Without an ethernet port or DVD player, is Apple’s MacBook Air really a “fully-featured” ultra-portable laptop? Or is it just more Apple marketing hype? Well the guys at Slashgear think they’ve found a MacBook Air killer that can actually honestly wear the “fully-featured” tag : the IBM Lenovo ThinkPad X300.
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.
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