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Not too shabby.  Sounds a little hefty to be a laptop but oh well.  I wonder if it gets hot enough to burn the flesh of your thighs...

Speaking of hot, my iMac scores a 5.7 when I get it to run 64-bit Windows Vista, and yes it is possible.

obviously the gaming graphics are sub-par

And the option of 1920x1200 resolution, a Pantone color sensor and a Wacom digitizer.

That's a professional graphics studio in a laptop.

Lenovo makes some of the best laptops available. My old T41 still runs great!!!

--tayme

Wow! Insanely expensive! However a guy can dream right? However, the price point is approximately $500 over the Macbook Pro. I know this is a business notebook and it looks impressive, but holy sticker shock! $2,499.00 in this economy? No wonder people and businesses are sticking with older systems!

Remember the blog post about the home version of the Cray Supercomputers? At some point, you have to reason when that much horsepower becomes overkill. I'm sure they'll find away to use it all, but wow. Yes, I know there are systems a hell of a lot more expensive.

Kudos for Lenovo for their prowess. I just could never rationalize that kind of money for a notebook.

subzero

Now, now. That's $500 over the base MacBook Pro for the base of the high-end W700 model of the W series. Remember, there's also the W500 for $1349 which is $650 less than a base 15" MacBook Pro.

And, of course, even with your sticker shock, the W700 IS still cheaper than a 17" MacBook Pro.

Of course, that's only true as of 8:38AM PDT.

Did I mention that my Vista laptop costs $400? Oh yeh, I did :)

The entire family likes it. It came with MS Works too!

You know what I was really impressed by lately?

The new Intel D945GCLF2 motherboard.

It's got an Atom 330 processor @ 1.6GHz that's not only dual-core, but also supports Hyperthreading (yes, Hyperthreading).  That means *4* CPU charts in the Performance tab in Task Manager.

This board sells for ~$85US and includes the CPU.

It has a GMA 950 on board, so it DOES technically support Vista Aero.  It also supports 2GB of single-channel DDR2 RAM.

I put 1GB in one of these, installed Vista Home Premium x64 SP1 with the latest drivers from Intel's website (specifically for this board), and tested out 1GB of DDR2-800 (clocked to the maximum speed of 667MHz that the board supports), and a WD "green" 500GB hard drive on it (it was free from my supplier).

These are scores that I got from it:

Processor:  4.2

Memory:  4.3

Aero Graphics:  2.2

Gaming Graphics:  2.9

Disk:  5.7

That's pretty freakin' impressive for an $85 board and CPU combo, considering that it also supports Aero.  I dunno if maxing the RAM out to 2GB will make a difference in the perf test, but 4.3 is still pretty quick considering it's only single-channel.

Definitely worth a look for a SFF PC.

By comparison, the new 15" MacBook Pros are $2000 and $2500 depending on CPU, RAM, Hard drive, etc.

(The 15" Lenovo W500 is $1350)

By comparison, the new 15" MacBook Pros are $2000 and $2500 depending on CPU, RAM, Hard drive, etc.

(The 15" Lenovo W500 is $1350)

And the Mac Book Airs are $1800 and $2500

So the Lenovos are looking inexpensive!

Thanks for the info Mike. But it does seem like overkill to me.

(wierd)

Sorry about the double posting.

Amazing. Apple actually raised their prices. So much for the rumors of an $800 Mac Book.

Mac Book

Close out on old white plastic 13" 2.1GHz $1,000

New 13" 2.0GHz $1,300

New 13" 2.4GHz $1,600

Mac Book Pro

New 15" 2.4GHz $2,000

New 15" 2.5GHz $2,500

Refreshed 17" 2.5GHz $2,700

Mac Book Air

Refreshed 13" 1.6GHz $1,800

Refreshed 13" 1.8GHz $2,500

Honestly in the current economic climate, how can anyone justify tossing over $1000 on a computer is beyond me.

I can understand if it's a business investment, but as just some toy for a student?

re: "mikegalos" and new MacBooks--

More egregiously, they dropped FireWire from the "refreshed" AlumiMacBook. WTF? What's the point of talking about how wonderful it is to be able to edit video and then take out the most widely-used protocol for getting that video into the computer in the first place?*

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

*...and yes, there's always this:  http://tinyurl.com/6zxkhn

But what a kludge. And an EXPENSIVE kludge at that.

Oh my gosh!  Is lotsamystuff actually not talking positive about Apple?  OH NO!

lotsa

It's a bizarre set of choices in the new Apple laptop line. Dropping Firewire on the new Mac Books, raising prices, a new video connector that's compatible with nothing on the market (except their one new display), dual onboard graphics chips that you manually select between, a zero button mouse, 1 vs 2 vs 3 vs 4 finger gestures...

Just an odd announcement.

SO MUCH FOR THE RECENT INCREASE IN MARKET SHARE. WITH THIS ECONOMIC CLIMTE, APPLE MAY BE LUKY TO COMPETE, ESPECIALLY WITH THE INFLUX OF MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVES.

