Lenovo X300 ad takes the MacBook Air head-on
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted March 20th 2008 2:39PM
posted March 20th 2008 2:39PM
[Thanks, Amerist]
posted March 20th 2008 2:39PM
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Optical drives are so 2001, I really rarely use them...
1 USB port is einough, you can use it for your thumbdrive or to charge your iphone + bluetooth earpiece (with one cable), everything else you would want to use on USB is available in bluetooth. just use a bluetooth GPS device, a bluetooth mouse.. i don't see a problem for 1 usb port on the road. In the office you have a monitor (often also a usb hub) and a keyboard attached (also often a USB hub) so why do people make the problem bigger than it is..
Would a second or third USB port handy on a MacBook air.. yes.. (they should have killed the special optical drive port) but do you really need them while you're on the road?
Well played Chinese well played
"Sorry, im not native english speaker. "
Ah, I see. Sorry I picked on your grammar, then. English is a tough language.
"Talking about FCP, we got tons of problems here with edit made in FCP..."
Perhaps it's the rest of your workflow. When I encounter people who don't like FCP (2), it's usually because they dropped it into a workflow that wasn't designed with it in mind. Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you - there are lots of houses that are ecstatic with the switch from Avid to FCP. No, it's not perfect, but the people that see the problems you speak of seem to be in the minority.
"Also Wacom Tablet are shitty on OSx."
What?! What are you smoking, man? I've got a graphire 3 and an intuous 3; both worked flawlessly in Tiger and now in Leopard. Maybe your tablet is broken.
"Creativity was on Mac side in the 90 at the beginning of adobe and quarkxpress. Now im sorry to say that but yes, its look like that time is gone. PC is the way to go if you wanna save money, make good 2D and 3D and be compatible with Discreet (ok ok autodesk) products line (smoke, flame...)."
Ah. Once again with the ad hominem, as if by some magical anti-stochastic wand, only non-creative poseurs can buy Macs, but REAL artists will just automatically buy Dells. Again with the bias and bullshit. Look. If you're going to run a Discreet shop, just keep using Avid. It's obvious you aren't going to allow yourself to like anything else.
I've done art and music on both Mac and PC (and Linux, for that matter). There are good tools on the PC, no question. But switching to Mac brought me better tools (in most instances - I still miss Fruity Loops) and a much more stable operating system. I don't have to spend NEARLY as much time futzing with the OS, and it doesn't crash NEARLY as much as my Windows machines did. That's a net win for creativity, completely leaving out the subjective experience of the OS.
I work for Boeing and I can tell you than in the office environment I use all of my USB ports at the same time and my optical drive. Boeing would not purchase the air for one simple reason. No docking station. With that being said my organization is highly mobile and we travel world wide, so having more us way better than less.
Maybe thats the attitude that lost the Tanker contract to the Europeans. Not being able to think outside the box.
USB hubs are ridiculously cheap, there is this great technology called bluetooth been around for awhile and the external optical is $99 and lightweight as hell. The Macbook air sacrifices obsolete and easily replaceable technologies for ones that matter. LED, backlit keyboard, 13.3 inch screen, full size keyboard, 2GB ram and a 1.6 or 1.8 intel core 2 duo custom designed from intel with some tech from fall 2008 processors. It smokes these wannabes in all the benchmarks (in its class)
Dirk, the thinkpad is only available with an SSD... go to the apple store and compare apples to apples(thinkpads) they end up being within $150 or so of each other (Lenovo actually has sales :-)
Whoa there buddy, the experience in your company must explain how the ENTIRE WORLD works. I know tons of people on Macs that are incredible business people getting great things done. Oh but i know this one guy with a Dell and he smokes pot and never gets much done. Windows must be horrible. Labels are for jars bro, open up your closed mind.
I work for Apple. I wouldn't ever pay money for a Windows crapper. But you know what? This is an awesome ad and prolly a better computer than the stupid Air. I hate the Air.
When OS-X is available for whatever hardware *I* want, I'll switch.
Until then, Lenovo wins this round.
It's amazing how the x300 is viewed through the flaws of the mba.. I'd like to point out that the x300 has SO MUCH more to offer in addition to the USB ports and the DVD drive.
-the screen has a better resolution. I think this a huge advantage.
-The battery can be replaced.
You can add another external battery.
-The keyboard can be replaced
its spill friendly
-everything is accessible (ram, minpci, wireless, sim card)
-It has decents (well definitely better than the mba) stereo speakers
-Its freaking solid
-the Trackpoint
-it has Ethernet,wireless, WWAN.
I think the bottom line is that this machine is WAY more flexible than the air. There is almost no compromise.
It feels Apple just wanted to build the thinnest (13,3" full keyboard with a modern CPU) portable.
On the other side, Lenovo wanted to build the perfect portable. They are putting a lot of effort to prove that they are worthy of the thinkpad trademark
You should read lenovo blogs :
http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/
http://lenovoblogs.com/designmatters/
You'll see that this thinkpad is an incredibly great piece of engineering. Just see how much effort on the rubber feet! :) every detail counts.
You will also learn that the ssd technology used on x300's is better in terms of performance and power consumption.
Oh, and just touch that sexy black cover! :D
hahah http://images.tigerdirect.com/itemdetails/T70-13001/T70-13001-banner1b-wg.jpg
That is nice....
What a discussion!
I have a Sony Vaio TZ190 with 2 GB of RAM, and all three batteries (normal, extended, and lightweight). It runs Vista Business, and I have not yet installed SP1. I travel for business (India 4 weeks ago, Australia 2 weeks ago, Japan next week from the US). Right now this is the closest machine to the X300.
