Mossberg Reviews the Lenovo X300 Vs. MacBook Air

genji256 writes "Adding to his first impressions, Walt Mossberg has published a full review of the soon-to-come Lenovo X300. As a bottom line he 'recommends the X300 for road warriors without hesitation, provided they can live with its two biggest downsides: a relatively paltry file-storage capacity and a hefty price tag.' Gizmodo lists all the comparisons with the MacBook Air that Walt inevitably makes. Final score: it's a tie, though certain points are arguable ('Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air')."

Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[Anonymous Coward]

I notice on the Amazon listing for the Macbook Air [amazon.com] that there are nothing but five-star reviews. Is it really that good, or are they just shills? It's a bit odd that a review never appeared here on Slashdot.

Re:

[moderatorrater]

Who's going to buy the Macbook air except for those predisposed to love it? It's a niche product from a company that makes very good products if you're in their customer base. The lack of an optical drive and most of the standard ports are going to sow enough doubt that those who aren't already in love with the company are going to walk away. That's especially true for how new the product is; give it some time to mature and for word of mouth to get out, and you'll get more balanced views.

Re:

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

It makes sense: Much of the criticism of the MacBook Air are of it's clearly advertised lack of big features (quite literally). Those that have decided that these issues don't affect them are left with what appears to be an excellent laptop (for its intended market).

To put it another way: It's not like people are buying them, later realizing that they lack an optical drive, then making sure they let people know by posting a harsh review.

Many people have commented on how much better the keyboard and screen a

Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[2nd Post!]

What? They already did, it's called a MacBook. Prices are roughly comparable though the MacBook is slightly heavier.

Re:

[kellyb9]

Prices are roughly comparable though the MacBook is slightly heavier.

Yeah, they are comparable... they're both way to fucking expensive.

Re:

[Saint Fnordius]

Of course, the fact that it's more expensive to make things lighter and smaller doesn't register, nor the metal versus polycarbonate case. Or other little things like the automatic adjustment to meet ambient lighting conditions, or the quality of the screen...

The price of the MacBook Air doesn't surprise me. To make something that thin and yet so sturdy takes a lot of R&D, a lot of precision engineering that the more basic MacBook doesn't require.

Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[harlows_monkeys]

You aren't understanding the market for the Air. It's a niche laptop. A perfect example was given on a recent episode of TWiT, where most of the panelists were not impressed with the Air, but one of them loved it. He is a prolific writer, and when he wants to spend an hour sitting on the couch, say, watching TV, he's still writing. With a regular laptop, that is awkward, as they are hot and heavy when actually used as a laptop computer.

And with a small machine, like his Vaio (or with a machine like an Asus EEE), you've got a small screen and a small keyboard. He can go for 10 minutes or so, but it is just too painful to write for hours on those. Those also have horrible battery life.

The Air, he said, is perfect here. It is light enough and cool enough that he can use it on his lap on the couch for as long as he wants, but he has a decent sizes, beautiful screen, and a good keyboard, and good battery life.

For the niche market of people who write incessantly and don't want to deal with a tiny pain-inducing keyboard and small screen in order to write everywhere they go, it is a winner. And there will be other niche markets like that, where everything comes together with it and it is a 5 star laptop for those people. For people who don't fit into one of those niches, it won't be a good choice.

Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[syousef]

With a regular laptop, that is awkward, as they are hot and heavy when actually used as a laptop computer.

Bloody hell! I know this is slashdot but even most slashdotters would call a guy who can't handle the weight of any modern laptop on his lap a wuss!!! I use my laptop for flight simulation among many other things so good graphics is a must. My last two machines have been Dell (a 9300 and a 9400....not quite gaming machines but not as pricey and good enough for flight sim). I've had one of these glued to my lap for my hour long commute each way to work for the last couple of years. As for heat, wear thicker pants or put something between you and the laptop.

I've heard some damn stupid excuses for liking these "niche" machines but "its too heavy for my lap" just takes the cake. (Good reasons for slim or portable would be weight and size restrictions for air travel, not owww my poor lap it hurts after 3 minutes).

Re:

[syousef]

Comfort? Fucking hell. Is 2 kg and a bit of warmth on your lap really THAT uncomfortable??? Its not like your Macbook is weightless anyway. Nor does my laptop always run hot. If all I'm doing nothing but word processing it's not particularly warm. I don't know if you've even tried a heavier laptop but it's not even something I notice let alone a comfort issue. In other words the weight and heat doesn't bother me at all. I'd much rather have something useful for a wide range of activities than just for writi

Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[hab136]

In other words the weight and heat doesn't bother me at all.

I want to say that there's a difference between "not uncomfortable" and "comfortable". Straight out of college I had a hand-me-down mattress which worked fine and was not uncomfortable. Later in life when I was doing well I bought a new one for about $800, and the difference was incredible. Lying in bed was actually pleasurable instead of just "not uncomfortable".

uncomfortable - tolerable/not uncomfortable - comfortable

Anyways, products can be judged on a lot of things:
- comfort
- style/fashion (status symbol)
- performance
- compatibility
- price

Many Slashdotters regard the first two as foolish metrics, but outside of computerland, they're often the determining ones.

Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high

[node 3]

W T F? it's statements like these that keep me from switching to mac

That's alright. Some people like noticing their computers.

