Review: Lenovo ThinkPad X300
February 13, 2008
Walt Mossberg gets a chance to check out the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, Lenovo’s latest ultraportable ThinkPad, and their first ultraportable ThinkPad with a widescreen.
The X300 is being touted as a competitor to Apple’s MacBook Air, being that it’s lightweight (2.5 - 3.2 pounds depending on configuration) and with a similar screen (13.3″ LED-backlit LCD).
Unlike the MacBook Air, it has the option for an internal optical drive as well as a removable battery, and it’s powered by Intel’s Core 2 Duo SL7100 Low Voltage (LV) CPU (similar to the Fujitsu LifeBook P8010). It even has a GPS option.
It is pricey, starting well above the MacBook Air’s base configuration, and it’s only going to have Solid State Drive (SSD) options (hence the price).
Full “Sneak Peak” (All Things Digital)
Deals of the Week (Feb 10, 2008) HP, Lenovo
February 10, 2008
For a third week in a row, Hewlett Packard is pushing HP Pavilion TX1000Z to clear stock for the new
HP Pavilion tx2000z series.
Office Depot has the tx1410us on discount for $1184.99 out the door, with another $185 off from two mail-in rebates dropping it to $999.99
That’s good if you are patient. If you’re not, and you’re interested in this 12.1″ Tablet PC/convertible, you can pick it up at Amazon for $999.99 plus shipping (free for Amazon Prime), which is $500 off (%33) the list price of $1500.
Specifications:
- 12.1″ Widescreen Touchscreen
- AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-64
- 2GB Memory
- 250GB Hard Drive
- DVD Writer with Lightscribe
- Integrated Webcam
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- 802.11a/b/g/n with Bluetooth
Also, Lenovo is running a big campaign geared towards Valentine’s Day (any semi-holiday is an excuse for Lenovo to run discounted promotions) with up to $445 off,including dropping some of the Lenovo ThinkPad X60s down to under $1100 USD:
Note: Campaign discontinued
These sales are for US customers, but I believe the Lenovo one applies worldwide, and HP is probably pushing their tx1000z discounts elsewhere.
Lenovo Olympic Laptops Up For Auction
February 9, 2008
Lenovo has began auctioning off their Olympic Laptops, aka the “Cloud of Promise”. These are limited edition laptops, signed by Gail Emms (Olympic Gold Medalist), with the proceeds going to the “Lenovo Hope Fund of Triangle Community Foundation” which supports “the creation and growth of new businesses in distressed communities around the world, as well as innovative nonprofit organizations that serve these communities“.
The starting bid is $1000 USD. There will be more auctions throughout the year, including in other parts of the world. This initial auction might be only for residents of the UK (and possibly the US).
It is based on the Lenovo 3000 V200 series/ Lenovo NoteBook TianYi F21
Specifications
- Special “Cloud of Promise” design
- 1GB Memory
- 160GB Hard Drive
- 12″ Display
- Windows XP
- CDRW/DVDR
- Auction: eBay auctin ending February 17, 2008
- LenovoHopeFundAuctions.com
- Auction Schedule
- Source: Pocket-Lint
Best Buy - Details about Lenovo ThinkPad X300
February 8, 2008
Looks like Gizmodo was right - the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 does exist, as evidenced by a Best Buy page. What’s surprising is that it will be sold through Best Buy (with a shipping date of 1-2 weeks) - there have already been discussions on the Notebook Review forums about models/specifics. This will be a similar form factor to the MacBook Air, just with an internal optical drive (that can bump the weight up from 2.5 pounds to 3.2 pounds).
Specifications of the X300 Listed at Best Buy:
- Model Name: X300
- Model Number: 6478-1TU
- Price: $2743.99
- CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100 Low Voltage (LV) 1.2GHz
- Memory: 2GB
- Storage: 64GB (Probably a Solid State Drive - SSD)
- Display: 13.3″ WXGA
- Optical Drive: DVD Writer
- Other: Bluetooth
- Best Buy Part Numbers: BBY Item: BB10848995 / UNSPSC: 43211503
Just in case the Best Buy page goes down, here’s a small screenshot of it:
Most of those specs were reported by Gizmodo, and this just confirms them (although it helps that it gives a model number and a CPU model). Thanks to the several different people who sent the BB page in to us (Allan was first).
Lenovo’s New Laptop AC/DC Adapter
February 5, 2008
In 3-4 weeks, Lenovo is set to start shipping a new, much slimmer, AC/DC adapter for its laptops. It will charge Lenovo’s laptops (such as the ThinkPad X61, 3000 V200 Series, the IdeaPad and probably the ThinkPad X300). In addition, it will charge cell phones, portable music devices, and PDAs through the use of an optional adapter kit with interchangeable tips (which also includes a car charger). It can even charge two devices at the same time. It’s priced at $119 and the model # is 41n8460.
Quote:
Lenovo today announced its new ThinkPad and IdeaPad 90W slim AC/DC combo adapter, the company’s first all-in-one adapter designed to charge other electronic devices such as most cell phones and PDAs; and many mobile music devices (using optional connector tips.) At about a half-inch thick and 33 percent smaller than Lenovo’s previous combo adapter, it’s roughly the size of a deck of playing cards – small enough to easily fit into a shirt pocket…..
Also available is an optional dual-charging cable allowing more than one device to be charged at the same time and optional power tips which enable users to customize the adapter to whatever devices need to be charged.
Model Name: 41N8460
Full Press Release (Lenovo.com)
Product Page (Shop.Lenovo.com)
Large photos at Flickr - Adapter
Another large photo at Flickr - Full kit
Fujitsu and Lenovo - Using the MacBook Air CPU?
February 1, 2008
CNET News.com believes they have confirmed the two laptop makers that will be using the MacBook Air CPU: Lenovo and Fujitsu:
The PC industry is wasting little time getting in line behind Apple to use Intel’s spiffy new notebook chip.
CNET News.com has learned that Lenovo and Fujitsu are in the process of putting together systems based on the special Core 2 Duo chip that Apple is using in the MacBook Air. The new laptops should be out shortly, according to sources familiar with the companies’ plans, and will give customers a chance to see what the rest of the PC industry can do with the power-thrifty chips.
Representatives for Lenovo and Intel declined to comment, while a Fujitsu representative did not immediately return a call.
Now Intel did say they would eventually offer it to other companies to use in their laptops, and the article mentions that the tech behind the CPU will be in the Montevina platform released by Intel later this year, for low-power ultraportables and UMPCs.
As to whether or not it will be used in Lenovo’s ThinkPad X300 (their 13.3″ widescreen 2.5 pound offering) or the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 an 11″ laptop, it’s hard to say - both of those laptops appear to be pretty far along in their development/production phase, and the CPU will require a new systemboard. The U110 makes perfect sense because of the size, but it’s hard to say.
As far as Fujitsu is concerned - well, they offer all kinds of different sizes and form factors, so there’s no telling where it’ll find its home. I would almost bet that some future version of the P8240 / P1620 would end up using this CPU. The U810/U8240 platform is just a little bit too small (possibly) given that this CPU does use more power than Intel’s Low Voltage and Ultra Low Voltage offerings.
