In my positive review of the 8-core MacPro computer workstation back in July, I declared, “The days of the big powerful desktop machines may be on the wane.” While that could have been overstating it a bit (hey, I’m a columnist; I'm entitled to an extreme opinion) few would argue that photographers have less affection for their sleek and mobile laptops than they do for their big, hulking workstations back at the studio.

The lines have become further blurred as popular laptops such as the 17-inch MacBook Pro have continued to dominate the photography landscape with their Intel Core 2 Duo processors, NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT graphics cards with 512 mb of video memory, and up to 4 gb of RAM, all of which provide ample power to view and edit photos and even video; create on-the-fly slideshow packages; build instant Web pages of photos from a day’s shoot; and speedily transfer image files to a client’s FTP.

Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find a photographer who doesn’t travel with at least one MacBook Pro these days and, in fact, I know quite a few who travel with several. And what’s the big deal really? These silver machines are highly portable so why not load up your assistants with a couple of 15-inch and 17-inch models when you go on location?

MACBOOK PRO KILLER?

The dominance of Apple-made laptops and, in particular, the MacBook Pro, in the photography market has not gone unnoticed by PC manufacturers. It has also drawn the attention of “The Big M,”—aka Microsoft—which for many years has had an inferiority complex when it’s come to dealing with anything relating to professional photography.

Slowly but surely that has been changing as Microsoft has begun courting the pro market by holding highly publicized events, such as the annual Pro Photo Summit in Redmond, Washington; taking the lead on simplifying image metadata across platforms with the Metadata Working Group; and developing new image programs such as the Microsoft Pro Photo Tools 2.

So it really came as no surprise when Lenovo paid a visit to PDN’s offices in July to give us a sneak preview of its new 17-inch ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation (there’s that word again) accompanied by two representatives from Microsoft. And why not? If Microsoft is as intent on targeting the pro photo market as it seems to be, photographers can only benefit. And, by the way, what is so great about all those MacBook Pros really?

After that sneak peek back in July, I finally got my hands on a Lenovo W700 for testing and I can say with confidence that while it’s not exactly a “MacBook Pro killer”—with all its features and heft it almost belongs in an entirely different category—it is definitely another nail in the coffin for the already dying desktop computer market.

With a built-in Wacom digitizer, built-in color calibration system, built-in back-up RAID storage, and a host of other features including a super-fast processor and a gorgeous, super-bright 17-inch display, the W700 gives new meaning to the term all-in-one. In laptop parlance, you could call the W700 a “desktop replacement” but it would be more accurate to describe it as a “digital photo studio replacement.” (A “notebook” computer, it’s definitely not.) Pack it in a bag—if you can fit it!—and wave goodbye to your old clumsy workstation back at the studio.

A THINKPAD ON STEROIDS

Put the all-black W700 next to a MacBook Pro and you’ll see what I mean when I say that the Lenovo seems to belong to an entirely different category from the Apple model. Though the screen size is the same, the W700 measures at 16.1 x 12.2 x 1.6-inches while the MacBook Pro’s dimensions are 15.4 x 10.4 x 1-inches.

I tried to fit the W700 into a laptop bag designed for 17-inch notebook computers just before heading to the airport for a trip to Photokina in Germany but I couldn’t squeeze it in and had to leave the computer behind. Conversely, my 17-inch MacBook Pro fit snugly into the bag like a runway model sliding into a pair of skinny jeans.

The W700 is also quite a bit heavier than the MacBook Pro, tipping the scales at 8.3 pounds whereas the MBP weighs in at 6.8 pounds. What may turn style-conscious photographers off even more about the W700 is the computer’s all-black, businessman’s appearance. When I first saw the W700 back in July, I jokingly called it “a ThinkPad on Steroids” and while that may have been a bit flip, it’s not inaccurate.

