Swapping the Bay Device on a ThinkPad X300
There have been multiple questions on how to swap the bay device on a ThinkPad X300 notebook. I made a quick video showing you how quickly and easily this can be accomplished.
Unlike our other ThinkPads with bays, the bay on the ThinkPad X300 is not an Ultrabay, meaning it is not designed to be swapped on a regular basis. Adding this functionality would have added several millimeters of height to the system as the swapping mechanism adds thickness.
Other questions that have come up:
Why only 1.2GHz Ultra Low Volt Processors? Don’t forget, the magic that makes the ThinkPad X300 possible is a new chip package from Intel which has reduced height compared to other processors. It is only available in one processor speed at this time. And yes, we chose ULV processors for maximum battery life.
What size is the keyboard? This keyboard is a full T Series sized keyboard and not an X Series sized keyboard.
Why no DVI? The DVI port is physically HUGE. Plus, DVI will go away soon in the industry to be replaced by Display Port.
Does the ability to swap the optical drive out of the bay mean that I can use a hard disk drive in the bay for more storage? No. The bay itself is what I believe to be the industry’s first 7mm thick optical drive. Even if we did provide a caddy for a hard disk, mobile hard disks are too thick to physically fit.
Why no docking connector? I’m going to defer this one as I plan to write a larger post on docking in the near future. But a partial answer is that adding a docking connector would have added to thickness significantly.
I can definitely agree with those who wanted an SD slot, but I’m not as convinced that adding a PCMCIA or Express Card slot would have been a good thing and these slots have probably outlived most of their usefullness. Most people I’ve talked to have been taking the “in case I need it” stance.
Linux support? The team is studying this.
I hope this provides a bit more clarity and detail. Keep the feedback coming.
March 4th, 2008 at 2:50 am
One other question: when will WWAN options be available in the models configurable online?
March 4th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Testing the ability to leave a comment, it seems that I’ve been put on some sort of blacklist for whatever reason that hasn’t been made aware to me.
COMMENT EDITED BY MATT KOHUT MARCH 4 — Stefan, I did find your comment in the spam filter. I don’t know why, but hopefully my having rescued it puts you back so that your comments show up.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Is there going to be a cheaper, non-solid disk option available?
March 4th, 2008 at 6:23 am
I’m glad I held off buying a tosh r500 until the X300 was revealed! Mind you, I’m holding off buying *that* for the time being. Some unfortunate car work meant I’m not as flush as I’d like to be at the moment, so I’ll be eeking as much out of my X40 as possible until mid-year (when hopefully the linux support picture — which is essential to me — will be clearer, and the SSDs will be more affordable)
March 4th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Linux got mentioned at all. Great.
According to Geek.com [1] the X300 heralds the new, more thrilling and innovative ThinkPad models (like ol’ times), unlike the bland and generic models we’ve been seeing the past couple of years (sorry). I am waiting for this to happen, as I plan to upgrade my machine within a year. The X300 is superb, but a T-series still has more appeal to me (for screen resolution, HDD and price). For me Linux is the desktop OS of choice. I won’t buy Linux support, because I like it that way. The question is:
Will there be any consistent Lenovo strategy for Linux compatibility?
I mean something like an official list of ThinkPad types that only use equipment supported by the Linux kernel itself or other Open Source solutions, that can be bought *worldwide* with no bundled OS or support (other then hardware warranty).
—————————-
[1] http://www.geek.com/thinkpad-x.....rovements/
March 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
‘The magic that makes the ThinkPad X300 possible’ – mr. Kohut, have You seen 1.3 kg Sony TZ with standard size ulv intel processor, but still with firewire port and expresscard slot? Or possibly You, sir, dealt with Panasonic Y5 which has 14,1” display, L2400, 2.5 hdd and standard battery life with wi-fi on up to 6 hours (according to my personal experience) weighing 3.7 lbs anyway. All that questions are rhetorical, of course ; ).
March 4th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Hi~
I don’t mind the machine keep VGA port, but we really needs higher tier display tech. on docking, HDMI and Display port both are welcome!
March 4th, 2008 at 7:41 am
About processor: Why not the faster edition like in the Macbook Air? 1.2 is really a bit short for some applications
About DVI: Yes DisplayPort – you ’successfully’ sitted the problem out
Missing ExpressCard: That is the no-deal argument for me, sorry
Why you didn’t created a bay with a ExpressCard slot and Display port?
