Lenovo unveils ultrathin ThinkPad X300 laptop
Lenovo on Monday
launched the much-anticipated ThinkPad X300 ultraportable, challenging Apple's
MacBook
Air as the lightest and thinnest notebook available today.
Weighing started at 2.93 pounds (1.33 kilograms). Lenovo claims ThinkPad X300 is more feature-rich than Apple's 3-pound MacBook Air. Lenovo has included three USB ports and an ultrathin DVD burner, while MacBook Air has only one USB port and no optical drive. With a DVD-RW drive, the X300 weighs 3.13 pounds, Lenovo said.
The laptop measures 0.73 inches (1.85 centimeters) at its thinnest point by
0.92 inches (2.34 cms) at its thickest point, bigger in comparison to MacBook
Air, which measures 0.16 inches (0.4 cms) at its thinnest part and 0.76 inches
(1.93 cms) at its thickest part.
Targeted at business users and consumers, the laptop uses 25 percent less power
than previous ThinkPad models with a 64G-byte solid-state storage drive for
data storage, a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display and use of a lithium-polymer battery,
Lenovo said.
The lithium-polymer chemistry provides better battery life than standard lithium-ion
batteries found in most laptops today, said Tom Ribble, director of Thinkpad
product marketing at Lenovo. The system supports up to 4G bytes of memory and
includes integrated graphics, a digital camera, and wired and wireless networking.
It includes both touchpad and trackpoint scrolling capabilities.
The system will come with WiMax capabilities later this year with Intel's updated
Centrino platform, according to Lenovo. The buyer may choose that the machine
come preloaded either with Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista.
The X300 is powered by Intel's Core 2 Duo SL7100 LV low-voltage chip, operating
at 1.2GHz. Like the Core 2 Duo processor specially developed for Apple's MacBook
Air, Intel shrunk the SL7100 LV processor to make it 60 percent smaller than
standard-sized processors belonging to Intel's Merom family. The chip is manufactured
using the 65-nanometer process, like other Merom processors.
Although the size is the same, the SL7100 LV chip consumes less power. It uses
12 watts of power, according to processor details provided by Intel. The Core
2 Duo processor for MacBook Air uses 20 watts of power, while operating at 1.6GHz
to 1.8GHz. Fujitsu also uses the SL7100 LV chip in its ultraportable LifeBook
P8010 laptop, which started shipping in the U.S. this month.
Lenovo has pumped the latest technology into its laptop that both consumers
and business users will appreciate, Ribble said.
Prices for the X300 start at US$2,799, and it is available through Lenovo's
Web site and through retail partners. It was not yet listed on Lenovo's Web
site at the time of the announcement.
IDG News Service
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