I'll give you a small (and relatively random) example. The Caps Lock key on all new Macs has a feature such that it won't toggle if you accidentally hit it. PCs don't do this, and sometimes (not terribly often, but now and then, and it's definitely happened to all of us) your text will be aLL CAPS AFTER TYPING AN A. No big deal. It's easy to undo, just hit the Caps Lock key again and all is well.

The Mac (both the hardware and system software) is designed with countless little touches like this. After using a Mac for a while, at some point you notice it and think to yourself how *un*frustrating the computer is, sort of like how at some point you notice after you move away from the freeway that that background noise of traffic is gone.

Some people seem to need those little reminders that they're using a computer, just like some people find comfort in the sounds of traffic. You may be one of those people. Or you may just be uncomfortable with mushy, subjective, non-concrete metrics. A lot of geek-types are like that. They need everything to be easily measured and compared. Unfortunately, a large swath of human experience is not easily categorized. This makes it difficult for companies like HP and Microsoft to make products which truly appealing at a fundamentally human level.

It's this attention to the humanity of a product that made the iPod the success that it is, *even with the inferior feature-set as compared to other players at the time*.

Bah.

[jmorris42]

Feh. Both of them leave me uncaring. I'd have expected more benefit from SSD in the runtime dept for the price premium it carries. But on the other hand the Apple is too much compromise in function to achieve 'cool factor' for my taste. If I really wanted to optimize the size (while still keeping something close to a real keyboard) over everything else I'd grab an eeepc.

Depends on what you are going for...

[puff3456]

The X300 is like a tank, the Air like a sculpture, one is purpose built to get the job done, the other is purpose built to woo the eyes.

Should should go look at one in person

[SuperKendall]

The X300 is like a tank, the Air like a sculpture, one is purpose built to get the job done, the other is purpose built to woo the eyes.

Have you ever held one? The Air is quite solid, for something so thin. I would have no hesitation lugging one around in a backpack ad not having to worry about treating it gently.

Re:

[moderatorrater]

To be fair, Macintosh did name the notebook after the most insubstantial and least solid thing they could.

Re:

[MichaelSmith]

To be fair, Macintosh did name the notebook after the most insubstantial and least solid thing they could.

Not exactly. I am still waiting for the Apple Vacuum.

Re:

[SuperKendall]

To be fair, Macintosh did name the notebook after the most insubstantial and least solid thing they could.

Having just spent many days in Death Valley in the middle of days of fierce wind, I'm afraid I'm going to have to strongly disagree!!

Now if they had named it the Macbook Marshmallow...

Invalid analogy is not an analogy

[SuperKendall]

It was an analogy, tool.

Obviously - but that doesn't make it correct, if the points it is based on are wrong. I'm not a tool but you just proved you're a fool.

Re:Should should go look at one in person

[holden caufield]

The X300 is like a tank, the Air like a sculpture

It was a simile, you illiterate tool.

Re:

[puff3456]

I love the way the Thinkpad looks, and love the various features which are elegantly designed into it, however often find myself at odds with people saying they are ugly and stuck in the 80's. Either way a great machine as I expect the x300 will similarly prove to be.

Wow...

[rworne]

FTA:

It [Thinkpad X300] isn't as sexy or inexpensive as the MacBook Air, but it has numerous features the Apple lacks, especially a wide array of ports and connectivity options, a built-in DVD drive and a removable battery.

The first time I have ever seen someone use "inexpensive" to describe the Macbook Air.

Re:Wow...

[Anonymous Coward]

jobs is going to double the price if he hears that.

Re:Wow...

[internetcommie]

It often surprises people, but when comparing computers with the same features, Macs often turns out to cost less.
Yes, you can get a Windows or Linux PC for $199, but it does not exactly have the performance of a Mac Pro. I was recently looking for a high performance PC, and found the Mac Pro was actually the cheapest one that met my requirements. What surprised even me is that even if I assumed I would be buying RAM and a display from Apple, it came out to less than a similarly equipped Dell, with Dell RAM and display.

Re:

[BeanThere]

More important, and people always forget to do this, is to factor in the extra time you need to baby a Windows system to keep it running OK, e.g. digging through website forums, going in circles trying to find and download the patches and driver updates that might hopefully fix the problem you're having, applying obscure registry edits (Vista especially, if you add it up I've had at a *minimum* two weeks fulltime downtime just trying to get basic things to work, from USB flash drives / USB mice to digital c

Re:Wow...

[giminy]

It often surprises people, but when comparing computers with the same features, Macs often turns out to cost less.

Ah, slashdot: you point out the truth that macs actually are cheaper than PCs, and you get modded a troll. Sorry man.

But it is true, so the moderators should mod the parent up. Macs might not be quite as configurable as PCs, but if you compare a low-end Dell to an iMac (say), you'll find that the iMac packs a better video card, bigger monitor, bigger hard drive, more ram, and better CPU for the price. You can argue that you can't upgrade the video card/processor/whatever in an iMac, but most people never do that anyway (and if you want to do that stuff in a Dell, you're going to have to buy a new [proprietarily wired, so expensive] power supply).

Obviously it doesn't hold true for roll-your-own PCs, but then roll-your-own PCs don't come with a decent 1-3 year warranty where you can go to just one company for the machine to get fixed...

Strange how the "Macs are expensive" myth is still out there.

Reid

Re:

[delire]

Strange how the "Macs are expensive" myth is still out there.