March 4th, 2008 at 8:14 am
With regard to DVI — I am sorry, but did you become clairvoyant? Yes, DVI will be replaced some time in the future, but within the lifespan of a notebook manufactured today? Are you kidding? Where will all the LCDs of today go? Magically acquire displayport? Even more so, in projectors are mentioned as the reason for keeping VGA D-SUB. So, what, LCDs that people have are suddenly *not* the reason enough for the future prevalence of DVI? Come *on*!
Why is it that Apple is able to make a laptop with dual-link DVI and Lenovo is not? This is perhaps my *major* gripe against all of the thinkpads.
March 4th, 2008 at 8:18 am
That should have been “in http://lenovoblogs.com/insidet.....ment-17510 projectors are mentioned …”
March 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
To the Honorable Mr. Finch (rhetorically, of course):
But alas!, dear sir, those machines are thicker. The TZ is a wedge shape and goes to 1.2 inches thick in the back. The Y5 is almost 2 inches thick at its maximum point.
The X300 is a pretty consistent 0.73 – 0.92 inches thick, which is a slight wedge, but not much.
Good show though, old chap, I must say.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Mind making a bay for multi card reader?
March 4th, 2008 at 11:48 am
[...] on Lenovo’s Inside the Box blog, the Lenovo team has posted a video of just what is entailed on swapping devices in the ThinkPad [...]
March 4th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
“Why no DVI? The DVI port is physically HUGE. Plus, DVI will go away soon in the industry to be replaced by Display Port.”
while this is understandable, the problem is that every modern display sold today–including ones from lenovo–are equipped standard with DVI ports. displayport very well may be tomorrow’s standard but unfortunately our thinkpads are left handicapped today.
however, this isn’t entirely lenovo’s fault. the problem is that we really don’t have a standard digital display port. DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort are great but they are not a universal (pun intended) standard like USB. USB 3.0 will open up bandwidth capabilities for unlimited amount of devices including displays, and this is what i foresee as being the next digital display port.
so, the next question will obviously be when we will see the first thinkpad with USB 3.0.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Comment from my CEO – WOW when can I have one
Reply – its a bit costly at the moment
CEO – SO WHEN DO I GET ONE (I’m begining to take the hint here)
Reply – as soon as it comes with 128GByte SDD
CEO – Don’t wait for Lenovo get the drive from somewhere else
So when I can source a fast 128GByte drive for less that $2,000 I’ll be purchasing him a X300. All in all he is not worried about DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort (its a portable!!!) his focus is that its light weight with good battery life (and its also ‘Cool’ and that has not been said about a Thinkpad for a number of years).
March 4th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
What timeframe are we likely to see DisplayPort capable Thinkpads?
March 4th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
I wished Lenovo wouldn’t have missed the chance to be the first notebook vendor who uses a DisplayPort inside a notebook, now this fame will probably go instead to Dell soon. I can’t help but somehow Lenovo still didn’t recognize that the VGA port is pretty outdated even in the business segment and that there are nowadays a bunch of cheap adapters available, which allow to connect a digital signal interface, like the royalty free DisplayPort, to that moribund analog video port and even all other digital video ports.
The first VESA DisplayPort specification exist since may 2006 and the second version 1.1 of the specification has been released april 2007, which offered VGA, DVI and HDMI compatibility via passive adapters. – Now we have 2008 and still those braindead VGA ports in Thinkpads!
Related to the limited space issues on the X300 a DisplayPort connector and cable would have been the much better and right answer to this problem, since as can be undoubtly seen here in a sice comparision between the DVI, VGA and DisplayPort cable connectors…
–> http://www.displayport.org/ima.....-Front.jpg
…the DisplayPort is the most compact one by also offering a locking mechanism (which HDMI for example usually doesn’t offer). Beside that, VESA has also successfully proven on CES, that DisplayPort rev 1.1 can even send video- and audiosignals to a TV with a HDMI-input and is thus compatible here too.
So the question is NOT why no DVI, but instead “why no DisplayPort” from ground up on the pursuit of perfection?
March 4th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
To the Honorable Mr. Kohut (seriously): whether the matter of thickness, and not the technology excellence, becomes ideefixe for Lenovo? Sounds like the company decided to win the beauty competition among laptops at all costs…
But, imho, Lenovo is risking to waste money on convincing ‘target audience’ that this new ‘thin’ but still ’square black brick’ (as thinkpads traditionally known amongst ‘glamour public’, or who else is meant by many reviewers of x300 as ‘not everyone’ who that new thinkpad is intended for) notebook could become a better sign of coolnes than, for instance, an mba.
