Apple MacBook Air Vs. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Review Comparison

Apple MacBook Air Vs. Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Review Comparison

Published August 25, 2008 at 01:17:14 PM, by Blair Mathis

Overview

If there's ever been a greater matchup in notebook history, this is probably it; the one everyone came to see. Two different competitors with two new and hot products that are oozing hype out of the streams are set to go head-to-head in an all-out battle to claim the title of the ultraportable heavy weight champion. Both offer 2GB of RAM; a 13.3" of LCD widescreen display; less-than-an-inch thin dimensions; and lightweight mobility. And you won't have to subscribe to pay-per-view to watch these two battle it out in the ring. Who will come out on top? Ladies and Gentlemen, are you ready to rumble??!

MacBook Air

On the right corner, we have Apple's newest halo product, the MacBook Air. Claiming the title of world's thinnest notebook computer, this svelte piece of technological marvel certainly impresses with sexy good looks and a multi-touch trackpad borrowed from the iPhone's innards. While light on features, the MacBook Air is designed for the fashion conscious user who puts style over functionality.

Lenovo Thinkpad X300

On the left, the X300 is Lenovo's latest offering at an ultraportable that is built for the traveling businessman (or woman) in mind.� The X300 has classy good looks and solid list of features that make the X300 a nice addition to the highly revered Thinkpad line of dependable and quality notebooks.

Design

Apple has always designed great looking products and the MacBook Air is no exemption. The new MBA is incredibly thin, lightweight, and quite possibly the sexiest machine to grace our hands. The clean lines and soft curves will easily give off attention to this cool aluminum wonder.

Offsetting the silver tones is a black keyboard with the look and feel carried from the MacBooks. While I prefer the look and feel of the current MacBook Pro keyboards, the black keys adds a unique contrast to a familiar design.

The Lenovo X300 is also stunning in its own way. If the MacBook Air were like a fancy dress, the X300 would be a suave Armani business suit understatedly handsome and more professional in design. While definitely chunkier looking, as is the case with most Thinkpads, the X300 is still slickly designed.

But it's the way the notebook feels in your hands. Soft touch materials exude elegance and high quality. I love the way the X300 looks and feels in my hands. If sexy is what the Apple MacBook Air looks like, the X300 is what sexy feels like.

Winner: Tie

Screen

Both Lenovo and Apple have employed the use of a 13.3" widescreen LCD into these hot new ultraportables. While both are beautiful to look at, the MacBook Air has the slight edge with its glossy screen to really bring out the colors. But hold on; the ThinkPad X300 one-ups the MacBook Air by offering a higher 1440x900 native resolution that is sharper than Apple's. Whether it's more screen real estate or truer colors, it's fair game in this round.

Winner: Tie

Processor

In base configuration, the $1799 MacBook Air uses a custom-built 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor that is 60% smaller than traditional C2D chips. For $300 more, you can upgrade to the slightly speedier 1.8GHz model, and still come in under the base price of the X300.

Likewise, the more expensively priced $2476 ThinkPad X300 also incorporates the smaller sized Intel chip but runs at a much slower 1.2GHz clockspeed. There's no denying the MacBook Air would outperform the X300 with its faster processor and less resource-hungry Leopard OSX operating system.

Winner: MacBook Air

Features & Performance

Features

This is where the fight gets down and dirty for the two machines. We already know the MacBook Air is an engineering marvel but what does all that thinness translate to? Answer: A very sparse computing experience. Aside from the aforementioned size, processors and screen, the MacBook Air is very barebones in features. The table below can do all the talking for me, and for the sake making a fair comparison, we spec-ed out both models to give a better comparison.

