My first Thinkpad - W700 has just arrived...

It's a mixed emotion for me at the moment - I've just unboxed it a couple of hours ago and we're going through the phase of installing anti-virus and updating all the Windows' stuff.

At the first glance at the box, I could tell it's a business machine However, the machine itself doesn't strike me as ugly and actually it has a sort of a warm feeling to it (almost).

I've got to go and pick up a "normal" mouse tomorrow, as I can't use either the trackpads or the little joystick for any prolonged period of time - I've never been fond of those things. I'm thinking of the Logitech Darkfield ones, seeing 3/4 of my tables are glass and I'm sick of carrying pieces of paper with me to please my mouse.

One immediately disappointing thing about it is the keyboard, since I actually heard and read only good things about it. I haven't typed much on it yet, but it does flex and the Esc key is a bit too high, so I've hit F1 a couple of times on accident. Maybe it won't be an issue in a couple of days - after all, I had to re-teach myself not to use the right-hand Shift key on my HP, since it is too small and I kept hitting the up arrow key, so possibly I can adapt to anything

The Vista score is good - 5.7 (compared to 5.0 on my HP HDX Dragon), hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll get my 7 upgrade and forget about Vista (at home, I still have to use it at work).

It's too quiet - I can't hear the hard disk or anything else, kinda creepy In a good way of course.

Well, these are my first impressions. I'm still typing this on my Dragon - the process of transferring everything to a new machine is painful and will take a few days at least.

I'm really looking forward to becoming friends with the TP and hopefully it'll help me by being a good, fast and reliable business companion

 

Thanks for sharing your initial impressions. Sounds like you have a great machine. The flex in the keyboard doesn't sound so hot. I understand that was a problem with the early T500's and T400's, IIRC, but that has been corrected (I hope, since I have a T500 coming). Hope it's more of an adjustment matter for you.

Hope you enjoy your new TP.

Bill

 

Real nice machine. What made you spend so much for the W700?

 

If you don't like the keyboard you can call Lenovo and try to get a replacement keyboard sent to you. My T400 came with a flexy keyboard (with all the holes punched in it for weight savings) and I called Lenovo and asked them to send out a keyboard the didn't flex so much. A couple days later I got a wonderful flex-free NMB keyboard. I installed it and my keyboard woes are gone!

 

Do the w700's use the same keyboards as the R/T/W series?

 

yes they do.

 

Not having the trackpoint is the biggest negative for me with the other systems I use. I wish it was standard with most laptops.

Congrats on your new machine!

 

Thank you!

I chose the W700 for the screen size mainly and at the end of the day it came out cheaper than a comparable HP (business series).

I also love the fact that the case is not glossy

I'll try to contact Lenovo about the keyboard and see if I can get a new one - it's not a biggy, but if it was solid, it'd be perfect!

 

I am thinking of getting the W700ds at the end of the year.... i probably don't need it, but since i have got most of the thinkpads, so why the heck not. I want to own a piece of thinkpad history.

Yes Thinkpads are ugly, but in a good way... and that look do grow on you. As they say beauty is more than skin deep.

 

I had a W700 for a few days, I've always loved the thinkpad styling, much better than those glossy pos's other companies sell The build quality, keyboard, trackpoint are awesome. I can pick up ANY thinkpad and feel right at home on it.

Anyway, sorry for the disgression...the HD screen is beautiful. The major drawback for me was the much larger palmrest area actually caused my forearms to rub the front edge which got really uncomfortable after just a few minutes. I also needed better unplugged time, only 1 1/2 or so of battery life just wasn't enough. Other than that it's just a big ol' thinkpad. The cooling system on it is great.

 

I was initially thinking about W700ds, but after realizing that the second screen is really different to the first one in terms of brightness I knew it would annoy me to look at it every day Maybe some day, when W700ds2 comes out and the second screen is bigger (ideally same size/resolution) and has the same matrix...

The large palmrest area doesn't feel bad, but I haven't used it really yet. Once I get all my stuff on to it and start typing away, I'll have an opinion of whether it's better or not than what I have right now. The Dragon doesn't have a huge palmrest area.

