Secrets of the ThinkPad X300 -- what Walt didn't tell you
By Paul Miller 
posted February 14th 2008 10:27AM
posted February 14th 2008 10:27AM
[Thanks, Rabeeh A]
posted February 14th 2008 10:27AM
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i love how people compare macs to luxury cars when it's pretty clear the Thinkpad is the BMW and Mercedez Benz of the laptop world. Clean, sophisticated, but understated design that houses all the amenities of paying more to get more. you have to really own a thinkpad to really understand how beautiful the thing is.
macbook air is more like what kids do with their honda civics: all flash, no substance, big ass decal on the hood that no one really gives a shit about.
I dunno, I'd say Apple = BMW, snobbish pricks who want to be seen flaunting their overpriced products. Most who own them can't afford them, but pay the price anyway to satiate their insecurities. BMW/Apple definitely have redeeming qualities, but there are comparable choices out there for a lot less money.
IBM is more like Infiniti. They're both solid, well built, incredibly capable machines at competitive prices. And none of that air of pretension.
you raise a good point, those that most flaunt their belongings are those that are the most insecure.
"i suck as an artist, but with this mac, i can suck harder and flaunt it!"
Continuing the BMW analogy, the Air is like the 1-series. Small, slow, overpriced and pointless, but it's got the right badge so you know stupid people are going to buy one.
I suppose I don't use a Mac, mostly because I find their keyboards, mice and GUI surprisingly unergonomic and unintuitive - though I have been using a PC for ages, and might just be used to the setup - but even if I did, I can't see any merit in the Air. Just like the BMW 1 series, in fact.
Too bad they insist on including an useless optical drive.
Oh and too bad it runs windows! Otherwise it's a nice piece of hardware.
Now that Apple has eschewed the optical drive, it's useless on every machine?
I try out a lot of software on disc from vendors, and I download a lot. I need my DVDRW drive. I like to burn DVDs when I need solid stored backups, and watch movies when I'm on the road (I don't use iTunes).
Yeah, there are lots of ways around using the optical drive, but I'd prefer to have the option.
Nothing to do with Apple. I've only owned one laptop with an optical drive --ironically was an Apple -- it it proved to be dead weight. Not saying everyone doesn't need one, just saying I don't. I only recently switched to Mac and this was one of my complaints when I first did.
For those wondering where this comes from, it's part of an "overview" training course offered to IBM & Lenovo employees (mostly sales departments) given at the end of January, beginning of February. While nothing's really new, it does confirm their intent to introduce models with spinning hd's at/after launch.
And btw, Lenovo does not even consider the MBA as a competitor to/in the same class as the X300, the former just wouldn't sell as a full-featured ultraportable
I really like the design of the MacBook (which I own), but I also think the ThinkPads are cool looking in an entirely different way, and I wouldn't be ashamed to own one (though I'd rather a VAIO).
Does this make me a bad Mac owner?
(I hope so.)
From the two articles and all the comments so far we have to conclude the following:
- ugly=business and no one is allowed to buy a decent looking computer for business use
- the thinkpad, if it has to be compared to a mac, should be compared to the MacBook - much more similar form factor than to the MBA. Making this comparison wouldn't really benefit Lenovo, so they omitted it from their comparison chart
- Many people cannot yet comprehend that there are others out there that don't need a thousand ports. Many people use wireless internet, bluetooth or simply don't have and don't need a million devices to connect to their computer.
- People love to hate Apple, the main logic in their statements being they are overpriced. Those people will never understand what they are missing on by saving a couple of hundred bucks, but it's their call
- The X300 running Vista will be among the slowest things in the world, something like a computer version of Eric Moussambani.
Have to agree on the vista front, and when it comes to design I think lenovo are scared of distancing themselves from original IBM design, most business-minded-number-crunchers rarely have any art/design taste so most of these idiots probably think thinkpads are rather stylish ;)
If Apple would be a nice company and sell an X86 install disc for all PCs we wouldn't all be stuck with M$.
Macs are nice machines (I own a couple myself)but I also like putting my own PCs together, Apple's business model is bad for a competitive market (price-wise and performance-wise)
I would love to run OSX on all my hardware (although not my media center as front row sucks)
Its about time Apple opened its doors to the public macs are pretty much Intel reference deigns and Apple fans will still pay a premium for a mac, so come on Apple start using that halo effect to put M$ out of a monoply position.
