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Lenovo Unleashes Monster Notebook for Digital Photographers

ChrisDauer

Workshop Member
Hi Steve,

Nope, not yet. I've been looking for a great sale. Currently they are on sale until the 11th (or 13th? or something like that). But the sale is minimal. And the fact is I can buy a 64 or 128 GB SSD for between $300-500; but they want $900. So I'm hoping that they'll toss in an option for a larger capacity SSD; as well as lower the price significantly.

My thought is to place an order around black Friday (Day after Thanksgiving). Hopefully there will be some insanely good deals as companies worry about a sluggish holiday period due to the current market situation.

As to the XP/Vista/give-me-another-good-option-please front:
My plan is to talk w/ a couple of the local techs and figure out if it'll be easier/faster to have them pre-load Vista or XP. Then after I get it, we'll clone that drive (back-up), then create a new drive that dual-boots Vista & XP; and go from there. For the record, I'm really not keen on Vista either but that is limited to a couple of dozen other people's experiences... though I do know one person who likes it and thinks it works fine. Unfortunately the other 23 people didn't.

Cheers,
-C
 

etrigan63

Active member
Steve and Chris,

I fired an e-mail off to Lenovo today. Hoping to hear back with an ETA. I have a photo shoot coming up on Veteran's Day Weekend and I hope to be able to use it for some field work. I would love for them to get them to me this month so I can at least get a preliminary/first impressions article posted for you guys to read. I will keep you posted.
 

scatesmd

Workshop Member
Hi and thanks,

Carlos, I'll look forward to your take on the W700, esp with respect to stability issues/compatibility problems (my main concerns about more PCs/Vista for now).

Chris, I take it you are still in the PC realm, so I'll be curious as to what you end with. I want to keep my current laptop a little longer, a few months maybe, if I can. It may even be under warranty, still. Lenovo's customer service has really been quite good overall, better than with my Dell support.

If the Vista boxes are still having issues, I will consider biting the bullet and moving to Mac, but I'd like to wait until they update the MacBook Pro to quad core.

Thanks and I'll be on the lookout,

steve
 

Lars

Active member
Steve,
Vista x64 on a Thinkpad is rock-solid if drivers are good. I have a T61 from May last year, by now Lenovo has worked out all kinks in the drivers, I only reboot when software updates require it. I use my laptop for imaging software development, so it's pushed fairly hard in general terms. Of course, make sure the software you need runs on Vista.
 

scatesmd

Workshop Member
Hi Lars,

A dumb question on my part, but if I run Vista 64 do I have to have special software or does it run the usual versions of CS3, Office, etc? Are there compatibility issues I have to worry about?

steve
 

Jim Stone

Workshop Member
Hi Steve,

Just saw your post and, since it's been a long time since I've chatted with you, thought I'd pop in and say hello and offer my 2 cents worth. Actually it's pretty simple for me......BUY A MAC ! :D It might not be perfect, but for digital photography, it's very stable and the OS is just so simple. Hope all goes well with you and your family. Drop me an email and let me know what you've been up to.

Regards,

Jim
 

ChrisDauer

Workshop Member
Hey Jim,

Long time no see. :) Now Go Away! :p and stop scaring the 2nd to last PC user into buying a Mac! :p

:ROTFL:

I'm running a T60 at home (and at the GetDPI workshops) and aside from Jack complaining because I've disabled the touchpad (I use the eraserhead for my mouse); there have been no other complaints about it. It's build like a tank. Has 1600x1200 in a 15" screen. Tons of memory, drive space, processing power. And I have no real complaints; which is why I'm entertaining the idea of the W700. My T60 is a couple of years old and though it will make it another 1-2 years; the W700 upgrade offers 50% convenience (Better, Faster, Stronger) and 50% computer nerd (Sweeeeeeet).
 

MrSlezak

New member
Steve --

In my view, I'm glad you are not looking at Windows XP Professional 64-bit Edition. If you conisder XP then I’d recommend sticking with the 32-bit version of XP and I’d use SP3. I have not had great luck finding the drivers for my hardware for x64 XP.

With x64 Vista, in general. the only thing "special" you need for x64 systems with Windows Vista is just making sure you have drivers. When Vista released a little over two years back, Vista x64 drivers were a little scare but I'd guess there are not that many current devices that don't have drivers. There are things, like the Nikon film scanner I'm using, that won't ever get drivers unless the hardware maker decides to update their product.

Software wise things that use poor coding (hard coded directories, undocumented software calls, etc...) will still be problems, but most of those programs - from what I've seen - are either very vertical apps (e.g. something written in house for a given company,) or circa Windows 98.

