Lenovo took square aim this morning at Apple's stranglehold of the laptop computer market among photographers with the release of the 17-inch Lenovo ThinkPad W700 -- a notebook computer that gives new meaning to the words "fully-loaded." We saw a sneak preview of the W700 at PDN's offices a couple weeks ago and were impressed with just how much this baby can do -- for a price. (Base cost of the ThinkPad W700 is $3,000 but it sells for $6,000+ in the fully configured model.)




Here's are some of the highlight options:

• Super-bright 1920 x 1200-pixel, 400-nit WUXGA display with up to twice the brightness of earlier ThinkPad laptops (most had 200 nits) with a wide color gamut, offering 72 percent of the Adobe color space. (Most laptops have 45% color gamut.)
• New NVIDIA Quadro FX mobile graphics card
• Supports the upcoming Intel mobile quad core processor
• Fits up to 8 GB of high speed DDR3 memory with an additional 2 GB of Intel Turbo Memory
• Dual hard drive option that's configurable as a RAID for redundant back-up
• Built-in Wacom digitizer mini-tablet with a special slot built into the computer to house the stylus
• Built-in X-Rite calibrator which automatically calibrates the screen when you close the lid. (We saw it work its magic on the screen with the lid down in 80 seconds. Now that was cool!)
• Built-in CompactFlash and SD card reader. (along with a range of other cards.)
• Dual link DVI to attach 30-inch external monitors
• Built-in Blu-ray DVD burner/player

The downside is that high price if you want the fully-configured model -- and, believe us, once you get the chance to play with it you're going to want the fully configured model.

Also, though this is a 17-inch model, it's big looking, much bulkier than the 17-inch MacBook Pro which is the laptop Lenovo clearly envisions as its target. Though we haven't gotten an official weight on the W700 yet, we estimated the fully-configured model weighs in at just under 8 pounds. It doesn't feel as heavy as it looks though but put it side-by-side with a MacBook Pro, and this all-black behemoth looks like it might crush the silver, slender MBP. The PR gal who helped show us the W700 noticeably cringed when we flippantly called it "a ThinkPad on steroids."

We also weren't crazy about the battery life on the W700 which maxes out at just 2 hours. (With all its features, the W700 puts out 170 watts of power, part of which is used to run the laptop's two cooling fans.) It should be emphasized though that this is not one of those super-slim models you bring on the airplane to watch a DVD. Lenovo is calling the W700 a "mobile workstation" and that's a good sobriquet for this model, which is easy to transport from job to job but meant, at some point, to be plugged in and used as a workstation for editing photos.

The only other downside we can see is that since it's a PC it, of course, runs Windows Vista, an operating system that not only hasn't gotten a very good rap since it was released, but may also be unfamiliar to many OSX-loving photographers. But Microsoft is clearly making efforts to get photographers more familiar with its products. Josh Weisberg, director of the Rich Media Group at Microsoft, was also on hand to discuss the W700 when it was shown at PDN even though Microsoft was not releasing any special software in conjunction with Lenovo's new laptop. Microsoft has also been running its Pro Photo Summit in Redmond, WA for the last several summers, an event we've covered on PDNonline.com.

Whether the W700 will be the notebook computer that finally pries MacBook Pros from the hands of photographers everywhere remains to be seen. What we saw during the W700 demo at PDN showed definite potential though and we were impressed that Lenovo has gone out of its way to address the needs of photographers with features like the built-in Wacom digitizer and X-Rite calibrator. If manufacturers can built laptops just for gamers why not build them just for photographers too? With the W700, Lenovo seems to have done just that.

Full press release follows.


Lenovo Introduces 17-inch ThinkPad W700 Mobile Workstation

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – August 12, 2008: 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. Lenovo brings the industry’s first built-in digitizer and color calibrator to a mobile workstation and combines these innovations with first-in-market technologies such as new NVIDIA® Quadro FX mobile graphics and supporting the upcoming Intel® mobile quad core processor. Other features such as optional dual hard drives with RAID configurations, up to 8 GB of high speed DDR3 memory, a range of wireless connectivity options and excellent multimedia capabilities including an optional Blu-ray™ DVD burner/player make the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation the standard-bearer for power and performance in a mobile workstation.

