Lenovo’s refreshed ThinkPad W701 and W701ds mobile workstations bring some great technology improvements to the table. As always, you have to pay to play and the latest & greatest technology in the robust 17-inch ThinkPad will run you some serious coin. Check them out below
- 16GB PC3-10600 DDR3 RAM, via 4 DIMMs: $1335
- Intel Quad Core Extreme i7-920XM (2.0Ghz, 1333MHz FSB, 8MB L3 cache): $1200
- 8GB PC3-10600 DDR3 RAM, via 2 DIMMs: $605
- W701 with WUXGA to W701ds with WUXGA: $525
- NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M 128-core 1GB graphics: $470
Which upgrade would be the one to spring your hard earned bucks into Lenovo’s coffers?
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm… for the W701 I intend to buy, it costs less to buy the 2500-3BU topseller and replace each of the stock components with the upgrade I want bought seperately! I’d have a leftover i7-820M, 4GB of RAM, internal smart card slot, and hard drive, but I’d also save _$1200_. WOW.
There’s introductory pricing, then there’s introductory pricing! Anybody want any spare parts…?
I would be very interested in how you are doing it.
I just want a WUXGA screen and better processor without all the cost they lay on it. Any hints on that? I don’t know where to look for the screen.
The psref book for the thinkpads lists all the preconfigured model numbers along with the options on them. Google ‘psref lenovo’ and the first hit should be the page on the lenovo site where you can download the Thinkpad psref.
So model 2500-3BU is the preconfigured ‘Topseller’ base model with the WUXGA and an 820M. Sadly… no 720M models with the nice screen in the catalog list.
Every single thing in the notebook is replacable/swappable and there’s a service manual that shows you how to do it. You can search for the specific part numbers on the service part of the Lenovo site if you want to go that route, like swapping out the Smart Card reader for a Compact Flash reader ($64). I think I’m just going to wait a bit for the pricing to make more sense… it seems like alot of waste to pull out perfectly good brand new components I know will never get used.
Well, the most important factor to me is the WUXGA display. In that Hardware Maintenance Manual, it has all sorts of things like
2500-CTO, 2Cx, 2Gx, 2Lx, 2Mx, 2Xx, 3Dx, 3Fx, 3Bx, 3Jx, 3Mx, 3Nx, 3Qx, 3Sx, 3Vx, 3Wx,
3Xx, 3Yx, 3Zx, 42x, 43x, 44x, 45x, 5Ex
and searching for 2500-CTO doesn’t get the right results(some HP stuff)
Also, is the TFT in the W700 compatible with the W701?
I was having the same thoughts Tesque- getting the RAM, processor, and other bits after the fact. I thought I read somewhere that the cost for the i7-920XM was around $750 (volume pricing, which I’m 99.999999999% sure Lenovo and every other OEM does). And Lenovo wants $1200 to upgrade to that CPU? I don’t think so! Plus quality RAM, SSD’s, etc. can be had from “Eggcellent” retailers on the net. So I agree whole heartedly with you Tesque- buy the minimum machine you can with the stuff not easily replaced (display, digitizer, etc.) and upgrade the reset as time/money permits.
Oh, and FYI to everyone- if you can help it, always buy a pre-built system (like the 2500-3BU Tesque mentions above). By doing so, you get a 3-year depot warranty and detailed system configuration specs when you lookup your machine on Lenovo’s support page. With a “CTO” (customized-to-order) machine, you only get a 1-year depot warrenty and the support site shows almost no specs when you input your machine (all the software and support docs are there though).
Of course I must qualify that with a CTO system you can add whatever warranty you want and when you do a Warranty Lookup with the system’s serial number, you can get a build list of all the parts used in your individual machine. This list is a bit more cryptic than standard spec list, but it also tells you exactly which part was used in your machine, as multiple part numbers exist for the same item (i.e. multiple versions of 160GB hard drive).
Oooh! I didn’t know you could get a build list! I’ll have to try that!
As far as the warranty, yes you can add it- but it’s an additional cost. I also compared a few CTO builds to identical pre-built systems and the CTO builds were always more expensive (sometimes by hundreds of dollars!).
This is true, the CTO models can be more expensive. There’s definitely a tradeoff in customization and convenience
Okay, I must be doing something wrong- when I look up FRU# 63Y2002 (the i7-920XM CPU) it shows the price as (are you ready for this?) $2,912.00
Seriously? More than the entire computer with the processor?
I guess that $1200 up front ain’t so bad afterall…..
Non-custom manufacturer parts are generally rather inflated – things like processors, hard drives, etc. The super high price on this is either (A) a mistake or (B) a result of the high cost of such a new part.
Keep in mind that purchasing volumes of the W7xx models are extremely low. They might sell a handful every month to the public, and maybe a few dozen to a corporate account? An office full of designers and engineers might get more, but how many customers are like that?
If you want a motherboard capable of Quickpath Interconnect and 1333 MHz RAM, you have to get the +$1200 CPU upgrade. That is the one to get for performance gain if that was your primary concern.