Unlike Lenovo’s consumer-oriented IdeaPad line of laptops which feature cool, dare I say Apple-like, designs, the W700 is a sober, serious-looking customer. Though this model offers a nice consistency with other Lenovo ThinkPads (if you’ve used one before you’ll be familiar with the W700’s layout) it’s rather dull. This is a PC after all. But still, couldn’t they have at least given it some racing stripes or something?

OVER AND UNDER THE HOOD

To paraphrase Han Solo boasting about the Millennium Falcon in the first Star Wars movie; the W700 may not look that hot from the outside, “but she’s got it where it counts.” In a word, this laptop is “loaded” but not just with the sort of geeky specs that make gaming nerds drool. Sure, it has a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Core Extreme QX9300 processor with 12 mb of L2 cache, a NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M graphics card, and room for up to 8 gb of RAM plug 2 gb of additional Intel Turbo Memory—the model I tested had a total of 4 gb of RAM—but it’s also equipped with features photographers and graphic designers will truly appreciate.

Most noticeably, when you open the W700 you’ll see the 128 x 80mm Wacom digitizer tablet embedded in the computer’s wrist rest which resembles an oversized track pad. A Wacom digitizer pen is included with the W700 and can be housed in a built-in slot on the side of the computer. I immediately had problems with that slot, however. After popping the pen in, I couldn’t get it out despite pushing the “eraser” on the back of the pen as instructed. It’s supposed to spring right out, but it got jammed and I had to pry it out with a paper clip. Not good.

After asking Lenovo about the problem, they said that while it was not common in the early W700 test units that went out, they did find one model with the issue and were checking to see if an adjustment needed to be made. Hopefully

that “adjustment” was in place by the time the final units shipped to photographers.

Building the Wacom digitizer right into the W700 is a brilliant idea and I found it very easy to make precise adjustments in Photoshop using the pen and miniature tablet. While it’s a bit cramped (compared to having a full-sized Wacom tablet in front of you), it sure beats packing a separate one in a bag and dragging it around with you on the road.

I also liked that the W700 comes with a built-in 7-in-1 card reader, which saves you the hassle of carrying around an add-on reader. What I don’t like, however, is that the built-in card reader does not accept CompactFlash cards only SD, SDHC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMedia Card, xD-Picture Card and xD-Picture Card Type H.

Seriously, what professional photographer is going to be using a Memory Stick or an xD-Picture card?

The lack of a CF Card reader is a glaring omission but one that is corrected by choosing an option to the W700 model that adds a CompactFlash expansion slot for an extra $10. Talk about nickel-and-diming you!

In Lenovo’s defense, the W700 is a made to order mobile workstation and if you’re interested in this computer, be sure to select all the right options when you buy it. (Believe me, the CF slot is well worth the extra $10.) Of course, all the options drastically change the price of the W700, which starts off at $3,000 but sells for $6,000 in the fully configured model.

The mid-tier model I tested was $4,652 which isn’t exactly cheap for a laptop, but is not a bad deal, either, considering all the photo-friendly extras. . .aside from a CF slot.

SCREEN DREAMS & EXTRAS

My favorite feature on the W700 has to be the 17-inch screen. A super-bright, 1920 x 1200-pixel WUXGA display, the screen offers twice the candle power of earlier ThinkPad laptops, with 400 nits (nits are basically equivalent to units of “candle power”) versus 200 nits in earlier models.

The display’s color gamut is also impressively wide, offering 72 percent of the Adobe RGB color space. Comparatively, most laptops have 45 percent of the Adobe color gamut while top-of-the-line external monitors can produce 96 percent of the Adobe color space.

While reviewing recent travel photos from Germany and the Netherlands, I found that color and sharpness were spot-on—and that’s saying a lot for a laptop screen. Viewing the same images in Adobe Photoshop and Bridge in a side-by-side test with a MacBook Pro, the W700 rendered color and detail more accurately, with the super-bright display giving the image an almost three-dimensional quality even in bright outdoor light.

