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Testing Lenovo's ThinkPad W700ds Dual-Screen Notebook
MojoKid writes "Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 is a unique product, targeted squarely at mobile professionals who require the power, features, and performance of workstation-class product in a notebook. The machine has a few stand-out integrated features, like a Wacom Digitizer Tablet and X-Rite Color Calibrator. In addition, the ThinkPad W700ds version and adds a secondary, slide-out 10.6" WXGA+ display, which increases monitor real-estate by 39% spanning across its two panels. HotHardware's video demonstrates the machine's arsenal of toys for the graphics pro, in a somewhat portable desktop replacement notebook."
Yo Dawg, we heard you like LCD screens, so we've put an LCD screen inside your LCD screen. So now you can look at things while you look at other things.
We also heard you like pointing devices, so this baby has three of them!, with two sets of buttons!
From the specs:
Operating System: Genuine Windows Vista Business 64
It's a good thing the put "Genuine" in there to clarify things. Otherwise people might assume IBM was shipping this $6,000 notebook with a pirated copy of Windows to keep the price down.
Better known as 318230.
Let's look again at those features.
- webcam -:$20.
- fingerprint scanner -: $35
- Wacom tablet -: $79
- VGA/DualLink DVI/DisplayPort -: Probably already in a $2K desktop.
- Display Calibrator -: Never seen this on desktop or Laptop before, don't know how well it works.
- FireWire -: Probably already in a $2K desktop.
- Express/Smart Card expansion -: 5 in 1 multicard reader. $15
- WiFi/Bluetooth -: USB Bluetooth and PCI WiFi -: $30 total
- Not to mention... fits in your backpack -: Back to the grand parent's point that "the extra cost really is just for mobility."
$2,179 is still a hell of a lot cheaper than $6,209.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
And this time it is no meme, but a real question. What good are slide-out screens and fancy fingerprint readers if they are based on such obscene hardware hacks that a normal operation system would be unable to use it all.
That is something reviews would actually be useful for.
The screen is on the wrong side. Because of the numeric keypad, the home position for typing is to the left side of the computer. This means that you are facing the left side of your screen while typing instead of facing the center of the screen. Putting the second screen on the right makes this even worse. You'll type while always looking slightly to the right. If the screen had been placed on the left side, at least a user could sit in front of the computer, type, and be facing the center of the two screens.
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
- Not to mention... fits in your backpack
:-)
...which you have to carry in a wheelbarrow (*not supplied).
So the engineers at Lenovo have pretty much crammed more "computer" into this laptop than any laptop has had crammed so far. Two screens, nearly full keyboard, two pointing devices, a digitizer tablet, along with a metric crapload of CPU, video, disk, memory, along with the usual gamut of notebook options. It'll set you back between 3000 and 8000 cool US dollars.
And it still comes with a built-in dialup modem inside.
What. The. Hell.
Uh, boss. We accidentally put two screens on this laptop. What should we do?
Hm... Charge people twice the price and call it a feature!
Did Homer Simpson just join the Lenovo design team?
Cool! Not only do you have a model M but you also have a semiconductor fab plant!
Calling this thing dual screen is not too different to calling an old tv with an lcd display of the channel number dual screen. Okay that's a _slight_ exaggeration. Only slight. The second "screen" looks like it's not worth the trouble. Good for task lists and the like but not much else, yet oh so breakable. The headline had me envision something like a tablet pc with a second screen - instead I see something about the size of a size mirror on a combi van. More gimmick than useful. Farq off.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
The two screens, with the brightness set above seven, makes the laptop lighter.
It was on page three of the article.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
Not to mention that Lenevo (read = IBM) laptops are not 'just for mobility'. The built quality is just insane(ly good).
Laptop makers like Dell & co are building their portables with predictable failure in mind. That ofcourse means the cheapest of the cheapest parts that they can get their hands on and it must die in a certain amount of years, while Lenevo is know for building laptops that last and can resist impacts (like the harddisk that stops working when the laptop sensing it is falling).
So in other words you pay more money for a laptop that is built to last for as long as you'd wish. Lenevo is known for making Linux friendly computers, so you pay extra for the additional Linux testing. You also pay for the innovation that is really innovative (like the 'falling'-sensor so your FS doesn't get corrupted by a HD shock). The only thing that doesn't work yet is the fingerprint reader and the GPU switcher on Linux, but you can't blame Lenevo for that because there is simply no such functionality in Linux.
The GPU switcher is software that is being worked on in X.org (but development/planning has stalled) that switches between the onboard GPU and the ATI/nVidia GPU based on power management.
Here be signatures
Modems don't take up much space, nor cost much money. So unless you are dealing with a very small laptop (you aren't) or a cheap one (again not) why wouldn't you include a modem? The idea of laptops is to be able to take them on the go. Well guess what? Some places you go may not have high speed Internet. I know for the geek that has never left the city this might seem impossible but it happens. There are places where high speed just hasn't gotten to yet. However phone lines, well those are pretty wide spread. While it isn't impossible to find a location without a phone line, it is far more difficult than finding a place without high speed Internet.
Thus you include a modem, so that if it is needed, it's there. No reason not to when you've got the space and the $5 for the hardware isn't a major part of the price.
So while I wouldn't get a modem for a desktop, I'm glad my laptop has a modem, I've actually made use of it. My grandma finally did get high speed Internet because my uncle got tired of her not having it and set it all up, but until very recently she didn't. So when I went to visit her, it was dialup or no access.
It isn't as though the computer is just dialup. It also has a wired Ethernet connection, and WiFi. It just includes dialup as a fallback option.