To be fair the Mac range is simply often far more expensive. For those of us that don't care for OS X the MBP just isn't a sane buy while better hardware exists for less cost.

I've always thought Thinkpads were a luxury laptop, however after reading many customer reviews, reading benchmarks, reading about build quality and looking at prices it turned out to be a very sane idea to buy one. I couldn't find a better spec'd, more performant and port

Tie?

[um_atrain]

How is this a tie?
How can the lack of an optical drive, any expansion, etc be counted as so low.
Also, the X300 only has SSD as an option right now. Compare that to the SSD version of the MacBook Air, and the price is very comparable.

And, as others have mentioned, Hackintosh! They can both run Windows or OSX. Sure, one doesn't ship with the other, but seriously, its not like its that hard to figure out. OS should not have been factored in at all.

They used thicker + heavier + screen height as 3 separate points. That should all be 1 point.

I don't see how the MBA can even get close.

Re:

[SuperKendall]

How can the lack of an optical drive, any expansion, etc be counted as so low.

Well I see it the other way - how can it be a tie when the things you actually use a laptop for when traveling, work or applications, come out better on the Air with a faster processor and better battery life? Not to mention you have the Windows AV Processor tax making the thing even slower.

I have a Macbook Pro and have not used my optical drive once in about two years of travel (who travels with DVD's for example - I rip movies,

Re:

[dfghjk]

If the X300 ran OS X I certain would. The MBA is crippled by its terrible hard drive. Who cares what the processor speed is when the machine has ground to a halt waiting on disk (which OS X does all the time).

The X300 shows just how compromised the MBA is for the sake of being pretty. For the same weight, it offers comparable portability, superior screen, far superior IO, and far greater configuration flexibility. It's inability to run OS X is artificial; they both use substantially the same parts insid

Re:

[xSauronx]

i, for one, would love a x300 (or even a t60) with linux. i can see the market for the air: people who need to do very little with a laptop. as for me, i do *all* of my computing with my laptop. i want it to be able to do things. i have no interest in a laptop thats smaller than my t40, nor in one that has fewer features. anything less and id rather just have a smartphone.

Re:

[SuperKendall]

I agree the hard drive is more limiting - if I get one it would be with the SSA.

But again all the things you list I simply do not see as limits at all based on how I have actually use my Macbook Pro, and I do see a need for better battery life and as fast a processor as practical. I do not think everyone could or should use the Air, but I'll bet a lot of people could if they thought about how they use a laptop.

roadwarriors

[cliffski]

Can we stop calling travelling salesmen 'road warriors'. Its a pathetic attempt to make very safe ordinary jobs done by people in suits sound like ninjas.

Re:roadwarriors

[Anonymous Coward]

Bah. How often do ninjas have to deal with NP-complete problems?

Re:roadwarriors

[Hoplite3]

You haven't heard of the "Travelling Assassin" problem.

Re:roadwarriors

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it is marketed to people who do a lot of traveling in post apocalyptic Australia.

Re:

[ozphx]

My custom CRM system has a custom field to let me know how many times I have shot the client, and vice-versa.

Re:roadwarriors

[StarfishOne]

I read post eucalyptic Australia... won't anyone think of the poor Koala bears!

Re:

[Antarius]

They're not fucking Bears, for Fuck's sake!

Which is just as well. Given the size difference, I'd imagine a Bear would split them in half. Ew!

Cheers,
Ant

Re:

[Fear the Clam]

Can we stop calling travelling salesmen 'road warriors'.

Are we still allowed to call prostitutes 'choad warriors?'

Re:roadwarriors

[Tibor the Hun]

You're just jaded because your education consisted of the "traveling salesman" problem, towers of Hanoi, and A*, instead of "Road Warrior (Mark II)", "Impregnable Hill Fortress of Hanoi", and "Lincoln MKX with Tom-Tom".
Friday's almost here dude, take your jaded attitude to Starbucks, and have some venti latte.

Re:roadwarriors

[proselyte_heretic]

Actually, I am a road warrior, and the laptop I take with me on the road is a Dell XPS M2010. Once I sharpen the edges to be razer sharp, I can decapitate multiple people with a single throw. Road warriors, like all warriors, rely on weight for their stopping power. Road ninjas on the other hand prefer the Macbook Air, because they are easier to smuggle into a secure location to be used as shuriken.

Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, processor.

[SuperKendall]

The Macbook air won in almost all the categories you would want from a laptop:

* Being able to use it from an airline seat (Macbook Air has a shorter screen and thinner base)
* Ait has longer battery life
* Air has faster processor

The only technical aspect I could see swaying some people, the X300 has more resolution. But not much more, and the processor/battery life in particular would seem to be key to me.

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[p0tat03]

Ehhh... I'm a hardcore Mac user (MacBook Pro for me)... and I disagree. One of the things that really kills me about the MacBook Air is the TOTAL lack of ports. You know, Apple was the first one to jump on the USB bandwagon, using USB HID peripherals when everyone else was still shipping them with PS/2 ports. But now, they ship a laptop with only TWO ports? The ONE thing I hate about my MacBook Pro (and the MacBook) is that it only has two USB ports, necessitating ANY serious user to get a USB hub (oh great

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[DDLKermit007]

Are you honestly bitching about having to lug a small usb hub? I would think you'd be bitching more about the substantially larger accessories your lugging around for no reason. The only thing I ever plug into my Macbook is a thumbdrive, and maybe my cellphone's USB charging adapter. My mouse is the Bluetooth Apple mouse, and my phone syncs via Bluetooth as well. The only thing I could possibly need to plug into my Macbook is a webcam, or DVD burner, which it already has built in!

