Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Gets a Price, Available for Pre-Order

Thedetails of a rumored ThinkPad X300 leaked onto the web a couple of weeks ago. It appears these rumors are confirmed as a Google product search reveals several retailers now selling the X300 for about $2,600.

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Online retailers such as BestBuy for Business, Provantage, and Bottom Line Telecommunications show the X300 available for pre-order. A Google product search brings up other retailers. The price at Best Buy for Business indicates the ThinkPad X300 to be $2,743.99, so we're back to the days of premium priced ThinkPads. With the high-end specs and premium design of the X300, this price is no surprise though.

The configuration available at Best Buy for Business indicates thisX300 hasa 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo SL7100 processor, 2GB of RAM, DVD-RW optical drive, 13.3" WXGA+ display and 64GB SSD. The earlier leak indicates goodies such as an LED backlit display, 3 USB ports, Wireless USB, WiMax, GPS and built-in web camera are all part of the package too.

ThinkPad X300 image courtesy of Gizmodo

Consider that even with the price being in the $2,600 range for the X300, the Apple MacBook Air with SSD costs $3,098, so in that frame of reference things aren't so bad! SSD is just expensive, until prices there fall you'll have to pay out for notebooks with this feature.

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• ThinkPad X300 Leaks out

 

HOLY CRAP!!!! 2600??????????????????????? I could buy 2 laptops for that.

Well, its looks thin. But it looks too much all the other lenovos

 

Well, look at the price of the SSD Macbook air with 1 USB port and no optical drive $3098

 

I could... if I felt like it...

I personally, would rather stick with a sony TZ. But, it is a nice change in style

 

Well, from the sounds of it the X300 will be priced with the TZ depending on options. So far they seem to match up fairly well.

 

Why isn't it on the Lenovo site?

 

It's notebook news and it competes with the every crappy MBA, so its important.

Kevin, the lowest price for a TZ is like 2100, i could also build a desktop.

 

Still, it is a nice change in getting an ultraportable thinkpad with a widescreen, internal optical drive and wireless up the wazoo. This is, if anything, a good grace for us non-business users who would love a model like this. And for business users too...

Brian
Proud owner of an X40

 

Wow, this blows the MBA out of the waters...

 

I have to say, that's a very interesting laptop.

It has all the wonder of the MBA, but....it's better.

 

Yea, uhh, I'd hit the TZ before this. They are priced the same, but thats got nearly the same features and is a lot smaller.

The 1.2GHz processor is seriously disappointing. Wasn't Lenovo supposed to use the same 1.8GHz sff processor package that the MB Air was using? And hopefully, this gets a hard drive option in the future that slashes like...$1000....at minimum off the price. Seriously, its the future, but I'd rather pay for the future stuff in the future, when it doesn't actually double the price of a notebook.

Unfortunate. They really were on to something. Here's to hoping that the X200 or whatever gets a lower price tag and a more powerful processor.

 

1.2ghz does sound very very low for a 13.3" notebook.

But I haven't heard of this SL7100 processor though its also slated to be in the Fujitsu Loox R series. I'm not seeing it in any Intel processor lists, whats up with this secretive processor?

 

Hmm...$2600? Having just got a T61p for just about half that, I believe it'll be a tough sell, at best. Still, the Lenovo name does carry a lot of clout among the corporate types, which is where I suppose the X300 will show it's biggest impact, as opposed to direct retail sales.

The 1.2GHz processor sounds kinda...weak, as well. Maybe the engineers at Lenovo know something I don't.

 

It has to be mentioned, this is just one model. Thinkpads are traditionally very modular, and there could very well be hard drive and processor options we haven't seen yet.

 

I'd pay 2000 for it.

 

SL is just Intel's latest prefix nomenclature for the ultra low voltage chips (I'm pretty sure, anyways). I'd assume the SL7100 is just the Penryn ULV chip, based on the low clockspeed. Dunno why its 7100 as opposed to like 8x00 or 9x00 to be in line with the rest of the Penryns.

Of course, it may also be the chip used in the MacBook Air (it was supposed to go into a couple of PC notebooks [one by fujitsu], right?). This would explain the 7xxx number, since that was still a 65nm Merom part, but its very low clock speed seems to suggest otherwise, since the MB Air cpu is clocked at 1.6-1.8GHz.