Why should the Thinkpad be compared to the Macbook? Because they managed to get more ports and an optical drive and a removable battery into a formfactor that's only slightly bigger than the Macbook Air?
The MBA may be thin but its wide and flat, like a pancake that you can't roll up. I'm more interested in smaller footprint than in 5mm of thickness.
Of course, in a cellphone, I'm more interested in thickness than footprint, which is why I like the iPhone.
1) Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Just because it may look ugly from a fashion standpoint (especially next to the MBA) does not mean that it is an ugly notebook; in fact, from a business perspective, the Thinkpad industrial design is a classic look, essentially "handsome" from the fashion perspective rather than "pretty" or "beautiful".
2) Thinkpads should not be compared to Macs - period. They are entirely different-classed machines. There are extremely few business users walking around with Macs - businesses need ruggedness, uptime, and functionality, which Thinkpads deliver (usually - no such thing as 0% of all products being duds) in spades. Macs deliver ease of use and form, bullet points important to consumers. As such, it is impossible to compare the two - the X300 is a machine dedicated for the road warrior, whereas the MBA is an object of lust and desire. Trying to make either the X300 a fashion statement or the MBA a dependable machine for a road warrior is impossible.
3) Nobody is talking about a million devices. It's as simple as wanting both a wired Ethernet connection or a cellular connection - WiFi isn't everywhere, like many hotel rooms or corporate environments - as well as a USB connection for a mouse. And even if you use a Bluetooth mouse, a lot of businesspeople will need some other USB device - for example, a flash drive or an ID-reader for corporate or military authentication (Common Access Card).
4) This is really an OS point - considering the fact that the X300 undeniably has better hardware (from an uptime perspective - Thinkpads have a hard time getting broken, see roll-cage, etc.) than the MBA, which I seriously doubt would not break in some way if you dropped it 3 feet onto a concrete floor. Considering that, Windows XP is the only OS (looking at the Thinkpad options) that the vast majority of businesses would buy at the moment, and if you actually look at XP today, it is a well-polished alternative to OS X (graphics is a different story - but businesses don't care about flashy graphics). I have a Windows XP system that I am using this on right now and, as a gaming system, it very rarely crashes on me - a good sign, considering the fact that gaming systems are the ones most likely to exhibit problems due to tweaked-on-a-dime hardware and beta drivers, etc. Carbon-copy-configuration business machines generally have no problems from an OS standpoint with XP.
5) See #4. Whoever said anything about running Vista? And even if you did run Vista, what do you expect to do on either this or the MBA? Encode video? Play intensive games? Give me a break. Both machines are for email, internet, and productivity applications - nothing more. Given that, with 2 GB RAM both Leopard and Vista run beautifully with simpler applications. Maybe if a business user on a trip wanted to keep an email client going and Firefox and Word AND iTunes - but then you really have to choose, don't you? Do you want to run all these applications at once and MUST be on Vista, or can you get by with XP? If you can't - are you prepared for the Apple alternative (since that's what this discussion is really about, the X300 vs. the MBA) and what that means from a business standpoint, with fewer connectivity options and a higher possibility of it failing on you if you decide not to baby it all that often?
1. I can't comprehend why computer design does not evolve and follow the trends of the day, like most other product design thus. 95% of computers today look terribly (everything except for Apple and Sony pretty much) , for example keyboards mostly look like the keyboards from the 80s - this is ridiculous. My stove has a contemporary design, my TV has a contemporary design, my car, my sofa, my desk, my chair - why can't my computer look decent as well? It hurts my eyes when I see a brilliantly design office with very hip interiors and then on the desks some ugly dell's/hp's/fs's - you name it. I do agree that the IBM is not as bad as others, but just as it used to be contemporary and good looking when the design was created 15-20 years ago, it should be now!
