Mossberg Reviews the Lenovo X300 Vs. MacBook Air 362
genji256 writes "Adding to his first impressions, Walt Mossberg has published a full review of the soon-to-come Lenovo X300. As a bottom line he 'recommends the X300 for road warriors without hesitation, provided they can live with its two biggest downsides: a relatively paltry file-storage capacity and a hefty price tag.' Gizmodo lists all the comparisons with the MacBook Air that Walt inevitably makes. Final score: it's a tie, though certain points are arguable ('Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air')."
Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
Why compare? (Score:1, Insightful)
Unless you intend to run Windows on the Mac laptop then why compare?
Bah. (Score:3, Insightful)
Depends on what you are going for... (Score:3, Insightful)
Tie? (Score:3, Insightful)
How can the lack of an optical drive, any expansion, etc be counted as so low.
Also, the X300 only has SSD as an option right now. Compare that to the SSD version of the MacBook Air, and the price is very comparable.
And, as others have mentioned, Hackintosh! They can both run Windows or OSX. Sure, one doesn't ship with the other, but seriously, its not like its that hard to figure out. OS should not have been factored in at all.
They used thicker + heavier + screen height as 3 separate points. That should all be 1 point.
I don't see how the MBA can even get close.
Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, processor. (Score:3, Insightful)
* Being able to use it from an airline seat (Macbook Air has a shorter screen and thinner base)
* Ait has longer battery life
* Air has faster processor
The only technical aspect I could see swaying some people, the X300 has more resolution. But not much more, and the processor/battery life in particular would seem to be key to me.
Bigger, more expensive, has more features (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, you can get a Windows or Linux PC for $199, but it does not exactly have the performance of a Mac Pro. I was recently looking for a high performance PC, and found the Mac Pro was actually the cheapest one that met my requirements. What surprised even me is that even if I assumed I would be buying RAM and a display from Apple, it came out to less than a similarly equipped Dell, with Dell RAM and display.
Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process (Score:3, Insightful)
Ehhh... I'm a hardcore Mac user (MacBook Pro for me)... and I disagree. One of the things that really kills me about the MacBook Air is the TOTAL lack of ports. You know, Apple was the first one to jump on the USB bandwagon, using USB HID peripherals when everyone else was still shipping them with PS/2 ports. But now, they ship a laptop with only TWO ports? The ONE thing I hate about my MacBook Pro (and the MacBook) is that it only has two USB ports, necessitating ANY serious user to get a USB hub (oh great, ANOTHER thing in the laptop bag). And now we're looking at... ONE PORT?
That to me is a dealbreaker. Especially considering that in order to use the disc drive you must plug it directly into the laptop, meaning you cannot use ANY USB PERIPHERALS while using the disc drive. Have you heard anything so ludicrous in your life?
I appreciate that Apple is concerned about the form of our electronics and not just the function, but sometimes they do take it too far. When form compromises functionality, you know you're doing something wrong!
Re:Expensive notebook on a plane? (Score:5, Insightful)
Clearly your philosophy comes from the conspicuous consumption school or spending. There are virtually no mid-class "business" seats for domestic travel in the U.S. On the vast majority of flights, only two-tier seating is available, and from my experience, First Class is filled with upgraders for two weeks from the flight date.
Not sure what airline or where you fly, but I'd pass along a bit of advice that has served me well: "Fly coach now so you can fly first class later."
Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process (Score:2, Insightful)
* You need to get something off a CD or DVD
* You need to plug in ethernet as well as a USB flash drive
* The resolution of the X300 is much, much better
If I had my way, my next laptop upgrade at work would be an X300 (I have a T60 now), and an additional personal laptop would be an Air (I have a MacBook Pro now). Toss in the high-res screen from the X300, and the Air could easily *be* my next laptop.
Re:Expensive notebook on a plane? (Score:2, Insightful)
I've spent 2800 (well minus taxes) Euro on my MacBook Pro. I fly economy class.
Business class is ridiculously expensive.
Also laptops last longer than a flying business 2 times.
Compairable to begin with? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:4, Insightful)
Is thicker than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.
Really, who gives two craps about thickness... it's all marketing from Apple. Who has honestly gone "Gee wizz, this laptop is just too darn THICK for my needs!"? Pretty much no-one... where does it being super, super thin make for a big boon? Any bag you're going to carry said laptop in is going to be able to handle another centimeter or so... geeze.
Is heavier than MacBook Air. Winner: MacBook Air.