The funny thing is that the W700 is a lot lighter and smaller compared to the Dragon, it's like a baby laptop Everything is so relative...

 

I was looking at an Ad of Dragon.... and i thought who would actually use this machine.......

 

Well, there's at least me And actually I'm passing it on to my wife, so there's 2 users now!

 

I'm passing my HP Pavilion to my wife. ;-) She cares nothing for computers, but she just returned home after a couple of weeks visiting our oldest daughter's family with the arrival of twins. With our eight grandchildren, Facebook and email are looking more interesting to her.

Back to topic, interesting that the W700 seems like a baby, and I suppose it would, to your Dragon. I have been concerned that my incoming T500 would be too large and I should have gotten a T400. Like you said, size is relative.

Speaking of relative, so is what we esteem as beauty. To me, ThinkPads are very attractive, much more so than the sleek, glossy consumer options available. I'm looking forward a non-glossy area surrounding the keyboard, an exterior that I don't have to keep wiping down because of gloss-revealing fingerprints, and a non-glossy screen that doesn't reflect so much light. A ThinkPad is a thing of beauty!

Bill

 

The T500 is only slightly bigger than T400, unless you keep on using it on an airplane flying economy, there should be no problem with size.

 

Thanks. I'm sure it won't be an issue--I don't often fly. I usually wonder "what if," when I make a fairly consequential purchase.

Then again, I could follow the lead of others ( ) and get one of every kind.

Bill

 

Stop worrying about it:

http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/General-Discussion/Should-I-purchase-a-T500-or-Y650/m-p/168168#M5974

 

I have used a T61 15.4 inch on a fly from Melbourne to Shanghai couple of months back, and it fits on the economy tables. The main thing you have to worry about is that the height of the laptop LCD, since if it is too big then there would problems opening up the LCD to the right position for you to use. The 15.4 inch laptop have the same height as a 14.1 inch standard aspect ratio laptop. No need to worry about that.

 

Thanks for the link, Jane. Glad your sister is fine with it, and especially that the keyboard is good.

It's not "worry"; it's a little person inside who's always questioning the decision of any purchase over $100. I haven't found a way to delete him--just trying to keep his naysaying voice quiet. After I get the TP in my hands and up and running, he'll go on to something else.

BTW, Lenovo tells me that the T500 has shipped and UPS tells me that the billing info has been received. Any idea how long it will take to complete its trek to upstate SC?

Bill

 

if everything is in order, then i think it is usually within 5 days. Regarding that little person inside, i think anyone whom buys an expensive product with their hard earned cash, would tend to do that.

While, for me handing my money to buy a thinkpad, never incurs any doubt as to the quality of my investment, as i know for an electronic product it is probably the most robust one you can get for that price range.

However, everytime i buy a consumer laptop many years ago, i found that after i parted with my cash, i always questioned whether the investment was worth it. Since many of the consumer laptops have glossy finish, but the quality is not great. Once you get over the woo factors and really started to use the laptop for its intended purose, then you find that consumer laptops usually fails on you when you least wanted it too.

For me even when minor parts do fail on the thinkpads, i am still happy. Since i am left satisfied with the professionalism of the customer service support, and the next day express courier delivery of parts. This is all part of the Thinkpad experience.

 

Nice! I wish I could afford a 17in right now. I also have to agree I can't live without the trackpoint, in fact I wish there was an option to remove the touch pad on my t400 like the x200. Maybe one day Ill have the perfect setup of a 17in and an ultraportable (10-12in non netbook laptop).

 

I have to say that after spending a few hours using the trackpoint (for the first time in my life) I find it easier to use than the trackpad. Not as good as an external mouse (for me at least), but better than I expected.

I'll actually have to use it for a few weeks, since the mouse I want isn't available for sale yet

Apart from that, I'm waiting for my W7 upgrade to arrive, so decided not to install anything till then - just playing around with what I've got in there now

 

I concur. My T500 fits perfectly on the economy tray tables (on Southwest, jetBlue, and Air China, at least), the only issue is if the person who sits in front of you reclines back a lot - then, the screen may be too tall to open to the optimal viewing angle.