I myself will buy x300 – i like thinkpads (got four already – T23, x40, T61p and x61 tablet), my eyes need a non-’glass’ led screen and my purchase become a burden for tax-payers of my country, not me ; ). But I’m afraid that x300 will become a good ‘addition’ only for my blond mistress: great pleasure for eyes (oh, how thin and slender she is) and for the fingers (paint – oh, what a paint has she got 8 ))) – please, Mr. Kohut, nothing personal! – I like Your writing style very much!) but total usefulness for REAL business…
March 4th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
While “card” slots may be on the way out in a longer term sense, they are certainly *not* dead yet.
Wireless WAN connectivity is still a very open issue for many users globally, with a general lack of consistant standards and very restricted global roaming arrangements meaning that built in WWAN is only a partial solution that is geneally only workable across one wireless regulatory jurisdiction area at best!
Cheers,
Bill
March 4th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
The answer seems simple enough to a businessman. Update the T61 with an OLED display and some of the other technologies used in the X300… Keep it a few mm thicker if you must but include docking, and DVI/HDMI/DISPLAYPORT. I frankly don’t care too much for it being a bit thicker as long as the weight is kept low. Keep a more powerful processor in there and if you MUST have some whiz-bang feature to separate it from the previous generation, then make it something practical!
Anyway I am just trying to provide some helpful feedback! Keep up the good work.
You mentioned the soft touch material on the X300 is nicer to the touch, is it also more durable?
March 5th, 2008 at 1:17 am
[...] Inside the Box » Blog Archive » Swapping the Bay Device on a ThinkPad X300 “Linux support? The team is studying this.” – if you guys want help with this, you know where to find me. (tags: linux x300 thinkpad lenovo) [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 3:52 am
come ON, folks..
picky picky picky…!!
give the folks at lenovo an “A” for the X300..
life is a huge bunch of compromises and i challenge most any of you, or even a group of y’all, to do the same thing with the same budget within the same timeframe, etc., etc., etc….
this X300 will be superceded by an X301 (we hope) with a faster cpu when it arrives and an internal DisplayPort soon enough..
and all the other little tweaks suggested here that can be added without adding to much to the manufacturing and engineering cost..
so far, for me, the X300 is just plain super and the “son of X300″ will be that much better..
also, for sure the technologies used in this X300 will appear in, say, a T300p or some such followon to the T61p..
MY only suggestion is an optional IPS (flexview) display..
i’m happy to see that the thinkpad ancestors are succeeded with this nice innovative little gem..
i like it..
Happy Trails,
Bill Morrow, kept by parrots
*
She was not what you would call refined.
She was not what you would call unrefined.
She was the type of person who kept a parrot.
~~Mark Twain~~
March 5th, 2008 at 4:03 am
one more comment to matt..
IF that is matt in the video on how to remove the optical drive..
when you pull the optical drive out you should point out the small “tab” on the end of the optical drive which tab that screw holds in place..
use the screwdriver to push on the tab and thus slide the drive out..
Happy Trails,
Bill Morrow, kept by parrots
*
She was not what you would call refined.
She was not what you would call unrefined.
She was the type of person who kept a parrot.
~~Mark Twain~~
March 5th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Schnappi,
Last time I checked, Apple don’t offer any docking stations so they have to put everything on the system itself – for business users (the intended market), VGA is unfortunately still the best option for onboard and then you should have the option for DVI on a docking station – the mistake here is the Expresscard (even as a bay option) slot which would allow for use of a decent docking solution with the system.
Thomas,
The accomplishment isn’t making any laptop that thin, the MBA is better did better than that, even the 4 year old Sony X505 is thinner : the accomplishment is making a ThinkPad that thin, without compromising on things like build quality (I know the sony is quite good but its much easier on an 11″ system and its certainly not as robust as a ThinkPad), screen size, the keyboard (big Sony compromise) and *shudder* not having a trackpoint (i’d swap that for an extra 0.13GHz CPU, firewire and expresscard slot anyday although I still do want an expresscard slot).
March 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Snife,
Apple do not have to put everything on the system itself; they chose it. And because of that choice macbooks work smoothly with 30″ LCD panels, something any thinkpad of the same age cannot. Wait, strike that, “any thinkpad of any age cannot”. Kind of a bummer, wouldn’t you say?
