Build and Design

When you first get this laptop into your hands you'll notice just how thin it is, it measures just 0.73 inches thick. The next thing you notice is just how lightweight this laptops is weighing either 2.3 pounds or 3.5 pounds based on your configuration. Lenovo didn't exactly use cheap materials in the making of the X300 either they used very tough magnesium that doesn't know anything about bend when pressure is applied. This laptop is like all other Thinkpads its built to last and handle all the little accidents that might happen while owning the laptop.

In designing the X300 Lenovo basically took there classic design on the other Thinkpads and just slimmed things down. The body still has square not rounded corners and its still black. All of the traits that you would find on other Thinkpads you'll find them incorporated into the X300 the difference is only seen in the components used inside the X300.

 

The Ports

The main competor of the X300 is the Macbook Air, both laptops are very slim but the Macbook is still slimmer than the X300. The difference between the two is port selection the X300 has more ports than the Macbook Air. The Thinkpad X300 has 3 USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit ethernet, Kensington lock port, audio out/microphone in and monitor out. The ports on the X300 are good but your still lacking a place for memory cards, expansion slot and no ExpressCard or PCMCIA ports.

The Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard quality carried over from other Thinkpads. The keys on the X300 do not flex when pushed and the matte finish that you find on the rest of the laptop is on the keys to so no shiny keys due to wear. The keyboard on the X300 is a full keyboard so you will enjoy it and typing on it is comfortable. Something that adds to the comfort while typing is the rubbery material material on the palm rest that is very smooth and comfortable. The touchpad is also very nice and the space is plenty and there are areas for scrolling to. If you have ever used a touchpad on a Thinkpad series laptop excluding previous X-series models you know the quality of them.

The Screen

The 13.3" WXGA+ screen on the X300 is nice and bright, and the LED is also backlit. The screen size you get with WXGA+ on the 13.3" form factor is actually more than you'd expect, you can have two windows open simultaneously with out any difficulty if you need to compare two different things. The viewing angles are pretty good on the Lenovo X300 but like almost all non-IPS laptops the picture does not look good when your sitting at certain angles.

The Performance

The low-voltage processor on the X300 is not there by accident. The processor doesn't consume as much of the battery power or produce the amount of heat other processors make. The thing is the processor can only handle doing so much, you can do all the simple things like internet, e-mail and some photoshop but no 3-D gaming or really any other demanding programs.

The bright spot on the performance is the addition of the solid state hard drive which increases boot times dramatically. It takes only 27 seconds to boot up the X300 to your desktop and if your wireless internet is enabled it takes 32 seconds to get from being turned off to the internet. What you gain in speed you give up in space the hard drive holds 68GB not exactly small but still smaller than other laptops which have more than double that amount on there slower drives. 

 

 

The Thinkpad X300 can come with either a 3-cell battery or a 6-cell battery. The battery life with the 3-cell is about 3 and a half hours. The battery life with the 6-cell battery will be more but the laptop will also gain some weight.Removing a battery on the X300 is very easy unlike on the Macbook Air.