Weight does matter, indeed... but when it gets to a certain point, it doesn't any more, light enough is light enough, unless you have some sort of musculature atrophy that makes you unable to lift the heaviest version of the notebook at a whole... ooh, 3.5 pounds. Geeze... from his review: "is still very thin and light. It's under an inch thick and even at its heaviest is only 3.5 pounds." So, these points are just mindless waffle.
Has less battery life in both tests and normal use (so much for SSD.) Winner: MacBook Air.
This does indeed have baring on actual use, I give full points to this one.
Has way more ports. Winner: Lenovo X300.
This is very important, yet you just ignore the need for a large number of us to have different ports for different uses.
Has built-in DVD possibility. Winner: Lenovo X300.
YOU say "Whooptee doo." Big plus for me... my laptop MUST have a built in DVD drive as I use it as an entertainment station for the kids while we're away, and having a separate drive hanging off on a usb cable is a big NO NO. You also contradict yourself with for the Lenovo "You get to lug a DVD player", and yet for the Apple you say "you can bring along a USB powered DVD". Which is better, one that's in built, out of the way, doesn't need the external casing, or one hidden away in the body of the machine... if you NEED or WANT a DVD player (which a LOT of us still do), then it's a major failing to not have one in the unit. Yes, I can see certain people who'll have little need for one, but don't off handly say it's not a good thing.
Has SSD drive built-in. Winner: Lenovo X300.
YOU SAY "Smaller disk (with zero advantages on speed or battery)" which is ignoring the robustness of a solid state drive, nothing to do with speed/battery... missing the point entirely.
Has WiMax connectivity. Winner: Lenovo X300.
I like how you ignore this, which considering that the Apple lacks drives and needs to share others, would seem to be something it could do with, data transfer wise.
Has USB Wireless. Winner: Lenovo X300.
While this isn't widespread yet, how cool to not have to plug in new devices? Very nice.
Has GPS location-finding. Winner: Lenovo X300.
YOU say "Whooptee doo." Yeah, just discount something many, many people would find handy.
Has higher screen resolution. Winner: Lenovo X300.
You say "Whooptee doo." Again... um... higher resolution is a BIG plus for many people, yet you just discount it... well done.
Has a screen that stands up higher, leaving less viewing angle while travelling on plane. Winner: MacBook Air.
Yeah, valid point here, no two ways about that.
Has slower processor. Winner: MacBook Air.
Except "In my tests, the X300 performed very well, even though it has a relatively slow processor, slower than the MacBook's." So, a bit of a moot point it would seem.
Doesn't use Mac OS X Leopard. Winner: MacBook Air.
This SO doesn't apply to most people... SOME want OSX, OTHERS want Vista/XP, you can't put this as a carte blanch statement.
It comes down to what you want a laptop for... and looking at what YOU deem to be important and applying that to EVERYONE is such an immature attitude.
Re:Tie doesn't seem quite right - battery, process (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:1, Insightful)
People who have to work in airplane seats, i.e. exactly the target audience of the Lenovo.
Cramped? (Score:4, Insightful)
I cannot imagine a 'road warrior' or any other business man ever finding that much space cramped, you could have 20 divx movies and a thousand mp3's on that hardware and still have what, a paltry 40gig left? No doubt necessary for the 32 million spreadsheets and documents you use every second of every day.
In my opinion if your not haxing l33t warez and downloading copious amounts of porn and lat3st n gr3at3st moviez my 5 yo 32gig raptor is more space than I will need for the foreseeable future.
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:5, Insightful)
How does thickness affect someone working in an airplane seat? I can see depth being a factor -- a wider, more rectangular chassis being preferred so your wrists aren't pressed up against your stomach as you type.
But thickness? It's not even a concern.
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:4, Insightful)
For this one, I'd rip a few discs worth, then pack away the DVD drive until I'm done watching them. If you're not re-encoding, it's fairly easy to rip just the movie (not the special features), and even with the 64 gig solid-state, that's still a good 4-5 movies. Figure, also, that it's a lot less wear on the discs (if you're bringing originals) to rip them in some stationary place, then put them away for the car (or plane) ride.
True, but the same applies to this as to OS choice. The Baby Boomers hate it when I turn their resolution up, because it makes everything smaller and harder to read, and they don't know how to set resolution or font size in most places. This is less relevant for OS X -- if they can figure out how to use the awesome zooming feature.
I think it does apply to a lot of people -- I'd imagine there are far fewer people who don't have a preference than people who prefer one to the other. But unless you really don't care about OS X, it makes sense to have the option, and Parallels if you need XP programs.