But, DRWAM, they have a new manufacturing process that Steve thinks is cool. Don't you think everyone's willing to pay more to subsidize that?  :-)

I have had an Apple laptop in the past, a PowerBook 12" which was a great laptop don't get me wrong, and I may yet get another one next year second hand as I did like it a lot.

However, I have had for a long time now a ThinkPad T40 (Replaced a T23) and it's first generation Pentium M/Centrino, had an out of date GPU when released (a Radeon 7500) and looks a bit battered (but all intact) - but I did think maybe I could consider a new MacBook and run OS X and Vista on it.

However, at these prices, no way. Too expensive. Had there been a basic £599 price point I may have considered it. At £499 it would have been definitely on the list. You can get the Dell M1330 at very good prices and that's an excellent laptop from those who I know who own one.

Instead I will soldier on with the T40 and have purchased Office 2007, much more useful.

@ lotsa

"AlumiMacBook"

Oh for crying out loud, it's spelt ALUMINIUM.

Aluminum is bad enough, but AlumiMacBook, please gods no!

Meanwhile, on a serious note.

What's this new video connector and twin graphics cards?

and why have twin graphics cards anyway? (unless it's for SLI / Xfire, of course)

gorath

Since Apple is from Cuptertino, California, USA, it's aluminum.

Just as when I need to put something in the boot of my Lotus I have to open the bonnet to get to it since it's from Hethel, Norfolk, UK.

(That's "when I need to put something in the trunk of my Lotus I have to open the hood to get to it" for the UK impaired)

gorath

On the twin graphics chips, the two are similar nVidia chips but one is more powerful and the other is more power-saving. You get the choice of graphics that are 55% of a modern desktop video card (according to the presentation) or good battery life and make that choice by switching between them. They run one at a time and don't do SLI.

I only have a problem with Americanisation of spellings when the spell check tells me I have spelt a word wrong and I haven't. Otherwise, each to their own. We all know what it is.

As for today's announcement they have made a buying decision for me. I won't be. Glossy screens are a no-no, positively hate them including the one on my TV.

Has SJ re-jumped the shark on price like he did on the Cube here. I suspect he might.

@all:

If i understood correctly from my very brief musings (<10secs), the primary video is integrated.  The MBP's have a secondary discrete GPU.  The reason is for battery life, since the built-in GPU is part of the Northbridge.  The Northbridge needs power anyway because it's the link between the CPU and the rest of the hardware on the motherboard and dynamic power management from within that chip is more energy-efficient than from a completely separate GPU.  I would imagine that this being an NVIDIA chipset-based notebook motherboard, the discrete GPU in the MBP's is using an MXM-style interface (modular card) to the rest of the mobo.

It does beg the question though:  WTF were they thinking going with NVIDIA, NOW of all times, now that NVIDIA has all this bad press about defective GPU's and chipsets?

Just another Apple blunder.  Ya, that stock ain't lookin' too good....

THEY DON'T DO HYBRID SLI??!!?!!

AHAHA!

Apple completely missed the point of having 2 different GPU's then.

@ mike, LMAO! haha.

I've often wondered about mid or rear engined cars, or more specifically, ones where the, erm, luggage storage space? is under the bonnet/hood rather than at the back of the car.

Is is still correct to call it a boot, or a trunk? Neither of those words alludes to being at the rear of a car I suppose. It just somehow feels wrong to refer to it as trunk OR boot.

Hood however, seems innapropriate, 'cause isn't "hood" just a shorthand term for "engine hood" or "engine cover"?

anyway, nevermind, it's not exactly important, unlike the spelling of ALUMINIUM, which is all-important, dammit!

gorath

Way, way OT but to answer the question, the luggage storage space in mid-engined cars varies from model to model. The Lotus Europa it had storage both in a tray behind the engine and in the nose (which, in Lotus fashion) doubled as the plenum for the flow through ventilation. The Porsche 914 also had two compartments as did the Matra M530. In the Lamborghini Miura, it was a single compartment in the tail behind the engine but with a separate lid. In the Lotus Elise it's in a compartment behind the engine but uses the same lid.

@ "Delmont" :Is lotsamystuff actually not talking positive about Apple?

Delmont: Save your fake shock for a time when "mikegalos" actually says something positive about Apple--or anyone other than Microsoft or a Microsoft partner. That's actually one of the signs of the Apocalypse, I think (although it's been a while since I read Revelations). Or maybe it has something to do with the Mayan calendar.

lotsa, Mike has a lotus that he likes, and they (as far as I know) have nothing whatsoever to do with microsoft (ok, they probably use solidworks or AutoCAD running on a microsoft OS, but come on, that's no link)

Anyway, my point, or lack of, is Mike has a lotus, and he likes it.

Does that mean the apocalypse is coming? Should I run for cover?

I like cake.

"OHNOES!  TEH APOKALYPZ!"

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