Why so little discussion about W701?

I might be interested in getting the W701 and am just wondering why there is so little discussion about this machine here on the board...

Isn't this the best Lenovo to come out ever?

Is it worth the wait?

I am also looking at the Sager/Clevo (870U) and the Asus G73.

My main interests in order will be...

1) Photoshop/CS4/Web Design
2) Movies
3) Gaming
4) General use (word processing/internet/etc...)

Thanks!

 

Several reasons why there's so little discussion - first, the W700/W701 was always meant to target a niche market (photography or CAD), so there's very few people interested in the machine in the first place; second, it's extremely expensive, and likely out of reach for most people; third, it has not been put up for order yet so no one has one in their hands yet.

If your main purpose is gaming, there are probably more suitable machines out there, and besides, you would want a gaming-optimized GeForce or Radeon GPU, not a workstation-grade Quadro or FireGL/FirePro card.

Although if it does fit what you want in a laptop, then yes, to you it will be the best Lenovo to have ever come out

 

Hi Midnight,

Why do you say the W701 is for a niche market?
I am currently on a 15" T60p wth a 16:10 aspect and use it for business. I started looking at lenovo for a new one. The only up to date specs (I7 processor and lots of RAM) are on the W510 and T510 and FHD screen aside I would lose vertical resolution which is the most important to me for programming, Word processing (generally things formerly known as work). My wife has a 16:9 laptop and on her Internet Explorer with 2-3 toolbars under the main one you just lost half of the screen.
So while I am not enjoying the thought of lugging around a 17" it is the only one that still keeps the 16:10 aspect (both in the Lenovo line and among most other brands). And I cannot believe that the entire business community is just fine with that switch.
I would buy a W500 in a second if it had an I7 processor (and shipped in less than 4 weeks ).

As for the cost, if the next Lenovo I buy will last as much as my current T60p I think it will be a bargain.

P.S. I realize that my opinion does not prove W701 is not for a niche market but I am surprised it seems I am the only one missing the 4:3 for actual productive work (who watches movies on their Lenovo laptops? I want to say people that cannot afford a plasma TV but then you could not afford a Lenovo laptop either ) and that I did not see a lot of comments on this board about the switch to 16:9 on the 14"-15" bread and butter Lenovo lines. I mean W in W510 stands for workstation.
Anyway end of rant ...

 

w701 should be the most powerful "laptop" in this planet (it has to be)
if you don't mind its weight and price, go for it, you won't regret!

 

I say the W701 is targeted towards a niche market because overall, very few people would want such a bulky and heavy machine and be able to pay the high price it demands - and few people want/need what it offers.

Although it's just my opinion, I think the 16:10 screen is a poor reason to go for the W701. Again, this is just me, but I think in a 15" notebook, I probably won't be missing the 120 vertical pixels lost in the 1920x1200 to 1920x1080 switch, and when I really really do need the screen real estate, I can easily connect an external WUXGA monitor via DisplayPort.

Sure, the 16:9 aspect ratio does result in some pretty darn big bezels on either side of the T510/W510's keyboard, but I don't think it's enough to push me to move up to a 17" behemoth that is riding on the limits of portability.

Therefore, I think the W701 is, and will remain a niche market product.

 

Hi Midnight,

On a personal note FHD is not an option for me because I feel the font is just too small and since I am staring at a screen about 12 hours a day I want to be comfortable. And most clients I work with say they cannot see anything on my current T60p. So if I went with HD+ I would lose the 120 pixels outright not even considering the other 120 I would gain with a 17" 16:10 screen.

As for the external monitor: I always need the real estate for work and using an external monitor would defeat the purpose of portability. Plus when I am in the office I do actually use a second screen along with my laptop's screen. And ironically since my last monitor died on me rather sudden I went and bought the first thing I found in a store with a half decent review and turned out to be a 16:9 format (did not give it too much thought at the time)

You do make a fair point about the 17" size and you are probably right that most people won't want that size.

With that being said I wish they added it to the website already so I can stop haunting these forums I cannot wait to have a machine with 16GB RAM with SSD + HDD

 

Well, if you do end up getting a W701 when they are up for order, do come back and post some feedback to remedy our dearth of information on the machine

 

W700/1 is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. I was amazed at how big it was at CES. I put my x200 on it.

The thing is a tank though, haha.

 

I'm sure I could put my T500 on it too

 

Fonts size is software determined, so font size should not be an issue, other than some programs that are not at all HD-compliant, and will not display properly on any small HD screen, whatever the software settings - including a 17" WUXGA screen (which has a PPI the same as the old 15" UXGA). If the font is as you want it, and the program is still usable, the higher the PPI the easier on the eyes - the text is much much denser - as printed text is. My blackberry has a PPI over 200 - and most of the programs are amazingly easy on the eyes -it's all whether the software is suited or can be made to suit the high densities...densities that approach the density of printed text.

 

How heavy is this machine?

I figured it would be under 10 lbs which is typical for most 17" lappies.

 

Most likely. Check the tabook though at a certain point it doesn't really matter does it . It is definitely thicker than your consumer HP 17inch. Again it is a tank. Like a big tank! If a tank were a laptop.

 

Tanktop?......

 

W701 is about 4kg. Add the giant 170W power brick. Not very portable

Put a gallon of water in your bag and carry it around for a day. The travel weight of the W701 is a bit more, but that'll give you an idea

 

Yeah it's huge, even for a 17 inch laptop. You could probably fit a 19 inch screen in the same body if you got rid of the bezel. Still it's a nice machine, but really expensive.

 

How about Think-Tank instead?

 

TM that.

..

 

ThinkBold?
Anyway I would like to see a screen-to-screen W700 vs W701 comparison soon...

 

The M6500 forum and the M6400's before it are pretty lively so yeah, why isn't this the same?