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Black Macbook or Lenovo Thinkpad X300?

A

Anthony T

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 10, 2008
1,021
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I'm starting college September 2nd and I really need a new laptop.

Now I understand these answers may be a bit biased, since these are Mac forums lol. But I want you all to give me your honest opinion on which laptop I should get...I'm debating between the black Macbook and the Lenovo Thinkpad X300.
 
For college, I highly recommend a Mac laptop, for reasons here. First the MacBook has a faster processor and can do some medium-heavy lifting. The Lenovo is weaker than the MBA in terms of processing power. And, the MacBook has better specs and looks cooler, and is cheaper. The MacBook has more storage (important in college with all those reports/term papers) and the screen is glossy, ideal for photos/media. The MacBook has more ports and is easier to expand (add more ram/swap out HD) than the Lenovo.

Honest to god, I would choose the MacBook, simply because the specs/software/hardware are all better than the X3000 except for the SSD, which you don't need/want. It's too small for practical purposes. It's also cheaper...
 
I was also looking at Lenovo's Tablet PC, but I don't know how I feel about making that type of transition.

I also noticed on CNET that the Lenovo Thinkpad X300 got a slightly better rating than the Macbook, and is the #1 notebook on CNET right now.
 
Anthony T said:
I'm starting college September 2nd and I really need a new laptop.

Now I understand these answers may be a bit biased, since these are Mac forums lol. But I want you all to give me your honest opinion on which laptop I should get...I'm debating between the black Macbook and the Lenovo Thinkpad X300.
Click to expand...

For most majors and grad school, a mac will do just fine. But here are the exceptions I have seen since college:

If you are doing law school in an ABA school, then many of them only allow PCs because an Intel mac can have two operating systems on just one machine and one can have the answers/notes/outlines on one OS (OS X) while taking the ExamSoft law school tests on the other OS (XP/Vista).

Some scientific majors only have software that works with the more common PC format so you will have to get Windows (I think the Business Edition, but check with someone who uses Windows).

But the vast majority of majors in college and graduate school are not just PC specific.

A mac is far easier to use and more stable.
 
Anthony T said:
I'm starting college September 2nd and I really need a new laptop.

Now I understand these answers may be a bit biased, since these are Mac forums lol. But I want you all to give me your honest opinion on which laptop I should get...I'm debating between the black Macbook and the Lenovo Thinkpad X300.
Click to expand...

Lenovo......you can't seriously be considering a computer from some Chinese company, huh
 
The lenovo's small storage capacity would annoy me, and the machine strikes me as a little too expensive for what it is.

Since you haven't specified what you're going to be using it for, it's hard to make a decision. Both would do you for college in my opinion, though the macbook'd be cheaper. In my opinion it's also prettier, and runs a better OS, but that's subjective to a large degree.
 
crazyyankeefan said:
Lenovo......you can't seriously be considering a computer from some Chinese company, huh
Click to expand...

I think the point you are making is valid. Lenovo is based in China where Apple is based in the USA. What trips some people out is that many Apple products are made in China. My iBook was manufactured in Taiwan but my mini mac was manufactured in China. One old mac I have was manufactured in the USA. I have even heard some macs have been manufactured in Ireland.

Another interesting note is that for every product of an American company made in China, a dollar goes into China's economy while three dollars, due to copyrights, trademarks, wholesale, middlemen, etc. usually goes to the country where the company is headquartered, such as the USA in this case.
 
63dot said:
Another interesting note is that for every product of an American company made in China, a dollar goes into China's economy while three dollars, due to copyrights, trademarks, wholesale, middlemen, etc. usually goes to the country where the company is headquartered, such as the USA in this case.
Click to expand...

That being said, I still much prefer American products to be made in the USA. I don't think there is any lack of quality in American goods being made in China, but I have some issues with China's human rights record. I also hope that the Olympics brings in protesters rallying for positive change in a country I am sure will one day become a democracy. At this point, protests, especially from foreigners and heads of state, will force China to change rather quickly since much of their business comes from democracies.

But that topic is for the political forums.
 
The thing with your typical idiot consumer is, they want China to be a better place, with the workers getting paid a fair wage, yet they don't want to pay more for goods.
 
Insulin Junkie said:
Since you haven't specified what you're going to be using it for, it's hard to make a decision. Both would do you for college in my opinion, though the macbook'd be cheaper. In my opinion it's also prettier, and runs a better OS, but that's subjective to a large degree.
Click to expand...

I don't play computer games....I will mostly be using it for internet, photos, music, word processing, school presentations/projects, etc.
 
63dot said:
That being said, I still much prefer American products to be made in the USA. I don't think there is any lack of quality in American goods being made in China, but I have some issues with China's human rights record. I also hope that the Olympics brings in protesters rallying for positive change in a country I am sure will one day become a democracy. At this point, protests, especially from foreigners and heads of state, will force China to change rather quickly since much of their business comes from democracies.

But that topic is for the political forums.
Click to expand...

Why must every discussion about China mention the human rights record. First off where are getting your information from? As far a I know America doesn't have a pretty human rights record either, but that doesn't stop me from buying American goods! OP wants to know what computer to buy not what your political opinions are.

That said, the X300 and MacBook are 2 different classes of computers.

X300 = High-end ultraportable
MacBook = Consumer Notebook
 
Well, I am Chinese and I think I can say that yes, both Lenovo and Apple products are manufactured mostly in China. In the case laptops the parts are often made at the same factories. As far as I know Lenovo has not had any problems with sweatshop conditions. There was controversy here over Apple using sweatshop conditions at their iPod production plants. Please do your research before criticizing Chinese companies as it is usually the American companies that are at fault for this.

On the subject of what is better, the MacBook or Thinkpad X300, I would say the MacBook wins simply on its better specs and lower price. A more comparable system to the MacBook is the Thinkpad T61 which is around the same price as the MacBook. Both machines are great and it just depends on whether you want Windows or Mac OS X.
 
Drumjim85 said:
and i assume you think fortune cookies are Chinese too??
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If I can get it in a Chinese restaurant, then it's Chinese in my book...But then again, the Ghetto's have them too...it's just that they have a piece of cornbread with a food stamp in the middle...LMAO!!!!
 
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