Otherwise, good points.
Re:Why compare? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why compare? (Score:5, Insightful)
Running Windows (32-bit) on a Mac is supported. Boot Camp is a fully supported part of Leopard. Apple produces a complete set of Win32 drivers for every Intel Mac.
OSX86 is, by contrast, a hack. A very useful hack, but a hack. You need to make sure you have *exactly* the right hardware and, in most cases, break a license.
Posted anonymously so as not to undo previous moderation.
Re:Why compare? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why compare? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:5, Insightful)
How many people feel lust for a phone? Pretty much no one... until the iPhone.
How many people feel lust for a laptop? Pretty much no one... until they see something with sex appeal.
It's bizarre and somewhat telling about how many regular, non-technical people stop and ask about the iPhone if they someone use it. A similar effect is happening with the MacBook Air (zomg it's so thin! wow that's light! Look at how bright the screen is! Hey that SSD makes the apps snappy!)
The MacBook Air is the two-seater roadster of laptops -- a blast to drive, eye-catching, not overly practical, and sneer-inducing among those who want a larger, or faster, or more practical model.
Not saying it's universal, just saying that Apple seems to be tapping into a lust-factor that one hasn't seen with consumer electronics in some time, if ever.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
I have a friend with a tiger direct special athlon machine, it seems nice, but I can barely touch the keyboard, it's so damn hot! I definitly wouldn't use that on my crotch.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
My wife has a Presario V3000. It cost less than $800 (I actually think it was 650, but may of been 750)over a year ago. It is about 5 lbs, doesn't get too hot, has a full keyboard, extra ports, and a DVD player.
It is more flimsily made than the two and a half times as expensive Mac Book Air, but it has help up fairly well to daily use.
The overall design is quite attractive too. I don't know why someone would buy a cramped Vaio, if an entry level Compaq can be cool, light, and have a full keyboard, there are bound to be others too.
Re:Why compare? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well some of us have a Mac and have not joined the cult. Point in fact here is that I am currently typing this on my new Macbook Air which I have owned for two days now without feeling the need to wear black jeans and a turtleneck.
Now the reason I have bought a Mac is probably unique (see my blog, I am not typing it in again), but I don't feel the lack of Mac features when I am using my Vista machine. In fact the only real difference between the two is that I can use one downstairs on the couch and the other has a 30" display.
I had been considering the Lenovo prior to realizing that I needed to get a Mac if I was going to write anything on Security Usability. Even though Apple is not doing any better than Microsoft on the measures I am concerned with it is necessary to answer those whose answer to every usability problem is 'get a Mac'.
The reason I would not get the Lenovo X300 is that I would wait for the convertible tablet model. I don't rate the handwriting analysis as a killer application, at this point I type faster than I write. But the ability to scribble and whiteboard is very useful.
On the side by side comparison, I don't think the Lenovo comes close to the MacBook Air. First it is a thousand bucks more and second its not much different to the X61. Its a Thinkpad with a solid state drive, well big whoopsie, I didn't pay for the SSD on my MacBook and I wouldn't pay that on the Thinkpad either. To be worth having the SSD has to cost half as much and provide twice as much space.
Here is a hint, nobody knows if your MacBook Air has an SSD or a hard drive inside. You can buy three years of AppleCare and a TimeVault for $550. By the time the AppleCare runs out there will be a new MacBook Air.
Re:Wow... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ah, slashdot: you point out the truth that macs actually are cheaper than PCs, and you get modded a troll. Sorry man.
But it is true, so the moderators should mod the parent up. Macs might not be quite as configurable as PCs, but if you compare a low-end Dell to an iMac (say), you'll find that the iMac packs a better video card, bigger monitor, bigger hard drive, more ram, and better CPU for the price. You can argue that you can't upgrade the video card/processor/whatever in an iMac, but most people never do that anyway (and if you want to do that stuff in a Dell, you're going to have to buy a new [proprietarily wired, so expensive] power supply).
Obviously it doesn't hold true for roll-your-own PCs, but then roll-your-own PCs don't come with a decent 1-3 year warranty where you can go to just one company for the machine to get fixed...
Strange how the "Macs are expensive" myth is still out there.
Reid
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
The cheapest Macbook Air is $1799. The cheapest Macbook with an extra 1GB of RAM (to bring it up to the 2GB that the Air has) is $1249. I don't consider that even remotely "comparable."
