You could tell from the specs sheet that Lenovo's
ThinkPad W700 wasn't a common man's machine, and a review from the cats at
Laptop Mag has all but confirmed that. Dubbed "a beast of a 17-inch [laptop]," this rig was marveled upon right from the get-go; after all, it's not everyday that you see a full-fledged digitizer built right into the palm rest, not to mention the integrated color calibrator. Unfortunately, such niceties weren't bundled in for free, as the review unit they had rocked a $3,802 price tag. Still, the design, build quality and performance were all stellar, but critics couldn't help but point out that this unique creature wouldn't be worthwhile for everyone. In fact, they praised Lenovo for "incorporated some truly innovative features," but they did confess that they weren't "entirely convinced of their practicality." Think long and hard before digging into your kids' college fund for this one, you hear?
posted Oct 3rd 2008 8:10AM
Looks very ugly !
Nah, just looks like a Lenovo. Garden-variety ugly.
Looks like this is Lenovo's attempt to get graphic designers to buy laptops. It's not just the digitizer (translation: graphics tablet) and the color calibrator; it's also the wide-gamut LCD. IIRC, high-end designers generally avoid LCDs, since CRTs give better color response; from a quick Googling, it looks like the W700's screen gives about the same color response as a CRT.
It's probably a good idea. I suspect, though, that it'll founder until some company with actual design sense (maybe Apple, maybe Sony) takes a crack at it, since graphic designers generally like things to look good. :-)
Regardless of how much it is, there are people who are going to buy it.
Honestly, the digitiser is a great idea, because 17 inches is too cumbersome for a comfortable tablet, so this would be good for artists and people who need to sketch things on-the-go, but also need the screen real estate to justify a 17-incher. I'm thinking architects, graphic designers, engineers, the kind of people who would have the money to buy a fully-speced version.
It's just an added bonus that it probably has the build-quality and toughness that makes Thinkpads legendary.
@Tom
Who said the W700 is not ugly??? The pricetag is ugly!
*MAD*
What an ugly, UGLY machine! What on earth happened to the product design here?! Right out the window I say! Don't get me wrong, looks, obviously, ain't everything, but sweet jesus a little tidy up doesn't go a miss!
Where have you been, Thinkpads always have had a simplistic and sleek design like this.
While some thing it is ugly, others like me, thing they look good. I don't need something to be shiny or have racing strips (or whatever else they are doing these days), I am looking for functionality, which is exactly what Thinkpads give you.
Thinkpad designs have always had two widely contrasting opinions; fugly and proper business
I'm on the latter camp
I am a utilitarian. I love my thinkpad FTW
I don't get why people are always low ranked for saying these are ugly.
Does everyone who owns an IBM/Lenovo laptop constantly F5 Engadget so they can defend their laptops assuage themselves? The looks of your computer aren't a reflection on you personally, and your possessions don't define who you are, stop getting so defensive about it. They really are bad looking computers, and I don't know why people will defend their designs to the death. It's not like a minor visual upgrade is going to totally ruin your precious machine.
It's like those idiots and their Model M keyboards. Just because a particular design used to be futuristic or top-of-the-line doesn't mean it still is. Your nostalgic product of choice really was never very good to start with, get over it.
@Zorque:
Lenovo computers aren't meant to be pretty. If they were, they'd be a whole lot prettier than they are now, that's for sure. What makes a Thinkpad a Thinkpad is: durability, features, practicality, construction, efficiency, and more durability. I've seen ONE Thinkpad kick the bucket, and it was still running Windows 95 Plus!.
So people who assume that every laptop should be fantastically pretty and call this one out on being ugly are being low-ranked because they add NOTHING to the conversation. We all know that it's not a pretty computer, but most of us know that (IBM/)Lenovo simply doesn't give a crap since they continue to deliver excellent machines that work for practically as long as you want them to. The W700 being ugly is irrelevant.
You do realize that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? You can't just say that this is ugly, like it's a fucking fact. Get off yourself, and realize there is a hell of a lot of people that disagree with you, and there is nothing wrong with them because of that!
Although, I don't particularly like the thick bezel around that LCD. Was probably needed with all that tech inside, but still!
Zorque: Then why do you reply? Yes, in today's modern aesthetic, ThinkPads are considered ugly by comparison. When you have one in front of you, for some reason, you start to garner a certain appreciation for the look. Has it ever occurred to you that there's a reason why ThinkPad owners defend them so much? They're fantastic machines, ergonomically perfect, and oddly attractive in a weird way.