 

I don't know why, but the price tag reminds me of the latitude XT

Is it because it's unnecessarily high?

 

At least with this its explained by the high level of specs and the SSD. The base model XT came with a 1GHz single core processor, 1GB of memory, and a 40GB hard drive. FOR $2500! Spec it properly, and it came out to just over $3k, which is nearly double the competitors.

This isn't unnecessarily high, just that the only model is the highest spec model. I'd assume they will put out a configurable model with lower specs (read: no SSD) for way cheaper. Or maybe I'm just hoping that....

 

a harddirve version will come out a couple of months and drop the price significantly. see slide 18,19,or 20 (i forget)... it says 120gb sata 1.8

 

how will the 1.2ghz compare with the performance of dell's xps1330. is this a show stopper or is it still a decent computer for non gamers?

 

what does "option fde" mean? see slide 22 to the right of ssd

 

MBA=Stile.
X300=Performance.

 

geh.

I want a normal laptop CPU, not a low voltage. the M1330 can do it, why not this one!

 

what are the disadvantages of low voltage?

 

Your electric bills will be lower. : (

 

^ less power.. performance wise

 

That's hardly true given the 1.2GHz processor in the X300...

For all we know, the SL lineup could be the SFF CPU found in the MacBook Air. I'm sure there are plenty of speed grades available at the request of the manufacturers. Then against, for the >$2000 range, it seems a waste to not use one of the ULV chips when you're only pushing 1.2GHz anyways. You'll lose out on some battery life and the premium for the chips could easily be hidden by the expensive price tag.

 

There is no disadvantage whatsoever. Current Merom LV CPUs as well as coming Penryn LV CPUs have the same features and as much L2 cache as the fastest Normal Voltage CPUs. So the only disadvantage you face is the clock speed difference between the LV and NV CPUs.

 

I found no difference in using every apps and web browsing when I was using the TZ's ULV 1.2GHz vs. the T61p's 2.2GHz. Keep in mind these ultraportables AREN'T meant to be desktop replacements.

Its like looking at a Mercedes SL and say that for the same price, I can get 2 station wagons an seat 4X more people.

 

they're still coming out with an X62 right? please tell me this isnt replacing the next X-series.... >.<

 

FYI: with the 1.8" drives they are putting in these things the 1.2 ULV CPU doesnt mean jack. The MBA is balls slow because of the slow drive and the PATA iterface.

Ive been working with a 1.2 in my Latitude D420 for some time now and its had no troubles running the things business users do day to day. It does presentations, recodes videos for a media player, surfs the web, does excel, and plays movies on the plane. No, the biggest drawback are this tiny drives.

I optioned mine out on RAM and loaded linux into memory instead of running it off of the hard disk and it was lighting quick. The CPU had no trouble doing anything on it.

 

Apparently there is also an 11" X200 model around the corner. I do hope it will have a 2.5" HDD and no optical drive. But if you were talking about a 12" 4:3 screen, well, I wouldn't bet too much on it.

@Ryan:
Loading Linux into RAM is exactly the kind of thing I'd like to do on my old X31, but I don't know where to look for to do that. Could you point me toward a specific distro/utils/howto/etc...?

 

I hope they don't replace the X series with this and stop the 12" form factor all together. This reminds me of how Apple stopped the 12" powerbook upon the release of the macbook.

 

a. Sm1ley. http://www.linux.com/feature/52134

I use damn small linux on an X20 often. Yours is newer so you could probably get away with something more robust. He lists a few in that link.

b. MYK, NO! Bad dog! Dont even mention such things!

Seriously, the 12" is AWESOME. Its as small as any actual notebook and can fit into some of the fatter folios. I have the Dell 12" and I checked out the air and it still wouldnt fit in my laptop bag. I have a new TUMI desinged for 12" notebooks and my old Osprey messenger bag that was designed for 14" (4:3) and the 12 fits perfectly (even with the extended battery on it) while a 13.3" is just too wide. The 4:3 nature of the x61 does make it even narrower, it could benefit from a widescren format. If anything just so its the size of a sheet of paper like all the other REAL ultraportables. With the widescreen the 12" is perfect for an ultraportable. The only way it could get better is if it had a miniscule bezel.

