Is W700 ever going to get cheaper?

[Crunch]

To the OP: The W700 and W700ds series' have both dropped by almost exactly $100. However, it's not really a price break, as Lenovo introduced one of the Intel P series, the less power consuming, and less hot P8700. Max. TDP is 35W on the T9400, and 25W on the P8700. This interests a number of people, as I've found out, so there ya go.

The only other difference is the L2 cache is not 6MB, but only 3MB. Shouldn't matter much. Oh yea, and there's a $130 difference between the P8700 and the T9400. Just letting you know.

[ajkula66]

Ski Bunny wrote:

However, was every 15" T60p a BOE Hydis? (at least in UXGA)

Officially, according to HMM, yes. There were two variations but the LCD specs are the same, the only difference is RoHS compliance.

I have read reports that people have found ID Tech LCDs in T60p units, but have never seen one myself. Once again, officially-that never happened.

Crunch wrote:

No, only T60p's, two X series models, and Hydis (they dropped the BOE when they were acquired in 2007) was manufacturing them for 3 months so far as I know. And yes, UXGA only!

I don't quite understand what you were trying to say here, but for the record: every 15" UXGA in T60p units was manufactured by Hydis, at least per official Lenovo records, and all of them are AFFS when it comes to technology. Hydis LCDs featuring this technology can also be found in X41T, X60T, X61T, X200T (CCFL version only) and Fujitsu tablets.

As for your new W700, that's likely the best LCD on any laptop today. I haven't bought one myself out of sheer principle, but that's a whole another story...

Enjoy!!!!

[Crunch]

Yup yup. Hey, do you know anything about as to whether or not a Core 2 Quad (Q9000 2GHz) would be better than the T9900 (Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz)?? It's 3:29am, and I can't stop obsessing over the CPU's, and my SSD's.

[SkiBunny]

Yup yup. Hey, do you know anything about as to whether or not a Core 2 Quad (Q9000 2GHz) would be better than the T9900 (Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz)?? It's 3:29am, and I can't stop obsessing over the CPU's

As you probably know, you can't directly compare the clock speed between families. For example between CoreDuo and Core2Duo or Core2 Quad. So a 2.0 GHz CoreDuo is slower than a 1.83 GHz Core2 Duo, although the average consumer in Best Buy would think the opposite.

I believe that in "general", the Core2Duo was said to be about 25% faster than the CoreDuo. Perhaps a similar "generality" exists in comparing the Core2Duo and the Core2Quad, although I don't believe such generalities are entirely accurate.

It also depends on whether what you do is multi-tasked enough such that it takes advantage of the additional cores.

Do you know or care which is hotter?

[Wilhelm]

As you probably know, you can't directly compare the clock speed between families. For example between CoreDuo and Core2Duo or Core2 Quad. So a 2.0 GHz CoreDuo is slower than a 1.83 GHz Core2 Duo, although the average consumer in Best Buy would think the opposite.

I believe that in "general", the Core2Duo was said to be about 25% faster than the CoreDuo. Perhaps a similar "generality" exists in comparing the Core2Duo and the Core2Quad, although I don't believe such generalities are entirely accurate.

It also depends on whether what you do is multi-tasked enough such that it takes advantage of the additional cores.

Do you know or care which is hotter?

Crunch,
I would agree with SkiBunny´s comments. There is an interesting test to read of the Core 2 Extreme QX9300 vs. the Core 2 Quad Q9100 that supports this point of view (unfortunately this article is written in German, only http://www.notebookjournal.de/praxis/te ... 0_q9100-93).

[Crunch]

@SkiBunny: Actually, the cooling fans in the W700 are so effective, I don't really care about heat, no. Battery life, same thing. And yes, of course if the CPU's are of a different nature, the clock speed means nothing.

The quad-core would be better if I did heavy multi-tasking of applications that are designed and specifically written to benefit from 4 cores. While I do multi-task all time, I am not exactly a gaming fan, nor do I do a whole lot with graphics-intensive programs.

I was all set to say, the T9900 high-speed 3.06GHz Core 2 Duo it is, in part because of what you and other people said. I think it'll be a coin toss or something lol...I could always "compromise", and get the best of both worlds. The Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300 2.53GHz, which has a whopping 12MB(!) L2 cache haha...Let's see how good I'm at selling that idea to them. There is no going faster than what I have now anyway, with the exception of bragging rights at benchmark tests lol...Ever since I've been using my new Samsung SSD, it's all instantaneous anyway.

Do you guys know if Lenovo sells the SLC versions of SSD's, or only the MLC's. A 32GB one would suffice, as the SLC's are way more expensive.

Also...I hear the NVIDIA FX2700 gfx card is actually not part of the motherboard, and is therefore upgradable to the FX3700M?

[ajkula66]

Crunch wrote:

Also...I hear the NVIDIA FX2700 gfx card is actually not part of the motherboard, and is therefore upgradable to the FX3700M?

That is correct. It's the first ThinkPad since the G41 days with an upgradeable GPU.

[SkiBunny]

Let's see how "unbelievably great" this 400NIT WUXGA w/ Pantene calibrator, blahblahblah stacks up to my S-IPS one on my trusty T60p. It had better get "close" if ya know what I mean.

Crunch, how do you feel your W700 screen compares to your T60p screen for quality, contrast and clarity? (or did you already tell us)

[Crunch]

That is correct. It's the first ThinkPad since the G41 days with an upgradeable GPU.

Finally! Great news. Thank you. I shall order the FX3700 w/ 1GB then.

