Leak: ThinkPad "9" Slim Concept - world thinnest Ultrabook

So how do you fit a powerful GPU like the K3000M in a thin computer?

You can't so performance will suffer.

Some of us like to have multiple SSDs in our laptops as well and we like the flexibility of taking them out if we need our data with us. My W530 can fit 3 SSDs ( one in the bay , one mSATA and one regular SATA).

Some of us like having a 6 lbs laptop that has 32 GB of RAM , a quad core CPU ,and a workstation class GPU.

Some of us do real work on our laptops and don't need a "Facebook machine."

 

Why? Is there such a demand or is there a perceived demand? Why are people so mobile and why do they need a half an inch thick laptop? Do they need to use their laptop while they're walking down the street?

It's like we're always moving towards some trend or another whether it makes any sense or not. I would imagine for most people, their laptop sits on a desk or sometimes on a lap. Why does a thickness of half an inch or more than 1" matter so much? I know I am generalizing here but its as if we people do things just for its sake.

Also, if a laptop is 3.5 lbs., why is it so important to have it at 3.2 lbs.? Bragging rights? Or is it actually easier in some way?

It makes more sense to have heavier laptops since many people need some sort of physical activity

 

I think the Apple fanboys think that the thinner the laptop is , the more rich the person (the owner).

People are actually happy they can buy $1000 disposable (SSD , RAM , etc. all soldered and practically non removable) laptops.

Data recovery on disposable laptops tends to be hard.

 

I think it's merely the acceptance of Apple superiority by of all the laptop brand names. The common motto that used to contain 'IBM' nowadays reads "Nobody was ever fired for cloning Apple". Worse, they are cloning without thinking, and then push it to 11, and then to 12, no matter how silly and pointless the result becomes. Be it "thinness when closed", or 3-4K displays on 10-12" screens and soon cellphones, or keyboard layout with F1-F12 by default doing something else, or 'my trackpad is larger and has fewer buttons than yours' etc. etc.

PC vendors have recently started cloning all-in-ones too, looking at iMacs. The only hope for improvement is to wait until Apple starts producing powerful machines again. After all, with current (and epic, by 5 years ago standards) battery life of an average laptop, the race towards 'longer battery life' and 'as thin as it gets' has obvious limits, and tablets are already comparable to the slowest laptops in number crunching capabilities.

 

I think more powerful notebooks are still needed. Each of my multiple notebooks serves a different purpose. I will be happy to change my T430 for a T440p if it comes with a quad core cpu.

That said, I wish my beloved X220 had a touch screen. You might say why not get a X220t/X230t but they are half pound heavier. I will be hesitate to carry around a 4 LB notebook everyday.

 

Then don't buy Lenovo thinkpads anymore lol. Go buy Apple then. Get some water and calm down haha.

So funny - I come to lenovo forums and I see so much fanboys hating on lenovo (lenovo can do all wrong) and I go to Apple forums and see so much the fanboys love on Apple (apple can do no wrong). Different and yet still the same type of fanboys. Lol

 

I calmed down.

I might be better off with Dell. Lenovo will only offer the W540 (15.6") as their workstation. Apple and Lenovo don't offer 17" laptops anymore.

The Dell Precision M6800 sounds like a nice laptop to me. It's a real mobile workstation.

 

You can argue lenovo has followed a different strategy from Apple. All Mac notebooks are thin, while there are still thick & powerful thinkpads like T440p, T540, and W440. And some thinkpads like Yoga, helix, are simply very different from any apple products.

 

You can also argue that Lenovo sells over 100 different models including $500 desktops and yet with just 4 models (iMac, Mini, Macbook Pro & Macbook Air), Apple sold considerably more units in US and Europe, with much higher revenues & profit than Lenovo globally. I guess Lenovo's marketing study missed that minor detail

 

I don´t know where you have your data from, but thats wrong, sorry. Only in the USA, not anywhere else.

 

Given how thin the new ThinkPad 9 slim concept is, it may use the same keyboard travel as the Surface Pro Type Cover, which is not the greatest keyboard.

Finally, zero000, it pays to be informed about history of computing. ThinkPad has IPS LCD for more than 15 years, also Retina display was built on the technology invented by IBM, which was sort of implemented in the R50p with the QXGA LCD in a 15 inch, which was released in the 2003/2004.

 

I knew that ThinkPads have had IPS LCD for quite some time. If you bothered to check , most ThinkPads from 2012 (last year) didn't have IPS panels , and the ones that did use the low grade IPS panels that should be reserved for cheap laptops , not a premium line like the Thinkpads.

I own the best ThinkPad from 2012 and guess what?
My W530 merely has a FHD high gamut TN panel.
Shouldn't there have been be a high gamut IPS panel option like the DreamColor display from HP?



The 2048×1536 screen from 2003 is more impressive than the screen from my 2012 W530.



I also own an X230t and guess what? It has a low end AH-IPS panel. Not a high grade one...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thinkpad-x230t-review-benchmark,3229-6.html
And here is another thing... The digitizer on the X230t isn't as even good as one on the X60t

How many ThinkPads from 2012 do you own? I stopped after getting two and realizing that Lenovo ThinkPads aren't what they used to be.

 

Not possible without sacrificing Optimus! Intel HD4000 can not drive a high gamut IPS!

True, I had an X220 IPS once. The screen was horrible. I can remember how shocked I was the day I received it. As a result, I sold my X220. (but also because I wanted to try something new)

 

I'd argue that there are likely many users who wouldn't have a problem making that sacrifice...if the option were offered in the first place...