If you want a bigger screen you are already stepping on the toes of the other "thin and light" notebooks.

 

Is the current batch of ULV Core 2 Duos faster than my Pentium 4-M 2.2GHz and Pentium 4 2.66GHz?

 

yes, and they make a lot less heat too, did i mention more battery life?

 

Pics of the actual machine:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56967

 

The MBA is using a standard Santa Rosa processor the ULV processors that the x300 is using should allow for better battery life. Maybe Lenovo will allow for different processor configurations up to 1.8 ULV that would be good. This would not really bother me anyway if it was 1.2 ULV if i was interested in this laptop.
If it was a standard Santa Rosa processor then it would be bother me but the ULV processors have there benefits as well.
I wish Apple would have made something like this.

 

Great small laptop!
How is a PCIe port related to ExpressCard?

 

@Ryan
Thanks for the tip! Now I need to find what utils/tools allow some of these distro to be loaded into RAM (I assume some sort of RAMdisk created upon boot), as they do not seem to be Debian-based (which is requirement for me).

Back on topic:
Bleh. The X300 has an integrated Intel graphic chipset, and apparently NO docking station (just a port replicator). That means it cannot drive multiple or >2Mpixels external displays. I was really hoping for an ultralight Thinkpad that, when docked, could replace my desktop.

 

I'm hearing the X200 will be 11" and then 12", does anyone know which it is? I suppose it will be a higher end version of the Lenovo U110?

 

After a short investigation I've found that ExpressCard is compatible with PCIe and the latter is more powerful in terms of bandwidth - it is thus feasible to connect via PCIe an external PCIe graphic card to X300.

 

I read somewhere that it would be an 11". The U110 is pretty high end as is, I think the X200 (I guess it would make more sense for it to be 12" based on the name) will be a more business oriented machine, so matte screens, matte plastic, not a bright red lid, etc.

 

How can so many people complain about integrated graphics in a system who's primary goal is to be as thin and light as possible? Do you want the thing to overheat? How about having fans so loud that everyone around you gets pissed off? The X3100 is perfectly capable of driving a windowing environment.

I wouldn't mind having integrated graphics with dedicated VRAM, but that ball is in Intel's court.

 

I think they were more disappointed in the fact that the X3100 and onboard VGA output can't drive very high resolution displays (nothing higher than 1920x1200).

 

Umm, my dell has the 945 graphics chipset (older) and it can drive two monitors at 1080p. Albeit pretty slow but still, it runs two 22" monitors easy.

Otherwise, man, you people are REALLY missing the point of this laptop. Its not graphics power, putting dedicated graphics in such a laptop would be stupid as it would destroy its size and battery life. Dedicated graphics means more power draw and more heat, requiring better cooling (= more size).

But, again. The Intel graphics can drive two 24+ monitors, you just need a port replicator or a docking station with two outputs. (my dell has one DVI-D and one VGA and it powers both external when docked).


EDIT: I see after looking at the pictures what you are talking about. Its not the intel graphics to blame for the single, low-res output. Its the USB nature of the dock. DVI is like 7Gb/s and USB cant come anywhere near the bandwidth to support a monitor of any decent res.

 

MBA is not using a standard Santa Rosa processor.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/18/macbook-air-processor-situation-gets-explained/

 

I knew that but i guess i still see as a strunk down version of a standard SR processor as it is not a ULV processor and will not have the advantage of battery life gains that ULV have over "standard" SR processors.

 

It's not just a shrunk full-voltage Merom. It does run at a lower voltage, just not as low as the standard LV or ULV that Intel offers. TDP for the processor is 20W as opposed to 35W of the full-size/full-voltage version, 17W for the LV, and 10W for the ULV versions.

 

Then you're blind. As chuck232 said, it has a lower TDP than the standard SR chips, something close to the LV chips. Not quite as good for the battery life as a ULV processor, but still decent enough, and a lot more processing power to boot.

However, I still fail to see why Intel didn't just shrink the package of the 45nm Penryn chips and hand that to Apple instead - I mean, Penryn mobile chips are starting to find their way into machines as of now, so the MB Air has an outdated CPU on launch - did Apple not find enough places to make compromises than just this?