April 17, 2008 Air war - wispy Mac's PC foe
The ultralight, ultrathin Macbook Air has some serious PC competition: the 3.13-pound Lenovo X300. Though thicker and slightly heavier than the MBA, the X300 has more features. Neither are cheap; the less it weighs, the more you pay. From slashgear.com:
“It’s hard to imagine that there are people out there who would seriously draw the line at carrying the scant extra millimetres of the X300 over the MacBook Air, and so a decision comes down to OS X versus Vista and what connectivity you demand from an ultraportable. With superlative build quality, usability not impacted by its scant dimensions and enough grunt, if not for the sort of CPU intensive tasks you might ask a desktop PC to handle, then for all the everyday use you could want of it, it ticks more boxes than any of its rivals. Yes, the price - currently from $2,997 direct from Lenovo - puts the X300 resolutely into the premium category, but spec a MacBook Air with SSD, ethernet and external DVD and you’ll be paying Apple pretty much the same amount. And while the Air might have the gloss factor, it’s the X300 that, quietly but certainly, edges ahead.”
Reader Comments (4)
Let's see. The Lenovo comes with Vista, possibly the most craptacular bloatware system since Windows ME. The Mac costs the same, looks better, weighs less, and can run XP, OS X, or Linux. Simultaneously, if required. Not a hard choice at all.
Oh no: Mac vs. PC. Now we're getting into religion! Actually it's all good. Lots of sub three-pound options are good news for the the light traveler.
Frankly, for the truly light traveler who needs basic functionality and connectivity, I think either one of these is excessive. Even at 3 lbs or so, it's a significant fraction of what your total rig weight should be. The dimensions are challenging to pack (in a way that protects the fragile device). Even the Asus EEE is too bulky in my opinion.
I believe the ultramobile devices that Intel and others will be bringing out this summer (in many, but small form factors) are likely to be more useful, as they can serve for GPS, voice (via Skype, etc.), notes, music/video, and a host of other functions (short of writing your novel on the road). Some will have small keyboards (workable if you can handle a Blackberry). And they'll fit in a largeish pocket (travel vest, anyone?).
Several pundits are already dinging them, saying that their market will get eaten up by smaller super-smart phones (which may happen someday), but for the next couple of years, if executed right, these might be the optimal travel device.
I definitely prefer the EEE PC but there are some people that just have to have the horsepower or have to part with $2K. The 9' EEE PC is going to be hard for lots of us to pass up.