Beauty and the Beast
Having lived through the design of the X300 it’s very easy to fall in love with thin and light. Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone is bent on owning an ultraportable, even the richly featured X300. There is a certain type of user who demands ultimate power over all other attributes. As people in fields such as digital content creation, computer-aided design and manufacturing, digital photography and science fields become increasingly mobile, they are demanding the full-featured performance of a desktop workstation in a mobile workstation. In a nutshell, they want extreme performance, not wafer thin.
Today we announced what I think these demanding customers are looking for. The ThinkPad W700 takes extreme performance and user experience to new levels. This thing is a 17″ wide screen nitro burning funny car. You can read all the speeds and feeds details here. In addition to the amazing under the hood specs, there are pioneering features that interest me as a designer.
As an option we include the industry’s first built-in palm rest digitizer and color calibrator. Designed for digital content creators and users, the mobile workstation’s digitizer helps them easily configure an image, either mapping it to the entire screen or to an area defined by the user. We used the same stylus as our ThinkPad tablet. High performance users, especially digital photographers, will love the models with the built-in color calibrator. Being able to see accurate color is very important to designers. The calibrator automatically adjusts the display’s color in up to half the time of many external calibrators and with higher accuracy. The end result is highly accurate, true-to-life images in an integrated easy to use package. The optional 400-nit WUXGA display provides up to twice the brightness of earlier ThinkPad mobile workstation models, and the 72 percent wide color gamut provides more than 50 percent greater color intensity. The image quality is stunning.
Designing this one was a big challenge, no pun intended. We spent a lot of time determining the size of the palm rest, digitizer pad size and position. As usual there is not a single wasted cubic millimeter inside the W700. Even a machine of this size goes through the same level of analysis and tradeoffs for the placement of every component. Just because the puzzle pieces are larger it doesn’t make finding the ultimate solution easier.
Okay it’s big, but more importantly it’s a beast. I think this one will have great appeal for designers or anyone else who wants extreme performance.
David Hill
Lenovo Meet the Modder Dean Liou
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 2
Lenovo Meet the modder- Chris Blarsky Dairy 1
Lenovo H320 desktop
August 12th, 2008 10:00 pm
Hi David:
Will the X300 be the only current generation Thinkpad that will feature the return of the red and blue stripes? I took a quick check on the pictures for the new T400, X200, W500 and W700 and found that they still sport the same design as the previous T6x and X6x series (silver buttons, no stripes). It’s a pet peeve, but is this really the case?
August 12th, 2008 10:59 pm
OMG. this is a beast, a beast of ThinkPad!
what a Beast that you have unleashed Lenovo!
Congratulations and keep a good job Lenovo and i am sure that this W700 will silent all the parties that do not believe in lenovo capabilities to produce great laptop.
again, Congrats!
August 12th, 2008 11:24 pm
Paolo, I think the new X200, and SL series also has the stripes now.
I also notice something about keyboards in the new models:
By putting the beauty and the beast side by side, I notice that X300 is the only current model that has a keyboard with LED backlights. Also, SL series have the PgUp and PgDn keys moved to the locations of Forward and Backward keys: I don’t know if it is the most sensible way to arrange the PgUp & PgDn keys in left and right manner.
See how the current Sony VAIO Z series has its keys lay out:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webap.....ryId=16154
August 12th, 2008 11:39 pm
And how Sony VAIO FW series does its PgUp PgDn keys layout:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webap.....ryId=16154
August 13th, 2008 12:54 am
besides 72% gamut (assuming NTSC, not adobe RGB) and 400 cd/m^2 brightness, what are the specs on the W700 display? whose calibration hardware and software does it use? does it support RAID 1? will there be solidworks- and pro/e-certified drivers?
it looks gigantic… no doubt about it. however, it looks to be about 100lbs lighter than lugging around a thinkstation D10, display, and UPS—not that i’d recommend lugging one around, of course.
