The Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series: Scaling the Peaks of Notebook Performance

The Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series laptops have abandoned the current obsession with body image in the notebook world and have instead produced one of the most performance-intensive mobile workstations on the market. Accordingly, the W-Series models are heavy, just under 4 kg, with a power block to match, and are at the pointy end of ‘expensive’. But if you are looking at the W-Series laptops, none of that will matter to you. If you are looking at the W-Series you want the cutting-edge in multimedia features, over-the-top power that will handle the most intensive programs you throw at it, and a completely professional experience.

Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series Review

If you were looking for a laptop picturing in your mind the 2-hour round trip walk to the park and back, laptop slung over your shoulder, it is safe to say that looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series would not be a great idea – unless fitness was your aim.

The W-Series model laptop is, in the most impressive sense of the term, a mobile workstation with every connection port you can imagine, and peak performance has taken precedence over portability in almost all of the W-Series’ key areas. But the performance is every bit worthwhile.

In both a 15” and 17” option, the 1920×1200 resolution LED backlit widescreen in this model supports a host of exciting features and produces superb graphics for users from the expert photographer to the movie buff. With an extreme 1GB of dedicated video memory, even the most graphics-intensive programs are manageable, whilst the NVIDIA graphics solution and X-Rite colour calibration make sure the picture stays true and crisp. The integrated blu-ray optical drive will love playing through this sort of display.

The keypad is as close as you’ll come to a full-blown desktop. Aside from the famous ThinkPad ergonomic keyboard and Trackpoint, which is allowed more space and thus better access in the W-Series models, it also includes a Palm-Rest Digitizer and pen for digital content creation (think Photoshop and CAD/CAM applications) with a fingerprint scanner for security.

This level of performance requires a lot of grunt, and the Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor provides just that – extreme processing. The ‘fastest mobile processor ever’ by Intel, it has a 5-star consumer rating and its quad core is geared for faster, easier and more powerful performance in intensive applications; multimedia in particular. It will optimize your system output across the board.

The specs will leave a lasting impression. Potential for 8GB of RAM, up to 12MB of L2 cache memory which targets your most used and most important processes (usually you get 4 – 8MB), and up to 200GB hard-drive with a 64 GB solid-state drive. If top-end, bully-like power for intensive work is your desire, the ThinkPad W-Series duly obliges.

Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series Battery

The ThinkPad W-Series use a 9-cell Lithium Polymer battery, light and durable, giving you up to 8 hours battery life.

Lenovo ThinkPad W-Series Price

It is unavoidable that the ThinkPad W-Series laptops will hurt your pocket. With these models pricing between $2 500 and $6 500, there are cheaper options. But if you are serious about performance and are looking to replace a bulky desktop CPU with a laptop at the pinnacle of multimedia technology, then you should still seriously consider the W-Series.

Lenovo Support

Australian support number: 1300 557 073 (24 hours, 7 days)

Online help link: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/homeLenovo.do (support centre); http://forums.lenovo.com/ (support forum).

Warranty: 1 year standard.