Big, Bold, and Beautiful: Lenovo ThinkPad W700 Mobile Workstation, 1 in a Series

By David Cohn

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The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 packs power,  with an Intel Quad Core CPU, NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M GPU, and a built-in Wacom digitizer into one package. There are even LED lights to illuminate the keyboard in darkenvironments. Photo by David Cohn

Several months ago, Desktop Engineering reviewed the Lenovo ThinkStation S10 (see DE September 2008). To say that we were impressed with the price and performance of that workstation would be an understatement. So it’s no wonder that we had high expectations when we received the new Lenovo ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation. A direct descendent of the much-vaunted IBM ThinkPad line, this new mobile workstation is the first Lenovo ThinkPad we’ve ever reviewed and includes technologies never before seen in a mobile system.

  From the outside, with its familiar dark gray color scheme and ThinkPad logo, the ThinkPad W700 looks like an oversized version of earlier ThinkPads. The system measures 16.12 in. x 12.25 in. x 1.75 in. and tips the scales at nearly nine pounds plus another 1.75 pounds for the large, 170-watt power supply. But as soon as we raised the lid, all resemblance to earlier systems vanished.

  The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 features a stunning 17-in. display with WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution that’s incredibly bright (400nit) and presents a wide color gamut (72 percent Adobe RGB), a measure of the visible range of colors that can be produced. (Typical notebook computers offer 180-200nit brightness with 45 percent color gamut.)

  The keyboard area is equally impressive. The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 provides both an 88-key keyboard and a separate 17-key numeric keypad. There’s also an UltraNav multipointing system including both a red TrackPoint pointing stick above the B key, with three TrackPoint buttons below the space bar, and a touchpad with integrated scroll zones and two touchpad buttons below it. Buttons above the keyboard let you adjust speaker volume and also access the ThinkVantage Productivity Center, which provides quick links to help you set up and use the computer as well as providing one-click access to other functions such as Rescue and Recovery, system updates, and web-based support.

  To the right of the touchpad is one of several industry firsts, a 128 x 80mm Wacom digitizer. The digitizer comes with a pressure-sensitive pen, which stores in a special slot on the right side of the computer. The digitizer can be used with any program — either in lieu of or along with the touchpad, pointing stick, or a mouse — but when used with compatible applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, pen pressure can control attributes like opacity, size, color, and exposure, and the opposite end of the pen behaves like an eraser. A digitizer utility lets you adjust the tip feel,  pressure, and double-click settings, customize pen buttons, and switch between pen and mouse modes.

To the right of the digitizer is a fingerprint reader that can be used in lieu of entering user passwords. While this has become fairly common, we were curious about a similar-looking sensor just above the digitizer.  This is actually a color sensor that works in conjunction with another industry first — integrated color calibration. To ensure that you’re getting not only bright but also accurate colors, the W700 is the first mobile workstation to include a Pantone color calibrator built into the system. When you first power up the system (and 1 to 4 times per month thereafter), the HueyPRO software alerts you to run the calibration. The software then prompts you to close the cover so that the sensor can scan the display. Calibration takes just over a minute; three beeps signal when calibration is complete. You can then see the before and after effect of calibration and also select the color settings you prefer.

  Green LEDs below the display indicate WiFi, Bluetooth,  numeric and caps lock, hard drive activity, power on, battery power, and sleep status. A pair of wireless antennas are located to the top left and right of the display while an integrated 1.3 megapixel camera centered above the display lets you capture video or still images. There’s an integrated microphone below the display. Lenovo includes Roxio Media Import for capturing photos, video,  and audio, and also includes a link to download and install Skype so you can make audio and video phone calls to others anywhere in the world.

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