August 13th, 2008 12:57 am
nevermind on the calibration hardware question… i just saw that it’s from pantone.
August 13th, 2008 5:22 am
Great article and perfect title.
The X300 is gorgeous, the W700 is definately the ugly sister of the ThinkPad family now but as I mentioned on the other blog – I think its ugly enough to end up looking quite nice (I dont count SL series as ThinkPads still as they are super ugly but not in a good way). Obviously though its the pure power thats attracting me to this, I remember the sore backs I used to get lugging my A3* about but I also remember how it was worth it when working on very large photoshop files.
I’m hoping the silver buttons and lack of stripes are just because it is a pre release model, I dont have strong feelings either way on these anymore but I do like consistancy across the range.
August 13th, 2008 8:45 am
as Design Matters:
I guess the Beauty
got some serious competition by the
Dell E-Series.
August 13th, 2008 9:56 am
Congratulations to Lenovo the W700 is the greatest ThinkPad but I’m still waiting for the T500 to have LED and 200 Gb 7200RPM hard drive + 2GB Turbo Memory when these specs become available ill replace my beloved and trustworthy T61 again congratulations to Lenovo on the great achievement.
August 13th, 2008 12:23 pm
One thing I forgot to mention is that the W700 has two ThinkLight LED’s in order to properly illuminate the keyboard.
August 13th, 2008 12:41 pm
Oh I just noticed that one has a grey ThinkVantage button – very odd, I presume that means the button colours will probably change for the final version.
August 13th, 2008 1:44 pm
They are actually both blue on production level hardware. Not sure why they look different in the photos. Good catch.
August 13th, 2008 5:10 pm
YEEEAAAHHHH!!!! All that I expected it to be and more!!!! excellent. I must say I was mildly unsure of the authenticity of the photos floating around the web of the digitizer palmrest on the W700.
I wish I could play with one of these machines!
Tony
August 13th, 2008 9:13 pm
yeah, the ThinkVantage button on W700 is blue. Check out at the official US Lenovo website. I think there must be some error on its colour in the picture.
things happen
August 14th, 2008 4:27 am
Yes, it looks really cool and to be honest, I couldn’t decide if I’d prefer an X300 or a W700, they both have their big advantages.
But I’m also disappointed with the stripes and the grey buttons… Lenovo promised to bring back the stripes and now they seem to not keep their promises (new T, new R and W series all lack the stripes).
August 14th, 2008 2:18 pm
Erik – 72% Adobe RGB gamut. We don’t play those NSTC games.
David — a lot of comments are around offering a left handed digitizer as an option for the next version. It would still be okay to have pen pop out in current spot.
August 14th, 2008 2:41 pm
It’s funny how the w700 has the numpad in the keyboard like all the other thinkpads plus the new dedicated numpad next to it. I wonder if it works.
I guess it’s for the sake of standardization, but it makes it look kinda not very pro.
August 14th, 2008 3:09 pm
When I got my R61e and compared it to my older 600X, I thought it was a beast….but this takes the biscuit!
Any chance of a W700 series model without the photographic specific hardware (WACOM digitizer and Calibrator), the TouchPad and installing Workstation graphics (FireGL/Quadro)?
I can see deploying Thinkpad W700 laptops as mobile CAD Workstations (for Architects and Engineers) or for running virtual machines so programs can be tested while on the move on multiple platforms at the same time.
August 14th, 2008 4:53 pm
I think the Quadro and FireGL graphics run on the hot side and probably isn’t going to go down too well with the Quad Processor. But if you live in Alaska or Canada, this machine would sure to save on your winter’s space heating cost. If enough of these machines are employed around upper north America, the fuel oil cost during winter season would drop and fuel oil hedging in the commodity market would go down badly for some.
August 14th, 2008 10:18 pm
David,
Does the W700 feature an internal roll cage? Could you please comment on the build?
Is the exterior the same as the X300?
Thank you!
August 15th, 2008 3:34 am
That does it, I hereby declare your designing skills null and void.