Even more so, for the *very* same business users, a DVI-I dual link connector would work quite nicely with VGA D-SUB projectors, courtesy of a 1USD plug. This plug has to be dragged along (such a chore, compared to the docking station). There is of course the issue of laptop size, but how many grams and centimeters would it take to fit a DVI-I connector? And how many customers would say “You know what, if this laptop were this many units smaller and thinner, I would have bought it, but now, I cannot see myself shelling out for it”?
I may be extra grumpy though, because the LCD on my T43 developed a defect for the 4th time.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
DVI port too big? Haven’t you seen the _2_ different types of shrunken DVI ports that Apple offers on the MacBook and MacBook Air?
March 6th, 2008 at 5:52 am
Non standard ports are a mistake imho, it means you always need a dongle, and I know from experience that most users would not take them everywhere and would end up not being able to connect to anything directly when on the move.
I know its not a big hassle to plug in a port but if you have to plug in video, ethernet, power, usb etc several times a day, a docking station is fantastic, and having that connected to the 30″ monitor (like possible on T60 for example), is a good setup.
All thinkpads require a DVI dual link option – i’m not denying that, excluding any option from the X series is a big mistake, all i’m saying is that it being directly on the system is not always the best option, i dont know many people who connect to various 30″ monitors while travelling (although I know a few that use them at their main office) but I know many who need to connect to projecters and other montiors. I personally had to change from using a 30″ *shudder* Dell monitor to a 22″ monitor when I switched to X series which was annoying so I do think there should be at least a docking solution with DVI.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:17 am
I also want to leave my opinion on the new X300. Is this comment section the place to be heard?
The X300 is a great step in the right direction to my perfect notebook. But i will have to wait for the next edition due to several reasons (and i think i do speak for the majority of my thinkpad-equipped institute):
I dislike the thick bezel. The dimensions of a notebook (all the more if it claims to be as thin and light as possible) should only be constrained by display size. If you want to stick to the size of the case, give it a 14″ display. If you need to stay with 13.3, then make the case smaller.
Being raised with the good old dogma ‘a line ends with its 72 letter’, i have no use for a widescreen while working, so a 4:3 model would be my choice.
Linux supported hardware is important. A serious docking solution would be nice. 64 GB is not enough.
A high performance variant (X300p??) would also be great for lighter computing that is not worth to be send to our cluster…
thanks for listening
Hecke
March 6th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This machine’s design is a true testament to the designers’ talents. I own a ThinkPad 600E and T60p. I felt that the T60p was quite a step ahead of the 600E in terms of design. The machine is half as thick and has a bit more to offer in terms of battery life.
The X300 looks to be a step beyond even the T60p’s design. It’s good to see that things are moving in such a consistently positive way after the transfer of the PCD.
It’s good also that the team is looking at Linux support. The two hundred dollar price reduction and increased functionality is attractive. The wave of tiny low-priced laptops like Asus’ Eee PC and Everex’s CloudBook can only be sold at their price point because they run Linux. Asus spooked Microsoft enough that the price for Windows XP Professional was cut from it’s usual price tag of $200 down to $40.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
The swappability still looks good to me. Although today I was “surprised” and randomly had need for my DVD drive on my laptop in class–the DVD player in the media server in the room was not sufficient to navigate something, so I busted out my laptop and saved the day. Wouldn’t have been possible without a DVD drive (what, macbook air?)
March 7th, 2008 at 5:03 am
I am sorry folks but I don’t care about the display port discussion – as far as I can get my laptop hooked to projectors.
As a matter of fact, this is supposed to be a mobile device and for mobile devices I like to keep it simple. This was one of the reasons I went from Apple to Lenovo. Still, if you want a bigger display do like I did: get an iMac 24″ and that’s all.
March 7th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Unfortunately, in some countries like here (Czech Republic), the PCMCIA slot is the only way to get mobile internet connection. Mobile providers here don’t use any standard 3G technology that’s why no internal miniPCI 3G card works here.
BTW is true that the display has 250:1 constrast ratio only ? Sony TZ series have over 550:1 and MacBoook Air over 700:1 measured in reviews here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Reviews.55.0.html
March 7th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
One good use for the expresscard slot, on a notebook like this, would be for more storage… >__<
March 7th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Anybody know where to find ThinkPad screensavers and wallpapers? Looked all over the web (including lenovo.com) but couldn’t any…
March 11th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Matt,
As always your posts are much appreciated.