Crunch, how do you feel your W700 screen compares to your T60p screen for quality, contrast and clarity? (or did you already tell us)

Sorry for the lateness of my response, SkiBunny!

The T60p has the better screen. No doubt about it. The W700's screen is brighter, which is because of the 400NIT, of course, and side-by-side comparisons also immediately reflect as much. This is pretty impressive, as my T60p's S-IPS LCD is the brightest screen that I have ever experienced in a Thinkpad, including all the IPS LCD's that I had owned before the T60p. Having said that, though, the color calibrator that the W700 has (not a standard option, but I'd highly recommend it!) makes up for a lot of the difference as far as the screen quality, contrast, clarity, and color accuracy! And then you get to manually configure the "color temperature", and contrast to boot from within the software that comes with it.

Are you thinking of getting one? Btw, I missed UPS last night (GRRR), and with it my T9900 that I ended up deciding on. lol...My obsession with this maxing out everything is silly, I know.

As far as the topic of this thread is concerned, the W700 has come down in price by $400 for the W700ds, and by $300 for the W700 since my first post in this thread. Anyone else thinking of getting one?

Oh, and I still owe you guys some pix. Sorry for the delay. I'll shoot some tonight. The AC adapter alone is worthy of a comparison shot. lol...It's three times as big as "regular ones" from IBM/Lenovo.

[mattbiernat]

yes but $1800 is still too much for me to afford. i was looking at the outlet and there was a refurb for $1500, i am not in a hurry to buy a computer but I am hoping that in a year or so the price will go down enough for me to get a deal for $1300 (hopefully!). I really want a 17" screen and my T60 has not been taking my abuses quite well recently - the keys in the keyboard are already falling off!

[Crunch]

Do you absolutely want/need the WUXGA high resolution? I would highly recommend it, but that's me. I've bought friends of mine Thinkpads over the years, and much to my surprise, they didn't want anything above XGA (1024x768) lol...

[SkiBunny]

yes but $1800 is still too much for me to afford. i was looking at the outlet and there was a refurb for $1500, i am not in a hurry to buy a computer but I am hoping that in a year or so the price will go down enough for me to get a deal for $1300 (hopefully!). I really want a 17" screen and my T60 has not been taking my abuses quite well recently - the keys in the keyboard are already falling off!

If you follow the pattern of other models, it'll be about $900 next summer and then $450 the following summer (i.e., ~50% per year depreciation).

For example, a T60 2623DDU (top of the line) that would have cost about $3000 in early 2007 is now on the ibm "used" website for $590.

[SkiBunny]

Do you absolutely want/need the WUXGA high resolution? I would highly recommend it, but that's me. I've bought friends of mine Thinkpads over the years, and much to my surprise, they didn't want anything above XGA (1024x768) lol...

Yeahbut an XGA variant in 17" ?

[mattbiernat]

If you follow the pattern of other models, it'll be about $900 next summer and then $450 the following summer (i.e., ~50% per year depreciation).

you do have a good point there, however some models such as T60p with IPS are almost impossible to find. well i am keeping my fingers crossed, i want a good quality 17 inch notebook for watching movies and i can't deal with anything that does not have a trackpoint. hopefully i still will be able to install windows XP
edit finally a big drop in price. I could get a refurb right now for $1194, that is the exact price that I was looking for. Maybe this xmas I am going to replace my T60 with something more formidable.

[SkiBunny]

you do have a good point there, however some models such as T60p with IPS are almost impossible to find.

There is one on here now: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=79623
and there were three others on here this month with warranty for $700.
There have also been a bunch a few times at IBM certified used in July and August for $590 with the 20% off coupon.

[SkiBunny]

i want a good quality 17 inch notebook for watching movies and i can't deal with anything that does not have a trackpoint. hopefully i still will be able to install windows XP

Well, i hear that Windows XP is about to be withdrawn.

And for the price of a W700, you could instead get a genuine large-screen tv as well as a new T500/T400 with a trackpoint

[mattbiernat]

And for the price of a W700, you could instead get a genuine large-screen tv as well as a new T500/T400 with a trackpoint

yeah but it is kind of hard to fly or drive around the country/continents with a large screen TV.
and this is why i don't want to get the T series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8sOO-8LP4E

[SkiBunny]

Well there's currently a redistributed W700 (WUXGA, T9400, NB9E-GLM, 4GB, 8X DVDRW-DL, 160GB@7200rpm) for ya $1249 in the outlet

[SkiBunny]

T series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8sOO-8LP4E

Ay, caramba!

[Crunch]

Guys, I love my Samsung SSD 128GB!! My first one was crap, so I'll exchange it. If you want an SSD, I highly recommend it. I ran a lot of benchies for it. The Intel X18-M reads crazy fast (consistent 260MB.s), and it writes pretty well, too. The Samsung, thought, writes at 170MB/s. It behaves like an SLC. lol...It's 330am, and I'm dead tired. I figured a lot out today is all....

I need someone who knows how to install my FX 3700M w/ 1GB video ram. lol...Oh btw, the WEI (Windows Experience Index), the rating system, you know? The Samsung gets a 7.5 out of a possible 7.9 And my gfx scores at 6.6 each are gonna go into the 7's. That's why I got it.

[proaudioguy]

OK that T400 looks like a piece of crap on that video. Can anyone confirm the W700 does NOT suffer from these issues? Also what are the links to get these "deals" on the W700? I really wish they would offer something with the power of the quad core and graphics in the W700 in a 12" or 14" 4x3 IPS screen. I need sheer horsepower but I don't need a huge monitor or a number pad, just high quality.