Randall: I got lucky and picked up an X301 out of the outlet back around the 4th during an outlet clearance sale for under $900. I like the combination of weight and screen size and I hope to keep it for a very long time. The one thing I wish it had was an embedded SDHC card reader. My old X61T went to a very happy grad student at Stanford.
Likes: weight, screen size, screen brightness, slim form factor, reasonably fast performance but not a screamer, ultra-no slip surface coating reminiscent of Thinkpad 600 series surfaces, and solid full-sized keyboard. Dislikes: 1.8" drive bay (hard drive or SSD) - expensive and limited upgrades, no SDHC socket. My X301 travels very well, even in economy section (aka steerage). The combination of a ultrathin bay battery and regular 6 cell battery gave me some 7+ hours unplugged. I agree, the X301 was probably the Crown Jewel and has a certain elegance that brings back 701 flashbacks. BTW: The current prices for an X301 in the outlet store are too high. My daughter's T60P started to experience repeated BSODs due to over-heating, even after a trip to the repair depot. So, after a bit of watching the outlet inventory, I found a T410s during the Outlet back-to-school sale with a 14" screen and discrete graphics for about $1100. Side by side, the T410s comes very close in form and appearance with several superficial differences: 1. Performance: the different CPUs address very different markets. However, the T410s with a i5 CPU runs cooler than the "old" T60P while running an CPU/GPU intensive application like Sims (my daughter). 2. Weight: the weight differnce between a typical T410s and the X301 is noticeable. Realistically, it's perhaps 3/4 of a pound (the more analytic types will know the exact number). 3. The T410s does not have the thick no-slip coating. Hope this helps. If you want more info, drop me an email. Mitchell _______________________________________________ Thinkpad mailing list [email protected] http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
