W700 in comparison, battle of the beasts *PICS*

[MisterB]

I just got a W700, 2752-CTO, and it came without a power adapter. Overall it looks good and while waiting for the adapter to come, I set it up next to a couple of large laptops I have to see how it compares.

First, I put it beside my W500 just for reference.



https://sites.google.com/site/mbthinkpa ... edirects=0



Next beside a WUXGA Dell XPS.



https://sites.google.com/site/mbthinkpa ... edirects=0



And finally next to the only laptop that comes close, my 16.1" UXGA Sony Vaio PCG-GRT 390Zp



https://sites.google.com/site/mbthinkpa ... edirects=0

The W700 is the winner. The Vaio has a taller LCD that would be bigger in a WUXGA version but Sony stopped making this model long before 4:3 displays went out of fashion.

In another week or so, I should receive my power adapter and see if the W700 works. It looks great on both outside and inside and the only thing that could be a real problem I can see would be a BIOS password.

The links below the small versions should display the full picture.

[Saucey]

Nice photos!

Hopefully it works well!
I was very happy with my W700ds despite some flex spots on the keyboard.
It handled my gaming & video editing til the day I had to sell it.

[MisterB]

The W700 and W701 are still in demand these days. Ebay prices on the better ones can get pretty high. This one wasn't cheap but I got a good deal because it was missing the adapter and untested. It was missing the memory modules and memory slot cover but otherwise it is in really nice condition. When I removed the keyboard and palmrest the inside was in pristine condition and it looks like it was never opened or serviced. There was very little dust on the fans and I don't think it got much use or was moved much. There's not much wear on the trackpad, keyboard, and digitizer either.


https://sites.google.com/site/mbthinkpa ... edirects=0

https://sites.google.com/site/mbthinkpa ... edirects=0

Buying this one was a gamble and if it boots to BIOS once I get an adapter and put some memory in it, I win. If it has any BIOS password or motherboard issues which is the only thing my visual inspection tells me could be wrong with it, I've got nice chassis and I'll have to buy another one or at least a motherboard to get it working and spend a couple of hours swapping parts.

I've wanted a W700 or 701 with a digitzer for a while but the ones I liked were going for prices beyond what I could spend, especially the ds models. Fortunately, the second screen doesn't interest me, it would just take up more space than this huge beast already occupies. The huge WUXGA display and digitizer are what I wanted. Two Thinklights is also a cool feature.

[Saucey]

Yes, two thinklights are nice.
When I sold my W700ds earlier this year, it only depreciated about $300 (paid $1145 in Nov 2012, sold for ~$950 in January 2016).
$600 seems to be the standard thru ebay, though they can be had for less if lucky.

Hopefully you can get the thing turned on and getting ready to go.
I never reapplied new thermal paste on my unit and I use it every day at my desert hometown.
I forgot to dust it every six months, but I hadn't had any problems while gaming or videoediting.

[MikalE]

I had a bid of just under $100 for a very clean W700 with 4GB ram and the power supply. That's about all the airhead on e-bay could tell me about it. It was extremely clean and new looking though.

Someone outbid me and I thought I'd just let it go as I thought they probably bid over $200 if they know anything about the machine.

It sold for $102. I'm still kicking myself.

[FryPpy]

Overall it looks good and while waiting for the adapter to come, I set it up next to a couple of large laptops I have to see how it compares.

More pics for comparison of the W700 from my early topic

[MisterB]

The adapter finally came today and, as I thought, it booted to the BIOS, but not without a struggle. The first time I started it, it didn't like the memory module I put in it and gave the 7 loud beeps that told me so. I found one that it liked and then got the one long and two short beeps that the HMM says indicates a bad motherboard. After a moment of despair, I remembered being in the same situation after a BIOS update on one of my W500s and the solution was to disconnect the BIOS battery and reset all the BIOS settings. That did the trick and it booted to BIOS afterwards without passwords or other problems. I'm testing it now with Linux Mint 18 and all is well. It has the WUXGA display, the digitizer and all other hardware is working. The only thing I need now is the memory slot cover.

[MikalE]

Glad to hear you at least got it to BIOS.

[MisterB]

I had a bid of just under $100 for a very clean W700 with 4GB ram and the power supply. That's about all the airhead on e-bay could tell me about it. It was extremely clean and new looking though.

I noticed that one. The price was unusually low considering the condition and Windows 7 sticker on it. The auction ended at around 4am where I live which is probably one reason it went so cheap. I've been outbid a couple of times trying to get a W700. There is one buyer who is buying a lot of the ones that have come up for auction the last few months. I don't know how deep his pockets are. He's bought several W700s and at least one W701 recently. He outbid me on a slightly better version of the one I got that had a quad core processor and Blu-ray drive.

I've just finished setting mine up with Windows 7 and am imaging the system as I type this. The display is awesome, almost as good as a flexview in viewing angles and the RGB LEDs and hueypro software lets you vary color temperature and gamma in addition to brightness. I didn't care for the auto calibrated color or think that it was that accurate but then I discovered the fine tuning controls and got a nice tone.

[86turbodsl]

I bought a decently equipped W700 a while back on ebay for $50. It's been a very very nice machine and has replaced my W500 for general daily duties. Sold without a power brick and i found one for about 45 somewhere.

Only flaw was the charging circuit doesn't work, so i bought a spare battery and an external charger. In business for under a 100.

[Pete B]

Late one night/morning I was looking at the big Dell M6400 and came across
one for $200 BO, offered $50 expecting them not to take it but they did.
Needed a drive and power adapter but is very clean and works well. It came
with an unlocked quad core - cool. It did not come with the much better
display used in the Covet:
17" UltraSharp™ WideScreen WUXGA RGB LED Edge2Edge Covet Display

The only weakness with ours is the poor quality WXGA+ (1440×900) display,
there is a lot of talk about issues with the color accuracy. And of course it is
bulky/HEAVY!

[Medessec]

I've got to take some W700 comparison photos again... nothing's more funny than seeing it alongside other 17" monsters. It's definitely got a style and flair of it's own, a "Thinkpad way" of making the 17" workstation statement.

I've got a good selection of characterful 17" laptops around here to compare as well(Clevo D900T/D900F/X8100)... and there's plenty of ridiculous mainstream performance laptops owned by all the fellow students who work in the same classes as me this semester(ASUS ROGs, Razer, HP Elitebook). W700s always stand out on their own.