How is your X300 years later?

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wantathinkpad · #1 Post by **wantathinkpad** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:21 pm

Hello,

not sure what year the X300 came out but I think it has been two years. I wanted to know how people feel their x300 is power wise. I ask because I am thinking of the X301. There is a deal that ends tomorrow that has the he X301 down to$1250 which is the same price as the T410s.

All I do/ did with my current T43 in college (5 years old this month) is email, word documents, excel, pdfs (power hog) dand ALOT of youtube. I have never gamed and never will game and don't know what gaming is. However, I admit I watch a lot of youtube videos and I love the "open in new tab/windows feature. (If an articles is 5 pages I will open all 5 pages in new tabs instead of reading one page and clicking. And while reading the article I will watch or load 3 youtube videos. I am not sure what the future technology besides me watching more television shows online versus music videos.

I wanted to know if my ability to watch alot of youtube video and reading articles (I usually open 12 windows at a time would be compromised after three years. I would rather suck it up and buy a T410s or other laptop that will still work.

While the T410s for and X301 are the same price for a week, I don't want to regret buying a laptop that may not be able to perform what I need it to in the next 3-4 years. My T43 is struggling to play videos but that has alot to do with flash players. Lastly I bought my T43 for college. I am currently out and may not be beack in school for 2-3 years. I was also thinking I could buy a nice consumer (gasp) model for $600-800 since I will not be traveling with the laptop at all.

pianowizard · #2 Post by **pianowizard** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:16 pm

wantathinkpad wrote:I was also thinking I could buy a nice consumer (gasp) model for $600-800 since I will not be traveling with the laptop at all.

Based on the info you provided, this may indeed be the best option. When I was about halfway through your post, I was tempted to recommend you to just hold on to your T43 for a few more years because it's still a pretty capable machine. But then you said your T43 is struggling because you multitask like crazy, which convinced me that you should upgrade fairly soon. And since you won't be traveling at all, it's not important to find something very light and very durable. I think any of Dell's or Asus' current $600-800 consumer-grade laptops with discrete graphics would give you a significant performance improvement over your T43. And while their quality may not be as good as Apple's or some Thinkpads', they would still last for a pretty long time provided that you use them gently. My very first laptop was a consumer-grade Dell Inspiron 8200 that I bought exactly 8 years ago, which was a total piece of crap as far as quality is concerned, but I was very careful with it and never had any problem during the 3.5 years that I owned it. In fact, I had that Inspiron for longer than any of the other 50+ laptops I have owned since then. And these days Dell is making much better laptops than they did 8 years ago.

The X301 is definitely not worth it, considering your requirements.

vinuneuro · #3 Post by **vinuneuro** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:34 pm

Processing power is becoming less critical now that Intel integrated graphics (starting with the 4500MHD found in the X301) can accelerate everything all the way up to 1080p videos and 1080p flash. The processor efficiency went way up too with the Core Duo and C2D. I'd look at minimum of a X301 in your position.

I can't comment on the T4x0s models, but using the X301 back-back with my T400 is just ridiculous in how much better the form is with the X300/301.

wantathinkpad · #4 Post by **wantathinkpad** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:42 pm

pianowizard wrote:Based on the info you provided, this may indeed be the best option. When I was about halfway through your post, I was tempted to recommend you to just hold on to your T43 for a few more years because it's still a pretty capable machine. But then you said your T43 is struggling because you multitask like crazy, which convinced me that you should upgrade fairly soon. And since you won't be traveling at all, it's not important to find something very light and very durable. I think any of Dell's or Asus' current $600-800 consumer-grade laptops with discrete graphics would give you a significant performance improvement over your T43. And while their quality may not be as good as Apple's or some Thinkpads', they would still last for a pretty long time provided that you use them gently. My very first laptop was a consumer-grade Dell Inspiron 8200 that I bought exactly 8 years ago, which was a total piece of crap as far as quality is concerned, but I was very careful with it and never had any problem during the 3.5 years that I owned it. In fact, I had that Inspiron for longer than any of the other 50+ laptops I have owned since then. And these days Dell is making much better laptops than they did 8 years ago.

Aww you said what I don't want to hear but what I need to hear. A consumer model is probably the best. I bought my laptop as a sophomore in college. I used my laptop as a mobile machine, around campus, on the bus home etc. Batter life and a solid warranty was important to me. The past 2.5 years being home after graduation. I have just been moving from the couch to the table. My left hinge broke last week but in a way that I can only keep it open at the ideal 90-93 viewing angle. Anything further and it will just drop back. The hinge did not break in a fall but just in my hand as I was moving the laptop. It may be over time after a few knocks over the past 5 years.
So it is still working but basically no transporting it around the house because the LCD wires are now exposed. Don’t want to irritate the wires. My parent still enjoy using it as a desktop for emailing and looking up news articles and would love to give it to them.
Along with my USB s inconsistency for the past year (wrote a post about that too) it is about that for something new . I have been using my sisters 15inch Sony which seems to be huge but weight difference between my T43 is small. So I know I can survive with a consumer model.

