Lenovo Thinkpad X300

The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is an ultra-portable 13.3" widescreen thin-and-light notebook. Touting a thickness of less than 1-inch, 0.73” at its thinnest, the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 still packs a full list of features. The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 is a prime example that ultra-portable notebooks can be fully functional and still reap all benefits that an ultra-portable form factor brings. First and foremost, it’s a ThinkPad, renown for quality, reliability and legendary performance.

In addition to the keyboard light, the ThinkPad X300's display bezel includes a 1.3-megapixel webcam and a noise-canceling digital microphone for Web conferencing. The matte-finish display itself features a 1,440x900 native resolution that's sharper than that of the MacBook Air and other similarly sized screens, resulting in text and icons that are a bit smaller than you'd expect. The sharper resolution doesn't cause tremendous problems, though we did find ourselves pumping up the font size on a newspaper's Web site so we could read a lengthy article. We also zoomed in a bit when working on documents and spreadsheets. The trade-off: more screen real estate for multitasking and, when it's time for a break, beautiful video.

Regarding basic components, there are the Intel GM965 “Santa Rosa” chipset, Core 2 Duo L7100 1.2GHz low-voltage processor, and the Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics, which manages the notebook’s 13.3? 1440x 900 LED backlit display. The system comes with a 64GB solid state drive instead of a standard HDD, and supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. In addition, Lenovo says the X300 will support WiMax, when the technology become available. ThinkPad X300 is the first Lenovo notebook rated EPEAT Gold for low energy use and minimal impact on the environment. It also meets the European Union's Reduction of Hazardous Substances standards. And it is Energy Star 4.0 qualified.