Please people what on earth are you doing? and why would you even choose to brand this monster thinkpad? where’s the innovation? all I see is a mutated monster of a desktop machine sporting a bewildered thinkpad look. With a small wacom grafted on that looks increasing difficult to use without hurting yourself.(ergonomically)
Please tell me the screen is S-IPS.
Why not make the whole screen a wacom digitizer?
and what would a photographer/graphic designer need a 1Gb nvidia quadro for?
I think you are targeting the bigger-and-faster-is-better fat-ass teenage boys with to much money to burn. Who else would go drooling for this unless they wanted to play games on it.
Which is probably why I find this machine so disgusting.
You’ve been found out!
Please rebrand it as a non-thinkpad before we loose all faith in your marketing/design skills.
August 15th, 2008 6:34 pm
Yeah, its nice. But the real question is….does it make coffee?!?!
August 15th, 2008 9:49 pm
matt – thank you. 72% Adobe RGB gamut is very good for a 6-bit notebook display.
lauge – the W700 isn’t a gaming machine—it’s a CAD and photography workstation. whether any feature on the W700 is overkill or not is up to the individual user. those who want thinkstation power in a thinkpad format will be interested in the W700. if you aren’t interested in it then that’s ok since it’s obviously not going to fit everyone’s needs.
jonathan – i’ve heard that the digitizer has a built-in heating element made to warm single cups of coffee. the digitizer glows red and the thinklights light up red when the “stove” is on to warn you about the heat.
August 17th, 2008 4:51 pm
Nice machine. I see that you guys have brought us back from the SL series nonThinkPad. I really like the built in tablet digitizer. That’s one less thing to carry around, without spending too much on a tablet type display.
When I saw the blue num pad enter key, I was amused. Its been a while since I;ve seen one of those.
However, it also has annoyingly thick screen bezels…maybe y’all can post about that sometime?
Also that mesh at the top of the keyboard doesn’t look too good and also hard to clean.
Overall, nice work on this machine.
August 18th, 2008 4:00 am
Yeah I do question the mesh on the top too, the speaker mesh on the X300 is not the easiest thing to keep clean and those are only small.
August 18th, 2008 7:58 am
Lenovo appears to be a synonym for “we don’t do business machines any more”.
Want a serious ultraportable machine with a decent sized (vertical) screen? Can’t have it – the x60 series is being discontinued (try to get one with Bluetooth any more).
Want a thin-and-light machine with 4:3 aspect for Word, Powerpoint, email, web design, coding etc? Can’t have it.
However Lenovo do offer you beasts like the w700. Beasts like the new T series (over 2kg!), with extra screen estate (and extra weight and power drain). Or ugly machines like the X200 and x300 with limited vertical height and horribly thick bezels.
For serious business machines, it is looking like Panasonic and Fujitsu are the way to go. Very sad.
August 18th, 2008 12:52 pm
Dear Alex,
I’m agree with you when you speak about screens…but, actually i found that Lenovo did a very good job with X300, for example.
I’m not a big fan of very large screens, like the new w700.
And if you ask some users, Thinkpads was not really be an good example for design. So, if you find that X200 and X300 are ugly, it’s your right. But for me, it’s like most of Thinkpads design.
I really can’t agree with you when you find Panasonic or Fujitsu business machines better. Fujitsu is a shame on business machines industry, and panasonic, they can build some good machines, but it was not actually as good as Thinkpads.
Regards
“Lenovo SL series, the only compromise Thinkpad”
August 18th, 2008 1:53 pm
Alex – you’re right about the 4:3 screens, but not just about Lenovo. You can’t find any in the current model lineups from our major competitors either. Unfortunately that transition was more of a function of the LCD industry and of course the ever evolving PC industry, than it was our own decision. Matt Kohut talks about some of this here.
