Buy X300 now or wait for X301?

[aquina]

The X301 is going to come out in about a week or so. While it has some upgrades over the X300 it will also be significantly more expensive. The entry X300 sells for about $2000 while the X301 is expected to start at $2600.

Will Lenovo pull the X300 from the website when the X301 goes on sale or will they both be available? Would you pay a $600 premium for the newer model?

Thanks, aquina

[awolfe63]

Depends what you need. I can't get by without digital video out. Also - I need at least 80GB of storage. x301 is a viable choice for me. x300 is not. Those two items, better graphics, and a slight speed bump - is that worth $600-1000 to you?

[akao]

Wait, you plan on getting the 128GB SSD? How much is that going to be?

I do want a digital out, but DisplayPort would mean getting new monitors. Or are there converter boxes now?

[awolfe63]

1) I will probably get 128GB. I expect it will push the price over $3K.

My current footprint for necessary programs and client files is about 65GB. (Of course 15GB is music - I could keep that on a USB flash for when I want it. I keep video on flash drives when I travel to keep the disk from filling up.) I need to have room for more clients and a few diversions. I could probably get by at 80GB - but 64GB seems to close to my requirements.

A laptop is my primary tool in my income-generating business so the price is not a huge concern for me - but it is a big premium over an X61s with a 160GB hard disk. For someone at school or saving up, It would be pretty tough to justify.

There are cables/converters that convert DisplayPort to single-link DVI, HDMI, and VGA. There is a rumored dual-link DVI adapter - but I can't find one for sale yet.

[aquina]

Would it be possible to get either model with the 64 gB SSD and switch it to a 128 gB later when the price for solid state drives have come down or are these drives not swapable?

Thanks

[awolfe63]

The x300 drive appears to be swappable (with another 1.8" SSD). I assume x301 will be as well.

[erik]

I do want a digital out, but DisplayPort would mean getting new monitors. Or are there converter boxes now?

all you need is a displayport to DVI cable.   no conversion is necessary when going digital to digital.

[akao]

Are you two sure about this?

According to wikipedia on DisplayPort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort), the electric signals are not compatible, but DVI signals can be sent on DisplayPort lines. To me this sounds like the whole thing with DVI being compatible with VGA, but only through DVI-A.

I do see that there is a DisplayPort to DVI cable (http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bi ... anguage=en), but does it only work with some DisplayPort hosts?


Thanks.

[erik]

displayport supports single-link DVI (1920x1200 max) without any converters necessary.   dual-link DVI likely does need some sort of conversion but i'm not sure if this is determined by the video chipset or the displayport specification itself.

[awolfe63]

The ability to convert to dual-link DVI is basically part of the Displayport spec - but some driver/bios support is required to detect the monitor through the converter and set the correct resolution. I expect that all ATI-based systems will have this - but I am waiting for confirmation from real Thinkpad users. Dual-link converters are very hard to find right now - but that should change.

[Bashar]

i see some sellers listing X301 as with 1.86Ghz processor, i thought it will come only with 1.2 and 1.4Ghz ?

[awolfe63]

I think that is correct. The X200s and X200t are expected to have the 1.86GHz processor. (The slower one is 10W TDP, the faster is 17W.)

[Supermans]

you guys are talking about display adapter clock speeds?

[awolfe63]

No - CPU clock speeds.

[Supermans]

No - CPU clock speeds.

Then the X200 has these two proc's to choose from..

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor P8400 (2.26GHz, 3MB L2, 1066MHz FSB)
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor P8600 (2.40GHz, 3MB L2, 1066MHz FSB) [add $50.00]

[awolfe63]

Yes - but the x200s and x200t are expected to use a different processor at 1.86GHz.