Lenovo is a great brand name manufacturer of laptops. You will be hard pressed to find laptop models from Lenovo which are of inferior quality. In this article, we will take a look at the Lenovo X300 laptop, one of the latest models to be released by Lenovo.
1. Overview
The first thing you notice about the Lenovo X300? Its price. At 00 street, it is certainly not a cheap laptop. However, it goes head-to-head with the Apple MacBook Air in terms of weight- except that it has all the sensible, solid computing features a business traveler would need.
Lenovo Notebook
A few other things about the X300 - it comes with an integrated WWAN modem, a GPS chip, and a next-generation WiMax wireless chip. You also get standard 802.11n wireless, and the machine comes with Bluetooth 2.0.
2. Design
The Lenovo X300 comes in with measurements of 9 x 12 x 0.9 inches. That makes it thicker than the MacBook Air - however, once you consider the features in the X300, you'll realize what engineering went on behind the machine.
Besides a built-in optical drive, a 13.3-inch display and a full-size keyboard, you also get a magnesium alloy composite chassis (a common feature in all ThinkPads).
The Lenovo X300 also comes with a 64GB SSD (solid-state drive). Now that SSD is the reaons why the laptop is priced at a premium. You get speed with an SSD drive, but the storage capacity suffers because the price-per-megabyte for a SSD is simply too high.
3. Display
The 13.3-inch display screen has a 1440 x 900 resolution, which is unprecedented in almost every other ultraportable. Most other laptops come with a 1280 x 800 resolution.
3. Keyboard and Other Controls
The full-size keyboard on the Lenovo X300 is great for typing on. If you've used ThinkPads before, you will find the X300 keyboard to be right there in terms of comfort. You also get a TrackPoint pointing stick and a slightly compressed touchpad.
4. Ports and Connections
The Lenovo X300 comes with three USB 2.0 ports, but it lacks a Firewire and S-Video port. You have one VGA-out (unlike the ASUS U6S which has a HDMI port). All in all, those ports are more than enough for the business user.
5. Battery Life
The X300 is one of the longest lasting laptops I've seen. It provides, using its low-voltage CPU, over 5 hours of battery life. In comparison, the MacBook Air gave only around 3 hours. The machine is also PC Magazine GreenTech Approved for its power efficiency.
6. Shortcomings
The Lenovo X300 does not have many shortcomings - perhaps the only outstanding one would be the presence of the SSD. Instead of the pricey SSD, I feel that I could live with a bulkier laptop (with a conventional hard drive), plus all the other features found in the X300.
Conclusion
The Lenovo X300 is a powerhouse in terms of mobile computing. With its feature set, it will be a long time before a business traveler looks for another laptop. The only gripe is the pricey 64GB SSD - but if you or your company can overlook this, the Lenovo X300 is simply one of the best business laptops around.
Lenovo X300 Laptop Review