Will the new Toshiba Protege spell the end for the X300?

[jl123]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/tosh ... 05-review/

It seems the be closing the quality gap, metal honeycomb chassis, great specs, almost as light 1 inch thick all for 700$
Is there any room left for something like a 1500-2000$ X310? Or can Lenovo make something worth that probable price?
j

[schen]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/tosh ... 05-review/

It seems the be closing the quality gap, metal honeycomb chassis, great specs, almost as light 1 inch thick all for 700$
Is there any room left for something like a 1500-2000$ X310? Or can Lenovo make something worth that probable price?
j

I'll have to say that just looking at it and reading that review, the R705 at that price-point seems hard to beat. If it had a TrackPoint instead of that device of the devil, I'd be very tempted indeed.

However, I always have to temper my enthusiasm for any given new product from my perspective on the "trailing edge"; and that is that all is important isn't always in the ad copy and specs. In the end, you can't really beat economics, meaning that there are rarely if ever huge leaps forward in technology and capability vis-a-vis price that one company makes that others are just that far behind. Current case being the $700 R705 vs. the $2000 X301. If you take out today's differences in SSDs and the higher res. screen, you still have a price differential of something like $500 per unit between the two. I'm not betting that Lenovo is simply pocketing the difference. So, my belief is that the differential is in there somewhere, maybe it isn't something that we see today or even next year, but maybe 3,4 or 5 years down the road like the 4 Dells that have come across my desk this week.

3-4 years ago, when these machines were new (and I'm old enough to remember that clearly), they were in the same CLASS as the equivalent ThinkPads (R30, A31, T41, X30) and in each case these Dells sold for less. As working on them has proven, the price differentials have shown up. One is SEVERELY limited in upgradability in that there's only one RAM socket, one has poor assembly/disassembly engineering and 3 have BIOS that haven't been updated thus leaving in place a 137Gb HDD limit that's been cleared up in the ThinkPads of the same generation.

So yeah, if you're someone who buys new and uses something for 2-3 years and gets rid of it, then those issues aren't an issue, however, for those of use who work on old machines (for any number of reasons), then the "unseen" eventually comes into play. Which is why I just bought a 2 year old X300 for the same $700 that the new R705 sells for.

[sanjuro]

No, not Toshiba but Lenovo is pulling the plug on X300/X301.

http://www.thinkpads.com/2010/07/13/bre ... -by-t410s/

[schen]

No, not Toshiba but Lenovo is pulling the plug on X300/X301.

http://www.thinkpads.com/2010/07/13/bre ... -by-t410s/

That's too bad, but these are business decisions that sometimes effect our favorite products such as my 701c years ago. I'm betting that the 13.3" screen at the 1440 res was a little bit of a hard sell to the demographic that's most likely to buy the X30x. That 1" jump to the T410's 14"+ screen can be a big deal to some folks.

As for me, I'll happily use my X300 and then probably on to a X301 till it's no longer viable; at which point, I probably couldn't read that resolution anyway!

[jl123]

"No, not Toshiba but Lenovo is pulling the plug on X300/X301."

Actually I'm going to stick WITH my assertion. I think I was on point here. Indeed there is no way that Lenovo could have maintained high sales with the x300 series. UNLESS they invested deeply into it and advanced the art in new ways. Obviously Lenovo will not be taking that tract. J

[sanjuro]

I like X300 even if the LCD isn't the best and CPU isn't the fastest. For a computer that comes in about 3 lb, it is an awesome package. I find myself using X300 over my other larger, heavier notebooks. Its keyboard is as good as the best thinkpads and the "leather" surface is very pleasant.

I think that turbo features of i7 would have made X310 even more of a potent package since there is be a reserve of performance available when necessary. I would have gladly forked over money for it since I use X300 as my primary machine.

I would have preferred to have a 14 inch 1440x900 LCD over the present 13 inch as it would have been easier on the eye. I would not have minded the battery penalty as generally finding a power plug for a computer isn't a problem anymore, even while traveling. I rarely use the DVD drive so that can go as well for a further weight saving. An external DVD drive would have met the need for occasional uses.

Come on Lenovo, if you are going to cancel X300, give us a X400/X410 in a 3 lb package! 14" is much useful size for corporate sales anyway.

[Karakasa]

Just two words: "isolated keyboard". Just look how small those clichet keys got! There's no way I could write anything decent with that keyboard.
Thus, in order to answer your question: No, not that way - although I start to wish that they were able and don't succumb to design aspects like isolated keyboards.

[schen]

Actually I'm going to stick WITH my assertion. I think I was on point here. Indeed there is no way that Lenovo could have maintained high sales with the x300 series. UNLESS they invested deeply into it and advanced the art in new ways. Obviously Lenovo will not be taking that tract. J

If you go back and look at all press releases and interviews from the time of the X300 release you'll see that Lenovo never expected the model to sell a lot. It was more of a "top notch" machine that would give the entire line a "halo" effect, which is not uncommon in business. Automotive manufacturers will build a model that they can't possibly make a profit on at the price that it's expected to sell. Japanese manufacturers have done this on a regular basis in a variety of products over the years.

Ultimately the technology from the "engineering exercises" trickle down to the rest of the line. However, that being said, it doesn't make it any less sad when the decision is made that, that particular product can't be supported any longer.

[dr_st]

The doom of the X300 series was spelled by the T400s series. The difference in weight is not so big, and T400s series introduced faster CPUs, a bigger screen, and significantly better expansion options (X300 has no ExpressCard and no docking station port).

This Portege looks like an interesting laptop, but not any closer to a Thinkpad than the plethora of other laptops of similar characteristics. The extremely low weight is the main selling point, and a big one. But without a trackpoint, a keyboard to rival a Thinkpad, with a glossy screen - it's not really in the same category, and won't be the cup of tea of your average Thinkpadder.

[Jason404]

If you imagine that the X300 was called the T300s, as it ought to have been, there is nothing to be sad about. It was never a proper X-series ultraportable, with its optical drive, inability to sit on an airline tabletray, and TrackPad.

[dr_st]

If you imagine that the X300 was called the T300s, as it ought to have been, there is nothing to be sad about. It was never a proper X-series ultraportable, with its optical drive, inability to sit on an airline tabletray, and TrackPad.

LOL. Interesting point of view. I actually thought that T400s should be called X400, for having much more in common with X series (well, mostly X300) than with T series.

But really the X300/T400s series were somewhat unique in the Thinkpad world, not quite fitting into any of the others. I guess it would make sense to give them their own letter!

[Jason404]

But really the X300/T400s series were somewhat unique in the Thinkpad world, not quite fitting into any of the others. I guess it would make sense to give them their own letter!

The SL-series would have worked very well with the Teutonic naming scheme, as well as the intended market, but they blew that one.

[amardeep]

X300 should have been T300s, and then we could've had an optical-drive-less X300 and X400.