Lenovo ThinkPad X300 review

In anecdotal testing of the ThinkPad X300 with the 6-cell battery, we were able to get between 3 and 4 hours of battery life, depending on our usage and screen brightness settings. On our DVD battery drain test, the ThinkPad X300 died out after 3 hours 43 minutes, just 20 minutes before the MacBook Air. That's obviously not enough juice for a full day of work away from the desk, but it is nearly an hour longer than the Portege R500's battery life.

Here's another place where the ThinkPad X300's built-in DVD is an advantage: you can purchase an additional 3-cell battery that fits inside the drive bay to extend your mobile computing time. Also an advantage: the ThinkPad X300's removable battery, which is remarkable only because users cannot replace the battery in the MacBook Air.

Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday

System configurations:

Lenovo ThinkPad X300
Windows XP Professional SP2; 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7100; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 384MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 64GB Samsung Solid State Drive

Apple MacBook Air
OS X 10.5.1 Leopard; Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 144MB Intel GMA X3100; 80GB Samsung 4,200rpm

HP Compaq 2710p
Windows Vista Business Edition; 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7600; 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 148MB Mobile Intel 965GM Express; 80GB Toshiba 4,200rpm

Toshiba Portege R500
Windows XP Professional SP2; 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7600; 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz; 224MB Mobile Intel 945GM Express; 64GB Samsung Solid State Drive