Re:

[p0tat03]

Hmm... So, thumb drive. Let's say you want to pull files off a disc and onto a USB drive with the MacBook Pro. Oops!

See, things would be wonderful if they were all Bluetooth, but they ain't. Bluetooth mice are expensive (the Mighty Mouse is a poor excuse for a mouse, IMHO), and the selection is very limited. The best mice in my experience are not Bluetooth, sadly.

Not to mention that this whole wireless thing that Apple is apparently touting doesn't quite work. My iPhone cannot sync wirelessly with my la

Based on use

[SuperKendall]

The ONE thing I hate about my MacBook Pro (and the MacBook) is that it only has two USB ports, necessitating ANY serious user to get a USB hub (oh great, ANOTHER thing in the laptop bag). And now we're looking at... ONE PORT?

Then for you it's the same - you still need a hub.

But what are you plugging into the ports? You don't need an external mouse for a Mac.

I am as I said, basing my observation on my use. In the entire lifespan of two laptops, I have yet to ever use more than one USB port, and that's just

Re:

[p0tat03]

My MacBook Pro is my main workhorse machine - and I have no desktop to complement it. It's always got the following hooked up to it:

- Keyboard ('cos the integrated one really sucks for anything beyond basic text entry)
- Mouse ('cos when I'm really chugging away at my work I need to be speedy)
- External HDD ('cos the internal drive really isn't big enough, even at 160GB)
- iPhone sync cable ('cos... well that's obvious)

The keyboard and mouse collectively take up only one USB port on my machine, thanks

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[diamondsw]

As much as I like the MacBook Air, you neglect what happens when you get to the meeting:
* You need to get something off a CD or DVD
* You need to plug in ethernet as well as a USB flash drive
* The resolution of the X300 is much, much better

If I had my way, my next laptop upgrade at work would be an X300 (I have a T60 now), and an additional personal laptop would be an Air (I have a MacBook Pro now). Toss in the high-res screen from the X300, and the Air could easily *be* my next lapto

Re:

[SuperKendall]

You need to get something off a CD or DVD

You use someone else's drive in the room

You need to plug in ethernet as well as a USB flash drive

What company does not have wireless nodes now? Nowadays companies are a lot more reluctant to let you plug non-company devices physically into the network. And if you must, there is an adaptor for cheap ethernet...

The resolution of the X300 is much, much better

As I said, that is the one aspect that I could see being compelling. But given the size of the screen, I don't

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[Maudib]

"Standing up taller" is actually a double edged sword for using on an airline seat. If you are 6'4 and have large thick legs (muscular or otherwise) then a taller screen makes it harder to use. When the passenger in front puts their seat back then the taller screen has to be bent forward; because you are so tall you end up looking fown on the leading edge of the cover and cant see sh*t on the screen.

Exactly my problem.

[SuperKendall]

That is my problem, I'm rather tall.

The Macbook Air screen is shorter, therefore to me it would be more usable on an airline seat. I have given up using my Macbook Pro screen on an airline tray in coach. I am pretty sure the Air would be just shorter enough (in screen size and in base depth) to make it workable.

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[rjmars97]

Personally, I'd take my Thinkpad X61s over either of those. Much cheaper, faster, and (the deciding factor for me) 10 hours of battery life. The small size increase of the X61s is trivial to me when I can get MUCH longer battery. Stock OS does not matter to me either, as I use Gentoo on all of my machines.

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[timeOday]

The X300 also had longer battery life if you remove the DVD and put a battery in there. That seems like a more fair comparison unless you're going to credit the X300 for having a DVD drive where the Air does not.

The other thing I'm surprised people aren't more concerned about is the Air's lack of a removable battery. On long trips I always run my D630 with 2 batteries and a spare so I can swap the main battery without shutting down. With my old T40, I flew from San Francisco to Taiwan this way, comput

Easy to extend battery life on the Air

[SuperKendall]

There are a number of small external power solutions for laptops that do not take up much more room than a spare battery. I have a device called a "Solio" that can charge either from the wall, or by built in solar panels - it charges an internal battery and has adaptors for a number of different devices, including a 12V adaptor to use with a Macbook car charger. Caveat - I've not yet tried this particular device for actually charging a laptop so I don't know how much extra time it would provide, or if it

Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process

[dfghjk]

"* Being able to use it from an airline seat (Macbook Air has a shorter screen and thinner base)"

It accomplishes this by being deeper. The X300 is shallower and taller due to its hinge design. I don't accept Mossberg's opinion that the Apple design is more airplane-friendly.

"* Ait has longer battery life"

Mossberg's MBA battery life measurement is highly suspicious. He hasn't provided any evidence that the MBA battery life for a traveler is actually better and there's plenty of reasons to feel otherwise,

Re:

[dfghjk]

I meant "without the DVD drive" of course.

Re:

[SuperKendall]

It accomplishes this by being deeper. The X300 is shallower and taller due to its hinge design. I don't accept Mossberg's opinion that the Apple design is more airplane-friendly.

I do because I've given up using a Macbook Pro on airline trays in coach for exactly this reason.

