ThinkPad X300 - Battery life, Ruggedness, Aesthetics
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The historical bane of laptop design has always been its staying power. Anything that runs on a battery will inevitably run out of juice. At that point it needs to go crawling back to an outlet to get some more sweet, sweet power before it can roam away again. What you want to know is how long can that binge of outlet infidelity last.
This author found about three and a half hours to be normal with default settings. If your power settings are more conservative, however, you can squeeze just about four hours out of the machine. The biggest factors in determining the life of your battery seem to be how bright you need your screen to be and what you set the system to do with its idle time. Choose wisely, depending on how long you need that battery to last.
Ruggedness/Sturdiness
If you have a laptop that is going anywhere, you should be at least a bit concerned that it can stand up to a little bit of a beating. While I would not go dropping this machine just for fun, you can probably still keep on going if it falls off of your desk.
I do not suggest that you go and put any weight on top of it, however. Even a moderately-sized college text book could do the screen damage. You will just have to take my word for it.
Aesthetic quality
The laptop is, for the most part, aesthetically pleasing. It is mostly shiny, but some spots, like the wrist pad, take on a more matte look and are less slick, so you won't have the same tendency to slide that you can feel on the slick parts. Overall, while you will find the laptop to be nice to look at, it will in no way stand out in the crowd for its amazing and unique design.
From a security point of view, however, that may be a mixed blessing. On one hand it is less likely to be targeted if it does not stand out. On the other hand, if something does happen, you will have a hard time spotting it in the crowd. You may want to consider personalizing your computer with a skin or even a protective sleeve or case.
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