Lenovo intros the monstrous ThinkPad W700, and we get our hands all over it (updated with Wacom video demo)

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Aug 12th 2008 at 12:01AM

Like your laptops to be over-achievers? Like, the really annoyingly stacked variety of over-achiever? Enter Lenovo's newest outrage -- the ThinkPad W700. 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. Take a look at our hands-on below and see the beast for yourself.

Update: The kids over at Notebooks dropped in some videos of the W700 including a brief look at the Wacom digitizer in action with Photoshop. Check it after the break.

Gallery: Lenovo intros the monstrous ThinkPad W700, and we get our hands all over it

Filed under: Laptops

Tags: breaking news, BreakingNews, color calibrator, ColorCalibrator, digitizer, features, lenovo, nvidia quadro fx 3700, NvidiaQuadroFx3700, quad core extreme, QuadCoreExtreme, w700, wacom, workstation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Low Ranked

BigDaddyM @ Aug 12th 2008 12:06AM

First? Not the first Quad, you guys just earlier said the HO was the first...

and you guys thought I was saying anothing else first... Nope.

Highly Ranked

Striker @ Aug 12th 2008 12:10AM

This is a Core 2 Extreme, the EliteBook is likely a Core 2 Quad, and I wouldn't be surprised if this comes out first lol.

Neutral

Elliot @ Aug 12th 2008 8:31AM

+1

the HP came in with almost identical specs bar the tablet digitiser yet this single laptop got pumped much more.
The reason for the schoolgirl-excited post seems to be because engadget got sent a demo unit.
So there's a marketing hint HP, give them something to drool over and you'll get more coverage.

Neutral

LondonConsultant @ Aug 12th 2008 9:03AM

Look at the thickness that bezel! They could have fitted a 19 inch screen into that lid...

Neutral

BigDaddyM @ Aug 12th 2008 12:06AM

There wasa typo, "HP" 8730w was announced earlier today...
M

Neutral

andres @ Aug 12th 2008 12:07AM

hows the battery life?

Highly Ranked

Striker @ Aug 12th 2008 12:11AM

Over 9000, milliseconds.

Neutral

Noiro @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17AM

I highly doubt it exceeds 2 hours. 1.1 hours maybe... Unless a huge portion underneath is packing 15000mAh worth of battery justice.

Highly Ranked

linuxamp @ Aug 12th 2008 12:33AM

This sucker's electrical, but you need a nuclear reaction to produce the 1.21 gigawatts of power needed for the quad core extreme, Nvidia FX, 17" screen, digitizer, 2x HDD, Blu-ray and all that ram.

Highly Ranked

Jason @ Aug 12th 2008 12:41AM

Great Scott!!

Neutral

cromas @ Aug 12th 2008 2:18AM

...did you rip that off?

Highly Ranked

msalivar @ Aug 12th 2008 3:08AM

Do people actually expect to use machines like this on battery? I'd think it's a desk to desk solution with a built in UPS.

Neutral

jawa_edan @ Aug 12th 2008 3:44AM

THE HULK: "LENOVO MAKE HULK ANGRY. BATTERY LIFE SUCK. HULK SMASH NETBOOK!"

Dr Banner: "Where's that 17" monster I just bought?"

Neutral

BigDaddyM @ Aug 12th 2008 12:07AM

Damn typos...

were is the edit button?

Highly Ranked

zomg0t @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17AM

lol

Highly Ranked

andres @ Aug 12th 2008 12:41AM

irony

Neutral

BigDaddyM @ Aug 12th 2008 12:09AM

Were did all the posts go? Error?

Highly Ranked

zomg0t @ Aug 12th 2008 12:15AM

You must be new here... Welcome to Engadget. What you are experiencing is not an error; everything is going according to design.

Neutral

scott @ Aug 12th 2008 1:43AM

were'da coulda shoulda

Neutral

wonkydonkydotnet @ Aug 12th 2008 5:38PM

That's not a Bug, it's a Feature!

Neutral

jewps @ Aug 12th 2008 12:15AM

I would never buy one of these but I gotta ask, is there a model for leftys?

Neutral

jd @ Aug 12th 2008 12:21AM

why sir? you can't write on the right side with your left hand?

Neutral

Yuri @ Aug 12th 2008 12:34AM

Unless you can turn the trackpad off, no.

Actually, even with the trackpad not going haywire, that'd be hard because of the feel of the trackpad on your hand and wrist.

I wish this was in a 15in model, and had the option to put the Wacom on the left =(

Neutral

joe blow @ Aug 12th 2008 1:09PM

I'm going to sue the bastards for discrimination. Most intelligent and creatively gifted people are lefty's. I want one anyway, and ownership will likely help my lawsuit.

Neutral

Ethan @ Aug 14th 2008 8:01PM

There's not enough room to the left of the touchpad to put the digitizer there unless it was smaller. You'd have to put the number pad on the left of the keyboard, plus move the internals around to fit the digitizer on the left side (and the touchpad shifted right a few inches). In the end it'd probably be a $500+ premium due to tooling and such.

Neutral

neothespian @ Aug 12th 2008 12:17AM

er.... I think my 2G Surf just wet itself....

Sorry, he just doesn't do well with bullies, and I can assure you this thing will be taking some lunch money when it's let out in public.

Neutral

linuxamp @ Aug 12th 2008 12:19AM

Where are all the Apple fanbois? C'mon you must have something to say...

Highly Ranked

craig.lee.watson+2 @ Aug 12th 2008 12:24AM

they're (we're) upset because you guys got the Wacom notebook first.

Neutral

Neo Anderson @ Aug 12th 2008 12:39AM

No...not at all. Not to something like that.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Do. Want.

Highly Ranked

dobba @ Aug 12th 2008 2:07AM

Nope. Nothing to say because any half decent 'creative' wouldn't touch a computer like that with the wacom fixed to the laptop in that fashion. People that use graphic tablets like to have their own way to hold them, be that at an angle, on their lap - whatever.

That design necessitates that it must be on the desktop at all times - if I want to angle it I have to tilt the whole computer. Ergonomically, it looks a nightmare. And the tablet area is just too small for any proper work. And doesn't suit left handers.

It's not being fanboyish, I don't care what computer anyone uses and if you're in the design industry it's what gets the job done, not what you did it on that counts but that's adding something to a computer that kills it's usability. It may have everything you need on it but that doesn't mean everything on it is very good or carries out its true function. =)

Neutral

linuxamp @ Aug 12th 2008 7:13AM

So your only complaint is the embedded digitizer? What if it popped out and used bluetooth?

Neutral

giuliop @ Aug 12th 2008 7:52AM

@dobba

So, what would a creative user touch, a computer with no tablet at all? Would the absence of a tablet make it a better computer, improve its 'usability'?

For god's sake, it is obvious that these computers are made for the desktop. The integrated devices (trackpad, trackpoint, tablet) are meant to be used when you have no other choice. During normal use - on the desktop - you can have all the dangling devices you want.
Would said creative user use the trackpad (or the trackpoint) routinely to do his work instead of a mouse and be called 'half decent'?

Neutral

jorvay @ Aug 12th 2008 9:42AM

The important thing is that when Apple comes out with a similar design in a few months, it will be all praise, and somehow it'll become common knowledge that Lenovo coppied apple (a la Sony keyboard).

Personally, in my office environment, this thing would be solid gold: a business machine that can manhandle CAD and GIS tools.

Neutral