Mossberg's MBA battery life measurement is highly suspicious. He hasn't provided any evidence that the MBA battery life for a traveler is actually better and there's plenty of reasons to feel otherwise, namely (a) lower power X300 proces

Re:

[SuperKendall]

I'm sure it's a personal preference thing, but I've used trackpoints before and I really dislike them compared to what I can do with gesture based use of a trackpad on a Macbook, the Air offers some extensions to that as well.

Apart from that I greatly prefer a single button that I chord with keys to be a second or third button. I never once saw a PC laptop button layout that worked well for both buttons.

Bigger, more expensive, has more features

[edwardpickman]

Well duh. That's rediculous for a review. We aren't talking splitting hairs a few dollars more it's a lot more expensive and it's larger and heavier and it's not all pluses since the Mac has more drive space. It feels more like a "Gee I prefer windows" review than a head to head match up. Until some one has a machine of a similar size and weight for a similar price then reviews are pointless. The Macbook Air does exactly what it was designed to do. You simply can't install a DVD drive inside a machine of th

Expensive notebook on a plane?

[damn_registrars]

I found this an interesting comment from TFA:

Also, the ThinkPad's screen, when opened, stands significantly higher than the Mac's, so it is less usable in a coach seat on an airplane when the person in front of you reclines.

Really, how many people who are willing to spend $3,000 on a laptop are flying coach? I spent barely 1/4 of that on my laptop, and I do fly coach. If I had 4x as much income available, I think I would at least spring for business class if I had to do work on my laptop while flying...

Re:

[imsabbel]

I do?
A single buisness class flight Europe->West Coast and back can buy you 3 macbook airs.
The total additional cost economy->buiness amounts to about $250-300 per hour you are in the plane. For that money, i can endure it. A good laptop, otoh, will be in use for many hundred hours. At that point, the price can really be worth it.

Re:Expensive notebook on a plane?

[vought]

Really, how many people who are willing to spend $3,000 on a laptop are flying coach?

Quite a few, actually. And the users with $3000.00 laptops whose businesses force them to fly coach are possibly even more numerous. Most laptops I see on business travel lately (about 50k miles on domestic flights since mid-January) are in the $2-3,000.00 range. I see a lot more MacBook Pros than I used to, and quite a few high-end latitudes. Occasionally a Lenovo, but they're actually rare in airports and domestic flights.

Clearly your philosophy comes from the conspicuous consumption school or spending. There are virtually no mid-class "business" seats for domestic travel in the U.S. On the vast majority of flights, only two-tier seating is available, and from my experience, First Class is filled with upgraders for two weeks from the flight date.

Not sure what airline or where you fly, but I'd pass along a bit of advice that has served me well: "Fly coach now so you can fly first class later."

Re:

[bram]

no you wouldn't :)

I've spent 2800 (well minus taxes) Euro on my MacBook Pro. I fly economy class.
Business class is ridiculously expensive.
Also laptops last longer than a flying business 2 times.

I really don't see the advantage here...

[ogl_codemonkey]

I'm really not sure I see the advantage of this point:
  Has USB Wireless. Winner: Lenovo X300.

Missing are Fujitsu's lightweigh Lifebooks

[postbigbang]

I usually use Mac portables, but the ultra-lightweight, while a decided gift, also means reduced functionality. I don't want to load my stuff via a wireless connnection; it's slow and ties up the resources used.

The Lenovo when compared to the MB Air SSD version comes out nearly the same in price as might be expected, and for good Cost-of-Goods reasons.

But if you want to use a Fujitsu Lifebook, you can get a tablet-based notebook, airline usable, all the ports and guts, and a reasonably decent (Lenovo and Apple are known for theirs, sorry Dell users) and run whatever you want if it's Windows or Linux Something.

It's very cute and sexy, and if that's why you buy Apple, you'll be happy. Still, it's a stunted machine, and the Lenovo, while pretty cool, is pretty expensive, too. The Lifebook ain't cheap, but it's a contender here.

I can't wait for the Onion Article

[suburbanmediocrity]

The Apple Slice. A razor thin laptop with a bunch of bloody smiling fingerless people.

Compairable to begin with?

[pizzach]

For a laptop that is .1 inch thinner than a regular Macbook Pro and is on average is about half an inch thicker than a Macbook Air, I fail to see how this Thinkpad is really compairable to the Macbook Air to begin with. It's like saying, "Haha, my Van can seat more than your compact car!!!" Holy crap people, regular Macbook Pros are famous for having about that much thickness and having that many ports for years.

Cramped?

[rhade]

The SSD is fast and rugged, but today it can hold only a cramped 64 gigabytes of files

I cannot imagine a 'road warrior' or any other business man ever finding that much space cramped, you could have 20 divx movies and a thousand mp3's on that hardware and still have what, a paltry 40gig left? No doubt necessary for the 32 million spreadsheets and documents you use every second of every day.

In my opinion if your not haxing l33t warez and downloading copious amounts of porn and lat3st n gr3at3st moviez my 5 yo 32gig raptor is more space than I will need for the foreseeable future.

Reviewers msses the point, again

[geekoid]

The target demographic of the Air is women. Young women just hitting there career stride.

Do you think the Mary Kay addition to the board was a coincidence?

Look at it, it looks like a compact for crying out load.

different demographic. Yes I like the way it looks, but I doubt I would buy one...unless they add induction charging. Of course then I could never hold on to it because my boner would keep knocking it out of my hands.

