I've gotten so much email about this and should have posted it sooner, sorry. And it's hilarious because it's true:
Lenovo X300
Link to the video
Grow up, Paul.
Sure, Ocean... Apple is cooler with their "mac vc pc" ads...
I know what video this is, but I don't see it.
And Ocean, how do you feel about the Mac commercials that lampoon Windows? Should Apple grow up too? Allow or deny?
It's a funny jab, and from what I've heard was NOT created by Lenovo.
Fantastic :)
The MacBook Air whilst cheaper than the X300 really isn't that useful for most mobile road warriors.
And if you can't take a joke at Apple's expense...please...seriously don't take it too personally.
Lil - a Windows, Mac and Linux user.
I've seen the video you're talking about... but for some reason the link is missing from your blog post. Here it is again www.youtube.com/watch
Good to see Apple getting a bit of their own medicine. Lets see if the mac community can take a joke now.... doubt it ;)
Funny spot. This is some user generated thing, right? It's an odd length for TV and it's kinda rough around the edges.
Those thinkpads are really nice. Too bad the tagline is wrong. The X300 is significantly more expensive to start and significantly slower than the Macbook air. Compromises abound with both machines. Just different compromises. Plus, that backlit keyboard is great on a late flight.
bravo to Lenovo for letting you upgrade to 4GB of ram and NOT raping you on price quite as much as Apple does. Sure, they're still charge double what you get third party, but at least it's a viable option.
I would personally never buy a Macbook Air... I simply don't have a use for THAT mobile of a computer with that many sacrifices. That being said, it comes it at around $1000 cheaper than the Lenovo... has a significantly faster processor, and is JUST RIGHT for many people.
I went to the Apple Store the other day and actually had one of the Air's in my hand... and I have to say... it was much more lust-worthy after that. You really have to feel it to believe it. Several tech journalists have had the same take.
"Macbook Air bashers have likely never seen one in person." -David Pogue, New York Times
"The MacBook Air really won me over. It does not compromise on keyboard or screen size." -Elizabeth Mateo, CNN Money
"Style of substance in the very best possible way." -Tony Smith, The Register
"bravo to Lenovo for letting you upgrade to 4GB of ram and NOT raping you on price quite as much as Apple does. Sure, they're still charge double what you get third party, but at least it's a viable option."
Agreed. However, did you notice the recent RAM pricing changes in the newest iMac revisions? Apple is at least gouging us significantly less than before!
Oh yeah... I forgot to say, I really liked this spot. If Lenovo didn't produce it, they should have. I think it is funny in EXACTLY the same way the recent mac commercials are funny.
And while I do not agree that the Lenovo is a superior machine for the money... I applaud them (or whoever) for finding a weak spot and twisting the knife a little.
I wish there was more humor in advertising like this. Its light-hearted yet relevant. Also easy to remember... which is probably the most important element to any good ad.
While MBA in some way is more feature limited than X300, it costs few hundreds less and at 0.16-0.76" by 12.8" by 8.94", smaller than X300 (0.73-0.92" by 12.5" by 9.1"). Some folks will rightly prefer to sacrifice a bit of portability (and pay higher cost) for a bit of additional features whereas others may not care too much.
Funny clip !!
That said the boxy thinkpads are still as sexy as B. Spears coming out of the disco... they look so 80s !
If you don't 'get it' it isn't for you. Apples hardware sales seem to be trending upward since its release...
Yup, I called it... they can't handle it ;)
The Air makes a unique value proposition, but so do the most recent (and older) batch of ThinkPads. My x61s which I enjoy, is light and small, less than $1,500 and more than fast enough, with plenty of expansion. Quite frankly, the X300 was the first salvo by Lenovo. Expect an X200 that is much lighter (say 2.4 pounds). And the new IdeaPad U series which is more squarely aimed at the Air.
Remember also that the X300 only comes with an SSD drive, which certainly spikes the price up A LOT, as does an Air with SSD.
"as sexy as B. Spears"
Is that a compliment? Have you seen her recently? <Shudder> Replace with J. Alba and now we're talkin'!
"This is some user generated thing, right? It's an odd length for TV and it's kinda rough around the edges."
That's what I heard. And it is way too rough around the edges for a TV spot. Although not nearly as rough as the similarly minded OQO vs. Air parody ad.
Yeah not sure what happened to the video link.
Anyway.. It *is* hilarious.
Would you look at that. $200 to go from 2GB to 4GB. Still too much, but much more in line with other brand vendors. Better, Apple. Still more than Lenovo's bump by $60, but getting closer. I'll still keep buying third party ram.
@ Dipsh t,
"Remember also that the X300 only comes with an SSD drive, which certainly spikes the price up A LOT, as does an Air with SSD."