You also note that the T400 weighs 2kg+. It does weigh around 2.1kg (~4.8 lb) with optical and battery, but one should also note that a typical T4x configuration weighs about 2.2kg (~4.9 lb). The numbers are rather close to call, but I think it is a fair statement that system weights are competitive with those of yore. And just consider all that has been added since the days of the original Pentium M…
August 18th, 2008 2:51 pm
Alex,
the lack of 4:3 is sad, although IME it has been compensated by the fact that Thinkpads at least have high resolution displays which provide enough vertical space to compensate for that. What really frightens me is the news which indicate another push by LCD manufacturers, this time from 16:10 to 16:9 (“real WS”, no matter how mistaken and ambiguous that term is). Another sad loss of vertical space.
Well, at least the MS Office ribbons convinced me that I’ll never go to 2007 or upwards.
August 18th, 2008 3:16 pm
Luage, you’re just wrong. There are many graphics and 3d professionals who have been using mobile workstations for years and this looks like an excellent laptop for us. There are still more than enough business laptops in the range. And by the way – it’s highly unlikely that many will use this to game, since it has opengl focused quadro cards, not directx geforce ones.
August 18th, 2008 4:58 pm
@Alex, since when did Thinkpad had a T series that is below 2 kg in weight including the battery????
While, the lack of 4:3 is due to the LCD manufacturers pushing the users to adopt widescreens, which are the result of less wastage (conforming to RoHS) and higher profit margin. I mean if shareholders of these LCD companies are always after record breaking profit margin year after year, then standard aspect ratio screen may still be around. LCD trim offs in standard aspect ratio is bad not only to the profit margin, but also to the environment, due to the large amount of heavy metals and toxic materials used in the production process.
Have a read of this article:
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/37622
August 18th, 2008 4:59 pm
Correction: I mean if shareholders of these LCD companies WEREN’t always after record breaking profit margin year after year, then standard aspect ratio screen may still be around.
August 18th, 2008 5:16 pm
Bob & Alex:
I agree with you two that the bezel is growing unnecessarily thick in the new series.
Lenovo team:
Please work on trimming down the bezel to revive the super-thin bezel handsome look of prior Thinkpads, while maintaining the sturdiness.
[I am sure it can be difficult. It let me remember the complains of the MINI Cooper fans: they claims that BMW made the new MINI bulkier (larger in size), and worse is that the internal space of compartment and trunk became even smaller! These MINI fans said the older MINI (prior to BMW) were smaller in size, and were more spacious inside. Guess what: BMW reinforced the frame design of the old MINI Cooper to a degree that it complies with all the new international safety requirements (to withstand the crash tests etc). No wonder it is bulkier. However, I do think thinner bezel is worthwhile to work on - it needs to be more handsome because it is a Thinkpad.]
August 18th, 2008 5:30 pm
Sorry to say that but the design is really loss. Those ugly thick display bezels have ruined it.
As for displays, I’ll repeat it over and over. The X300 display is probably THE *WORST* display I’ve ever seen. You can not be serious to put such horrible component into premium price notebook. Compare it with new (matte) Sony Z 13″ series displays ! The W700 display is very likely a trick as well, just “better” 6 bit TN panel. Good old T60p UXGA IPS will look like a display from another planet today …
And just before the storm will start. First p/review of T400 on NBR http://www.notebookreview.com/.....ewsID=4557 has revealed that we may lost another component after displays – the keyboard. Lenovo did it again. It says that the keyboard flexes too much because it has been “cheapened”.
August 18th, 2008 7:38 pm
wjli2, great read! Thanks!
I wish that Mr. Hill would comment on the build of the W700.
HP has a new Dura Case that fuses an aluminum shell to a magnesium honeycomb structure, which is supported by an internal magnesium roll cage. WOW!
I would never ever buy an HP, but I would appreciate it if the design team could communicate like this!
http://hpbroadband.com/(S(moo2.....VJJBI2TYAN
August 18th, 2008 7:40 pm
Apologies for the bad link.