Re:Why compare?

[CastrTroy]

Which OS [osx86project.org] would that be?

Re:

[0100010001010011]

OSX86 is a nice little hobby, but for someone that wants a full working computer it's annoying. Even people building from computers scratch using 'ideal' components can't always get things working perfectly (eg, Me). Laptops it's even harder to find drivers, etc. Oh sure it'll run, but sleep won't work. Sound is flaky and wireless won't work. Especially considering there might not even be OS X WiMax drivers.

Re:Why compare?

[Anonymous Coward]

Running Windows (32-bit) on a Mac is supported. Boot Camp is a fully supported part of Leopard. Apple produces a complete set of Win32 drivers for every Intel Mac.

OSX86 is, by contrast, a hack. A very useful hack, but a hack. You need to make sure you have *exactly* the right hardware and, in most cases, break a license.

Posted anonymously so as not to undo previous moderation.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows *is* supported on a Mac, provided you have it legally.

Re:

[SanityInAnarchy]

The officially supported, legal one from Apple.

Re:

[at_slashdot]

One laptop runs a better OS than the other, in addition that laptop can run all the major OSes available. Why not compare?

 

Re:

[azenpunk]

the devices should be compared as they will be used in the real world, different OS and all.

Re:Why compare?

[Zeinfeld]

Unless you intend to run Windows on the Mac laptop then why compare?

Well some of us have a Mac and have not joined the cult. Point in fact here is that I am currently typing this on my new Macbook Air which I have owned for two days now without feeling the need to wear black jeans and a turtleneck.

Now the reason I have bought a Mac is probably unique (see my blog, I am not typing it in again), but I don't feel the lack of Mac features when I am using my Vista machine. In fact the only real difference between the two is that I can use one downstairs on the couch and the other has a 30" display.

I had been considering the Lenovo prior to realizing that I needed to get a Mac if I was going to write anything on Security Usability. Even though Apple is not doing any better than Microsoft on the measures I am concerned with it is necessary to answer those whose answer to every usability problem is 'get a Mac'.

The reason I would not get the Lenovo X300 is that I would wait for the convertible tablet model. I don't rate the handwriting analysis as a killer application, at this point I type faster than I write. But the ability to scribble and whiteboard is very useful.

On the side by side comparison, I don't think the Lenovo comes close to the MacBook Air. First it is a thousand bucks more and second its not much different to the X61. Its a Thinkpad with a solid state drive, well big whoopsie, I didn't pay for the SSD on my MacBook and I wouldn't pay that on the Thinkpad either. To be worth having the SSD has to cost half as much and provide twice as much space.

Here is a hint, nobody knows if your MacBook Air has an SSD or a hard drive inside. You can buy three years of AppleCare and a TimeVault for $550. By the time the AppleCare runs out there will be a new MacBook Air.

Re:

[gumbi west]

Considering doing the same. Do you use TeX? If so, is there anything as good as TeXShop is for OS X?

Re:

[Niten]

If so, is there anything as good as TeXShop is for OS X?

Sadly, no. One of the best features of TeXShop is pdfsync [sourceforge.net] (which is also supported in other PDF viewers on OS X like Skim and PDFView), but pdfsync is not yet supported by any Linux (or Windows) LaTeX environments.

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[spoco2]

Hang on a sec, you're being ridiculously pro Mac here and overlooking a lot of things:

  Is thicker than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.
  Really, who gives two craps about thickness... it's all marketing from Apple. Who has honestly gone "Gee wizz, this laptop is just too darn THICK for my needs!"? Pretty much no-one... where does it being super, super thin make for a big boon? Any bag you're going to carry said laptop in is going to be able to handle another centimeter or so... geeze.

  Is heavier than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.
  Weight does matter, indeed... but when it gets to a certain point, it doesn't any more, light enough is light enough, unless you have some sort of musculature atrophy that makes you unable to lift the heaviest version of the notebook at a whole... ooh, 3.5 pounds. Geeze... from his review: "is still very thin and light. It's under an inch thick and even at its heaviest is only 3.5 pounds." So, these points are just mindless waffle.

  Has less battery life in both tests and normal use (so much for SSD.) Winner: MacBook Air.
  This does indeed have baring on actual use, I give full points to this one.

  Has way more ports. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  This is very important, yet you just ignore the need for a large number of us to have different ports for different uses.

  Has built-in DVD possibility. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  YOU say "Whooptee doo." Big plus for me... my laptop MUST have a built in DVD drive as I use it as an entertainment station for the kids while we're away, and having a separate drive hanging off on a usb cable is a big NO NO. You also contradict yourself with for the Lenovo "You get to lug a DVD player", and yet for the Apple you say "you can bring along a USB powered DVD". Which is better, one that's in built, out of the way, doesn't need the external casing, or one hidden away in the body of the machine... if you NEED or WANT a DVD player (which a LOT of us still do), then it's a major failing to not have one in the unit. Yes, I can see certain people who'll have little need for one, but don't off handly say it's not a good thing.

  Has SSD drive built-in. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  YOU SAY "Smaller disk (with zero advantages on speed or battery)" which is ignoring the robustness of a solid state drive, nothing to do with speed/battery... missing the point entirely.

  Has WiMax connectivity. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  I like how you ignore this, which considering that the Apple lacks drives and needs to share others, would seem to be something it could do with, data transfer wise.