Good, I'm not the only one

It took around one week counting weekends for my T500 to arrive from China, so it was a 2-week process in total for me.

 

In fact the airplane pilots that allowed the passenger jet to overshoot the destination by 280 km was probably using a thinkpads.... they lost a track of time admiring the thinkpads.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

Bill

 

I'm not sure but i't would probably be the navigator that would be using one, if they do use them, still ThinkPads to me look the best out of any laptop, i don't understand why people go for polished, to me it looks tacky.

 

i understand that some laptops use aluminium or titanium, but glossy plastic paint finishes that wear off... i do understand it... anyone whom use a consumer laptop would know how ugly they look once the paint wears off......... I especially hate laptop companies that use paints on palmrest and around the edge of laptops....

 

Then you should hate Lenovo's use of rubber coating on the Thinkpads. My X301 is peeling even when carried in a case as the bezels are scratching the palm rest corners.

 

You know what really complements a "New Thinkpad" thread ? Pictures !

 

Hmm, yes I'll take some photos tonight

 

Hum.... well my X301 is really badly damaged, it is right now with my friends whom is going back to China to see whether he could source some new parts for me at a reasonable rate. Also he wanted use my X301... i have dropped it from 2 metres height several times during work, the rubberized surface does really give significant increased grips on the laptop when you have sweaty hands.

Also, the rubber finish on thinkpads are one of the signature thing of thinkpads of yore.

 

Well, here're some pretty crappy comparison photos taken with my phone Sorry for the quality - I'm disgusted myself

 

Just found out I have "Keyboard light" - I don't need it, as I type blindly, but what a great feature! I would've never found it if I hadn't gone into CP and into Mobility Center though. It's a pity it's not present on the function keys.

EDIT: Just found out that there's actually a hardware key for it. Cool! (my wife wasn't as impressed as I am by it though - sheesh, consumers!)

 

looking at the thumbnail, one would get an impression that you were comparing a 14.1 inch laptop next to the 15.4 inch laptop. Untill you open the picture that is.

 

Yes, and the Dragon is really a mamonth machine... I love big screens, my next step would probably be a portable desktop or whatever they're called. The only reason I didn't get one this time is that they're not customizable and I can't settle for the hardware offered out of the box

 

oh and the thinklight can be activated by pressing Fn + PgUp.

I would probably get the new 27 inch Imac, since it is such a high resolution IPS, and the fact that you can use the LCD as an additional LCD, makes it a worthwhile investment.

 

Yep, found the hardware key just before the previous post Thanks!

I've got to stick to Windows, as that's my bread-and-butter (I'm a software developer). I think I'll be all right with the W700 for the next couple of years and by then, who knows what will come up on the market? I'd be happy with a portable 20-24" computer, which I could customize. I'm sure something like that should appear. Or, W700ds steps up and makes a better second screen (full size, full resolution, same brightness) and then it'll be a great choice as well.

 

I would probably use it as an entertainment machine, i was thinking about a large high resolution IPS/PVA LCD, but the cost of these screens are quite prohibitive, most of the prices seem to be equivalent to the 27 inch Imac.... so i guess i will just take the plunge and get the machine during christmas.

Obviously, i am an user and not a developer of softwares, so this should be okay, also since i can install Win 7 on it too, i am not terribly worried. I have some experiences with Apple OS, since i have owned imac and macbook pro of various flavours.

 

Nothing like spoiling yourself a bit over the holidays

I didn't realize you could run Windows on a Mac. I'm probably stuck too much in my own little world here

 

However, the W700's 1920X1200 17" is a much higher density screen than the Imac's 2560X1440 27" - a pixels per inch of around 133 compared to 109 (i.e. about the same pixel density of a WSXGA 15.4" screen). The smaller Imac's 1920X1080 21.5" screen has even fewer pixels per inch: around 109.

The (enormous! wow!) Dragon's WUXGA 20" screen has a PPI of around 113.