I believe it was Anandtech which did a direct comparison on performance with the Air's SSD and standard hard drive. Supringly, there was virtually NO performance improvement in about 90% of tasks. Because of this, I think the SSD option in the Air would be a very poor choice for a majority of customers... so, really, since you can't get a Lenovo without the SSD, it DOES cost about $1000 more, and comes with a considerably slower processor.
I'll admit that there is a difference between seeing an Air in person and on the TV. Even though it is lacking in multiple areas, it is pretty awesome that they can get evertything in something so thin. However, at $1799 or whatever it is way overpriced considering that a better equipped Macbook is cheaper.
But anyways, the X300 commercial is funny because it points out what is obviously missing from the MBA. Apple has had great success with similar type commercials and so itis rediculous to see all these Mac fanboys up in arms over it.
Sorry, but I really prefer [much] less expensive Windows laptops, replace it every two years and give it to a family member. The stupid thing about the video is that you would have to throw in the CD/DVD case/holder for "all those numerous" CD's and DVD's that you expect to use in the road, and it would not fit into the envelope. Unfortunately, the CD/DVD player would almost never be used on the road, or easily replaced by a USB thumb drive. I have yet to see anyone hand someone a CD/DVD at a meeting. Files get emailed or the thumb drive is preferred. Also, everything out there is wireless, so you don't need the Ethernet adapter either. This is a big yawn for me, but a worthy try. MBA has Remote Disc:
An innovative feature that allows you to access the DVD or CD drive of a nearby Mac or Windows PC. [Hey mister, can I borrow your CD for a minute? Oops, I can't figure out how this works. Can I use your keyboard too?]
Buy a cheap Vista laptop that you won't be afraid to drop. Get a new one in 2 years and give your little brother or sister a nice recycled present. They will love you forever. Family sharing, that's the ticket.
"Also, everything out there is wireless, so you don't need the Ethernet adapter either. "
Disagree with that, especially in the target market for the X300. And I don't think that was a CD case holder, but I think it was a track pad, or a hot plate, or something else with a USB cord. I can't really tell
And this was not made by Lenovo, so don't shoot the company over the ad. It's a "parody" ad.
Having a DVD player would be nice for a plane ride or late night at the hotel room, though, but it's need has been certainly reduced.
"And I don't think that was a CD case holder, but I think it was a track pad, or a hot plate, or something else with a USB cord."
i think it's meant to be a USB optical drive, which the MBA lacks.
Very humorous YouTube spot. A very nice slug to the jaw of Macbook Air users. Lil and Cfisher83, you were right, they can't take a joke. Anything that offends their Mac-religion is blasphamy and they act like a Republican "anchors" (And I use the term anchors very loosely) on the Fox News Channel. Even I chuckled a few times at the Mac vs. PC commericials. This is payback and I hope others jump on the bandwagon.
Conceptually speaking, I do not believe we are at a point of cloud computing yet to where a Macbook Air would be very effective. We're still a very CD/DVD, data ports, and standard HDD computing into the next couple of years. Perhaps when we have better networks, better distribution models, and a much cheaper ISP access would the Macbook Air be 100 percent useful.
As creative and innovative as the Macbook Air is, its much like the first Death Star of Star Wars legend. Nice design but with glaring weak points to be exploited. None greater than its browser, lack of optical drive, and lack of enough data ports. This is precisely why Windows users aren't adopting Macs. This ridiculous obsession with form over function takes their best products and handicap it. I'm so glad that Dell, Lenovo, HP, and other PC manufactuers are starting to match Apple's form without compromising the functions. In time, I believe they will capture the creative designs of Mac, but with the functionality of a PC machine. A lot of secured corporate networks do not have wireless access ports, because of security issues with wireless access. This makes the Macbook Air useless in an corporate network without having to buy some sort of adapter. An unnecessary expense if Apple had bothered to design it right the first time.
I meant that they should have added the CD holder case, not that they used one. Otherwise, why would you need the drive? To imply that you need one, you must have a case full of them. If you only needed one, a thumb drive could hold the image file. Also, an Ethernet USB adapter and or the Belkin minihub is so small that they would both have no problem fitting in the envelope with the MBA. I have not used my DVD/CD drive in my Inspiron laptop in so long, I cannot remember when I used it last. I loaded a few games long ago, but I used a thumb drive much more. Maybe Apple got it right for those niche needing road warriors. Personally, I usually disagree with these types of niche products, but perhaps I am wrong. If I wanted ultraportable, and since I like Dell, I would consider the XPS M1330 for $999. Buy a nice case and a big thumb drive. Wouldn't it be nice to have a built-in, hide away thumb drive? A few notebook mice have a hideaway built-in USB receiver that fits into the mouse. Both could be a good feature. Maybe not on an ultraportable, but at least on some kind of notebook.
