Having the Ethernet port at the back of the laptop is worthy of extra comment. This is so much better than having it on the side, where a thick Ethernet cable will inevitably get in the way of your mouse, UBS Flash drives and so on.

Who says skinny sub-notebooks can't have optical drives?

Lenovo has come up trumps with wireless connectivity so the X300 packs Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n and Bluetooth. You won’t find a modem port next to the Ethernet as Lenovo has gone for state-of-the-art technology: there's a Sierra MC8775 HSDPA 3G modem inside the laptop with a SIM card slot under the battery.

All the wireless options you could want or need

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There’s a touch of next-gen technology too as Lenovo tells us that the X300 is ready to support WiMax "when it becomes available", which rather suggests that a Bios update may reveal new wonders in a year or two.

Verdict

The ThinkPad X300 is an expensive piece of kit but it’s a superb laptop that is well worth the asking price. Yes, it costs the best part of two grand. Yes, that is a very high price, but you really ought to get your hands on an X300 for a test drive. If you do, you won't want anything else.

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