It’s one thing for small boutique electronic shops to build “gaming” laptops that feature some serious horsepower (and usually some honkin’ big external power supplies to match.)
But now Lenovo has taken the ThinkPad to the next level with the W700. This is big in two ways- first, Lenovo already has an “in” with every major corporation that already uses ThinkPad laptops, secondly, the sheer mass of common parts makes this a cost-effective evolution for them.
This laptop is what any “Pro” laptop ought to be– built from the ground up to kick some computing arse.
Let’s review the press release and prepare to be amazed at the number of innovations compared to other laptops that portend to be “Pro” machines but, in reality, just got their socks stuff in their mouth.
Will the other “Pro” laptop step up? Probably not… too busy being shiny.
Lenovo today introduced the ThinkPad W700, a 17-inch widescreen mobile workstation engineered with game-changing technologies and innovations to exceed the demands of the most data and graphics-intensive users.
INNOVATION: check!
Quad-Core computing
Optional built-in Wacom digitizer
Internal color calibrator
Fingerprint reader
Flash media reader
Separate, dedicated numeric keypad
Keyboard area illumination from above
Hard drive replacement without dismantling the computer
Easy optical drive replacement with the removable media bay
PERFORMANCE: check!
Intel mobile quad core processor
up to 8 GB of DDR3 memory with an additional 2 GB of Intel Turbo Memory.
dual internal hard drives, including solid state drive storage.
RAID capable
400-nit WUXGA display w/72 percent wider color gamut & 50 percent greater color intensity
LED backlit screen
WIRELESS: check!
WiFi
Bluetooth
ultrawideband
WiMAX
EXTERNAL MONITOR: check!
Dual Link DVI, Display Port and VGA
NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 2700M and 3700M Open GL graphics processors
up to 1 GB of dedicated video memory
FLASH MEDIA HANDLING: check!
7-in-1 multicard reader, &
PCMCIA (PC) Card bay for legacy hardware, &
ExpressCard bay for new hardware
HD OPTICAL: check!
Blu-ray™ DVD burner/player
CONNECTIVITY: check!
Five USB ports
Gigabit Ethernet
HDMI and VGA and DVI on the backplane
Modem
mini-dock with eSATA and digital audio ports+
SECURITY: check!
BIOS/port disablement
fingerprint reader
smartcard reader
hard drives with full-disk encryption
The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation will be available beginning in September with models starting at $2,978.
Not bad when you consider that other $2,800 “pro” 17″ laptop has:
no quad core, no Blu-ray, can only hold one hard drive, no fingerprint security, no WWAN, no ultrawideband, no VGA, no HDMI, no flash media reader, let alone an integrated digitizer and color calibrator.
Lenovo is certainly not the first with a quad-core laptop. In fact, other business-standard computing companies, like HP, already have quad-core laptops in the retail chain. They can also handle 8GB of RAM, 1GB video RAM, but with the new innovations here, Lenovo has certainly pushed the “Pro” laptop much higher and into a wider market than ever before.
I E B A Tech Thoughts 
Wow. That’s almost worth dropping a desktop for. Not sure if Apple will be able to step up to the plate for at least another couple of generations though if they keep a similar form factor.
I don’t think it would hurt any of you to take a little time to step into a working Post Production facility in New York, San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, etc. or even a larger Apple Store that supports Final Cut education and broaden your horizons a little. I AM impressed with what Lenovo has produced here, but the depth of capability of Final Cut runs very deep and has been the result of years of professional input and, yes, trial and errror (yeah, its a little joke).
Thanks, Mike
Hmmm, I didn’t mention Final Cut Pro, so I don’t see why an article about a very cool high-end mainstream laptop is countered with “Final Cut Pro runs very deep…” Apples and Oranges (Lenovos) here.
But to counter even that point, Avid also runs very deep, as does Vegas. I don’t think it would hurt you to take a little time and try them out… ;-)
Anthony