 

Well, Lenovo didn't see it that way. sRGB is more than enough, AdobeRGB is somewhat ridiculous on such a machine. No person who needs such color accuracy will be working on a 15" laptop display.

 

Why? Older integrated graphics/optimus merely didn't support higher than 8 bits/channel, but gamut, i.e. the range of colours than can be encoded with these 8 bits, could be anything. sRGB, AdobeRGB, whatever. Provided that panel can actually display these colors, of course.

Frankly, there are few people who do see the difference between 8 and 10 bits monitors in a "blind" test and sRGB/AdobeRGB, especially if the panel is a good one and well calibrated at factory. There are even fewer who see and NEED to see it. And most of these people use external, carefully calibrated, monitors setup in appropriate locations anyway, not doing color-perception related work on a train or in Starbucks. There isn't much use of 10 bits processing in a laptop, unless it comes for free and does not require major sacrifices elsewhere.

Lenovo chose battery life versus offering a choice between AMD/nVidia GPUs. Not a bad choice, in my book. But the panel could have been better.

 

The keyboard is 5 rows instead of 6, the Fn-keys are likely capacitive. It also *looks* like the keyboard protudes OUT of the base. This suggests that the screen actually squashes the keys down when the lid is closed.

But I would really prefer a 2cm laptop with 10 hours of battery life than a 1cm laptop with 5 hours.

 

As pointed out earlier in the thread, it's a prototype, and may as well be a piece of cardboard or some Acer painted black, especially as even the logo isn't attached right.

Function keys can be made Fn+1...=, as Acer S7 showed, but there isn't much point of doing such atrocities to a 13" laptop however thin. Lenovo hired some clowns into keyboard layout department, but 5 rows is a bit much even for them. I hope.

 

Then why even call it a Thinkpad?

 

Well, in Lenovo's current vision apparently, there are "bargain bin laptops", and "a bit better than bargain bin laptops, painted in darker colors (not necessarily black)". The latter are called Thinkpads.

All other distinctions, quoting lead_org, "Thinkpad .... technology invented by .... implemented in .... ", together with keyboard layouts, trackpoint etc, are merely of museum value, "history of computing".

 

there are a lot of "half-empty bottle" posts here. I don't know how many have actually used consumer grade notebooks, let along bagain bin ones. My friends and I have used several and I must say the thinkpads are still quite different animals.

 

I still don´t think that Lenovo will actually release this one - it appears to be just an prototype. But we will see what will happen with their X1 Carbon line very soon.

While I would never buy any device with a 5 row keyboard, there is more about ThinkPad than just keyboard-layouts. But htis prototype does indeed seem to have capacitive F-keys, as Yuxie mentioned. So not 5-row, but still worse than the surrent ThinkPad keyboard, if this ever comes to the market.

Sounds like the T440s, and thats what I use. I think thats what is what many people want, they don´t need 15mm or 9mm thinn notebooks.

 

ThinkPad has one of the best keyboard layouts.

 

10 hours battery life with T440s,is that what you saying ibmthink,because if you are saying that ,thats good!
NBC got less then 6 hours and that's same test where Samsung Series 7 Ultra 730U3E with Ivy got 6 hours and 20 minutes or macbook air with Haswell 10 hours and 23 minutes.

 

Well, with the optional 6-cell battery (sorry for being not clear enough) With the normal 3 cell you will get 5 - 6 hrs in normal use in my experince.

 

Ok thanks.

 

MBA and Ultrabook are money maker for the computer companies and CPU manufacturers, essentially they are promoting a consumerism culture and throw away society. I have managed to keep my ThinkPad X300 running for nearly 6 years now, and so far i have gone through 3 MBA, because they can't be upgraded.

For a computer companies they would want you upgrade your systems every couple of years, rather than you trying to stretch the usability of your laptop by doing minor upgrades.

Apple users are perpetuating a throw away society by buying MBA, rMBP, iMac, which are basically sealed systems that are very difficult (if not impossible) to upgrade. Everytime we buy these systems we are telling the other computer companies to be more like Apple, and the market respond in kind.

 

Yes you are right,i said already WE ARE SPOILED BRATZ,why to carry around 3 kg when you can carry 1,5kg.
Our grandfathers carried at work three bags of cement and they never complained
But i need notebook only for mails and browsing(renting apartments while i am on my second job,fishing).So if i buy MBA i dont have in plan to buy another one till battery drop dead and when i say dead i mean dead.
Also for gaming and everything else i have home Z77 machine with 24" screen and two 840 pro in raid 0 and there is no laptop that can replace that experience.
Also i know that OSX is responsible for great battery life,but when you install Win on it you get 8 hours so i dont get it,how T440S cant get near 8 hours and it is larger notebook.I guess lower quality battery.
I really didnt want to go away from Windows,thats the only Microsoft product where they are the best in world.And i dont want to talk about Apple in Lenovo thread anymore,sorry.
But there is still hope for me i am between MBA and Samsung series 9 with WWAN in it.
I maybe order it from Amazon.uk and if WWAN doesn't work good in Croatia,then i will return it and that would be it for me.

 

Sadly power users like you are rare in the grand scheme of things, companies like Lenovo are run by accountants so they will only develop machines that sells, laptops are becoming more and more of a content consuming device than content creation, Lenovo gets rewarded by making the switch that's partially why they are doing better than HP and Dell. I think it's time to accept the fact that the good ole days are gone.

 

All this needs is a Pen/ Stylus Digitizer and it would be perfect.