“Lenovo has engineered a new breed of mobile workstation with the ThinkPad W700,” said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, Notebook Business Unit, Lenovo. “No other PC manufacturer has a mobile workstation that delivers the sheer power, performance and cutting-edge innovation that Lenovo has packed into the ThinkPad W700. The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation flat out delivers the command performance our customers demand at the desk as well as in the field.”

According to IDC, the compound annual growth rate for the worldwide mobile workstation market has been more than 60 percent per year since 2002.1The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation extends Lenovo’s commitment to workstation users, complementing Lenovo’s W500 mobile workstation and ThinkStation S10 and D10 workstations. As workers in fields such as digital content creation, computer-aided design and manufacturing, digital photography and science fields including the oil and gas industries become increasingly mobile, they are demanding the full-featured performance of a desktop workstation in a mobile workstation.

First-in-Industry Engineered Innovation
The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation takes customer driven innovation to a new level with an optional built-in palm rest digitizer and color calibrator. Lenovo and Intel collaborated to integrate the color calibrator and digitizer into the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation. Designed for digital content creators and users, the mobile workstation’s digitizer helps them easily configure an image, either mapping it to the entire screen or to an area defined by the user. High performance users, especially digital photographers, will benefit from models with the built-in color calibrator as color continues to play an important role in their work. The calibrator automatically adjusts the display’s color in up to half the time of many external calibrators and with higher accuracy, resulting in the most accurate, true-to-life images in an integrated package. Together with the upcoming Intel® mobile quad core processor, multimedia designers and animators now have outstanding quad-core processor performance and true color replication that is critical for realistic digital creations and workflow efficiencies.

Super-Charged Performance Unleashed
Supporting the latest Intel processor technologies including the upcoming mobile quad core processor, the mobile workstation can be configured with up to 8 GB of memory with an additional 2 GB of Intel Turbo Memory. Lenovo also offers models with Intel® vPro™ technology for complete manageability. The mobile workstation can be equipped with dual internal hard drives, including solid state drive storage. The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation offers both the NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 2700M and 3700M Open GL graphics processors with up to 1 GB of dedicated video memory for exceptional graphics performance in a 17-inch mobile workstation. The hard drives can be configured for RAID 0 to help users access and save their data faster than traditional disk-writing methods, or users can choose RAID 1 for mirrored data redundancy.

The mobile workstation includes WiFi wireless connectivity. Additionally, users can connect to other devices wirelessly using mobile workstation models featuring Bluetooth and ultra wideband technology. Models supporting WiMAX will be available later this year.

New Heights in Display Technology and Multimedia Excellence
As the company’s first product with a 17-inch display, the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation delivers an unparalleled viewing experience with a combination of leading technologies. Its optional 400-nit WUXGA display provides up to twice the brightness of earlier ThinkPad mobile workstation models, and the 72 percent wide color gamut provides more than 50 percent greater color intensity. The high resolution, extreme brightness and wide color gamut coupled with the NVIDIA Quadro FX MXM graphics solution results in a user experience unequalled in a mobile workstation today. For external connectivity, the ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation provides support for Dual Link DVI, Display Port and VGA. A 7-in-1 multicard reader, and five USB ports give users flexibility in transferring and accessing digital content. Additionally, the workstation comes with an optional compact flash reader and Blu-ray™ DVD burner/player. An optional mini-dock extends the mobile workstation’s capabilities with eSATA and digital audio ports as well as convenient cabling for power, external monitors and peripherals.

Packed for extreme performance, the mobile workstation also features BIOS/port disablement and an optional fingerprint reader, a smartcard reader and hard drives with full-disk encryption. It will carry more than 20 certifications from independent software vendors.

“Our engineers use Lenovo ThinkStation workstations to help them design the next-generation Williams - Toyota FW31 race cars, aiming to make them faster and more agile, with greater performance than the competition,” said Chris Taylor, IT manager, AT&T Williams. “We’re thrilled to see Lenovo deliver the workstation performance we’ve come to rely on - now in a mobile, portable solution.”

Pricing and Availability
The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation will be available beginning in September with models starting at $2,978. It is available through Lenovo Business Partners and www.lenovo.com.