Dual-screen laptop madness from Lenovo

Davey Winder
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 15:45

Your IT - Home IT

The most obvious spec is the fact the W700ds has those two screens of course. The main 17 inch one and a nifty 10.6 inch second adjustable screen which slides out to the side of it and can be tilted by up to 30 degrees.

Lenovo has cleverly managed to ensure that the second screen hidden in the lid of the ThinkPad only adds a matter of millimeters to the thickness of the W700 model upon which the new laptop is based.

When it comes to resolution, things really are none-too-shabby. The main screen comes in at 1,920 x 1,200 while the 10.6 inch display can manage an impressive enough 1,280 x 768.

Processor options include Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad, and come with 8GB of DDR3 memory if you want it. Optional dual hard drives with RAID configurations are available, as is the option of speccing your dual-screen laptop with NVIDIA Quadro FX mobile graphics.

Of course, you get the DVD burner if you like, and how about a high speed UDMA compact flash reader? Five USB ports come as standard, along with dual link DVI support, WiFi and even WiMAX on some models.

What you also get is weight, and that is not an option. Expect the basic dual-screen model with a single hard drive to come in at an arm aching 5Kg.

Your wallet will also feel the strain as the ThinkPad W700ds range starts at USD $3,663.

So has Lenovo gone mad? Nope, I think this is pure genius for those who need more screen-estate on the move without wanting to lug a suitcase-sized machine around. Yes it is expensive, yes it is heavy, yes I do want one!