The Specification and Review of Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Laptop
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The ThinkPad X300 notebook is a breakthrough, full-featured business ultraportable that’s vastly moreenergy-efficient than previous models and forces none of the compromises typical of other ultraportable systems. You often have to sacrifice features, durability or style for portability. But not with the X300. It’s solidas a rock, thanks to the patent-pending, carbon-fiber/glass-fiber ThinkPad “roll cage” technology and other advances such as Flash-based Solid State Drives with no moving parts. In terms of style, it’s closer to the size of an actual paper notebook than a ThinkPad notebook has ever been, measuring less than ¾th of an inch at its thinnest and starting at just 2.93 lb. Even with the ultra-thin DVD burner it’s still an amazing 3.13 lb.
And the X300 offers numerous design flourishes including a glossy bottom bezel, select illuminated buttons and — for the first time in the X Series — an integrated camera option and stereo speakers.
The good:
Extremely thin and light; sleekest ThinkPad yet; built-in DVD burner, plus WWAN, GPS, and wireless USB.
The bad:
Solid-state drive comes at a high premium; touch pad’s location makes it easy to accidentally graze while typing.
The bottom line:
The ThinkPad X300 breaks new ground by packing a broad display, full-size keyboard, and nearly every feature a mobile user needs into a sleek, lightweight case.
Specifications: Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (1.2 GHz); RAM installed: 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM; Weight: 3.2 lbs;
The following table lists the specifications of the ThinkPad X300:
| Feature | Description |
| Processor | Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor LV7100 (1.2 GHz), 4-MB L2 cache |
| Bus architecture | 800-MHz PSB
667-MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300) PCI bus PCI Express bus DMI |
| Graphic memory chip | Intel® GS965 graphics |
| Display | 13.3-inch, 16M colors, WXGA+ (1440 × 900 resolution) TFT color LCD |
| Standard memory | 512-MB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM
(PC2-5300) card × 1 1-GB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM (PC2-5300) card × 1 2-GB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM (PC2-5300) card × 1 |
| Extended memory device (some models) | Intel Turbo Memory 1-GB Minicard |
| Optional memory | 512-MB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM
(PC2-5300) card × 1 1-GB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM (PC2-5300) card × 1 2-GB DDR2-667 SDRAM SO-DIMM (PC2-5300) card × 1(maximum of 4.0 GB) |
| CMOS RAM | 242 bytes |
| Solid state drive | 64 GB, SATA interface |
| Optical drive | DVD-RAM/RW drive |
| Fingerprint reader | Yes |
| I/O port | External monitor connector
Stereo headphone jack Monaural microphone jack RJ45 connector Universal serial bus (USB) connector × 3 (compatible with USB 1.1 and 2.0) |
| Audio | Built-in stereo speakers
Software control volume |
| Ethernet (on the system board) | Gigabit Ethernet |
| PCI Express Mini Card | Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Sierra Wireless EV-DO Wireless WAN Mini PCI Express Adapter Sierra Wireless MC8755 PCI Express MiniCard Wireless USB PCI Express Half-Mini Card |
| Bluetooth wireless | ThinkPad Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate (BDC-2) |
| Touchpad | UltraNav® |
| ThinkLight® | Yes |
| Battery | Li-Polymer battery (3 cells) 2.44 Ah
Li-ion second battery (6 cells) 4.0 Ah |
| AC adapter | 65-watt type |
| Preinstalled operating system | Windows XP Professional
Windows Vista™ Business (32 bit) Windows Vista Ultimate (32 bit |
Review of Lenovo ThinkPad X300
The Air and the X300 do have some similarities. They both have crisp 13.3-inch displays, although the X300 has a higher resolution–1440 by 900 pixels versus 1280 by 800–and with both, you can get a 64GB solid-state drive (it comes standard with Lenovo’s machine, but tacks about $1000 onto the Air’s price).
Whether you’re afraid of dropping your laptop at the airport or accidentally spilling some coffee on the case, the X300 is built like–and resembles–a black-box recorder. The keyboard is spill-resistant, and the textured carbon- and glass-fiber exterior is supposed to protect the innards. Unlike most ultraportables, the unit has both an eraserhead and a touchpad. The keyboard feels great, with full-size keys.
The X300 is a little on the chunky side for a true ultraportable–just over an inch thick and weighing 3.4 pounds (4 pounds with an AC adapter) versus the Air’s 3-pound heft. Then again, you can pop a disc in the ThinkPad’s integrated, paper-thin, 3-ounce DVD drive and watch movies (the Air’s optical drive is an external model).
The X300 has a decent amount of power for an ultralightweight notebook–in fact, it performed surprisingly well against other ultralight models. With a 1.2-GHz Core 2 Duo L7100 processor and 2GB of RAM, it scored a 64, outpacing the MacBook Air by a healthy 7 points in our WorldBench 6 benchmark tests. On the other hand, the X300’s performance is exactly average compared with the broad field of ultraportables we’ve tested. It also posted an average score in our battery life tests, lasting 4 hours, 22 minutes on a charge.
Another thumb in Apple’s eye is the X300’s many features. Here you have a notebook not much thicker than the Air, yet not only does it manage to include a DVD drive, it also has three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA-out port for an external display, a Webcam, headphone and microphone jacks, and an ethernet port. The Air has a Webcam, but it has only one USB port, and you have to use an optional adapter to connect via ethernet.
To make life even easier, the X300 has the one shortcut key to rule them all–the ThinkVantage button. Most notebooks have some sort of shortcut to helpful utilities or a “For Dummies…” version of the control panel. However, the ThinkVantage button accesses by far the most helpful, complete, and concise collection of such tools. You can use the button to access a backup utility, to set security protocols, or to find a wireless data connection, and if your computer won’t boot, the button will make the computer boot a small non-Windows OS from a hidden hard-drive partition, after which you can diagnose problems and even download drivers, if necessary.
And when you do start searching for wireless connectivity options, you are fully covered with the X300: The notebook has built-in support for 802.11a/b/g/n, wireless WAN, wireless USB, and Bluetooth. Finally, it has the “gee-whiz” feature of the month: GPS (somewhere, an army of travelling salesmen are cheering over that addition).
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