However I must disagree about the compromises to keep the system thin. It’s not the thickness of the laptop – it is the width and *depth* that matter. Depth matters most when using on a bus, train or economy class plane, because of the seat in front. Weight matters when carrying the thing around. Thickness of the laptop is _much_ less important – that’s beauty over functionality. But I like thinkpads for functionality over beauty. So I have to agree with the venerable Mr. Finch here.
Your original design concept was for a much smaller machine, but you had to go with 13.3″ screen.
I wonder if 2 machines might not have been better: a tiny ultralight (replacement for the x61) with no DVD, 12″ LED screen, 2.5″ HDD etc, and a larger 13.3″ system with some of the features being requested above (and provided by TZ and Y5).
Be interested on your thoughts….
March 11th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
surya,
you can find official lenovo calendar wallpaper on the thinkpad life minisite at lenovo japan. enjoy!
March 12th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Thank you erik – I wish the wallpapers and screensavers were found at a more convenient place (Hint: Intranet?) instead of looking all over the web…
March 12th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
the “thinkpad life” site is leftover from the IBM days. unless you can read japanese or know what you’re looking for, the site is impossible to find outside of japanese “thinkpad” culture (and thinkpad ownership really is a culture in japan just like apple owners worldwide exemplify all too well).
you bring up a great point in centralizing this type of media for everyone to download worldwide. i’ll add it to my growing list of ideas and suggestions.
thank you as well and enjoy your new desktop!
March 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Alex, the X300 is not the replacement for the X61, its a completely new range, if you look around the web *cough* X200 *cough* then i’m sure you’ll find info on the system you are thinking about.
Wdith and Depth are not a compromise on this system – they allow for the full size keyboard and 13″ screen which simply isn’t possible in X61 dimensions – this is a full size thinkpad (well almost) that is also incredibly thin and light.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Regarding Linux support for the X300, it’s an interesting situation at the moment.
I bought one a few days ago and immediately wiped Vista because I have no interested in such things.
I installed the latest pre-beta release of Ubuntu 8.04 and quite a lot of things work, but there are a few that don’t work yet.
I’m tracking my progress at http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category_talk:X300 and would welcome input from other X300 users.
Official support from Lenovo would be great, but even just releasing some docs would be fine, so we can add support ourselves.
March 13th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I understand that a DVI port is big, and a docking connector adds thickness – but I wish Lenovo would come up with a creative solution instead of skipping out on both. The main reason I use a docking station on my T61 is to get DVI. Perhaps a mini-DVI or micro-DVI solution like what Apple did?
March 14th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
ahh, Linux support would be nice.
I also wonder when someone is going to install OSX on the X300. That’ll be the perfect laptop then.
March 15th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Could you slide in the Bay-Battery the same way you’d slide the DVD drive back in?
March 16th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Most monitors don’t have support for all three DVI sizes, so you’d have to get a DVI adapter either way. Why not just get a VGA to DVI connector. VGA is still quite a usable standard. GIMP works fine over a Radeon 2600 XT with DVI to VGA as well as 3D Modeling programs.
I doubt they avoided the DVI just to irritate their customers, VGA is a more mature standard because it’s been around for many years longer than DVI. As a result, it is likely to be much more power efficient than HDMI or DVI. Power efficiency is a big demand of the computing world. Lenovo went for battery life with the X300, that is cause of the lower powered processor being used.
Besides, the industry will be moving to DisplayPort in short order. I wonder if the connector is small enough to be placed on the X300.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
How the hell can you not support GNU/Linux. I am sick and tired of companies not supporting the OS. If you don’t support it I won’t buy it.
March 16th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Anyone care to comment on why I can’t purchase the DVD drive or 2nd battery as add-on options? My Academic Lenovo rep says it coming, but for today its either or. Is that due to a shortage of parts or what? In that same vein, although perhaps less useful, is there any reason I can’t purchase the empty plastic blank so I can minimize weight while I travel?
March 17th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Going from a VGA source to DVI is not trivial and requires a powered box costing $200+. This is not to be confused with going the other way (DVI source to VGA) which is simple and cheap. Using a smaller DVI port (mini, micro, etc) does have the disadvantage of needing a dongle. As Lyle mentioned above, either a DVI port or a reasonable dock (with a DVI port) would have been sufficient, but not having either is a deal-killer for me.
