Have a look!

Compare new X300 with old 570

http://www.tpuser.idv.tw/wp/?p=233

if I look at those pictures, the 570 wasn't aging too much
compared to the brand new X300,
in terms of design and size only of course

I clearly prefer the 4:3 form factor and
IMHO the curvy design of the 570 looks very elegant.

Nonetheless I like the new X300.

New member, great info and a pic warning in the subject line, too! Welcome to the forum!

Is it just me, or is there no PC Card/ExpressCard slot?

And boo at cluttering the top with the Lenovo logo.

Excellent pics, thanks for the link.

No pc card or express card slot. That's why X300 won't work for people who need non-USB smartcard reader.

I agree with the logo comment. It would be much better if "Lenovo" and "Thinkpad" are just one logo, just like the old "IBM Thinkpad".

I thought the Lenovo logo was going to be flat black?

Talking about logos, I like the logo placement in the old thinpads (600X/570 era) ... they are not even on the palmrest, but somewhere near the LCD bezel (either on the bezel or very close to the hinges on the base) ... which was much less distracting and clean looking.

Also older thinkpads (like the 600X - before the T series started I guess) have a "raised" IBM thinkpad badge on the upper lid ... I somehow like that better tan the glossy sticker we have had for a long time now. I know, I know ... extremely minor points, most people dont even care.

I also think having a logo on both side seems kinda distracting and unprofessional. The two logos need to be united. Maybe it's still too early to do so since they've just started using the new ThinkPad logo. But I'm sure Lenovo will come up with something better in the future. Overall the X300 is a stunning little laptop.

I do care about the little things. i.e. the wifi switch is now next to the ethernet port, which may be appreciated by some people.(especially those who don't use Access Connection) It's logical to turn on/off the wifi card when unplugging/plugging the ethernet cable.

Where are the indicator lights inside the laptop? I can't see them neither under the screen (where the recent series had them) or next to the power button (where 20 and 30 series had them).

I thought the 570 came with a 13.3" screen too? I had one and liked it very much, especially the dual battery charger design with the dock (the best idea EVER!). In any case, the x300 sure is looking nice there.

Pitty they didn't show the 13.3-inch 570, which had a much smaller screen bezel than the 12.1" shown here. What I dislike most about the X300 is the large bezel. I understand that they have to fit lots of antennas and a webcam in there, but it just doesn't look very good. The 570 was a very nice design, basically a thin version of the legendary 600 series in term of form factor (by leaving out the optical drive). It didn't feel quite as luxurious as the 600 series, as it didn't have the rubber coating, so it felt more plastic like. Though in the long run, the rubber coating of the 600s didn't hold up quite as well.

The 13-inch 570/600 were amongs my favorites in terms of form factor, as they allowed exactly for a full size keyboard stretching from side to side, without any slack space. And the screen also almost maxed out the display lid size, leaving a very thin bezel. Mass production has shifted away from 4:3 displays these days, so we probably won't see such a form factor anymore. For wide-screen the best size is 12.1" IMO. It fits exactly with a full size keyboard: 13" have extra space on the sides, while 11" needs shrunked keys. The Dell Latitude 420/430 are very nice examples of 12" wide-screen ultra-portables.

About the new logo(s): http://lenovoblogs.com/connections/?p=15
Best to comment it there (or in the forum), perhaps they will reconsider the new logos for new Thinkpads...

I agree about the top bezel. It is large, and I think the design goals should have forcused more on slimming it down. One man's opinion, though.

I do wonder about the bottom bezel, though. Can someone perform some photoshop magickry and estimate how wide it actually is? It's hard for me to tell because I don't know how large the hinges actually are - they look a lot smaller than on my X31 or X21 to me. I'm looking at my X31 and it has a non-insignificant bezel under the screen, except that it includes the indicator LEDs which may be causing it to seem smaller. The plain bezel under my X21's LCD seems wider, without necessarily being wider.

I think it's possible that the "full size" keyboard with touchpad possibly dictated the dimensions, if you look carefully the touchpad buttons are almost falling off the front. There also doesn't seem to be alot of room behind the keyboard.

andyP beat me to it - would you prefer that they shrink the keyboard and palm rest to make the bezel narrower?

Well, I would prefer that they leave out the touchpad, and the palmrest is already large enough - my X31's palmrest is fine. But that's a very good point - in between limited availability of 14" 4:3 screens, a market requirement for a touchpad, and a design requirement for 7.5-row keyboard (and thank god for that), I acknowledge there is only so much they can do.

Now let's get back to bashing the Lenovo logo on the top lid

When i first seen this system it actually reminded me a lot of the 560/600 rather than the 570, quite clearly very different systems but it just had the same sort of feel as those (speaker placement/form factor/rubber coating etc).

I posted a comment on the lenovoblogs about that logo but my comment was 'censored' - its glossy black but it really ruins this system - it was obviously forced upon the designers by some marketing guy who doesn't realise that ThinkPad IS the brand and adding Lenovo branding like that is more likely to harm the ThinkPad brand than raise the Lenovo brand.

This comment? I didn't see Mark online over the weekend, and ooking at the date and time of it and a number of other comments that showed up today, it looks like he or Tim just got around to approving them.

That wasn't the one i was meaning - those ones aren't moderated and i placed it after, my other one was on the X300 blog and comments were activated before and after mines so........

The logo seems to be the only cosmetic downside - it really subtracts from an otherwise great looking machine.

Wow that is thin! I thought the 570 was thin too!

I am guessing that the X300 screen has a matte finish?
Or is it glossy like the 13.3" SONY's and MBA's?

Lenovo would never make a TP display glossy, would they?
The tablet has been the only exception to the rule so far.

Andrew

My X61 Tablet doesn't have a glossy screen.

I think it was the X41T that I saw that appeared to be glossy, but I am probably mistaken.


So....the X300 will be matte???

Andrew

The only ThinkPads ever to have a glossy screen so far are some R61i as they were aimed at SMB customers who dont know what they are doing imho.

The X300 screen is matte and the tablet screens are as well, the tablet screens have a special feature to try and improve outside visibility which can result in the screen appearing more reflective but it is definitely not glossy.

That's what it was.
I saw a tablet very briefly and remembered it as being reflective.

Thanks,
Andrew

exciting

The screen is definitely matte.