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| by John Mundazio with additional editing for this column by Bridget Petrella | ||
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As with any
ThinkPad, you of course get a double latch mechanism with button release
to make sure the screen is held down when it is closed and being
carried. The build quality leaves no doubts and shows improvement over
previous ThinkPads. The design also makes some significant strides as
well. That said, there's nothing crazy going on here, the black boxy
look of a ThinkPad is still very much so intact. |
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The
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is a 13.3" widescreen ultra thin-and-light
notebook. Though it's less than 1-inch thick, the ThinkPad X300 is still
chock full of features and a demonstration in usability. The X300 was
meticulously thought out and designed by veteran IBM ThinkPad engineers
to raise the bar on what a notebook can be and in the process put Lenovo
at the vanguard of business notebook design and utility. The only
problem with a notebook that's designed for those with fine tastes and
demanding needs is that the price tag will of course be high. At a
starting cost of around $2,500 and a high-end configuration of about
$3,000, the X300 is out of reach in terms of price for most consumers.
However, for those that need a business tool that their success and
livelihood depends on, $3,000 really isn't much at all— the data stored
on a computer is worth multiple times that amount for many business
users. The ThinkPad X300 is as solid as you get in terms of build
quality. The internal chassis and roll cage uses an advanced
carbon-fiber / glass-fiber material that provides both strength and
light weight. The case material is made of magnesium, you can press as
hard as you want anywhere on the body of the notebook and it simply will
not flex. Like any ThinkPad, the X300 is designed for accidental abuse
and drops, and we're guessing the X300 might be even more able than
previous ThinkPads to take a beating and keep going. 
We'd
be remised not to compare the thinness of the Lenovo X300 with the
Apple MacBook Air. The MacBook Air easily wins this battle, its max
thickness of 0.76" is about the same as the X300 at its thinnest point
of 0.73". Keep in mind that the MacBook Air has next to no extra ports,
no optical drive and no removable battery so you've got some serious
sacrifices to contend with there. One of the only compromises you simply
have to accept when buying a thin laptop is that all of those ports
you're used to seeing on larger sized 15.4" notebooks don't fit. The
challenge for the designers is to decide what ports should stay and
which should go based on space allowances. The full-sized keyboard on
the ThinkPad X300 has no flex, every key feels individual, meaning
there's no issue with pushing a key down to find that the key next to it
sags down. In other words, this keyboard feels as great as every other
ThinkPad and has the same spill proof design with drainage holes to
protect from liquid spills. Lenovo has added a matte finish to the keys
so that they don't wear and get all shiny over time. 