As for the power efficiency of DVI vs VGA, I don’t know the specifics, but more “mature” does not always equate with more power efficient, especially when you’re comparing analog signalling (VGA) with digital (DVI, HDMI, etc.). So I would not be surprised if DVI were actually more power efficient. Plus if you are connecting to an external display, you are most likely plugged in to the wall anyway.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I love my Thinkpad X61, and the X300 looks great. The only thing that makes me consider another laptop is the graphics capability. Not DVI ports, but the actual chip (X3100). I didn’t expect to need much from a travel laptop running Win XP, but it has come up surprisingly often. Both in terms of graphics power, and also in the reliability and quality of the drivers. It would be nice if there was an option to upgrade the integrated graphics to one from Nvidia or AMD. Current generation ones might have too many power and heat related issues, but an older one might work and would still have better performance and driver support than the Intel ones.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Just wanted to post to say thank you for using a VGA port rather than a DVI port. The teeming masses seem obsessed with DVI, but I travel from conference room to conference room giving presentations, and I have never once encountered a DVI cable sitting on the table; it’s always, without exception, VGA. The fact remains that if you’re giving presentations, there’s only one option – and I refuse to drag a dongle with me just to project.
(Nitpicker’s corner: Yes, many of those conference room projectors have DVI -ports-, but there’s never a cable in the room.)
When we see our first DisplayPort laptops, I would love to see both VGA and DisplayPort included side by side. Nobody is going to switch conference rooms over to DisplayPort until there’s a critical mass of laptops that support it – but during the interim period I sure as heck don’t want to have to carry an adapter with me.
March 23rd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
If I had to choose between the two, I would absolutely want VGA. Considering the trouble I run into just at my own home dealing with different DVI flavors and accessories, VGA is the lower common denominator [not quite lowest, since it's still pretty good!].
March 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
I really love this laptop however i’m waiting for a refresh with a faster processor in it
Any word on when a faster CPU will be offered?
April 27th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Engineering compromises are tough at this form factor. I’m impressed with the DVD burner, but for me SD card might actually have been more useful. The 64GB limit on SSD is also a deterrent.
But for me the real killer is the lack of Linux support. Linux is all I run on my notebook, and without Linux support, it’s hard for me to want to gamble. It’s a real pity since I control my own budget and price is no object…
May 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 pm
I just purchased the X300 and I must admit that I am frustrated by the VGA outlet. I appreciate that it is helpful for projecting on the road, but it provides a far inferior image when I connect to my 23″ LCD monitor.
Would it improve the picture if I were to use a VGA to DVI cable to connect the X300 to the DVI port in my LCD monitor instead of a VGA to VGA cable?
May 4th, 2008 at 4:52 am
Sorry for the double-post, but after digging some more I’m realizing that I would need to convert the analog signal to digital first.
I found a product called the Gefen VGA to DVI Scaler PLUS which appears to do this. Is anyone on this board familiar with this product? The product literature says the input must be analog PC in the format of either RGBHV, YPbPr or YCbCr… do any of you know if the Lenovo X300 signal fits this requirment?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
June 5th, 2008 at 5:40 am
I’d like to swap the optical drive on my new X300 for a 3-cell bay battery, but the instructions I found for “replacing optical drive” on the ThinkVantage Help Center stated that I must first remove the keyboard. You obviously didn’t do that in the video, so I’m wondering if a cable or something could get snagged if I don’t follow the printed instructions and remove the keyboard first?
thanks
June 5th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
russ, the keyboard doesn’t need to be removed and no cables will be snagged as a result of leaving the keyboard installed. i’ve swapped the DVD-RAM with the bay battery probably 50 times and the process is extremely straightforward. the video does a great job of explaining the easy way to do it.
February 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
There most certainly *is* a need for an ExpressCard slot on the X30x line of notebooks. There should be a way for the user to still utilize external devices for which there were no ports included on these machines. I can understand and even agree with the reasons these ports were omitted. What I can’t fathom is why Lenovo did not recognize the fact that including an ExpressCard slot would all but render those port omissions irrelevant. As it stands, the absence of a few key ports merely adds one more item to the CONS: list in reviews that didn’t have to be.
April 5th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Hi lenovo.
As all owners of a x300 will know the most annoing thing about it is that its only have 64gb of HD. Any plans of making a caddy for the bay that will accept any kind of disk posibility, either a 1,8hd, compact flash reader or basicly ANYting that will give me a posibility to store more data on it!
thanks!
jens