Of course it's hard to make a fair comparison. That extra $450 gets you 400mhz less, no optical drive, and fewer ports.
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Insightful)
You seem pretty fixated on Dell, there are literally hundreds of other stores out there that offer complete PCs and you can choose one you really want or need instead of the closest step. E.g. my sister needed a cheap PC that can do text processing and web browsing, she got a 300€ system that does what she needs. You should compare systems to your requirements, not other systems.
If you compare requirements and none of the requirements is "must be a Mac" then you'll often end up cheaper with a PC because often you'll have to go to the next bigger line of Macs if you want a specific feature not available in the lower Macs.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:3, Insightful)
To put it another way: It's not like people are buying them, later realizing that they lack an optical drive, then making sure they let people know by posting a harsh review.
Many people have commented on how much better the keyboard and screen are compared to other current comparable Macs. Add in the "world first" slim design and a goodie such as iPhone-like gesture support on the trackpad, then keep in mind that there isn't really another laptop with a similar feature-set and design to compare it to (point out its deficiencies), and you have a product that can seem almost perfect -- worth 5 stars.
Speaking of all this MacBook Air stuff, I managed to get a glimpse of one in a store (a non-Apple store in NZ). Unfortunately, it was lid-down and locked in a display case (unlike the other laptops), and the staff were too busy with real customers to let some poor, drooling nerd have a grope around with it.
Re:Walt's damning with faint praise (Score:5, Insightful)
A possibly better example would be the Motorola RAZR, which was nothing special - except it was ridiculously thin. It sold (and continues to sell) like hotcakes, even when it was initially $500+.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people choose BMW as a status symbol. Same with these Macbooks. I've seen nothing to convince me they're better. Not one thing.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:5, Insightful)
I want to say that there's a difference between "not uncomfortable" and "comfortable". Straight out of college I had a hand-me-down mattress which worked fine and was not uncomfortable. Later in life when I was doing well I bought a new one for about $800, and the difference was incredible. Lying in bed was actually pleasurable instead of just "not uncomfortable".
uncomfortable - tolerable/not uncomfortable - comfortable
Anyways, products can be judged on a lot of things:
- comfort
- style/fashion (status symbol)
- performance
- compatibility
- price
Many Slashdotters regard the first two as foolish metrics, but outside of computerland, they're often the determining ones.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
In any case making something white and round, or thin enough to fit in a folder, or translucent so you can see the circuit board is not called style. It's called a gimmick.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
In other words, it's not about being able to "handle it", but about preferring one over the other.
As far as weight is concerned, when I'm on the couch with my MacBook on my lap, it's not so heavy that I wish it were lighter. But when it comes time to set the MacBook aside (e.g. to get up) the weight is noticeable. Not so heavy that I have difficulty setting the MacBook aside, but heavy enough that I notice the action. The MacBook Air seems light enough that when it comes time to set it aside, I *won't* notice it.
You sound like a PC user, so you are probably used to constantly noticing your computer. The Mac experience is generally one of *not* noticing your computer, so those few times when it's noticed, it can be annoying (this is partly why, I think, Macs are so design-oriented, so that when you notice them physically, the experience is more enjoyable than it would be otherwise).
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:2, Insightful)
There's a reason Sony's marketing site for the Vaio series is www.sonystyle.com.
Re:Reviews for Macbook air are strangely high (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll give you a small (and relatively random) example. The Caps Lock key on all new Macs has a feature such that it won't toggle if you accidentally hit it. PCs don't do this, and sometimes (not terribly often, but now and then, and it's definitely happened to all of us) your text will be aLL CAPS AFTER TYPING AN A. No big deal. It's easy to undo, just hit the Caps Lock key again and all is well.
The Mac (both the hardware and system software) is designed with countless little touches like this. After using a Mac for a while, at some point you notice it and think to yourself how *un*frustrating the computer is, sort of like how at some point you notice after you move away from the freeway that that background noise of traffic is gone.
Some people seem to need those little reminders that they're using a computer, just like some people find comfort in the sounds of traffic. You may be one of those people. Or you may just be uncomfortable with mushy, subjective, non-concrete metrics. A lot of geek-types are like that. They need everything to be easily measured and compared. Unfortunately, a large swath of human experience is not easily categorized. This makes it difficult for companies like HP and Microsoft to make products which truly appealing at a fundamentally human level.
It's this attention to the humanity of a product that made the iPod the success that it is, *even with the inferior feature-set as compared to other players at the time*.