  Has USB Wireless. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  While this isn't widespread yet, how cool to not have to plug in new devices? Very nice.

  Has GPS location-finding. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  YOU say "Whooptee doo." Yeah, just discount something many, many people would find handy.

  Has higher screen resolution. Winner: Lenovo X300.
  You say "Whooptee doo." Again... um... higher resolution is a BIG plus for many people, yet you just discount it... well done.

  Has a screen that stands up higher, leaving less viewing angle while travelling on plane. Winner: MacBook Air.
  Yeah, valid point here, no two ways about that.

  Has slower processor. Winner: MacBook Air.
  Except "In my tests, the X300 performed very well, even though it has a relatively slow processor, slower than the MacBook's." So, a bit of a moot point it would seem.

  Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air.
  This SO doesn't apply to most people... SOME want OSX, OTHERS want Vista/XP, you can't put this as a carte blanch statement.

It comes down to what you want a laptop for... and looking at what YOU deem to be important and applying that to EVERYONE is such an immature attitude.

Re:

[Trogre]

Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air.

I find that category confusing.

So... the MacBook Air wins the "Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard" category? So it "Doesn't use Mac OS X" better than the Lenovo?
Fair enough I guess. Not that it matters to me - whichever one I get will have its HD scratched and Linux installed over it anyway.

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[SanityInAnarchy]

my laptop MUST have a built in DVD drive as I use it as an entertainment station for the kids while we're away, and having a separate drive hanging off on a usb cable is a big NO NO.

For this one, I'd rip a few discs worth, then pack away the DVD drive until I'm done watching them. If you're not re-encoding, it's fairly easy to rip just the movie (not the special features), and even with the 64 gig solid-state, that's still a good 4-5 movies. Figure, also, that it's a lot less wear on the discs (if you're bringing originals) to rip them in some stationary place, then put them away for the car (or plane) ride.

You say "Whooptee doo." Again... um... higher resolution is a BIG plus for many people, yet you just discount it... well done.

True, but the same applies to this as to OS choice. The Baby Boomers hate it when I turn their resolution up, because it makes everything smaller and harder to read, and they don't know how to set resolution or font size in most places. This is less relevant for OS X -- if they can figure out how to use the awesome zooming feature.

This SO doesn't apply to most people...

I think it does apply to a lot of people -- I'd imagine there are far fewer people who don't have a preference than people who prefer one to the other. But unless you really don't care about OS X, it makes sense to have the option, and Parallels if you need XP programs.

Otherwise, good points.

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[earthbound kid]

You make some good points, but:

Has built-in DVD possibility. Winner: Lenovo X300.
    YOU say "Whooptee doo." Big plus for me... my laptop MUST have a built in DVD drive as I use it as an entertainment station for the kids while we're away, and having a separate drive hanging off on a usb cable is a big NO NO. You also contradict yourself with for the Lenovo "You get to lug a DVD player", and yet for the Apple you say "you can bring along a USB powered DVD". Which is better, one that's in built, out of the way, doesn't need the external casing, or one hidden away in the body of the machine... if you NEED or WANT a DVD player (which a LOT of us still do), then it's a major failing to not have one in the unit. Yes, I can see certain people who'll have little need for one, but don't off handly say it's not a good thing.

I don't you really need the DVD drive with you when you're on the road. Just use Handbrake or some other software to rip the DVD to your HD, then you don't have to worry about your kids getting peanut butter on the disc. Or you can get an iPod or other portable video player so you don't have to worry about wasting your battery on movies.

Has WiMax connectivity. Winner: Lenovo X300.
    I like how you ignore this, which considering that the Apple lacks drives and needs to share others, would seem to be something it could do with, data transfer wise.

WiMax isn't meant for local networking. It is to Wifi as cellular phone is to portable phone. The MacBook already has 802.11n, which is decently fast. That said, yes, having it would be better than not.

Has USB Wireless. Winner: Lenovo X300.
    While this isn't widespread yet, how cool to not have to plug in new devices? Very nice.

It's called Bluetooth. I haven't plugged a mouse into my PowerBook for the last four years. Similarly, most printers can be either plugged into the network directly or plugged into the USB port on an Apple Wifi router (I don't know if other companies make routers that do this yet). So, the device that will take advantage of Wireless USB are going to have to be things that need a lot of bandwidth, but don't use Wifi. That rules out hard drives, since there are tons of wireless NASes on the market. So, basically it just leaves iPods/other media players and digital cameras, but already some of those use Wifi. So, while WUSB is a good idea, and I wish it luck, it's not such a big deal. It's just a minor evolution of existing standards.

Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air.
    This SO doesn't apply to most people... SOME want OSX, OTHERS want Vista/XP, you can't put this as a carte blanch statement.

The MacBook is more versatile. If you want to run XP/Vista, you just need to install it. With a PC laptop, you can only run OS X illegally, which is sure to be buggy and lead to headaches.

One more point for people on both sides:

I've heard a lot of complaining about the tiny size of the MBA's hard drive. And while that's true, what people are ignoring is the fact that we now have wireless NASes. So, just put a terabyte in your living room, store your media library on that, access it wirelessly from your laptop, and when you go on the road, just sync it to a portable media player first and keep your serious computing separate from your entertainment.