	Apple MacBook Air	Lenovo ThinkPad X300
Processor	1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo upgraded from 1.6GHz	1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory	2GB @667MHz	2GH @667MHz
Hard drive	64GB SSD upgraded from standard 80GB 4200RPM HDD	64GB SSD
Graphics	Integrated Intel GMA X3100	Integrated Intel GMA X3100
Operating System	Mac OSX Leopard	Windows XP or Vista
Dimensions	12.8 x 8.94 x 0.16 x 0.76 inches	12.5 x 9.1 x .73 inches
Screen size	13.3" LED widescreen glossy; 1280x800 native resolution	13.3" LED widescreen - matte; 1440x900 native resolution
Weight	3.0 lbs.	3.0 lbs. to 3.4 lbs (w/ 6-cell battery)
Video Out	Micro-DVI cable out	VGA-out
Audio	Mono speaker; Audio out	Stereo speakers; Headphone & Microphone jacks
Networking	802.11a/b/g/n WiFi	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi
Optical Drive	Optional external	Ultra-thin built-in DVD burner
Expansion	None	None
Battery	Fixed	Upgraded 6-cell extended battery (3-cell standard)
Ports	One USB 2.0; One dedicated Apple port for optical drive or video	Three (3) USB 2.0; VGA-Out; Gigabit Ethernet; AC Adapter
Extras	Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Multi-touch trackpad, iSight camera	Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, GPS, Verizon WWAN (EV-DO), Fingerprint scanner, 1.3MP camera
Input	Full-sized keyboard with illuminated backlighting	Full-sized keyboard, trackpad, trackpoint
Warranty	1 Year	1 Year
Price with options	$3,098	$2,936
Starting price	$1799	$2,476

Clearly from a features standpoint, the ThinkPad X300 easily beats out the MacBook Pro by offering everything Apple has included and then goes further to include a built-in thin optical drive, Ethernet data port, fingerprint scanner and even the 64GB SSD drive in the base model.

Even if you added every option, the feature packed X300 would still come in cheaper than the MBA. It's obvious the ThinkPad X300 is the better machine by offering everything a modern laptop in this class should have and thus, is a more practical machine. The MacBook Air, just looks anorexic in comparison.

Both notebooks already offer Bluetooth, integrated camera, full-sized keyboard, and similar dimensions. Basically, it comes down to whether you want "looks" or a full featured computing experience. And the X300 is already pretty classy looking too.

Shame on Apple for skimping out on features for the sake of making a thinner laptop that isn't even all that much thinner considering both are under .75". Apple didn�t even bother to include stereo speakers! With only one USB 2.0 port (compared to the ThinkPad's three) for adding external devices, that doesn't leave much expandability

Worse, having only to rely solely on WiFi for networking is a huge no-no.

Apple offers a rather nifty multi-touch trackpad that adds additional finger inputs to simplify application commands and the illuminated backlit keyboard that is a sight to behold.� The Lenovo counters by offering the option of a GPS and WWAN (EV-DO) mobile capabilities, making the X300 a complete road warrior.� Impressive.

Winner: ThinkPad X300

Battery

Starting to notice that the MacBook Air is a rather limited notebook computer? Here's one more limitation to add: the battery that comes built into the unit is fixed and non-removable (well, without some tools that is). That means pricey replacements when the battery dies out. The Lenovo, on the other hand, has a more traditional removable 3-cell battery and you can also upgrade to the extended 6-cell battery for even more power.

Winner: ThinkPad X300

Price & Value

The MacBook Air actually comes in cheaper at a starting price of $1799 when compared to the hefty price of entry for the base ThinkPad for $2476. That said, the MacBook Air is missing a lot of features we should expect in a modern laptop. For that price and what you get, you might as well go for the cheaper MacBooks. Fully loaded, the MBA comes in at over $3,000.

And while the ThinkPad's price is admittedly high, you do get a lot of standard and high-end features including the 64GB solid-state drive and optical drive as standard equipment. If and when Lenovo offers a model with a traditional hard drive, expect to shave a couple hundred dollars off, thereby making this laptop a true value.

Winner: ThinkPad X300

Final Verdict: Lenovo ThinkPad X300

It's pretty obvious the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is the clear winner of this comparison, knocking out the MacBook Air in almost every category. As a professional road warrior' business machine, the X300 is the ideal laptop for any situation. Except for the high starting price, the Lenovo is the near-perfect choice. It's got everything you would need in an ultraportable laptop computer and more. It's got the looks, the features, and quality build that any business user on the go will love.

The MacBook Air, on the other hand, is just a pretty laptop for those who favor aesthetics heavily over practicality.

Both notebooks are great machines, but the ThinkPad X300 is clearly the victor in this matchup.

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Technical Specifications

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