
Good Things: the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 - twampss
http://al3x.net/2010/02/10/thinkpad-x301.html
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jasonkester
I've always liked Thinkpads, though recently they've become a bit pricey
compared to Dell machines.

At the moment, I'm toting 3.6 pounds of happiness across South America, in the
form of an old ebay'd Thinkpad X60. It was top of the line a few years back,
with its 1.8ghz core duo. Now it's $350 off ebay, plus $100 total for a 320gb
7200rpm drive and 3GB ram to bring it up to the speed of the dev laptop that I
was using just one year ago.

It took some getting used to to run the IDE in 1024x768 (12.1"), but at
compile time the thing simply flies. And I know for a fact that my 17" Dell
would have been monched a dozen times over on buses by now, assuming my back
survived lugging the thing around for this long.

Give the X301 a few years to drop in price, and I'll pick one up as my next
"disposable road machine."

~~~
fortes
I've been using an x60s as my only machine for 3.5 years now. Been pretty
happy with it, although the fan had to be replaced and I think my system board
is having issues (I get the dreaded ThinkPad beeps sometimes). I've only got
1.5GB RAM though (max on the x60s is 2GB). Perhaps I'll follow your route and
eBay myself an upgrade?

~~~
briansmith
Try reseating your RAM modules, if you haven't already. My X301 would beep
itself to death every once in a while, and the problem was solved by unseating
and then reseating the RAM modules.

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jsz0
I hate tiny touchpads. I wish more PC makers would adopt the larger MacBook
size pad. I've noticed HP & Asus among others are moving in that direction on
some models. The multi-touch gestures you can do with a larger touchpad can be
useful too. The author mentions the MBA getting too hot under a heavy load;
Anyone using an MBA should spend the $10 to get CoolBook. It allows you to
change the stock voltage of the CPU on MBA Rev A/B/C. The default voltage
settings on the 9400M based MBAs are way too high it seems. I was able to
knock my voltage down to the lowest setting with 100% stability and a nice
jump in battery life and decrease in heat. My MBA barely even gets warm under
an extended load.

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asnyder
I just got the HP Probook 5310m ([http://www.hp.com/united-
states/campaigns/thinandlight/5310m...](http://www.hp.com/united-
states/campaigns/thinandlight/5310m.html)) yesterday. It's .9inch thin, 3.7lbs
and has a more powerful Intel Core 2 Duo 2.3ghz for under $800
([http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/HP_ProBook_5310m/FM997...](http://www.costcentral.com/proddetail/HP_ProBook_5310m/FM997UTABA/10979412/)).

It's thin and light like the ThinkPad x301 but more powerful, and costs less.
I recommend checking it out, I couldn't be happier.

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ehsanul
Too bad the good things rarely make the news. Even on Hacker News. A top story
here seems to be as likely to be a huge controversy as something most here
would agree was "good". Not to say there aren't "good" things here, just not
as numerous as one might like.

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Groxx
So, a 3rd party says the battery lasts 4 hours, while Lenovo claims 10 hours?
Holy crap, that's an excessive difference.

My MacBook Pro actually did _better_ than the claimed battery life, though
UT2k4 at 75% brightness took it from rated-for-6 hours to lasting somewhere
between 4 and 5 hours. I could regularly watch 2 DVDs straight through at max
brightness, and have an hour of use afterward if I dropped it a bit. Can't
speak for the Air, but Apple thus far has met or exceeded every battery claim
they've made (for my machines).

~~~
andrewcooke
_So, a 3rd party says the battery lasts 4 hours, while Lenovo claims 10
hours?_

There are two different batteries available (I think this is true for all X
models). One is about double the size of the other and the 10 hours quote on
the Lenovo page is "up to", so is the larger battery. My guess is that the
original poster has the other one (which is more compact).

[Disclaimer: another X60 user here]

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tghw
For those specs, I'd much rather spend half as much on an Asus UL30Vt
(<http://bit.ly/c9AxMn>), though I'm really waiting for the UL30Jt
([http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/01/08/asus-ul30jt-hands-on-
revi...](http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/01/08/asus-ul30jt-hands-on-review-
ces-2010/)).

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pmjordan
Has anyone tried one of the new ThinkPad T410s laptops? At 14", 1.8kg and with
a Core i5 CPU it seems quite a beast. I can't find any reviews that don't
sound like rehashed press releases. (real battery life and noise would be
interesting)

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alavrik
I have a T400s. Highly recommend! T410s seems to have some cosmetic but nice
updates:
[http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=349&utm_source=fe...](http://lenovoblogs.com/insidethebox/?p=349&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lenovoblogs%2Finsidethebox+%28Inside+the+Box%29&utm_content=Google+Reader)

Upd: I don't care much about battery life, it works fine for me. It comes in
stock with 6-cell battery which doesn't stick out of the body unlike in
previous models. It is very quiet -- previously I've been constantly annoyed
by R61 being too noisy. And new T400s has 5400 rpm drive which makes it even
less noisy. Overall it is a great laptop, can't think of any disadvantages.

~~~
pmjordan
Cool, thanks; I've been tempted by the T400s before, the T410s might just do
it for me. I know there's a 9-cell battery available, and you can replace the
DVD drive with an additional battery pack, but all that probably drives up the
weight. What I'm wondering about is whether the upgrade from Core2 Duo to Core
i5 has had a negative impact in terms of battery life and noise.

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staunch
I'm always surprised when people complain about the weight of a laptop. Even
some of my 17" behemoths never bothered me.

It makes me think a better carrying case or a different kind might be more
effective than anything else.

~~~
rcoder
Weight matters more if you tend to walk or bike around a lot. Carrying a 6+
lb. mobile workstation from your desk to your car and visa versa isn't much of
a burden, but schlepping it around on your back for an hour or more on a
regular basis can cause serious back and shoulder pain.

Ergonomics are important when you're either sitting in front of a computer or
carrying it on your back for 90% of your waking hours.

~~~
wanderr
For me I normally don't care at all how big, bulky or heavy a laptop is until
I am traveling/vacationing.

I like to travel light, so it's nice if my laptop is so light and small that
rather than needing a whole bag of its own, it can slip comfortably into a bag
I was going to bring with me anyway. Being a cheapskate with high tech
standards, my solution was the Asus AS1410 (dual core model). For about $100
more than a netbook, you get a laptop with decent specs that's almost netbook
sized, but has a keyboard that doesn't hurt to type on, and a much higher
resolution display.