Check out “Look inside an HP notebook” in the top right-hand corner.
http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutio.....index.html
August 18th, 2008 8:39 pm
Thinkpads are more ruggedized than this HP laptop. All of this technology exists in Thinkpads…HP invented nothing.
“Thinkpads, the only ones”
August 18th, 2008 8:53 pm
I had only brought up the HP site to show how they discuss the build of their products.
In no way am I comparing HP to Lenovo. I would never buy HP, as I have written above.
I am very sorry for bringing up a competitor. I had not intended to start a Lenovo vs. HP discussion.
August 18th, 2008 9:39 pm
Excellent work; I know a number of professional photographers who are chomping at the bit for this one. If I had the money, I’d buy one myself in a heartbeat.
The only way I could see this getting any better is to make the whole screen a Cintiq.
In all, I’m in awe
August 18th, 2008 11:37 pm
I have doubts about HP, a beautiful laptop is more than the sum of its parts. HP use al cheapo motherboards, which fails on an industrial scale.
Yesterday i tripped on the power cord of the X60 and the machine flew across the room and hit the wall 4 metres away. There was a loud thump, my heart just dropped thinking scheißen, this laptop must have suffered catastrophic damage to the screen and harddrive or something. Had a look and the corner of X60 where the heat vent was totally collapsed (magnesium base got the corner collapsed into the heat vent, while the plastic ABS plastic heat vent grill bent a bit), the Sanyo battery got the fuse blown (it was the Sanyo unit on mass recall, unfortunately it is 6 months out of recall date, but doesn’t matter i got 2 spare 4 cell batteries). But hehe other than the superficial damage nothing seem to be wrong with it, talking about strong laptop. I then glued the various fallen magnesium pieces together with some special superglue i got from the supermarket, it looks well like new apart from the corner.
Kudo to Lenovo. My faith in Thinkpad remains as strong as the day i drop my T40 from a height of 1 m several years ago.
August 19th, 2008 1:40 am
Hello wjli2
Does Lenovo repair this ? Does it include in warranty ? Does Lenovo repair my titanium cover if it brokes ?
Tkx
August 19th, 2008 4:30 am
@Christian, unfortunately no, i don’t have accidental breakage warranty cover, but no worry i painted the corner black and reinforced it inside, so unless you look closely you can’t really see the damage. Titanium is more resilient to this sort of damage than Magnesium, it is probably cheaper to buy a new titanium cover than to upgrade the warranty.
August 19th, 2008 7:07 am
HP is such a bad imitator of stuffs. That HP person call that honey comb structure, i never knew Honey comb actually looked like that, having holes in a sheet does not make it honey comb structure. I mean at least they should take apart a Thinkpad T61 and have a look at how magnesium roll cage and chassis suppose to look like. Probably HP engineers took a tour around the contract manufacturing plant for Thinkpad next door. This is like Korean Sangyong car company trying to imitate the Merc Benz S series with its Chairman series of Sedan.
This sort of paper thin ‘brushed’ aluminium bonded to equally thin magnesium sheet (with couple of holes on it) is a laughable attempt by HP, it is jack of all trade and expert of none. There is way too much flex to protect anything in a 15.4 inch widescreen laptop screen, this is only little bit better than the plastic they use to use.
Magnesium base??? How long have X series have magnesium alloy base??? Mine X31 built in the start of 2004 has one. Even al cheapo Dell Vostro use a magnesium alloy base case.
Come on HP why are you flogging the HD motion sensor, it is been used by Apple and Lenovo for some time now.
August 19th, 2008 4:33 pm
wait a minute: http://www.notebookreview.com/.....ewsID=4560
you removed the backplate for the keyboard in the T500?
that’s … horrible!
August 19th, 2008 5:31 pm
Stefan, see my post no. 34 here. I’d rather have extra 0.04 kg weight to keep the keyboard quality standard. I think Lenovo still has the time to fix that ASAP.