BUT….In a weird way, I actually feel like need a Thinkpad quality laptop because of how I used it now at home. In college I would drop it in my schoolbag and go around campus, ride the bus, and took a few flights with it. I used it in my room in a desk with the cord out of the way. But it was always secure. At home, I feel like I need a sturdier computer. I move with it in my hand more often. Going up and down stairs, from in front of the tv to the table. I actually dropped it more times (4) in the past year than I did for the three years in college. Battery life is probably the least important factor now since I am usually connected around my house. Okay maybe this last paragraph was me still avoiding the consumer model.. hahaa. What can I say it is hard to “downgrade”. But I have always been a person to put things in perspective. I will just have to be more careful.

wantathinkpad · #5 Post by **wantathinkpad** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:48 pm

vinuneuro wrote:Processing power is becoming less critical now that Intel integrated graphics (starting with the 4500MHD found in the X301) can accelerate everything all the way up to 1080p videos and 1080p flash. The processor efficiency went way up too with the Core Duo and C2D. I'd look at minimum of a X301 in your position.

I can't comment on the T4x0s models, but using the X301 back-back with my T400 is just ridiculous in how much better the form is with the X300/301.

Not sure about the T410s just based on quality and ports. Because the X301 is the same prices at the T410s and just a few hundred more than high end consumer models $900 I was considering it. However, I feel like I would be much happier with a consumer model with all the bells and whistles over a T410s. At $1250 for X301 that is a bargain for what I am getting. But for the T410s I may want it would probably come in at $1400. Definitely not trying to get in that range unless I am going back to school.

I hope that made sense somehow.

sanjuro · #6 Post by **sanjuro** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:34 am

I've had an X300 for nearly 2 years and been quite happy with it. I mainly use for e-mail, documents, and occasional youtubes. With an SSD it feels quite fast doing multiple tasks. Multiple youtube downloading/playing should not be a problem on an X301.

So I would say that X301 should meet your need if you are doing comparable types of work. The computer is rock solid and should do better at surviving banging and dropping than most notebooks and even other thinkpads.

It would have been nicer if Lenovo upgraded the X301 with ULV i7 with Intel HD graphics but that may not happen, if ever.

gaia · #7 Post by **gaia** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:06 am

I had a T43, then a T60, then X300 & now X301.

The X300 & X301 are very similar and do a great job for me. Best notebook computers I've every had.

pianowizard · #8 Post by **pianowizard** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:10 am

wantathinkpad, you may want to consider the Toshiba Portege R705, which is quite similar to the X301 but much cheaper: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/tosh ... 05-review/

wantathinkpad · #9 Post by **wantathinkpad** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 2:41 pm

pianowizard wrote:wantathinkpad, you may want to consider the Toshiba Portege R705, which is quite similar to the X301 but much cheaper: http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/12/tosh ... 05-review/

This is very nice and I am considering it. This has definitely helped me move on from the X301 series.

I do use alot of flash content. We will see.

EchoFox · #10 Post by **EchoFox** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 7:52 am

Your T43 probably doesn't have much life left in it anyway. My T43p died over the summer, got an X200 now. I stuck with ThinkPads because of the TrackPoint, ThinkLight, titanium hinges and awesome aesthetic, which is a combination of features that I saw no where other than on HP's EliteBook series. Of all those, the one you'll probably miss the most is the ThinkLight - you don't realise how amazing it is until it's gone.

Having said that, a brand new X201 would have been prohibitively expensive, so I bought an X200 from a dude on ebay, and it's essentially brand new (manufactured February 2010), for £550 ($852), so you can get this stuff if you want it. I just did a quick ebay search, and there are X300's available for lower prices than <$500. The X301's are admittedly probably out of your price range, though.

And it may not be a brand new laptop, but remember, the Lenovo warranty follows the laptop, not the customer, so if anything goes wrong they'll take care of it for you.

Now, after I've said all that, that Toshiba Portege R705 does actually look pretty good.

You will of course...

However, Toshiba still loads up the ultraportable with some added software, including its Bulletin Board and webcam programs. Also, because the system is a special to Best Buy, it comes with Best Buy's own software installer. Blech.

... be reinstalling if you get one?

wantathinkpad · #11 Post by **wantathinkpad** » Fri Aug 20, 2010 1:42 pm

[quote="EchoFox"]Your T43 probably doesn't have much life left in it anyway. My T43p died over the summer, got an X200 now. I stuck with ThinkPads because of the TrackPoint, ThinkLight, titanium hinges and awesome aesthetic, which is a combination of features that I saw no where other than on HP's EliteBook series. Of all those, the one you'll probably miss the most is the ThinkLight - you don't realise how amazing it is until it's gone.

Having said that, a brand new X201 would have been prohibitively expensive, so I bought an X200 from a dude on ebay, and it's essentially brand new (manufactured February 2010), for £550 ($852), so you can get this stuff if you want it. I just did a quick ebay search, and there are X300's available for lower prices than <$500. The X301's are admittedly probably out of your price range, though.

And it may not be a brand new laptop, but remember, the Lenovo warranty follows the laptop, not the customer, so if anything goes wrong they'll take care of it for you.

Now, after I've said all that, that Toshiba Portege R705 does actually look pretty good.

As I have been using a sibling's laptop, I have found I miss the keyboard and the trackpoint the most. After five years it is something you get used to. And the quality and ergonomics are special. But we all have to make sacrifices right? Hopefully when I pursue my next degree I will get another.

And yes, I would probably do a clean install of whatever laptop I choose.

artic_squirrel · #12 Post by **artic_squirrel** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 5:13 am

«But we all have to make sacrifices right?»

So much for the «consummer is always right» and its satifaction to be matched...

xyz · #13 Post by **xyz** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:50 pm

Had a t21, t23 , t41, t43,r50p, t60,x60, x61.x60t flexview incarnations too..

Now the x300, is the the best out of the lot in terms of build and feel, and its just the screen if it was ips it would be the best period.
Don;t really feel the lack of power any for day to day things.

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