I have been using x64 at work, and home without any issue that falls out of the above for almost two years on everything from a Core2 Duo laptop w/2Gigs of RAM to a my desktop dual proc, quad core system with 16Gigs of RAM and in both cases things seem to be just fine for my use.
 
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etrigan63

Active member
Steve --

In my view, I'm glad you are not looking at Windows XP Professional 64-bit Edition. If you conisder XP then I’d recommend sticking with the 32-bit version of XP and I’d use SP3. I have not had great luck finding the drivers for my hardware for x64 XP.

With x64 Vista, in general. the only thing "special" you need for x64 systems with Windows Vista is just making sure you have drivers. When Vista released a little over two years back, Vista x64 drivers were a little scare but I'd guess there are not that many current devices that don't have drivers. There are things, like the Nikon film scanner I'm using, that won't ever get drivers unless the hardware maker decides to update their product.

Software wise things that use poor coding (hard coded directories, undocumented software calls, etc...) will still be problems, but most of those programs - from what I've seen - are either very vertical apps (e.g. something written in house for a given company,) or circa Windows 98.

I have been using x64 at work, and home without any issue that falls out of the above for almost two years on everything from a Core2 Duo laptop w/2Gigs of RAM to a my desktop dual proc, quad core system with 16Gigs of RAM and in both cases things seem to be just fine for my use.
My website, PlanetAMD64.com, specializes in providing support for 64-bit OS's. We have an extensive driver database as well. My staff and the members are friendly and helpful. We are also celebrating our 5th anniversary.
 

etrigan63

Active member
Hi Lars,

A dumb question on my part, but if I run Vista 64 do I have to have special software or does it run the usual versions of CS3, Office, etc? Are there compatibility issues I have to worry about?

steve
Adobe CS3 runs normally on Vista X64. I have it on my laptop (HP tx2000z) and it runs like a champ. CS4 will have 64-bit versions for Vista x64 (not XP x64) which will allow the apps to access as much RAM as you can stuff on the mobo. The theoretical upper memory limit for a 64-bit OS is 16 exabytes which is 16x10^18 bytes (16,000,000,000,000,000,000). To put that number in perspective, if a memory factory can make a million gigabytes in one year, it would take 1600 years to make that much RAM.
 

Lars

Active member
Steve,
I'm still not past CS2 (which works on Vista x64 with the occasional missing redraw) but Carlos was kind enough to give you the answers you need.
Regarding T60 and Vista x64, it's an older model (3 years?). If you are willing to give it a try, you should check out one of the Thinkpad forums - I'm sure you have visited thinkpads.com in the past, and Lenovo USA has a support forum that is not bad either.
 

scatesmd

Workshop Member
Hi and thanks again.

I spoke to Adobe today and found someone in tech support using CS4 on multiple operating systems. He claims that he's not having issues with Vistax64 and CS4. I won't be using any old or in-house software, so I don't anticipate large issues there.

I will check out the planetAMD64 site, too.

Chris, I also use the eraser fora mouse; I think Jack and Guy both got on me about that, too.

Thanks again to all. These operating system decisions are likely made harder by me than they should be, but, in a sense, it's half the fun. I'll get something ordered, then change the T43 into a Linux box!

steve
 
O

Oxide Blu

Guest
Hi and thanks again.

I'll get something ordered, then change the T43 into a Linux box!

This is something I am very interested in. Someday my T60p will hopefully be sporting a Linux OS. I have managed to convince myself that MS is not in my long term plans for the future, and there is just no way I am going Apple unless they make major changes to product and pricing...which may happen in light of the current economic crisis.
 

etrigan63

Active member
I am happy to report that the W700 arrived on my doorstep today. What a beast! I have published some quick first impressions on my blog. Now I have to find a bag large enough to carry it!
 

Lars

Active member
Carlos,

Looking forward to hearing more about your impressions, especially the display. Do you know if your unit has the LED backlit panel?

Would you mind posting the product and serial numbers? At Lenovo's excellent support website it's possible to check the exact configuration and parts used in that specific unit.

Lars
 

etrigan63

Active member
Certainly.

Model number: 2752-3AU
Serial Number: LV-0007H

CCFL backlight on the display but it is a high-gamut device and the video card has 1GB onboard.
 

etrigan63

Active member
I have not used the T60p or T61p, Chris. I am getting ready to use the unit on a field assignment (assuming Lenovo sends me a bag big enough to take the unit on my flight) and I will compare the images on the W700 against my Color Munki calibrated Dell 3007 WFP. Later (when it gets here) I will compare the output to an HP DreamColor display. If I can get a hold of David Farkas, I will test the images against his calibrated Eizo monitors.
 
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