Lenovo Launches the DeathStar of Laptops

Seventeen-incher packs quad-core CPU and pro graphics tools

By Sean Captain Posted 08.12.2008 at 1:34 pm 7 Comments

Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Lenovo

I recently saw the ThinkPad W700, and, well, it’s almost scary. Packing a brilliant 17-inch screen, the beast spreads across a desk like a beached whale. But amazingly, it weighs just 8.4 pounds—about 4 pounds lighter than I would have expected.

The processing power is amazing. Lenovo won’t give the clock speed of the CPU (we're all awaiting an announcement from Intel later this month), but the Quad-core Extreme chip is potent. After I clicked on a 45-megabyte TIFF file, the system launched Photoshop and opened the image in under two seconds. On the old iMacs we use at PopSci, I go get a cup of coffee while I wait for that same process to complete.

That image shone on an LCD screen that produces 400 NITS of brightness–about what you get from a television. And its colors should be spot on. The W700 is the first laptop with an integrated color-calibration system. A set of color sensors rests next to the trackpad. To calibrate the LCD, just launch the built-in software and close the screen. The system displays various colors on the LCD and the sensors take a reading to see if they are on target. If not, the software tweaks them. Lenovo built this system with
X-Rite (formerly Gretag-MacBeth), makers of the popular Huey portable calibrator. But this system is customized for the W700’s LCD panel. Another great feature for graphics pros—a Wacom tablet is built right into the palmrest, next to the trackpad and color calibration sensor.

As you might have guessed, this laptop isn’t for just surfing the Internet and writing your memoirs. It’s a graphics powerhorse for photographers, illustrators and video editors. And they can probably justify the investment, which starts at $3,000 (before you add calibration system, Wacom tablet, Blu-ray drive and maximum 8 gigabytes of RAM). Systems go on sale in September.

The W700 won’t be the only ultra-powerful graphics laptop this fall. I’ll be telling you about another one in around a month, so stay tuned.

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7 Comments

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Dobermiller

08/12/08 at 1:38 pm

anyone know how much this would cost?

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carmacej

08/12/08 at 2:14 pm

Starts at around $3,000.00 with standard system components, with all the best system components it will cost around $7,500.00.

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carmacej

08/12/08 at 2:15 pm

And to add on to my last comment, that's without adding in extra software and accessories.

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supergrover

08/12/08 at 2:36 pm

this is a really nice laptop. but you don't need a blu-ray drive, a walcom tablet, or 8 gig's of ram (except for photoshop ...)

but with such a powerful proccessor, and realy nice screen--

how long is the battery going to last?

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KangarooJack

08/25/08 at 3:47 pm

with such a high end laptop, i would think that the battery life would be two hours or under, assuming that they have a decent battery for it

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gulfstreamtec

10/30/08 at 2:31 am

This stories a day late and a dollar short. I'm writing on a Dell Precision m6400 laptop with an extreme quad core, 16 gigs of ram, dual RAID configured 250GB drives and all the bells and whistles and it cost me 4600 bucks. It's even magnesium and aluminum instead of plastic and I can drop it out the window and then drive my car over it and it's covered by the warranty. I wonder why you're so starry eyed over a post IBM Chinese knock off. I'm sure it will be nice but a Lenovo is not an IBM. And it's probably plastic.

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gulfstreamtec

10/30/08 at 2:33 am

Oh, I forgot, "the first laptops with an integrated color calibration system"? Huh? Ever had a laptop with an Nvidia card in it? Then you had an integrated color calibration system.