Considering a W90 and have a few questions for owners.

I've read a ton of information online but its either for a different configuration(no qx9300) or they don't necessarily include as much information about certain things as i'd like.

Just to give some brief info i'm a designer/artist who does a lot of DCC using
indesign, illustrator, photoshop, flash, cinema 4d, fontlab, sometimes processing. I am interested in the W90 for its enormous power but am also considering a lenovo w700. I do also really enjoy PC gaming so something that can do both very well is excellent.

So really for those that own W90s, how is the build quality? Now i've heard from a few sources that it is very good but please elaborate. What about it is "very good" exactly? Does it feel very strong/stable? Does the screen stand very still and have very strong hinges?

As far as heat, under load does the notebook get very hot or does it retain a fine temperature? Are the fans very loud?

The main difference i'm hung up on with the w700 and w90 is the ram. I'm concerned that in one year or more DDR3 will be advantageous for the programs I use and that the 6 gigs max of DDR2 in the w90 might end up being a little less than i'd like.

Any impressions about the physical aspects of the w90 and any opinions on the ram situation would be EXTREMELY appreciated. Thanks in advance for even taking a look at the thread.

 

I DONT wish to turn you off the W90 i just convinced a guy to buy one yesterday lol.

But isnt the w700 the model that had the screen targeted at Photographers. Could reproduce 70% of the sRGB color space and had built in calibration ability? Im not sure if this was the model i saw awhile back and am too lazy to look it up.

But as a photographer id have to ask where your intentions be. As a gamer W90 if i had the money as a Photographer my interest in the one thinkpad targeted at photographers would have been an important first look. I started out wanting a coding (business) notebook and decided i had to have a gamer and am getting what i can afford on that level.

EDIT - HLY SHT LOOK AT THAT PRICE. Heh im sure the quadro is worth it an and all but the gaming power fo the W90 coupled with its very nice display for the amount of money i think it would be my choice... still too lazy to look up which model was aimed at photographers.

EDIT - Yeahthe w700 is the one i was thinking it was - http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08081204thinkpad.asp

 

It is the w700 you're thinking of although i'm not a photographer. I do use a wacom however and so the built in digitizer and color calibrator are really nice features for me but i'm not sure if nice features are enough to sway me from raw power really. As a designer a lot of the features a photographer values a designer also values so it's more or less the same in the end.

They are running a sale though that cuts off a tremendous amount. I had a qx9300 equipped w700 all worked out for 3337 without tax. Tremendous amount of money but at this specific moment I have it available for specifically a new computer. A w90 with more powerful gpu, more ram, more hdd space and a larger screen ends up being less expensive by like $150 due to no tax and free shipping.

I'm really torn and ultimately build quality and whether or not that ram is going to stay very useful for the next 4 years is what will make up my mind.

 

Oops sorry somwhere in reading ur post photographer entered my mind. Screw the lenovo if u ask me. Im sure some W90 owners will get around this later and u can always go itno the subforum and ask in their owners thread.

But link to the asus bunches seemingly fav site and the W90 - http://1toppc.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=W90Vp-A1
Asus W90Vp-A1 18.4" FHD/Q9000 Quad-Core/ATI HD4870 x2 512MB GDDR3/6GB DDR2/640G 7200rpm/Blu-Ray

Im assuming uve seen the review THIS site did on it? Anyways the Q9000 ought to hold u over i dunno if they have one stock in a model but the price of the upgrade looks insane on gentech.

EDITED FOR STUPIDNESS LOL

 

Yeah, its just hard because Lenovo is also running a 20% discount at the moment which is hard to ignore completely. The added functionality of the tablet being built in is nice and every Thinkpad i've used has had great construction.

Yeah i've read every W90 review that exists and w700 pretty much. Spending 3.3k around is doable for me at this moment and i'd like to be ahead of the curve as far as the quad core extreme. I don't want to be caught 2 years from now regretting not going with the qx9300.

Unless of course I can just upgrade it myself at a later date. Is that possible? I imagine i'd break the warranty though. That would be the ultimate solution really.

 

On the G50 u can easily get to the processor just take the bottom panel off and take the heat pipe off. Dunno about the W90 but id assume its similar in that respect. Should be a bit harder due to cooling the dual GPU's and all.

Mynes coming with a P7450 and in a year or so whenever a P8600 is 100 bucks or maybe something a bit better im gonna upgrade. Right now any decent processor you look at is gonna be a bit expensive. P9500 is 359 bucks dunno about your quad core there but probably 900 by itself ata minimum due to the 1100 gentech is charging.