As far as we were concerned, Lenovo?s ThinkPad X300 was already a stellar ultra-portable Windows-based laptop. Okay, so it has no FireWire or DVI ports and opting for a solid state drive (SSD) added a lot of extra cost, but the machine offered performance, battery life, quality, reliability and functionality at a great price. Just four months on and Lenovo has unveiled its successor, the ThinkPad X301. The slim-and-light system, again seen as a direct competitor to Apple's MacBook Air, offers more storage options in addition to DDR3 memory and the latest low-voltage Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
Constructed with carbon and glass fibre, the ThinkPad X301 is one of the most robust systems in its class. Okay, so its wholly-black exterior won?t turn you on, but for pitching to clients or working on the move it?s perfectly acceptable. Furthermore it includes a ?ThinkPad Roll Cage? to help protect the machine from falls and drops. But perhaps the system?s biggest technological leap is its 1.8-inch 64/128GB SSD that provides more than twice the performance of a regular 2.5-inch hard disk drive. And with no moving parts the technology offers more than four times greater shock resistance as well as greater energy efficiency than traditional hard disk drives, helping to increase battery life to around 4 hours. If you need more than 128GB storage, you?ll be pleased to know that Lenovo has a new batch of ThinkPad X301s with SATA hard disks.
The model we reviewed was powered by a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 processor, Intel Mobile G M45 Express chipset, 2GB of DDR3 (1067MHz) system memory (upgradable to 3GB), and Intel Mobile GMA 4500 MHD graphics chipset. The new processor helps the ThinkPad X301 realise measurable gains over its predecessor, though it trails similar systems that were built on full-voltage Centrino 2 processors. The system?s 13.3-inch LED backlight WXGA+ (1440x900 pixels) display is more energy-efficient performance than most LCD displays, but it is so dim that it make mood lighting jealous. The viewing angles aren?t great either, nor is it widescreen, so it?s not an ideal machine for watching movies.
Lenovo faced a great challenge when designing the ThinkPad X301. It had to make things really small without losing key capabilities, such as performance, battery life, quality, reliability and functionality. With thanks to Intel?s ever-shrinking Centrino platform Lenovo has created a laptop that is amazingly thin and light, is built like a tank, and offers plenty of configuration options. The system offers all the benefits of its predecessor, plus better performance.
As far as we?re concerned the ThinkPad X301 is the best overall ultra-portable laptop on the planet if you?re looking for one machine that does pretty much everything.
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