A computer doesn't have to be ugly to run well. I don't know how anyone finds them attractive, I honestly don't. Maybe you all time traveled from 1996 and it's the first computer you've seen since then or something. It really is just a terrible design scheme from basically any standard of graphic design.
I want them to look nice because they're nice computers and I want to get one, but the whole "thrown-together from cheap and mismatched plastic parts" look doesn't do it for me, and if you can stand it then I envy your ability to have no standards at all.
3 things: ThinkPads never look outdated, in fact unless you know them pretty well it is hard to see the difference between a 10 year old ThinkPad and a new one. Which is a good thing. Usually I like the design, it's just elegant and serious. And finally ThinkPad's will look as if they are new, even if they are 5 years old (the surface on my 9 year old ThinkPad looks as if it is new). A MacBook will look used and beaten after 2 months of looking at it.
Sounds like a good thing for photographers, this thing.
Everybody's idea of aesthetically pleasing is different. I personally prefer the matte black and feel of the Thinkpad's SEPC to laptops with plastic that was glossed 50 times over.
@ Zorque:
The high end Thinkpads are mostly made out of super elastic poly carbonate and carbon fiber reinforced plastic. By no means are they made out of "thrown-together from cheap and mismatched plastic parts." Those materials actually add utilitarian features and set the standard for durability.
Zork: what are you talking about?
Standards of graphic design? You mean type, color and layout grids? What do they have to do with Industrial Design or more specifically in this case ... Product Design? And how exactly is the plastic 'mismatched'?
There is a driving theory in modern design that says 'Form follows Function' which starts to explain how we find beauty in things such as fighter jets, domes and arches, formula 1 race cars, etc. People who get this, can quickly understand how ThinkPad design is derived from necessity. Well crafted computers that are built for longevity, with modular components for easy repair, and subtle variations as responses to base level ergonomics. ThinkPads are beautiful in an objective and rational way.
Post-modernism evolved in response to all those who didn't get modernism. It tends to satisfy more subjective, phenomenological desires of the observer. This is where we get all the fake clothing used to cover up the inner workings of things: fake greek columns for decoration, chrome-plated plastic to look like metal, fake air intakes on cars, etc. Post modernism is often used when designers assume a design is 'missing something' and as a results some users will 'get' those decisions, and some will not.
Apple has exhibited both approaches in the past and sometimes both, though fortunately after the jelly-bean macs, the trend has been towards an objective modernism.
Those of us who think ThinkPads are what they need to be, think so for a reason: they don't need fake or unecessary chrome-plating, carbon fiber, splashes of car paint, or other subjective whims to be what they need to be.
If you are a mobile artist why not just get a tablet pc, you can get some great ones for under $2000. Most have a wacom digitizer in the screen so you can use it like a cintiq. Not a fan of windows get a modbook(macbook pro slate tablet mod) for $2300.
Ooh, show me a quad-core tablet with 4GB Ram, a 1GB dedicated video card, dual 7200RPM SATA drives with a RAID controller, and a built in color calibration device.
Not to mention the screens don't offer the level of response most artists would expect from a digitizer. That's why Wacom has a market for the $2000 digitizer screens:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/04/wacom-rolls-out-the-cintiq-20wsx-interactive-pen-display/
You didn't think the digitizer was the ONLY selling point did you?
That, and tablet screens change accuracy depending on where your head is in relation to the screen. I bought a really nice Toshiba Portege a while ago without realizing this parallax error, and sold it within a month. It was the most frustrating product in the world to do mobile graphic work with. Wonderful machine, but it's not meant for serious accurate work by design of the writing surface being several millimeters away from the actual image on the screen.
A dedicated Wacom digitizer on the palmrest solves this problem.
This is a work computer, not desk ornament.
Now if they'd just make a left handed version...
I'm with you on that one. I need a leftie version!
Oh well, knowing Lenovo, it'll happen within the next few months.
A great beast of a machine, but a pity it also has a great beast of a bezel. What is it with Lenovo and their increasing bezels... IBM would have mandated designs with much thinner bezels than the recent ThinkPad machines...
It's a little misleading to attribute the digitizer and pantone calibrator as a culprit in the significant price; those two upgrades together currently run you a grand total of $127.50 ... much less buying both individually would cost, and you don't need to carry around extra stuff.