August 19th, 2008 5:59 pm
Thanks for that link, Stefan!
Do you think that they removed the back plate from the W700 too?
August 20th, 2008 7:05 am
Reduced weight of the whole unit by just 25% weight of the keyboard, in the cost of ruining the hallmark keyboard and making it has more flex?
I bet all Thinkpad fans will request Lenovo to fix the flex of this new keyboard!
August 20th, 2008 7:38 pm
Personally I love Thinkpads, have been using them since T40 and on. Recently I was looking at T and W series and can’t help but wonder if W700 will be available with more flexible options. For example:
– I already have Wacom tablet, don’t really need to pay for second one, especially when it’s small and inconveniently located
– I want 4 GB or RAM since chipset can support it
– I want more options for the video card
– I generally want more options to be able to reduce the price of this beast to a reasonable level
W700 looks very good to me if above points could be addressed…
August 21st, 2008 5:28 am
Hi David,
nice blog, we are waiting for “X300 Tablet”, is there any plan?
August 21st, 2008 3:46 pm
It looks like the W700 does not have an internal roll cage.
I wish Lenovo would clarify this for us.
August 22nd, 2008 12:42 pm
@LukeD
I think the Roll Cage is not in any of the W series for that matter…hope i am wrong
August 22nd, 2008 2:30 pm
LukeD, why don’t you think it has a roll cage? We do need someone from Lenovo to clarify, ’cause I’m not buying if the build feels too flimsy/soft-plasticky/unsturdy.
August 22nd, 2008 3:07 pm
In the following post, I had advised Lenovo’s writing team of an error that had stated only the T61p features an internal roll cage.
http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/bo.....read.id=30
The writing team had acknowledged my post, but, instead of correcting it to include the W series, they had removed all references to an internal roll cage.
Furthermore, my posts above have gone unanswered.
NotebookReview.com is also starting to notice significant design changes in the new line.
My company has ordered many ThinkPads over the years. I just want to know if there is an internal roll cage in the W700. Neither our Lenovo or CDW sales reps have the answers.
I am hoping for clarification soon.
August 22nd, 2008 7:02 pm
posting error
August 22nd, 2008 9:02 pm
Please add my voice of support to those urging Lenovo to not mess up the Thinkpad keyboards. Good keyboards are absolutely essential for us all-day laptop users. When Lenovo acquired the Thinkpad brand, I thought “oh no, there goes the best keyboards in the industry”, but was very pleasantly surprised when my officemate bought a Lenovo 3000 v100 and I liked the keyboard. I bought my T61 a while later and I like its keyboard too.
It’s a really sad thing about the 4:3 screens. I don’t understand how they use more material than widescreens, since they have less perimeter for the same surface area. I love my A21p’s UXGA screen and I wish my T61 had the same screen.
The W700 is interesting, though I don’t feel likely to buy one since I’m not that much of a graphics user. Anyway, 17″ isn’t all that large these days. What I really want is a 30″ external monitor (dual link dvi), now that those have gotten relatively affordable. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I hope future Thinkpads support them.
It seems to me the SL200 isn’t being well received like the X300. I tend to be a “two-laptop family” with a workstation-like machine (A21p recently upgraded to a T61) and an ultraportable (currently an X40). I’m sort of tempted by the X61 and X300. The SL series actually seems less attractive.
I notice that 4GB DDR2 SODIMMs are now getting affordable ($180 at Newegg) so I plan to upgrade my T61 to 8GB soon. DDR3 sodimms with 4gb don’t exist, so the T400, W700 etc. appear to max out at 2×2gb right now. Plus DDR3 is much more expensive, though that may change. I don’t understand why they don’t put 4 slots in those machines, so I could have put 4×2gb in my T61 on day one, with a 4×4gb upgrade in sight. 16gb in a laptop would be awesome. The raw increased capacity is much more useful than the DDR3 “upgrade” which gives a slight memory bandwidth improvement at much higher cost and (for now) half the maximum capacity.