2. Not true, many business people use a Mac. MANY
3. Well, I use a bluetooth mouse. I use the optical drive only to rip some music when I buy a new CD. Rarely use flash drives, because now I can send huge files to anyone through the net. Using an ID reader on Win is like putting a high-tech lock on a plywood door. The only usb I use is for charging my ipod. I still would not buy a MBA as I don;t a computer on the road, so I prefer to have a big screen, but i can easily see why some people are perfectly set with the MBA
4. It does not have better hardware - it has a crippled CPU that is pretty much useless. It comes with 1gb ram standard. Worse battery, unless you spend more for a second one , which means no optical drive then (and supposedly is very important)
XP? Seriously? XP was good, in fact it was probably MS's best ever, but back in 2001. Today it's terrible. I wouldn't run my computer in 2008 with this.
5. Running Vista on 1.2 Ghz and 1gb ram would be real fun to watch! I'm guessing 2-3 min booting time, absolutely no multitasking, no more than 2 tabs open in IE or it will freeze :)
considering i have been a long time laptop user and owner for the last 15 years i have owned hp fujitsu dell and ibm. out of all of them the ibm has always been much better with little issues. as for industrial? i love the look at my current t43. its keyboard is always been consistant unlike hp dell and fujitsu. i also like the touchpoint since i dont have to drop my hand to use the touchpad. always hated the touch pad as it is inefficient. but then again i also like have 3 mouse bottons where as for the longest time mac had a single click. i dont need a pretty machine. i need a machine that works. as was said above i dont hate on apple. i hate on the fanbois who think it if doesnt have a beatles symbol on the thing means its not a good product. for those fanbois who havent used a thinkpad dont talk bad about it. oh and yes i have used a macbook pro. didnt like it. couldnt do what i needed it to do. wasnt compatible with what i need it to do. IE interface with the dwdm dacs switchs pbx's i have to intreface with.
this would make a great hackintosh
Well that graphic did it for me. I'm getting a Sony S series. :D
How about a new freakin design from Lenovo! Seriously...guys, it's getting old...
The Thinkpads style are about the equivalent of a 90's Volvo (fugly, and out of date)
Did I see 800 MHz C2D in those specs? If so, then the MacBook Air should kick this things butt! Like, seriously, I didn't even know they made an 800 MHz C2D..... That's pretty lackluster. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I understood from looking at the images. Perhaps that's the front side bus?
I don't get why some of you have to fight for a machine to the death. Both other them have their own strong points, and are maybe worth a comparison, but folks let's stop the fighting. The x300 is obviously geared more for the business user so it is designed more for usability and durability. The MBA is geared strongly for the consumer market with it's looks as a major selling point. They are clearly aiming for different people as many people mentioned.
I personally like thinkpads more, but I see many people using the x300 as a chance to bash the MBA as slow, expensive, and useless. Let me just say it's mostly on par with most of the higher end consumer ultraportables (which usually tend to be expensive, less powerful and without optical drives), except for the missing ports and maybe being more expensive for the performance (as you can get a sony sz w/ 2.1ghz for $1.7k). Sure it's missing a few ports, but there ARE customers who are looking for a ultraportable like the MBA. There's really no need to bash the MBA. Yes I know it can get distressing when new phones get compared to the iphone and many of you fear this will become a norm with the Macbook Air too. So most of you just want to bash any Apple product any chance you get, for revenge, but you are just making it WORST by bringing up the MBA EVERY DAMN POST about the x300 (actually this is partly the article's fault but we have responsibility too). So next time avoid mentioning the MBA unless it is genuinely constructive comparison. Can't we all get along?
I think both the MBA & X300 are great. IMO, they both fulfil the criteria of being ultra portables.
I don't see the MBA's 1 usb slot as being a handicap. I'd use that usb for a flash drive. I won't need a mouse (and if I did I'd opt for a bluetooth one). The only thing I wish Apple did was to bundle the Superdrive with the MBA. I've not used any MacBooks, my only experience with Mac portables was the 12" iBook which I still am using at home.
The X300 is also a great piece of engineering. And yes I like the ThinkPad design! Currently using an ancient T23, along side a Fujitsu Lifebook S7110 in the office. I very much prefer the ThinkPad's feel.
1 usb port? I have 8 usb devices connected to my computer. My camera, a scanner, printer, dap, 2 external back-up harddrives, a fluke, and a oscilloscope etc...