Slashdot Log In
Lenovo Intros the Monstrous ThinkPad W700
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Tue Aug 12, 2008 07:24 AM
from the generator-crushing dept.
from the generator-crushing dept.
Engadget recently got their hands on an early delivery of Lenovo's new powerhouse of a laptop, the W700. Aimed at graphic artists and photographers, this beast is designed to really pack a punch. No word on how much for the extra fusion generator to power it for longer than 20 minutes. "Containing enough computational artillery to level a small village, this for-creatives-only behemoth is designed for sheer pixel pushing ... and little else. The system packs in two features aimed at graphic artists and photographers which are fairly unique to a laptop: a built in Wacom digitizer just to the right of the trackpad, and an on-board color calibrator. But what's happening under the hood you ask? Well, for starters the 17-incher sports the first-ever Intel Quad Core Extreme CPU in a laptop (no word on speeds at this point) as well as the first showing of NVIDIA's Quadro FX 3700 graphics chipset (with a hefty 1GB of memory on-board). The workstation also serves up dual hard drive bays configurable as RAID 0 or 1 (SSD or traditional disk, naturally), up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and an optional Blu-ray burner. Of course, that's fully kitted out -- the W700 starts at $2,978 and moves skyward from there."
Related Stories
[+]
Hardware: Thinkpad X300 With SSD Performance Evaluation 133 comments
Ninjakicks writes "Hard drives are typically one of the more significant performance bottlenecks in any system today. An evaluation of Lenovo's new ultra portable Thinkpad X300 notebook shows a fast solid state hard drive can
substantially improve the performance of a system. This is especially true of a low-end, low power processor and integrated graphics, in addition to reducing overall power consumption. Despite
its 1.2GHz CPU the Thinkpad X300 is actually able to outperform some desktop
replacement notebooks equipped with dual 7200RPM hard drives in RAID 0 in productivity benchmarks, and in data transfers. Interesting results, especially considering the X300's ultra portable form factor."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Yes but.... (Score:4, Funny)
Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
Apple needs to step up and try to match this.
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, with something shiny costing at least $10,000, preferably with a cup holder for the Starbucks Latte.
... but you need Apple's permission to put the Latte there.
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Apple has to do this for your own good (Score:5, Funny)
They are disabling your latte due to a bug in Java. Ewwwww
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps the cup holder can be positioned over the CPU heat sink? That way it can double as a warmer or to brew tea.
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
My current MacBook Pro doesn't have a cup holder. They haven't for YEARS.
It does have a potato chip slot, but it only holds one at a time and it seems to make the guys at the local genius bar mad when I use it.
Parent
Re:Apple needs to step up and try to match this. (Score:5, Funny)
With quad-core, a 1gig video card and Wacom tablet built-in?
Are you serious? This thing will be have bits of MacBook Pro in its stool.
Parent
Discrimination (Score:5, Funny)
The Wacom tablet is on the right of the trackpad, a very inconvenient place for us left-handers. Just another example example of the man trying to keeps us down.
Re:Discrimination (Score:5, Funny)
Just turn the machine through 180 degrees, and viola! the tablet is on the left hand side instead. Some further modifications may be needed, of course.
Parent
Re:Discrimination (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh I don't know, on the screen [lenovo.com], maybe? You know, like a normal Tablet PC, which is exactly what this is except that Tablet PCs have bigger digitizers and work better because the strokes appear where the user actually drew them.
I mean really, what kind of idiot would want this?! It's like getting a really tiny Intuos [wacom.com] when you could have had a nice big Cintiq [wacom.com] for less!
Parent
Discrimination (Score:5, Insightful)
a built in Wacom digitizer just to the right of the trackpad
Ideal unless you're left handed and therefore cursed to spend all your time catching the trackpad while trying to write/draw anything.
Re:Discrimination (Score:4, Insightful)
Nope not even ideal. I dont know of a single artist that would be caught dead using that tiny digi.
a 8X10 Wacom is easier to pack in the laptop bag than a mouse... so adding a digi onto the laptop is like having spinner rims on the car.... useless and for show only.
Parent
Slashdot would like to thank (Score:4, Funny)
Laptop market trends (Score:5, Funny)
I predict that by the end of this year Thinkpads will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.
My wife's reaction... (Score:5, Interesting)
... (she's a graphic designer):
"Ooooooh!" (based on in-built Wacom thingie). - Interest level: High
Seconds later, "But it's not a Mac!" - Interest level: None
Re:My wife's reaction... (Score:5, Insightful)
If she was rejecting any non-Mac product without having experience with Windows, possibly.
But I doubt that any computer user in the world has too little experience with Windows. If you've used Windows and you still don't like it, that's a rational choice (obviously one you disagree with, but de gustibus non erat disputandum), not prejudice.
Parent
The first laptop for left-handers! (Score:4, Funny)
Left-handed users everywhere are cheering the W700, with its digitizer thoughtfully placed on the right so they won't inadvertently jog it when using the trackpad. "It might make more sense to turn the entire area in front of the keyboard into a trackpad/digitizer with software control," said Sandy Sinister of the Southpaw Liberation Army, "but instead they struck a blow for the cause! We're buying ten for our new HQ at Undisclosed Location."
I don't see the point. (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyone interested in a digitiser probably already has one, and a separate one is more flexible and probably better than a fixed one.
Analyzer schmanalyzer.
Take those out and you have an OK power laptop.
Color Calibration (Score:5, Interesting)
I deal with pictures occasionally in my job, and I've had to manually/ocularly calibrate my monitors more than once. Big pain, especially when you don't have adequate lighting in the room.
The automatic calibration video really struck me as innovative, though nowhere close to game-changing, at least for a portable monitor. However, I don't understand where the system gets color information from.
The laptop has a camera on top of the LCD, so if there were, say, a tiny mirror near the trackpad it could see the monitor when the lid's down; but I see no reflective surface in the keyboard area--how does it see the monitor ouput?
Anyone care to share their take (or knowledge) on this? Just curious...
Re:Bundled extras? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Creatives Use Macs (Score:4, Informative)
*Looks around huge creative design agency office with around a 3:1 XP-PC:OSX-Mac split, all running CS3 collaboratively and scratches head.*
Parent
Re:Very small niche - maybe? (Score:4, Interesting)
The Lenovo monster is just barely transporable, but so is a desktop.
It blows my mind how WHINEY techy people are today. Just barely transportable? what are you incredibly weak and cant carry that much weight?
Cripes I carry around over 45 pounds in my backpack daily. on my back on the bike, in my hand up the stairs. and this laptop would make no difference in my day. Take out all my test gear that makes up the most of my weight problems. Plus the Toughbook I carry weighs twice what this could soaking wet.
It's VERY transportable. If I can lift it and carry it without hurting my back or getting winded walking up 3 flights of stairs, it's incredibly transportable.
Parent