August 22nd, 2008 9:51 pm
Luke,
My previous post that answers your question is still awaiting moderation.
You can also find my answer here:
http://forum.lenovo.com/lnv/bo.....d.id=14792
August 28th, 2008 10:52 am
Without more information, I’m forced to assume that the digitizer is more akin to a Wacom Bamboo Fun than a Wacom Intuos3. Too bad.
September 3rd, 2008 3:28 am
1. What about the left-handed users?
2. What happened to “T61p”
September 21st, 2008 11:56 am
Does the W700 has support for “stereo mix” feature…? It happens to me that it maybe a necessary feature for video producers.
Reference: http://forum.notebookreview.co.....p?t=247719
October 2nd, 2008 5:00 am
The digitizer pad would be more useful if it had a swinging or sliding cover which would double as a secure palm rest when working with the pad. Being able to rest one’s hand on a platform gives the user more delicate control.
tOM
November 5th, 2008 11:31 pm
Seems there is a slight oversite. The unit has the features that I need while mobile, but we also like to dock the unit when in the office so that we have access to our larger screen, full keyboard, mouse and printers. Personally, I like CSS and fingerprint. Had a USB fingerprint connected to my dock with my old T60p. The new unit however had serious issues when I tried to connect the external fingerprint reader. Does anyone find it feasible to open the lid every time that a fingerprint is required?
November 6th, 2008 3:21 pm
rob – check your BIOS settings for fingerprint reader priority. there’s a choice for external or internal being the primary reader. make sure it’s set on external.
November 15th, 2008 4:23 pm
What do photographers want? See http://www.digitalcamerareview.....nkpad+w700 :
…
Drawing from the ThinkPad as a starting point, then, I’ve begun forming a vision of what the ideal photographer’s laptop – in my opinion, at least – would look like. And it goes something like this…
Bigger isn’t always better
As a desktop replacement device, the W700’s desktop-quality 17 inch display is great. But the emphasis on large systems in the graphics-intensive notebook market ignores a simple truth about graphics pros: most creatives do the bulk of their work on high-end desktop systems. A photographer’s laptop is, as a rule, truly a travel tool, providing a first stop for offloading, sorting, uploading, and doing first-pass post processing on images on the road.
More and more, I’m thinking my ideal mobile graphics machine will be built on a 15 inch platform, providing a slightly more workable balance between screen area and portability than most of the current graphics platforms offer. The W700 is a great machine to work on when it’s anchored to a desk, but the fact of the matter is that it simply won’t fit in even my largest photo gear bag. Never mind that it adds a shoulder punishing 12 pounds in the process. For those of us who spend a lot of time taking pictures (and, in my case, writing about taking pictures) on the road, a 17 inch machine is simply unworkable from a portability perspective.
Building a graphics system around a 15 inch display may also make sense in that it might make it more cost-effective to integrate higher-end display technologies. Many were disappointed to learn that for all the talk about its excllent display – and in many ways, it is an excellent panel – the W700 would be coming to market with a common twisted nematic (or TN) LCD. For those who aren’t up on their technology where display panels are concerned, cheaper TN panels are the type found in the overwhelming majority of laptops and consumer-grade desktop LCDs.
The gold standard for display technology, though, is the in-plane switching (or IPS) panel type. Although many high-end desktop displays use IPS panels, their cost has kept them out of most laptops over the years – although Lenovo did source one as an option for the now discontinued ThinkPad T60. For color fidelity, contrast, and gamut, IPS panels simply can’t be beat, and while they’re expensive, building a graphics notebook around a 15 inch display would make integrating a high-end IPS display potentially more cost-viable.
And when it comes to size versus quality, I’ll take the world’s best 15 inch laptop display over even a very good 17 incher any day of the week.