Okay So then get a macbook

[goombah99]

You are comparing the Lenovo to the wrong machine. For tour usage pattern, you discount thickness and weight, but like more screen, built-in ports and a DVD. Why not get a macbook pro? But in that fight the Lenovo really takes a dive.

Re:

[mdwh2]

Just to add to your comments...

Is thicker than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.

Either way, the Lenovo X300 is still under an inch thick, apparently.

Is heavier than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.

But in fact, the Lenovo is 2.93lbs, whilst the Air is 3lbs! Whilst this does mean less battery life, this is the weight category, not the battery life category, so it's a bit misleading to ignore the option of the light model (the fact that it has no DVD drive is, of course, irrelevant).

Doesn't use Mac OS X Leo

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[Stu Charlton]

Really, who gives two craps about thickness... it's all marketing from Apple. Who has honestly gone "Gee wizz, this laptop is just too darn THICK for my needs!"? Pretty much no-one...

How many people feel lust for a phone? Pretty much no one... until the iPhone.

How many people feel lust for a laptop? Pretty much no one... until they see something with sex appeal.

It's bizarre and somewhat telling about how many regular, non-technical people stop and ask about the iPhone if they someone use it. A similar effect is happening with the MacBook Air (zomg it's so thin! wow that's light! Look at how bright the screen is! Hey that SSD makes the apps snappy!)

The MacBook Air is the two-seater roadster of laptops -- a blast to drive, eye-catching, not overly practical, and sneer-inducing among those who want a larger, or faster, or more practical model.

Not saying it's universal, just saying that Apple seems to be tapping into a lust-factor that one hasn't seen with consumer electronics in some time, if ever.

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[hab136]

How many people feel lust for a phone? Pretty much no one... until the iPhone.

A possibly better example would be the Motorola RAZR, which was nothing special - except it was ridiculously thin. It sold (and continues to sell) like hotcakes, even when it was initially $500+.

Re:

[wish bot]

Hang on a sec, you're being ridiculously pro Mac here and overlooking a lot of things:

We could return that right back at you - first you suggest that the thickness of the laptop doesn't matter and the reduction in processor speed doesn't matter, then you say things like YOU say "Whooptee doo." Big plus for me... my laptop MUST have a built in DVD drive as I use it as an entertainment station for the kids while we're away...

Well, I've got news for you - thickness and weight are really important to peopl

Re:

[p0tat03]

I've never ever had trouble opening my MacBook Pro in any airline seat... It seems to me 1" is plenty thin enough to be an airline workhorse... Any thinner IMHO is a bit pointless.

I agree with GP, overall the Lenovo is looking like the better machine. More ports (yay!), better resolution (a small bonus, IMHO), WiMax integration (meh right now, may become important later), and integrated disc drive (yay!), is a lot of pluses, considering its only penalties are being thicker, and having slightly less batter

Re:Walt's damning with faint praise

[poity]

How does thickness affect someone working in an airplane seat? I can see depth being a factor -- a wider, more rectangular chassis being preferred so your wrists aren't pressed up against your stomach as you type.

But thickness? It's not even a concern.

Re:

[spoco2]

Errr. nope.

The issue with the Lenovo on planes is he's saying the screen is taller than the mac, so you can't open it out as much without it hitting the seat in front, but that's nothing to do with thickness.

It's not an issue.

Re:

[Trogre]

Playstation or Wii [youtube.com]

Heh yeah I like that PS3 vs Wii ad too. I think it sums up the differences nicely.

One of them is cute and shallow, a novelty bimbo that I'd soon lose interested in. And probably infected with God knows what.

The other one looks like she might actually have some substance, can handle sophisticated fun and will probably age better.

Re:

[unoengborg]

My guess is that even the most frequent travellers will use their laptop more outside an aeroplane than in one, and if you are not in an airplane the larger Lenovo screen is most likely to be preferred by most people. Another absolute showstopper for the Mac is the lack of ports. Dongles breaks, can be misplaced having a real ethernet port is a big bonus. So is having a DVD player, not only for entertainment but it makes it simple to reinstall the OS in case of a virus atack or some other mishap. If I was t

Re:But...

[frank_adrian314159]

Will a beowold cluster of them run Linux in Soviet Russia?

No! But a Beowulf cluster will give you:

1. Natalie Portman
2. Hot grits
3. The goatse guy
4. ...
5. Profit!

My sig

[snoyberg]

I believe my sig speaks for itself here.

Re:

[Altus]

that whole section of the article is poorly written but if you look at the whole list you can figure it out.

Re:

[SoupGuru]

I got a Dell m1330 too, but opted out of the SSD and went SATA instead... Got it for around $1300 refurbished. I haven't had any issues with it so far and I love it. Small, thin, LED backlit screen... it has a remote control built into it too. DVD drive, of course. All the bells and whistles, really. I find it odd that it doesn't get compared along side these other super-compact models.

Re:

[2nd Post!]

Because for the size and weight it is closer to a MacBook than a MacBook Air?

For $1100 you get a refurbished MacBook with 2.2GHz CPU, 120GB drive, 8x DVD-RW, and 1GB of RAM. It is 5 pounds, though, which is 1 pound heavier than your M1330, which itself is 1 pound heavier than the MacBook Air and Lenovo X300.

Re:

[moderatorrater]

the 'TrackPoint' really is a superior way to move the cursor

Yeah, if you can find it.

Re:

[chris_sawtell]

He can't find his girl's TrackPoint!?! - ergo a /. reader. :-)