Best single screen 17" Thinkpad?

[JayNYC]

Hi. Which was the best single screen 17" Thinkpad? Was it the W701? Was it available without the digitizer pad? Were/are there any downsides, ie: known critical failures or otherwise? Any info greatly appreciated.

[brchan]

If I am not mistaken, the W700 has a CCFL screen compared to the W701's LED screen. Also, it seems that the W701 screen is more vibrant and accurate (RGB LED?), as well as being more uniform and brighter.

Of course, you also get the nice performance benefits of the W701. As far as reliability issues, hopefully someone else can chime in.

[ajkula66]

GPU failures plagued W70* series.

Good news is that these are swappable, unlike the ones found on most other ThinkPads.

The bad news is that the aforementioned GPUs are proprietary Lenovo cards and that a modded VBIOS is needed to get cards from other manufacturers working, and even in that scenario one's options are very limited.

[Qing Dao]

If I am not mistaken, the W700 has a CCFL screen compared to the W701's LED screen. Also, it seems that the W701 screen is more vibrant and accurate (RGB LED?), as well as being more uniform and brighter.

Of course, you also get the nice performance benefits of the W701. As far as reliability issues, hopefully someone else can chime in.

I've never seen either one, but I've heard that the W701's screen's backlighting wasn't uniform enough, so that near the bottom the individual different colored LED lights made an impact.

[600X]

GPU failures plagued W70* series.

Good news is that these are swappable, unlike the ones found on most other ThinkPads.

The bad news is that the aforementioned GPUs are proprietary Lenovo cards and that a modded VBIOS is needed to get cards from other manufacturers working, and even in that scenario one's options are very limited.

May I ask why? If the modded VBIOS allows the use of other cards, doesn't that open a plethora of possibilities? Like a fitting a GTX600 series card for example.

[Pokrzept]

GPU failures plagued W70* series.

Good news is that these are swappable, unlike the ones found on most other ThinkPads.

The bad news is that the aforementioned GPUs are proprietary Lenovo cards and that a modded VBIOS is needed to get cards from other manufacturers working, and even in that scenario one's options are very limited.

May I ask why? If the modded VBIOS allows the use of other cards, doesn't that open a plethora of possibilities? Like a fitting a GTX600 series card for example.

As long as you can disassemble W70x BIOS and integrate GTX600 video card BIOS in it you should be able to make it run. But this work requires alot of low-level programming skills, hours of work and huge ammount of luck - single mistake and you'll brick your beloved piece of hardware.

[JayNYC]

If my interest is screen size and reliability, not maximum GPU performance, what is the best way to
(a) verify a unit I might buy doesn't suffer from the problem mentioned above
and
(b) if it does, who is the best person/company to fix if I am not comfortable opening the machine myself.

Thank you

[ajkula66]

If my interest is screen size and reliability, not maximum GPU performance, what is the best way to
(a) verify a unit I might buy doesn't suffer from the problem mentioned above

Run Furmark on it at full resolution for 4-5 hours, with TPFC installed and fan on max. If the GPU doesn't start crashing/pixelating/bluescreening, you should be good to go.

(b) if it does, who is the best person/company to fix if I am not comfortable opening the machine myself.

Thank you

Given that you're in NYC, fellow forum member Brad would get my highest recommendation.

[JayNYC]

Ok so now I need to find a good W701, without digitizer, preferably from someone in this forum community

Anybody looking to sell one?

[JayNYC]

update, call my crazy, call me maybe, i just bought this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad ... f#viTabs_0

hope I didn't make a mistake
[[Update: I made a mistake, I still want a W701 with 1920 resolution LCD]]

[ajkula66]

hope I didn't make a mistake

Well, you bought a 17" laptop with a 1440x900 LCD...I wouldn't be happy with that, but you might be...

Factory specs for that W701:

Code: Select all

i7-720QM(1.6GHz), 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HD, 17in 1440x900 LCD, 1GB nVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure Chip, Fingerprint reader, Camera, 9c Li-Ion, Win7 Pro 64

Good luck.

[JayNYC]

hope I didn't make a mistake

Well, you bought a 17" laptop with a 1440x900 LCD...I wouldn't be happy with that, but you might be...

Factory specs for that W701:

Code: Select all

i7-720QM(1.6GHz), 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200rpm HD, 17in 1440x900 LCD, 1GB nVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure Chip, Fingerprint reader, Camera, 9c Li-Ion, Win7 Pro 64

Good luck.

Ok, you're right. I am cancelling this order. So I need a W701 with a 1920 resolution screen. I should have checked these specs closer. Curious: how did you do the specs lookup? I see the BIOS screen, just not sure which value you looked up and where you did it.

Thanks

[ajkula66]

"Machine type model" and then enter that value here:

http://sm.krelay.de/tp/index.php

[RealBlackStuff]

Alternatively, the "header" of the Forum-pages has recently been modified to include this "Machine type model" option.
Click on MTM at the top of this page!

[RMSMajestic]

For those of you who are interested in changing the graphics card on W701, take a look at this:
http://ridingtheflow.blogspot.com/2011/ ... nd-of.html
I reckon it is possible to change the graphics card, but even if it is done one will lose the color calibrator for any graphics card better than Quadro K2100m, since it needs specific screen and specific graphics to work. Some engineering sample W701 don't have working graphics due to this reason

[RMSMajestic]

Ok, you're right. I am cancelling this order. So I need a W701 with a 1920 resolution screen. I should have checked these specs closer. Curious: how did you do the specs lookup? I see the BIOS screen, just not sure which value you looked up and where you did it.

Thanks

lol I was about to get that one as well (mainly for the express 34mm and express 54mm adapter). But the WUXGA screen for W701 is not that expensive and rather easy to find. There's also a W701 top assembly(although a bit cracks). why don't you try to install one by youself? I've added camera by myself

[JayNYC]

Ok, you're right. I am cancelling this order. So I need a W701 with a 1920 resolution screen. I should have checked these specs closer. Curious: how did you do the specs lookup? I see the BIOS screen, just not sure which value you looked up and where you did it.

Thanks

lol I was about to get that one as well (mainly for the express 34mm and express 54mm adapter). But the WUXGA screen for W701 is not that expensive and rather easy to find. There's also a W701 top assembly(although a bit cracks). why don't you try to install one by youself? I've added camera by myself

I have no experience doing upgrades on laptops beyond hard drives and memory.
I will have to wait for a W701 configured with a 1920 screen....

[RMSMajestic]

I have no experience doing upgrades on laptops beyond hard drives and memory.
I will have to wait for a W701 configured with a 1920 screen....

I can do it for you at exchanging the HDD I/O sub card if you get that one

[jedisurfer1]

I have a w701 that has a 1440 screen. I can put in a 1920x1200 screen was going to do it and max it out but getting married and the wife doesn't have the same affinity for thinkpads as I do. If you are sure you want one me let me know. It has the fx2800 and the RAID options in the bios.