Research Triangle Park (NC) - Lenovo announced a successor for the ultra-thin X300, promising 20% more performance, more memory, a new 128 GB SDD drive option and DisplayPort support. With its upgraded hardware, the ThinkPad X301 is an enticing option next to the MacBook Air, especially because of its flexibility in wireless connectivity.

The original ultra-think Lenovo Thinkpad X300 was released last February to compete, at least on a business level, with Apple’s MacBook Air released in January. It was without doubt one of the most attractive Thinkpads released, but it failed to capture Apple's design, elegance and form factor (the MacBook Air measures 0.16” its thinnest part versus 0.73” of the ThinkPad X300) and therefore has lived in the shadow of MacBook Air.

On a closer look, however, the  X300 weighs 0.1 pounds less, comes with a 64 GB SDD by default and offers more configuration options, such as an internal DVD burner, up to 4 GB of memory, a second battery, cellular broadband internet and a wireless USB card. The X300 and MacBook Air went through several price cuts, but teh Lenovo notebook is currently available for substantially less money.

Lenovo, however, upped the ante with the new ThinkPad X301 notebook, which will become available on August 26. The new model is a solid upgrade to Intel’s Montevina platform with new processor and memory options, more SDD storage and improved multimedia features. It is powered by Intel’s latest Core 2 Duo ULV processor clocked at 1.2 GHz (6 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB) and DDR3 memory.

Lenovo says that the new processor and memory deliver 20% more performance. Also new is the DisplayPort support. The 13.3” LED backlit screen remains unchanged, but it still offers more working resolution (1440 x 900) than the MacBook Air (1280 x 800).

The X301 still comes with a 64 GB SDD by default, but Lenovo said it will offer a new 128 GB solid state drive option starting in September. The company did not specify the price for the 128 GB SDD upgrade. Other options include HSDPA broadband, while WiMax will follow later this year.

Prices will start at about $2600. The X300 currently sells from about $2100.

Comments (3)