Two Headed Beast Unleashed
If you thought the first ThinkPad W700 was a performance beast, wait until you see the newest version. We just announced an even more extreme model with an industry leading integrated second display. Because many workstation users typically work with two monitors, Lenovo designed the ThinkPad W700ds mobile workstation with two screens to accommodate users work habits and to eliminate the compromise of having only one display when operating in a mobile environment. Once you have gotten used to a dual display environment it’s very hard to go back. In case you are wondering ds stands for dual screen. Clever aren’t we.
Research has shown that extra screen real-estate with multiple monitors helps maximize user productivity versus traditional single display solutions. Measuring almost 40 percent of the 17-inch primary screen, the 10.6-inch second screen gives users extra screen real-estate in a portable solution. The secondary display neatly slides behind the primary screen when not in use. You can watch a video clip of the action here.
It’s not just about having two displays, however, it’s also about proper ergonomics. We made certain that the display slide mechanism also allowed the screen to angle toward the user at varying degrees. Can you imagine reading a two page newspaper spread if it had to be viewed totally flat? The secondary screen is adjustable within 30 degrees. This range allows the user to comfortably adjust the screen to fall within their cone of vision. Setting it is as easy as adjusting the rear view mirror on my car.
There are many obvious productivity enhancing uses for multiple displays for this class of machine. I won’t even attempt to list them. Oddly enough there also seem to be unintentional benefits that are often discovered by people after the fact. My favorite one builds on the rear view mirror analogy. If you activate the onboard camera and move the video image to the second screen it can cleverly be used to see if anyone is lurking behind you. The ThinkPad rear view mirror option is born. Now you can stop worrying about being caught surfing the web, e-mailing friends, or playing solitaire while the boss quietly watches. That never happens to you, or does it?
David Hill
January 7th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Hmmmm..
1) quote “The secondary screen is adjustable within 30 degrees.”
it doesn’t look adjustable in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVrTXZwaEUQ
If this video is some sort of prototype stage, uploaded by your employee, take it down.
2)Why not integrating two side screens? Then you could choose either left or right side, or both for playing Microsoft flight simulator. The fact that this add-on screen is “hanging” on the side, and that its pulled out like that, makes it a look a bit… well “Chinese” and cheap.
3)The only nice design thing is the pen that fits inside a pen compartment. But, why does it need a clip?
Would be nice to see some Lenovo innovation, and the consequent real brand building. Chinese are not as un-cool as they used to be, what is still making them uncool is the fact that they don’t have their own vision, but do exactly what the “target group wants” Innovation is about being where the ball will be, not where it is.
I watched the Apple keynote today and wondered how come someone doesn’t beat them.. C’mon Lenovo, get a grip and start making some cool stuff! And when I write cool I don’t mean putting some black laquer finish look on a black plastic box.
January 7th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
[...] Nice, but this monster is just too big. [...]
January 7th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Instead of making it more agile you’re making what could’ve been a great product, even heavier, clunkier and more expensive.
Having dual displays in mobile mode is great *if* the notebook can be carried without breaking your back and lasts more than an hour on battery charge. If that’s impossible to do, then it’s not worth doing *at all*. Lose the mobility (and in most cases you already have with this product) and you can get a far faster PC for less than half the price with 2 1920×1200 displays. Perhaps you already know this and have priced it for a very particular niche, who are happy to fill those margins – in which case, good luck.
With the X300, at least you had something comparable with Apple’s Air. With their 17″ update they have you so sorely beat in so many ways it’s not even funny. The faster you go back to the drawing board on this one the better.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I highly doubt it will sell. It’s huge. It’s expensive. In fact, it might be cheaper to just buy two serious workstations a decent thinkpad for the road.
Workstation and mobile doesn’t go at the same time. If you try it, you have to compromise to much.
Then again, it might just be me.
January 7th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
I think that this machine wasn’t designed for your average consumer. If you check out the specs you’d find that it’s geared for intensive mobile graphics, CAD and viz applications; not the run-of-the-mill pixel pushing. It may not be very pretty but as a mobile professionals’ tool it’s bar-none.