Another brilliant move by Lenovo was to include a built-in HueyPro color calibrator in the W700. The HueyPro system, owned by Pantone/X-Rite, is one of the easier-to-use color management programs on the market and it’s made even simpler by the W700’s configuration makes it even simpler..

Instead of having to carry around and attach one of those hockey-puck-style colorimeters to the computer, all you have to do is launch HueyPro, press start, and close the W700’s lid. The colorimeter is built into the wrist-rest and will work its magic on the screen during about one minute of calibration. At the end of the calibration, three tones will sound to let you know it’s okay to open the lid again. The HueyPro interface will then let you toggle between corrected and uncorrected screens to see the effect of the calibration. It is a great idea that they have pulled off seamlessly.

Speaking of screens, the W700 is expandable with a dual link DVI if you want to attach additional 30-inch external monitors. Lenovo also made a smart decision by including a Blu-ray DVD burner/player in the W700—something that was noticeably absent from the MacPro workstation I reviewed in July.

As for extras, I’d recommend going with the dual 200 gb hard drive option that lets you select a RAID 1 configuration for redundant, “mirrored” backup on the W700, which will safely protect your images if one of the drives fails.

LIMITED VISTAS

With its high-end processor and graphics card and the host of extras, the W700 is a powerful machine that produces a lot of energy. Though the computer didn’t get as hot as we expected—it has two cooling fans—nor as loud, its 170 watts of power certainly burns through battery life. The nearly two-pound power “brick” that’s used to charge the W700 will give you two hours of battery life when fully juiced, so this is certainly not the kind of computer you’d bring on an airplane to watch a movie.

The W700 puts that power to good use, though, and is extremely fast overall. I generated a batch of HDR (High Dynamic Range) images in Photoshop in just 15 minutes using the W700, a process that would have taken me at least half an hour using the MacBook Pro.

Photographers who aren’t heavy PC users—and I’d warrant a guess that most pros are Mac-oriented—are not going to dig Windows Vista, however. Truth be told, I was a Vista hater when it first came out—though I’ve grown to appreciate some of its virtues, particularly its very fast 64-bit capability.

Negotiating all the paranoid Vista security prompts and weeding through the excess of bloatware that comes with a PC is strange territory for Mac users. If you’re happy with the smooth and intuitive Mac OSX Leopard operating system—which, in my opinion, is far superior to Vista—I suspect you’ll find working on a PC to be a slog. It’s not as bad as you might expect, however, so don’t let Vista’s bad rap totally dissuade you if you’re interested in the W700.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Though it’s too big and clunky to be a true “Macbook Pro killer,” the Lenovo ThinkPad W700 offers important things that Apple’s laptops do not even bother with, namely built-in features aimed specifically at the needs of photographers. Sure, Macbook Pros are elegantly designed, easy to travel with, and loaded with rock-solid Apple software including the undeniably great OSX Leopard operating system, but are they really for creative professionals or just anyone who can afford them?

With the W700, Lenovo has clearly thought about what pro photographers and graphic designers would want in a computer and has attempted to provide just that, with this all-in-one mobile solution. Though there are some definite hits—its beautiful super-bright display and simple built-in color calibrator—and a few misses—no standard CF card slot—the W700 is a bold attempt by Lenovo and Microsoft to attract professional photographers. It’s a credit to both companies that this attempt is largely successful.

Apple, be forewarned. A day may soon come when more photographers start seeking other vistas. The W700 is the first of what could be many PC-based options on the horizon.

Lenovo ThinkPad W700
www.lenovo.com

Pros: Beautiful, bright 17-inch screen offering 72 percent of the Adobe color gamut; simple, built-in color calibrator that operates just by closing the lid; easy-to-use built in Wacom digitizer tablet; very fast overall speed

Cons: Bigger and bulkier than a 17-inch MacBook Pro; Wacom pen got jammed in laptop slot; no CF card reader in standard model; only two hours of battery life; options dramatically increase base price

Price: $4,652 (tested model)