users lookin for a matching laptop,which is no doubt quite powerful but X300 is more function oriented...
@SMG3er: LOL!

I wish they do a drop test to see which one can withstand the impact from 2 feet (height of desk).

@nutbastard: True. But obviously you'd want to choose against doing that.... haha

@ripfire4: good idea.

Your welcome.

-Justin

Was this chart actually released by Lenovo? There's so many things wrong with it.

Is green supposed to highlight the Lenovo's features? If so, "Yes Bluetooth" shouldn't be in green, since the MacBook Air also has it, and it's even listed on it chart.

While both have the same size screen, the Lenovo has higher resolution, which should be a point in its favor.

Also, the MacBook Air actually does have an IR port, which the chart gets wrong - it's the little dark spot on the front right side of the case.

And calling it '0.73-0.92" thin' (Lenovo) does NOT make it thinner than something that's '0.16-0.76" thick' (Air).

@chibimagic:
"And calling it '0.73-0.92" thin' (Lenovo) does NOT make it thinner than something that's '0.16-0.76" thick' (Air)."

I love marketing.

That's what 4 years at a liberal arts college for a marketing degree gets you. If IBM wanted spin-free specs they could have had an engineer write it and saved themselves some $$

@chibimagic: Yeah, my Lenovo sales rep sent this to me. Its sort of odd how they compared some things.

Dont really care for the x300 or MBA. I needs a more powerful computer and as long as both of them break and they need me to repair them, that i love them both equaly!

@nikeplr: "I agree wid Jason...these 2 are not fightin for the same credit cards....X300 is perfect for on the move business users who actually need to get some work done"

I don't think picking either of these will prevent you from getting your job done.

Also, the x300 comes standard with a 3 year onsite warranty. The MacBook air comes with just a 1 year warranty with no onsite service. Food for thought.

@nutbastard: You need to make it cheaper, and with backwards compatibility, oh and 2.0 specs and PiP and DTS support, then make it smaller with less power hungry components. I hate and love you BluRay.

The gals at Club Porn wants theirs thick.

I'm really impressed with Lenovo's impartiality in comparing the two laptops.

@nathangimpel: baby it don't matta if yo black oh white. it's what's insiiiiide.

@j4sk868: The Lenovo service plan is generally great.

Reading the specs of the IBM, it appears that it only has an 800MHz processor. Is that correct??

@chibimagic: I agree, why is the thicker laptop listed as thin and vice versa. That's just silly.

LOL! Silly Lenovo, what kind of bullshit is this?

Why is the 1.6 and 1.8GHz processor options a negative for the Air when the Thinkpad has a 1.2GHz with no option for anything higher?

Why the fuck is iLife put under external USB options?

Why is the backlit keyboard a NEGATIVE for the MBA?

Why are the details on the Air's external construction omitted?

I'm sure some fanboy out there will take this all as gospel.

This is something for internal use by Lenovo, right? It certainly didn't come from the marketing department.

@Xenocide: Not to mention they have some pretty good 3rd party techs(me). but so does apple but you only get one year.

This has to be something for Lenovo internal use only. It's certainly not professional enough to have come from their marketing department.

@jibbly: Heck, it's not even about the demographic anymore. Some of the bullet points in this chart are flat out wrong.

@jibbly OSX is far more secure and stable than Windows. And as far as data encryption goes, you can set up FileVault to encrypt your hard drive.

@nikepir People like you are what give Windows faithful a bad name. What evidence is there that you can get more done on a Windows machine than a Mac? Personally, I found my productivity/efficiency skyrocketed when switched over.

Performance over sexiness thank you. Although I wouldn't mind both

Lenovo for me. I have owned many IBM thinker pads. Always tough and dependable. the t42 is 4 years old and still kicking ~2 hours on the old battery! That flat black rubberized finish hides its age and abuse. MBA looks like with will shatter like a CD if touched wrong.

@confab: Perhaps they're not actually allowed to show pictures of it?

@sp00nix: Wrong. The Air is actually a sturdy, rigid little laptop. People should actually take a closer look at these things before judging them from the armchair gadget junky's POV.

Kasier-Machead: You do realize that putting things in red does NOT mean negative in the chart, right? They highlight strengths in each column by putting them in green for Lenovo and red for Apple. And iLife is not under USB options -- the categories are listed on the left. Both USB options and iLife are under their Manageability category.

Oh, and everyone that mentions IBM -- Thinkpads have been Lenovo for a couple years now, even though they had IBM on them during the transition.

D.

@nathangimpel: because that is what businesses really want, pretty looking computers with no optical drives or battery choices.

@kosikutioner: But you have a choice. You can kill one battery watching movies on the flight and drop in another for doing business when you land.

Being said it looks like it was made for internal purposes only.

@nutbastard: You're right.

@Kaiser-Machead: Dang, you're the one man MBA defender of the thread.

I'll salute your dogged persistence for The Truth, but I still dig the X300 because of the very thing that most people hate it for: MS Windows.

WHO CARES LENEVO! The air is made by apple so it must be superior to everything, well that what Jobs tells us.

How dumb is this comparison. If this is real Lenovo is in bad shape.

... MBA does NOT cook you breakfast, helps you shave, or clean the house... advantage x300 !

@nathangimpel:
No man, I totally agree. I'd rather pay for a $3000 cool-looking frisbee to oogle the board members with!

/sarcasm

@jibbly: I actually think that the Lenovo X300 is a nice looking package, but I think the chat is just stupid.

@drzeller: Well egg on my face. Fail: 1, Kaiser: 0

Ever read a user manual for a cheap chinese product? The chart reads like some doofus chinese translation. "Many much lighter and although can be greatly increased in memory by adding more."

Funny how they highlight MBA's advantages in RED normally reserved for disadvantages, and sometimes "forget" to mention things like missing accelerometer in X300. Also, it's been years since Apple laptops ran hot. My Merom MBP doesn't run hot at all, it's barely warm even under Vista.

@Nooorm: ThinkVantage is nice, but I personally found Access Connections a bit complicated to use. Windows's native wireless utility works fine for me. I do appreciate the backup and update tools, though. Overall, ThinkVantage is a pre-loaded software suite that is actually useful and unobtrusive -- something of a rarity.

Also, I think ThinkPads are gorgeous, although mine has had some annoying hardware issues (my T60 is on its third motherboard now, and the latest one emits an irritating whine from time to time). Maybe they were more robust before the Lenovo takeover... then again, it could just be luck.

@pwnz0r: It uses an SSD. Why would it need an accelerometer?