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HTC Shift + ThinkPad X300 + MacBook Air = Perfect Notebook?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Fri Mar 21, 2008 03:49 PM
from the pipe-dreams dept.
Tom's Hardware has an interesting look at the HTC Shift, the newest contender in the ultralight portable arena, with a strong compare and contrast to the other two heavyweights, the ThinkPad X300 and the Macbook Air. "As some of you know, I actually like the Macbook Air but found the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 to be a vastly more useful product in the class. I'm one of the few folks that have been using an early version of the HTC Shift , a smaller screened ultra light tablet with a keyboard and a touch screen which is superior to both offerings in some ways and just released on Amazon.com for $1500 (someone screwed up, this wasn't supposed to happen until next week). This got me thinking: The perfect next generation ultra-sexy notebook should be a blend of all three products."
+ -
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Kyokushi writes "Gizmodo reports that some specifications of a new ultralight Lenovo X300 have been leaked. 'It appears that Lenovo have themselves a new ultralight X300 series Thinkpad — and outside of the price and release date, we have all of the specs that you need to know. At a glance, some of the major features include: a 13.3-inch LED backlit 1440X900 screen, an ultralight 2.5 pound form factor, and Intel Merom Santa Rosa Dual Core CPU (2.0 Ghz / 880 Mhz ), a 64 GB SSD, up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-5300 memory, and 4 hours of battery life.' If this is true, then Lenovo looks to have some heavy competition for the Macbook Air." Update: 01/20 22:55 GMT by S : Corrected Gizmondo->Gizmodo.
[+] Apple: In-Depth Review of the MacBook Air With Photos 244 comments
Engadget has the first really in-depth review of the MacBook Air that I have seen with plenty of great photos and specifics. They do a great job of highlighting the highs and the lows with plenty of concrete examples to back their claims up. It seems that while the MacBook Air is a great step towards ultra-portable computing, overall the pricepoint is just too high. Which is not surprising from a new Apple gadget I guess.
[+] Mobile: The X300 Could Usher in a New Generation of ThinkPads 132 comments
An anonymous reader writes "The ThinkPad has long been a favorite of IT departments everywhere and is the preferred notebook for legions of no-nonsense users. As times have progressed the ThinkPad has improved but the X300 marks the most significant change in its design since the butterfly keyboard. While we've already discussed a few leaked specs, official news of big changes like LED-backlighting (the first on a ThinkPad) and a widescreen display accompany a number of important but smaller design tweaks. Current thinking is that these changes indicate that the X300 is the first step in a series of larger changes to the ThinkPad. The notebook has already received a number of favorable reviews, but the other changes - the ones that will ultimately trickle down to the rest of the ThinkPad line - are perhaps more interesting than this specific $2500+ notebook."
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  • by Microlith (54737) on Friday March 21 2008, @03:50PM (#22822988)

    the other two heavyweights, the ThinkPad X300 and the Macbook Air.

    Shouldn't that be "lightweights?"
  • I used one (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 21 2008, @03:57PM (#22823060)
    it's a toy. Don't buy it because it's too expensive. Tom's hardware is a joke in the meantime.

    In my mind, if you want a laptop, there are two rifts. Either one that will serve alongside a desktop sibling which will be vastly more powerful, or a desktop replacement.

    So either an EeePC or a MacBook Pro/IBM notebook. The HTC is EeePC at nearly the MBP price. Yuck.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      Disagree on the Eee PC front. A friend of mine got one, and as light and nice as it is, the keyboard is simply unworkable. If I'm on the road and need to type up a long email, or just to take notes at a conference, the Eee PC would have my fingers aching in no time at all. IMHO the two sides of the rift are the MacBook Pro/ThinkPad/workhorse laptop, and a 12-13" notebook like the MacBook, XPS M1330, etc. The sub-10" market IMHO will not replace this, and will remain a relative niche.
  • by ichthyoboy (1167379) on Friday March 21 2008, @03:57PM (#22823068)
    Yr doin' it wrong.
  • Purple Monkey Dishwasher? "Hey I know, instead of thinking of a coherent thought for the title I'll just throw in product names randomly, no one will notice!"

    I know this is Slashdot and the above statement is probably true but come on, at least pretend like you can speak in complete sentences.
  • Did no one notice? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by marcus (1916) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:01PM (#22823102) Journal
    This bit was written by the ever adorable Rob Enderle?

    I'm surprised it even made it to the /. front page.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      I didn't even notice that until the end, and then I felt all dirty for clicking the link. Of course he like it better than the ThinkPad and the Air, he hates IBM and he hates Apple.
  • by nweaver (113078) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:05PM (#22823146) Homepage
    I got far more than 2.5 hours out of the air at a conference, running compiles and mysql database work enough that the fan was on 100%.
      • by MojoStan (776183) on Friday March 21 2008, @06:30PM (#22824608)
        Maybe Mac users compare the MacBook Air to non-Mac subnotebooks because some Mac users want some of the hardware features found in other subnotebooks that the MacBook Air lacks (e.g. optical drive, gigabit ethernet, more USB ports, user replacable battery, memory card slots), even if it means sacrificing some the Air's form factor (but not weight). I think they compare them because other notebook makers have proven that you can include these features in a subnotebook, but Mac users have no choice but to move up to the 5+ pound MacBook or 15+ inch MacBook Pro.

