New Notebook from Lenovo

Lenovo has launched its 17-inch ThinkPad W700, which it described as "the PC industry's highest-performance mobile workstation." The laptop has a built-in graphics tablet and will support the upcoming Intel mobile quad-core processor.

The W700 offers what Lenovo called the industry's first built-in digitizer and color calibrator in a mobile workstation, as well as NVIDIA Quadro FX mobile graphics, dual hard drives in a RAID configuration, up to 8GB of memory, a variety of wireless connectivity choices, and an optional Blu-ray DVD player. There are also five USB ports, a 7-in-1 multicard reader, and a fingerprint reader.

Up to 2GB of its memory can be configured to support Intel Turbo Memory, and the dual hard drives can be configured so that one is a solid-state drive. Some W700 models will offer Intel vPro technology for IT management. Connectivity options include WLAN 802.11n, WWAN 2, or WiMax, as well as Bluetooth and ultra-wideband.
The W700 is targeted at professionals in the areas of digital content, computer-assisted design and manufacturing, photography, and scientific fields such as oil and gas exploration.

Peter Hortensius, senior vice president of the notebook business unit, said "no other PC manufacturer delivers the sheer quality, power and performance, and cutting-edge innovation packed into this mobile workstation." With the ThinkPad W700, he added, Lenovo "has engineered a new breed of mobile workstations."
According to industry reports, mobile workstations have become nearly a quarter of the worldwide workstation market in the last five years, and are expected to grow another five percent next year.

The color calibrator on the W700 automatically adjusts, up to four times monthly, the color of the optional WUXGA display. The calibrator is built in as part of a palm rest, as is the digitizer, which helps digital-content users configure and image by mapping to the full screen or to a user-defined area. A digitizer pen allows using the Wacom digitizer pad like a graphics tablet.

Lenovo said the 1920x1200, 17-inch screen offers more than twice the brightness of most displays, and its 72 percent color gamut has 50 percent more color intensity for 2-D and 3-D work. The laptop supports DVI, Display Port, and VGA, and is expected to be available in September with prices starting at $2,978.

Richard Shim, an analyst with industry research firm IDC, called the new product "an innovation statement" because it is one of the first laptops with the mobile quad-core processor. Its targeting of the high-end content creator, he noted, means it could find a place in a niche market.