Speed more important than space
Storage is another area where manufacturers building for graphics users tend to focus heavily on quantity – the assumption being that a photo or video library can easily begin to push the limits of a single notebook hard drive. Hence, machines tailored for this purpose also feature multiple drives in a RAID 0 configuration, netting a single storage area of 300+ gigabytes in your typical 17 inch graphics machine.
The problem here is that backup storage has become so cheap: I can easily get a terrabyte of file storage space in an external drive for under $200 these days. For this reason, most of us who take lots of images, and in particular lots of raw images, aren’t exactly hurting for storage space.
Thus, I for one am not interested in paying a premium for file capacity in my notebook, as the majority of my images don’t live there long. Rather, if I’m going to pay a premium, I’d much rather it be for speed. Others will undoutbtedly disagree, but a single, relatively low capacity, high-speed SSD is the ticket as far as I’m concerned – that kind of speed is something that I’m willing to shell out bucks for.
[or perhaps 3x10,000 rpm drives? -tOM]
The hook up
The W700 has an option to replace its PC card with a Compact Flash reader. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re targeting profressional or serious amateur photographers, the ability to pull CF cards straight from your 5D or D700 and grab files from is critical. Hence, a CF reader – or better, yet, double CF slots – should be standard equipment (in addition to the expected multi-card slot for getting files off of your SD or xD using SLRs and compacts).
Likewise, the ability to connect to a range of devices is often the lifeblood of a photographic workflow. Firewire, eSATA, HDMI, and copious (I consider five the bare minimum these days) USB connections are all essential. I honestly couldn’t care less about the ability to play BluRay at this point, but a basic CD/DVD burner for quickly ripping files to disk for client copies or quick backups is important.
I was unsure about usefulness of having a built-in tablet/digitizer on the W700: I’m a regular tablet user for my photo editing work, but the W700’s 3×5 pad is a pretty small space to work with. With the interests of portability outlined above, however, the idea is really growing on me. The fact that the digitizer isn’t so big that it couldn’t be effectively integrated into a 15 inch notebook has real promise for a future smaller system. Finding a place to set up my tablet when I’m trying to work in an airport, where table space simply doesn’t exist, is always a problem, but with even a small built-in tablet on a notebook that’s more traveler friendly, I could soon be leaving my Wacom at home.
[but it does need an unfolding palm rest - precision work needs the hand to rest on something]
Finally, built-in calibrators like the one on the W700 are nice, but you’re talking about a piece of equipment (a spectrocolorimeter, that is) that most serious photographers already own anyway. Moreover, it’s not as if recalibration is something you frequently and urgently must do when working from the road. For what Lenovo likely spent to integrate the W700’s calibration system, I’d love to see something like dual external monitor support instead. Again, you can never have too many connections.
So what about you?
The more I think about it, the more I can envision my ideal graphics machine. Sure, it bears strong resemblances to several systems currently available, but like the W700, would represent an integration of several unique, photographer-focused concepts were it actually to come to market. I suppose there’s always room for another W computer in Lenovo’s lineup, but given the niche market status of this kind of thing, there are clear risks in diluting the brand as well. Hence, it may be up to someone else to make my “perfect photographer’s notebook” a reality.
…
November 15th, 2008 4:45 pm
30 years ago I bought an aircraft aluminum Zero Halliburton camera case, like
http://bestyardsaleever.files......efcase.jpg
Very strong and lightweight, 13×18x5″, I bought it because it easily held my 11×17 computer printouts – unlike all other briefcases, as well as being very sturdy. Put it flat and you can actually stand on it. It even has shoulder strap loops at the side. Mine got a few dents falling off my bike. These are the same brand the moon rocks were placed in, and which are often seen in movies with diamonds or cash inside. The only weak spots are the weak (tho sexy) latches and lack of waterproofing. Pelican cases are heavier but waterproof, and not at all sexy.
Many models (they come in various thicknesses) could easily hold a W700 with padding room to spare, and room for a few files, tho not the power brick.
It might be an idea for lenovo to sell/promote this computer case, with appropriate padding inside.