Hm? The hardware service reference lists the same mainboard part number (60Y5650) for the 720M, 820M, and 920XM versions. Am I missing something else?
I thought the idea of QPI was communications between multiple cpu’s (i.e. separate sockets, not multi-core on one cpu). That is, it’s relevant to multi-cpu workstations and servers. But there’s no thinkpad that can make use of it. Am I misunderstanding?
This article on the topic is less technical, more understandable to mortals than the Wikipedia entry.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/610
QPI is suppose to be the replacement to FSB. Among other things, it allows the CPU to talk directly with the RAM rather than going through the chipset.
If the same motherboard is being used for all CPUs available for the W701, including the one that is capable of QPI but not necessarily being allowed to live up to its potential, then purchasers of the high end CPU are getting short changed.
Looks to me like the low end and high end Core i7 chips share the same features.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43126
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=43122
Somehow I can’t reply to John Hobbes, the link just doesn’t exist. I’m using Opera, if that matters.
Anyway, there’s another interesting thing about those processor specs, apart from being very much the same. They list a maximum of 8 GB RAM for the inbuilt memory controller. Does this mean half of the RAM in the 16 GB configurations must be accessed in another way? How did they solve that, and what about 8 GB on four sticks?
Back to the original topic, the Nvidia Quadro FX 3800M is my pick of the bunch. For me, this computer is all about graphics horsepower. I would do CAD and Photoshop at the same time if I could. Sure the top CPU would be great too, but it doesn’t really justify its cost. Same goes for the maximum RAM configurations. WUXGA, color calibrator and the digitizer are clearly must-haves to me.
Now this is all dreaming, I’m a poor student and my poor back wants a X201s for sure. I don’t really need more than that nowadays. But my wallet says my nest ThinkPad will probably be a X61s, to be honest. Well that was off-topic enough. End.
Oh I see now…it’s only the i7 9** DESKTOP CPUs that are capable of QPI, not the 9** MOBILE including the i7-920XM we’re talking about.
For applicable desktops, currently, there’s 2 versions of QPI, 4.8 GT/s and 6.4 GT/s, the former is the regular version and the latter is called the “Extreme”. All other desktop and mobile i5 and i7 CPUs use the slower DMI interface at 2.5 GT/s…which I suppose is still pretty respectable. Overall performance is not dependent just on the bus speed.
Sorry to hog this thread a little, but I have a questions for all you W700ds/W701ds fans out there.
The more I read the maintenance manuals, specs, etc. the more I see what the secondary screen “can’t” do.
Can anyone convince me how the second screen would be useful, let alone worth the extra $500+?
Thanks!
Assuming you don’t just want an extended desktop, that is, you want it for some distinct use:
For the productivity application you are using: If it has dialog windows or detachable windows, you can position them here to keep the main workspace clear
For other software you want open all the time: email client, chat, VOIP client, some other kind of social networking desktop software, browser within easy reach, network/cpu/drives monitors, Windows explorer for quick file access, accessories such as clock or real time weather monitor, Lenovo sidebar gadget, inkable notepad/scratchpad such as OneNote if you have the digitizer, real time stock data, internet radio, photo of your kids, nanny camera monitor of your house…
And the main benefit for the photography usage (which is a big focus of the W700ds) is you can have the full 1920×1200 main screen for your image and drop the Photoshop tool palette into the side screen. I’ve used PS on a regular dual desktop monitor setup and it is QUITE nice to have that.
Should have mentioned this…notice all the second set of uses are for multitasking with whatever you have in the main screen.
Excellent points, both of you!
Thanks!
I have a Lenovo W701ds. It came with no user manual. I have called Lenovo Sales and their Techs; but no one can help me learn how to use this souped up Laptop. It’s been like buying a Ferrari that is delivered without a Driver’s Manual!
Is there no tutorial for this computer anywhere?
Is there someone in Vancouver Canada area who can show me how to use the advanced features on my Lenovo mobile workstation?
John – what exactly are you looking to learn how to use? You pull the second screen out to use it. Close it when you’re done. If you have the optional color calibrator, there is a piece of software that loads automatically that will prompt you to calibrate the screen – automatically. If you have the optional palm rest digitizer, well, you should know how to use to that (and have your own software to take advantage of it, like Photoshop) if you bought it.
What else is there to know? It’s a Windows PC just like any other Windows PC, this one is just very fast and more portable than a desktop.
Did you go to Lenovo’s support website? One of the options on the page at http://lenovo.com/support is for User Guides. I click to the one for the W701ds and find this.
That is a good question about the RAM limitation. FWIW, the W510 I’m reviewing has the Core i7-920X and 16GB RAM – works beautifully
Wikipedia to the rescue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors#fn_2_back
“Note 2: Mobile Core i7 processors officially support 1 SO-DIMM for both DDR3 channels. This, however, is exceeded in the HP Envy 15, Dell Precision M6500, and Lenovo ThinkPad W510, all of which contain 4 SO-DIMM slots.”
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