January 7th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Looks great. I’d quite fancy one of these for my development machine instead of my desktop. It’s a shame it won’t be configurable in the UK, though, because we’re bound to end up with a choice of the worst configuration or nothing, as with other ThinkPads.
Any chance of resolving this?
January 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Still using TN displays exclusively? What a pity!
I hate it when my favourite Thinkpads get cheap parts and/or are built with poor quality.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Beautiful. It only begs the obvious question, how about TWO pop out screens?
January 8th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
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January 9th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Yeah, I like it. Of course, it is really NOT targeted at the average consumer who sits on his couch and visits chat rooms all day. Those will still buy their Acers.
But in an industrial or artistical environment, this is a great thing. As we all know, the W700 is already targeted very much to photographers and graphic designers, and who knows who else will love it as well. There might even be some “average couch sitters” who will buy it, just to have something k3wl
Until now, there hasn’t been anything like it, so how should someone know if it will really flop or be widely used? I think Lenovo should be respected for being the first ones to do this experiment.
I’m a software developer, and even I could imagine lots of useful situations for it. Of course, I also can see advantages with using an X200 or a T500 with a docking station. But also disadvantages when compared to just using a W700ds. Or maybe a W700ds with an external monitor? There’s tons of possibilities, and I like that Lenovo tries to please some “niche” customers, who have been ignored for so long.
Apple has just released a 17″ version of their Macbooks. With a non-removable battery. Lenovo has released something innovative.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I already considered the regular W700 to be a rather extreme design (as in “you’ve got to be kidding!”) — and the W700ds *really* puts it over the top for me.
However, I must also admit that I’m not part of the target market for these designs — just like I’m not in the target market for a totally sealed and ruggedized 14 pound suitcase luggable design either. For what it is and what it contains, it’s really not an unreasonably large or heavy design. I think the niche markets that are hungry for such machines will be the ones to decide just where to draw the line between genuinely useful and “that’s just silly”. If nothing else, the W700ds gives us a new concept to toss around.
Perhaps dual fixed side by side portrait format screens might be one possible solution to replace the horrible increasingly squashed widescreen formats that are being forced on us all right now. Hmmm?
January 11th, 2009 at 9:37 am
When I first saw the W700ds on a link from the inquirer I was amazed, when I saw the full intro here, I was positively blown away.
I would certainly be willing to sink 3.5-4k on this beast, if I was in a job that used my cad skills, instead of being in it procurement. By my reckoning, the W700DS could help increase the productivity of site based designers on large scale projects, by shortening the time between data acquisition and usage on cad drawings. The W700DS does look more like a Desktop (Workstation) Replacement than a portable laptop due to its weight and heat generated by its Core2 Extreme processor and Quadro graphics card.
January 11th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Umm, I’d like to see the return of the butterfly keyboard design, and innovation with OLED screen technology asap. This would help to create a small form factor that expands in useful ways when opened. Call it the Thinkpad Tardis.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
There certainly should be a right-side screen- and a top?
But why not articulate the side screen(s) on an arm like a tablet screen – then their backs would protect them instead of a screen “garage”.
But for their market, they need wide-gamut displays and grey reference tones, not black, around the screen.
January 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
An articulated arm (well, a 2-axis hinge) would also allow you to show people on the other side the images you are seeing.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
i respectfully disagree with displays having gray bezels. gray plastics (most notably polycarbonates and ABS) are extremely difficult to make without some color cast to them. on top of that, many plastics discolor over time due to their petroleum content.
black is by far the best color (at least for thinkpads and display bezels, anyway).
January 14th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I’m very attracted to the concept of pull-out monitors, but as others have said, it would be nice to have two pull-outs instead of one. And this is a really great feature; you could get a lot of screen space without severely affecting the form factor. How long will it take before this feature emigrates down to the T- and R- series?
January 18th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
If the Onion ran an article detailing the decline of Lenovo, this would have been the laptop I’d have expected them to invent.
February 8th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
[...] Nice, but this monster is just too big. [...]
February 8th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
[...] but this monster is just too big. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds dual-screen laptop details [...]
September 16th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Much interesting, well why all exactly so?