That said, I was seriously considering this puppy until Dell announced and subsequently released the M6400. The Lenovo low-point for me is the 4GB RAM ceiling ... this will be troublesome for most serious, professional CGI/CAD/CAM & Video users. Seems sort of short-sighted for Lenovo given their all-out attempt with this one. Means more to me than the digitizer.
Still, if all I needed it for was digital photography and pp, it'd be a beautiful match. Nice mate for all big DSLR & DMF cameras being dropped lately.
This picture doesn't do the laptop justice. See http://www.photolaptop.com/ for all the details. This machine is awesome and since im a photographer/ graphic and flash designer all in one, it is obviously very good looking to me. The one problem is that amateur, professional, and student graphic designers, photographers, videographers, broadcast designers, flash designers and anything else creative are probably using a mac. Apple doesn't have a huge percent of the total personal computer market but they have 70-80% of the creative market. This laptop was designed mostly for photographers... since its url is photolaptop.com and its got a built in CF card reader and and waycom tablet. The photography market is split in half by users of Aperture and users of Lightroom. Any Aperture users have to be on a mac and therefor wont be using this computer. So that leaves Lightroom and PC users who are pretty serious about photography or graphic design as this computers target market. The price isn't that bad since you would pay way more for a Macbook Pro that is less powerful and can't contain two or even three hardrives with the ability to write to each at the same time, creating instant backups, doesn't have a card reader and doesn't have a waycom tablet. But in all reality I don't think this will do well... I hope that is does. I hope that is does so apple would see that features like this would completely seal the deal and make apple the ONLY computer used by creatives. Get your head out of your ass apple and make me something like this!
Honestly, I have longed for a laptop with a digitizer built into the palm rest or trackpad. As a student I do all my note taking on a laptop and I have wanted a built in digitizer for writing equations and drawing graphs and charts, especcily for economics. There are other solutions, wacom table, digital pen, sanning in my notes, by they all are pretty bad. I don't want to sacrifice the use of a keyboard... thus a table isn't the best for me (I type my notes because I can't read my handwriting in the first place) I think this is a great idea thats been to long in coming. Hopefully someone will put it in a small, liteweight, package, a 13.3 or, better yet, a 10" netbook. That would be perfect.
The bezel has to do with the protection of the screen and eliminate the need for rubber gaps put up between screen and keyboard when closed.
my neighbor how works for Lenovo gave me one of these guys fully loaded (about $6,500) and it just kick a**. I study graphic design at Cal State Fullerton and it out performs every desktop computer we have in the labs.
DIzznizzle the 700 only ships with up to 4 gig of ram but supports up to 8
Sweet, thanks. W700 is back in the running.
credit crunch is taking a toll on our banks and that price tag isnt helping
That's something REPO man should worry about.
Of what use is a georgeous case housing a crappy computer? Some of you act as if the appearance of the packaging is what determines whether a computer is worthwhile. Personally, I like classic design. A shiny bright gloss case looks great if you are a college kid trying to impress yoru friends in your stadium sized intro to psychology course with the new laptop you aer using to screw off in Faceshnook instead of listening to yrou prof. (ooops! The S-10 I just bought is bright glossy red). I still love my solid black 2002 R40.
Why do we defend it?
BEcuase we are sick of shallow, post modernistic "OMG IT IS SITLL MATTE BLACK its UGLY" crowd. The ones who dictate an HP looks better when it does NOT. Gret plastic chromed up does NOT equal good looking. They may be fasionable, but they tire ont he eyes quickly.
Lenovo/IMB thinkpads? Typing on my t42. Doesn't look a hell of a lot different than the newer lines. Instantly recognisebale. Serious looking. Business like.
Its like those Nivea Body wash commercials. You guys like the smelly stuff, and Thinkpads are the nivea. Simple, nonplussed, and get the job done right ^_^
*slaps his non-proofreading and inability to edit posts*
Still want it. Just need to break it into 3 invoices for my boss!
Next time you have to run three virtual machines (2 XP Clients, 1 Server 2k8) on an Ubuntu system while running an Oracle server, a Java IDE and a large web-application while developing security protocols for said web-app, you won't think practicality is an issue at all when you see a quad core machine with a couple of hard drives and a huge screen.
Thanks for playing, but to some of us computers are more than toys.
Seems like over-kill (unless you have an unlimited budget).