I bought a Macbook Air last week, after having an intel iMac for my kids for the past year.
Here are the thoughts of someone who actually owns and uses both:
(1) You're on an eight hour flight from the US to Europe, or a 12 hour flight from US West Coast to Asia. You are going to work every minute on the flight? Get real. Since you likely have meetings when you arrive, you take your benedryl or ambien and get 6-8 hours of sleep.
(2) If you are in the class that drops $3K on a subnotebook, it likely is not your primary machine, and you are flying business class, which has power (mostly 110V AC in most transcontinental flights).
(3) The Vista/XP/OSX debate is moot is you have a machine that can boot all three. Trust me, use a machine that boots both (with VM Ware, Parallels, or Boot Camp) and you will understand what these Mac guys have been talking about. Vista running Norton or Symantec on a 2 GB machine is adequate, but I found myself turning off many of the Aero features in Vista on my Vaio TZ to get more speed. I hate to say it, but Vista looks like kludge running next to OSX.
(4) This whole thing about needing an optical drive...I found myself using my internal drive less and less on the Vaio. I have used my Superdrive for the Air once. I have an 11abg router with a broadband connection and I can download 1 GB movie files to my air in about 25 minutes. I am really not sure what purpose an optical drive in going to serve 2 years from now, especially when I can get a file on an 8 GB flash.
(5) I have a 4 port belkin USB hub that cost me $10. I have yet to use it on the Air.
(6) Both machines (the Air and the Vaio) are powerful, sturdy, and do all of the things that I need. The GUI and ergonomics of the Mac blow the Vaio with Vista away.
(7) I can see how Windows guys can be so touchy--I was one for 12 years, and still am kind of one. However, the Air is the future of mobile computing. As an early adopter, I like to experiment with new things, and think I can see where Apple is going with this. A question to the Windows guys who want an X300--where does Microsoft and Lenovo see as the five year time horizon?
(8) For now, I'll keep the Vaio, just to be sure I can handle the change. I suspect I'm going to use it less an less. Too bad, because it's a neat computer. Next to my Air, however, it already appears dated.
wow half the people here seem to miss the point the Air is lighter, thiner with a larger screen and best of all it runs Mac OS rather than vista sure if you cant stand being without your usb ports and dvd drive it ain't for you but macs are fantastic to use just because Steve Jobs RDF if effective doesn't mean the laptop is badly designed. This X300 is a business lap top and looks it without any sleek design feature hell it has exposed clips fot the lid thats the sort of shit u expect on a cheep super budget laptop not something that costs as much as a X300
You seem to miss the point that the X300 has a higher resolution (1440x900) screen compared to the Air's 1280x800 (the standard for these size displays).
Slightly off topic, but the principal of my school carries his Air around prominently like a douchebag. He's purposely making it visible to the students and teachers hoping he'll get some attention...
the mac book air is like a hot blonde...
a whole lot of fun to look at,
but that just about it.
And have you noticed what "hot blondes" look like after 30 y/o?
They're a M.I.L.F. dude.
No one noticed that these cost more than $1000 more than the macbook air...
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087¤t-category-id=AB685843BDD4412BB8FAB17D26FADACF
Just get the machine that fits your needs. Why are people offended by others buying something else?
The Thinkpad would suit me. Don't really need the internal drive, but having 3 USB ports for a printer, a thumb drive, an iPod, a camera, or whatever sounds more practical. I happen to like the look of the Thinkpad, too!
Here is why the X300 wins:
1. Way more battery life, and you can swap out the DVD drive to get an extra battery, and you save five dollars.
2. External battery lets you swap, so you can get more than its already enormous battery life. Especially important for businessmen
3. The core clocks slower, but only takes 12V as opposed to 20V
4. X300 has better screen resolution (1440x900 vs 1280x800)
5. X300 has built in GPS, wireless USB, and WiMax
6. X300 may not look as good, but it is mega tough (military grade), and could physically shatter the macbook.
7. HP's thumb-ball thingy beats out macs touchpad, but then that is my opinion.
8. X300 ships with XP, not Vista
Regarding some of the previous comments...
I've tried OSX (on the school computers), and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't as bug free as people say it is. There are some small quirks that annoy me, but on the whole, they each have their own faults.
I do like Vista. It is, quite frankly, prettier than Leopard, and I like the start menu a lot more than the dock menu, although you Mac users probably wont understand this. It's just something you have to do.
I will say this: first gen Vista was a pain to set up, but if you are patient and can get through it, Vista is a very nice operating system, and most of the problems (at least initially) were either because of outdated drivers, or software compatibility issues, most of which have been fixed. Also, you don't get viruses (unless you're really dumb), and Vista comes with its own, built in, very discreet anti virus protection software. All of the hype that you hear about now is pretty much from its initial release. However, it is up to you to decide what to think, I just wanted to state my opinion on that.
I think that Microsoft's main shortcoming is not advertising their products, probably because they will get busted for monopolizing on the industry if they overdo it. There are some features of Vista that people never find out, and it would be awesome if they publicized what they were selling better. I don't get why they talk about their "wadgets" or whatever, instead of talking about all of the good, built in software and programs that they offer.
I'd also like to state that I believe Apple's success lies in their advertising as well. They target teens because teens rich parents will pay for a lot of expensive, "hip" stuff, and they target the parents, because nobody's parents ever learned how to use a computer right, and so the macintosh is much simpler for people who don't like computers. It is designed for people who want a shiny, large, easy to see button and a menu with all of their basic applications on it, like email, internet, and word. Most adults today won't go beyond any of those applications, so it really works well for them. If you want a bit more depth to your computer, and are able to troubleshoot a little bit, then I'd go with a PC. O