        I guess what I'm trying to say is: they compare because they think Apple can do better (or offer more choice) in this category. Another thing some Mac users complain about: no Mac desktop that's not a huge dual-processor workstation and doesn't have a built-in display.

  • toilet paper tube... (Score:4, Informative)

    by stokessd (89903) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:13PM (#22823242) Homepage
    800x480?! Why not just give us four handy red 7 segment displays to interact with.

    Sure, I understand that small computers have small screens, but my aging ipac has a 640x480 screen the size of a baseball card and fits in my pocket. I take it that people who want small light computers are also blind? A screen that size could be 1400x900 and still be very usable.

    Sheldon

  • Riiiiight.... (Score:5, Informative)

    by dazedNconfuzed (154242) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:17PM (#22823286)
    has a small 800 x 480 pixel 7" touchscreen

    For the same price I can get an ultraportable (3lbs) Sony VAIO with ~10" screen, real keyboard (only slightly scrunched), 1280x768 screen, and real everything else including optical drive and WAN radio. Heck, I've had two models over 5 years, wishing only for a stronger case and boot-from-USB; I carry it everywhere.

    I'm not sure where the author thinks this toy is usable for anything but an overblown cellphone without the phone.

    Next...

  • by Nightspirit (846159) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:51PM (#22823614)
    The thing most of you people are not realizing is that the shift has tablet functionality which neither the eee pc, x300, or airbook have. Not only that, but it runs windows mobile as well as vista. I also believe it is GSM quad band/HSDPA (or at least it was supposed to when I read about it 5 months ago), so essentially it can replace your phone, PDA, and travel laptop. If I had 1.5k sitting around I'd definitely get one.
  • WTF? (Score:3, Funny)

    by ScrewMaster (602015) on Friday March 21 2008, @05:38PM (#22824112)
    HTC Shift ThinkPad X300 MacBook Air Perfect Notebook?

    What the heck does this mean, anyway? And no, I don't want to read the article.
  • Fuck HTC (Score:3, Informative)

    by Vegeta99 (219501) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (nnyljr)> on Friday March 21 2008, @05:49PM (#22824220) Homepage
    Fuck HTC.

    I bought an AT&T Tilt (HTC TyTN II Rebrand) and it came with the Qualcomm MSM7200 chipset that's supposed (and was advertized) to have ATi hardware 3D rendering and hardware video assist. It seems, however, that even though these features were advertised, HTC users weren't given them. Some amateur research says that it's because of a Broadcomm patent lawsuit against Qualcomm with a judgement preventing them from making drivers (but they were allowed to sell what processors were already being made under other contractual obligation).

    See this Firehose article. [slashdot.org] The videos on htcclassaction.org demonstrate the issue very well.
    • Do you mean 'promotions' as in 'getting a different job title'? Like moving from IS Engineer to IS Manager? Because I sure don't want that. I'm a short, fat guy with questionable fashion sense and minimal personal hygiene. And yet I get better reviews and make more money than most of the managers in the company. So I guess how I look was a big factor in me not getting promoted - but it wasn't a factor in making advancement.
      • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Funny)

        by Otter (3800) on Friday March 21 2008, @04:50PM (#22823608) Journal
        I'm a short, fat guy with questionable fashion sense and minimal personal hygiene.

        Maybe you and the young female executive with the Air could do one of those "I'm a Mac...And I'm a PC" commercials.

    • by MrHanky (141717) on Saturday March 22 2008, @07:22AM (#22828286) Homepage Journal
      No, the writer is Rob Enderle, the guy who defended SCO against the evil Linux copycats (and praised the VROOM-VROOM start-up sound on his Acer Ferrari). I doubt he wants to use a 'free software scam' like the Eee for anything.

      Which raises the question of why a fluff piece by this idiot should be posted to Slashdot (or to Tom's Hardware in the first place).
    • >>In the history of Macs, from 1984 forward, there has never been a single successful remote attack on the OS.
      >>No other operating system on the planet can state that as a medal of honor.

      Ah yes, the mind control broadcast towers are working as planned...
      • by ScrewMaster (602015) on Friday March 21 2008, @05:44PM (#22824160)
        there has never been a single successful remote attack on the OS.

        Put it this way: a really successful remote attack is one which nobody ever learns about, so it's ridiculous to claim that any given operating system has never been exploited. I guarantee that Macs have been cracked at some point in their history. I think it doesn't happen more often because Mac owners don't have anything on them that anyone would want.
    • by ScrewMaster (602015) on Friday March 21 2008, @05:47PM (#22824200)
      Ergo, it's not on the market yet (until some kind of weird unfolding tech comes out, or people use projectors, or something like that).

      Think holojectors, dude. Three-dimensional holojectors, that's the ticket. Toss that puppy onto a table in front of you and see a beautiful 3-D desktop floating in midair. I know they can do it if they want to ... I've seen them on Stargate SG-1!
    • ... and do 900 squazillion miles on one gallon. Of water. I've patented it, just on the off chance that some sucker actually makes one. [evil cackle]