Lenovo ThinkPad W700 II

You can specify a 17-inch wide-screen display with either 1440-by-900 resolution or the 1920-by-1200 resolution of our test system; the former's brightness rating is 200 nits, while the latter's is 400 nits. The higher-resolution display has a better-than-average color-gamut capability of 72 percent of Adobe RGB (most laptop displays, according to Lenovo, have gamuts of around 45 percent). However, it did not seem overly bright to me. My desktop monitor, a 24-inch Samsung 245T, which has a rating of 300 nits, appeared much brighter. Also, be aware that, while a narrow angle of view is not uncommon on a laptop, this viewing effect will be more pronounced on high-end graphics models like the W700. At least its dual-link DVI port can drive separate super-high-resolution monitors if the LCD's 17 inches aren't enough for you. As I've noted, high-end graphics users are the target market for the W700--that much is obvious thanks to a couple of key add-ons: A built-in color calibrator and, as well, a built-in tablet. The first of these is an embedded version of Pantone's Huey, which Lenovo says adjusts the color quality settings up to 60 percent more accurately than doing the job without it. It works with an on-screen utility and a tiny hardware calibrator built into an area beside the trackpad buttons; you click a button and close the lid, and the calibrator does all the work. When finished, you can view the before-and-after settings. The changes produced by the calibrator were noticeable and, to my eye, correct. The W700 is also the first laptop to incorporate a WACOM drawing tablet (and that should give you an idea of how ginormous the W700 is). It measures 128mm by 80mm, or roughly the size of two playing cards side by side, and is located in the right palmrest. You must use a digitizing pen, which stows in a slot on the side of the notebook, but it works well with applications like Photoshop and Corel Painter. In addition, it works with Windows Tablet PC input, so you can, for example, use it to insert your signature into documents. It's pressure-sensitive, and you can adjust just how sensitive it is. The ThinkPad W700 isn't exactly stylish: It's a huge and functional business box. At least it's not garish, like some big Dell and HP models. For the most part, it looks--and acts--like a ThinkPad. That means excellent keys with lots of travel, a logical layout (with a separate number keypad located to the right of the main keys), and both eraserhead and trackpad pointing devices. Typing doesn't get much better than this. Even though the display is very large, the bezel around the panel adds an inch-and-a-quarter on the top and bottom, and three-quarters of an inch along the sides. That makes the entire notebook larger than it probably should be. As it stands, the notebook measures 12.2 by 16.1 by 1.6 inches. On the other hand, the W700 is pretty light for such a large case--9.1 pounds with its battery installed (add another 2 pounds for the meaty power brick). Either way, that's substantially less weight than other large-screen desktop replacement notebooks. The ThinkPad W700 may look understated--and it's a bit of a kitchen-sink approach to computing--but it's a top-flight notebook. For on-the-go graphics artists, or those looking for the ultimate mobile workstation, it's hard to beat.