DRWAMN, you could almost accomplish that with a notebook with a SD card slot, and the same slot on your desktop. My x61s and Dell desktop both have it, so I would be able to do that type of "sneaker" transfer.
The usage of a CD/DVD drive is certainly decreasing, but it also doesn't mean that anyone needs to bring around a stack of them. You take what you need when you need it.
And the point with the Ethernet is not whether you can get an external dongle, but why? Ultra portables that are smaller include Ethernet jacks, such as the diminutive Fujitsu U810.
I find the M1330 to be a nice laptop, but it on the upper end of the ultra portable market. A little too heavy for my tastes.
It's only 4 lbs, and I bench 335 lbs. But cheaper than $999? Wow! My next laptop, will be pretty cheap, and the old one goes to my brother. My mom has my older Inspiron 7500. It is 8 yrs old, runs XP fine and is pretty speedy. I replaced the battery once. Back then, it retailed for $3200. The wireless-G PCMCIA card works fine. She loves it. I can imagine buying one of those $700 ones that I see in the Sunday ads, every one or two years, to supply my family with my old laptops. Will they last? Who knows, but they can be replaced pretty cheaply and are fine since we have towers for our heavy duty computing needs. I built 3 of them.
DRWAM, i actually meant in terms of weight, not cost. Sorry I was not specific enough in my wording.
That's quite impressive. The MBA has been out just a few months and Lenovo is already compelled to make comparisons to it.
Apple just keeps on setting the standard.
Dipsh, I still must admit that it's a great value. Also, I think that there are even more of better value than MBA, even though I agree that I almost never use the DVD/CD player. I would still buy something other than MBA, because of price. It may be heavier, but ,money is money. Laptops usually are carried in a bag/case, and if you are traveling, the more important item would be luggage. Many people use bags that hold the laptop and other items, so one more lb would probably not be very significant, IMO. Especially if you have much heavier luggage. And if you're on the road without a bag/case, I still think that one more lb wouldn't make much difference. Of course, I am a weight lifter, but even my little 110 lb wife think s so also.
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@DRWAM
If you haven't already seen it, take a look:
www.msnbc.msn.com/.../24128551
That's fully functional Centrino Atom powered computer that's about the size of a PSP, but running Windows Vista....
....and it's a phone too! (but only in Far East Asian countries)
Even the price is still fairly reasonable, considering how much OQO & Sony charge for their devices. If they had this with a US-English version of Windows (there's no such thing as a Canadian-English version, persay, but you can change the regional settings to Canada), I'd consider getting one, even if it meant I couldn't use the phone features here.
Hell, if I could order it directly from Sharp outside of Willcom's contract, I'd probably get them to disable the phone functionality (it's only compatible with technology in Japan), or get them to put in 3G EVDO or HSDPA, install Windows Vista myself, and sell them.
....puts the iPhone to shame!
That video was funny!!
But, what was equally laughable was the claim that the Leveno X300 is a 'no compromise ultraportable'.
It's as thick as a normal laptop! It nearly split the envelope as well.
0.92" thick ultraportable? What a joke
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Millions of people are being forced to either carry extra pounds with them and pay extra dollars for features they never use, or tolerate design compromises that occur when the price has to be kept down and the size within the limits of 'portable'. So, to many people, in comparison to MB Air, X300 is overpriced and underpowered. That's its compromise. Meanwhile, there are a lot of people who rarely need one usb connection and never an ethernet connection - which machine would you recommend to them?
I could write a blog entry titled "Go figure ... Paul doesn't get MacBook Air".
Waethorn, holy crap is that small and inexpensive. It's a little too small for me, but I am impressed. My laptop is for the road, and rarely used for anything but email and surfing, but I need to sign reports through our VPN. So although I have a Mac Pro Tower [with Vista of course], I don't need a Mac laptop. That's why I only buy Windows laptops as posted above. You [actually Apple] just can't beat the price for my needs. That Atom is pretty nice looking, as well as the model holding it. Maybe some day, I will buy my wife one.
Well, I don't know about the Lenovo, but I had this Toshiba in my hands recently, and it DOES gives Apple a run for its money!
www.toshiba.fr/.../flashtour.asp
... still thin, still light, but with an RJ45 port, DVD burner AND an option to have Flash memory instead of a Hard disk...
"I had this Toshiba in my hands recently, and it DOES gives Apple a run for its money!"
...or 300$ more, which gets you a much slower processor. It's for different needs.
The Portege R500 does have a slower CPU at 1.33GHz compared to the MBA at 1.6 GHz, But it weighs 2.4lbs, and has a 3 yr warranty. That adds $250 to the MBA, bringing the price within $50. I am not sure what the MBA has for the bus speed. For what you do most on the road [email and web surfing, Office docs], you may not notice a speed difference.