[Ti] Re: PowerBook competition

[Chris Olson]

On Sep 21, 2005, at 12:15 PM, Chris Olson wrote:

> Yes, one of the PC dealers in Rice Lake, WI has one and I saw it  
> yesterday.  That's what prompted me to point it out.  The "look and  
> feel" of the machine is like a PowerBook - attention to industrial  
> design and detail.  It also comes with Firewire, one of the few PC  
> notebooks I've seen that do.

One of the things I was impressed with is the price.  I would  
consider this machine to be in the same class as a PowerBook, only  
with a starting price of $799 - exactly $700 less money than an entry  
level PowerBook.

Comparing the two, the PowerBook doesn't have a wide screen aspect  
ratio and has a 12" screen (1024x768) vs the ThinkPad's  
14" (1280x768).  It also has 3 USB 2.0 ports vs 2 on the PowerBook, a  
built-in card reader, 128MB video RAM vs the PowerBook's 64, VGA out  
instead of mini-DVI, a three year warranty as standard instead of one  
year with two years purchased AppleCare, and comes with a dual-layer  
DVD writer as standard vs the PowerBook's Combo Drive.  Finally it's . 
2kg lighter than the 12" PowerBook.

I think Apple is due for some design changes and restructuring of  
margins to keep from getting priced out of the market.  I knew Lenovo  
was the commodity champion, they being the third largest PC  
manufacturer on earth notwithstanding.  But I never expected to see a  
ThinkPad this good for that much money.
--
Chris