Lenovo W700

As a photographer (and a longtime dual-platform user), I was intrigued by the announcement of Lenovo's new ThinkPad W700. With Lenovo's reputation for building ultra-reliable business notebooks, the decision to dive head-first into a high-end mobile graphics system like the W700 may seem like a strange one. And if Lenovo's targeting any single market with this device, it's unquestionably photographers: sure, if you work in any kind of design the W700 could be a great workstation companion, but with copious storage space, an excellent screen, a built-in digitizer, and an on-board color calibration system, Lenovo is clearly taking a direct shot at the relatively closed and insular pro photo market. To my knowledge, nothing else on the market offers the W700's concentration of photographer-friendly features.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9300 (2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2 cache)
• Memory: 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
• Screen: 17" 1920x1200 WUXGA TFT LCD
• Storage: 160 GB HDD (7200 RPM) x 2, RAID 0 configuration
• Optical Drive: DVD recordable
• Wireless: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300 (802.11a/g/n), Bluetooth 2.0
• Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M with 1 GB
• Battery: 9-cell lithium-ion (84 Wh)
• Dimensions: 16.1" x 12.3" x 1.5"
• Weight: 8 lbs, 10 oz (with battery)
• Price As Tested: $4,333.30
• Starting Price: $2,531.30

Design and Build

We've jokingly billed the W700 "the laptop designed to make normal people feel small," and the name fits. With a footprint measuring a generous 16 by 12 inches, working with the W700 actually on your lap is not really advised. And forget trying to take it on a plane – we're not sure that the Lenovo would fit in the overhead compartment of a regional jet, much less on the tiny tray table. Likewise, finding a case for the W700 will almost certainly require shopping at the laptop bag equivalent of "big and tall" stores.

Build quality with the W700 is everything Lenovo is known for, with tight fitment all around and an impressively small measure of panel flex for a laptop this large. A bit of time hauling the W700 has confirmed initial impressions: while large notebooks rarely rival their smaller counterparts in terms of ruggedness, this is one heavily built, robust laptop in spite of its size.

Keyboard, Touchpad, and Digitizer

Input options abound with the W700. For many diehard Lenovo fans, though, the world of input devices begins and ends with Lenovo's legendary keyboards. And the W700's equipment in this area is just as we've come to expect, with smooth key action and a quick, short stroke that makes typing on the W700 a pleasant experience. There's a hint of flex at the top right corner of the our review unit's 'board – up around the Backspace key – but otherwise the full-size keyboard and num pad feel securely anchored to the W700's subframe. Compared to other Lenovo keyboards we've looked at, key presses on the W700 may be just a bit noisy, but as with calibration concerns, the fact that the keyboard itself feels nice in use makes this secondary concern a minor issue for most.

Battery Life

The W700 sports a nine-cell lithium-ion battery. With a screen this size, we weren't expecting much in terms of battery longevity – though the question of how often you'll be taking this notebook away from a desk, and thus away from a power outlet, is a fair one.

In spite of low expectations and a high-power screen, the ThinkPad actually performs surprisingly well "off the plug." Some light web browsing, word processing, and photo editing with the screen at a still relatively bright half power yielded 2 hours, 23 minutes of use time before the first battery warning advised me that it was time to reconnect to the grid. For a business notebook, we'd admittedly be disappointed by this performance, but for a behemoth like the W700, two-plus hours of unconnected computing isn't bad at all.

Playing a DVD at maximum brightness puts a serious dent in this time, however. Even with Wi-Fi disabled, we were only able to get just over an hour of playback (1:03) before Vista forced a shutdown with these settings. What this suggests is that the settings you choose and the processes you run have a serious impact on battery life in this case, and while it can perform better than anticipated if you're conservative, the W700 is still a huge notebook with a lot of power-hungry accouterments. And if you plan to make the most out of what this highly capable graphics machine can do, proceed into the field without a charged spare battery, a charging plan, or a backup generator at your own risk.

Heat and Noise

For a machine with this much power, getting hot is almost a given. And that's where the W700 surprises: even under the heaviest graphics loads we could throw at it, chances are you'll find the weight of the Lenovo on your lap unbearable long before you'll be offended by how much heat it's giving off.

Conclusion

In my not so distant professional past, I worked as a graphic designer creating corporate marketing collateral. I was often on the road, working face-to-face with clients to put the finishing touches on print and web projects, and hence I speak from experience in saying that attempting to do any measure of serious design work on most notebooks – even larger desktop replacement models – is usually an exercise in frustration. Questionable displays, limited storage space, and poor processor responsiveness were my day to day headaches back then. The fact that the ThinkPad W700 squarely addresses every one of these concerns – and several others – will likely make it the workstation that many mobile graphics pros have been waiting for, even with its heavy price tag. After all, the productivity increases afforded by a machine like this ThinkPad, a laptop capable of taking on serious graphics production tasks, will be invaluable for many companies and users.

On the other side of the coin, it's only fair to expect a lot of a machine that costs as much as a used compact car, and to this end not everything is completely sorted with the W700. The tablet surface certainly isn't as good as a third-party unit, though to be fair, as a compromise solution for mobile use it's not a bad one – meaning your Wacom is one less thing you'll be packing along next time. Given the cost of the W700's high-end screen upgrade, we would have liked to see at least a vertical alignment panel type as well. And the calibration system, though effective, is limited enough in functionality that it may prove to be more gimmick than substance for this user set, who are for the most part both proactive and opinionated about color management.

What can't be disputed, though, is that a quad-core processor, serious RAM potential, and a high-end graphics card make this one of the most powerful workstations, mobile or otherwise, currently available off the shelf from an OEM. If Lenovo set out to dazzle us with power, they've certainly succeeded on that score. So is it worth the price?

Like so many things in life, it all depends on who you ask.

Pros:

• Quad-core performance offers a desktop-esque experience
• Solid Lenovo keyboard, touchpad
• Built-in digitizer a handy addition
• Color calibration console couldn't be simpler
• Impressively rugged build for a 17 inch system

Cons:

• Display doesn't quite meet lofty expectations
• Speaker audio makes everything sound like a Paul Harvey broadcast
• Supplied pen is small, feels cheap
• I don't have a spare $4,333.30