Lenovo Thinkpad W701: The Most Powerful Thinkpad Yet

The Thinkpad is a truly legendary laptop. Manufactured by IBM sine the early 1990s and acquired by Lenovo in 2005, the Thinkpad line is renowned for solid build quality, remarkable usability, and impressive system performance. A favourite of professionals and serious mobile workers, it’s hard to look through a service office and not spot a Thinkpad or two sitting on work tables or desks.

It’s fitting then, that Lenovo’s latest Thinkpad – the W701 – is designed from the ground up for total professionals. Priced well in excess of £2000 and relatively spartan in its appearance, the Thinkpad W701 is a triumph of performance over appearance and usability over display value. It’s in many ways the antithesis of HP’s latest Envy line, a notebook that’s powerful, usable, and valuable while lacking the flashy design cues often expected from such a device.

It’s difficult to look past the W701; the system’s huge physical size and imposing design make it a hard object to avoid staring at. Boasting a seventeen-inch screen running at one of the highest resolutions we’ve seen on a laptop – 1920×1200 pixels – the Thinkpad W701 is large to the point of being prohibitively bulky for many users.

But that sheer size is put to good use, as the laptop’s screen is one of the most crisp, usable, and appealing that we’ve seen in recent years. Lenovo have clearly taken inspiration from Apple’s matte Macbook Pro lineup, using similar technology to provide incredible colour strength and display clarity. Managing multiple windows is simple, with the large screen able to accommodate text files alongside a squashed internet browser window or other reference document.

It’s this power and usability that makes the Thinkpad W701 ideal for professionals, especially those able to deal with its hefty price tag and lengthy list of physical drawbacks. Mouse input is handled through a touchpad or control stick, although most users will want to make use of a connectable USB or bluetooth mouse. A graphics tablet is housed beside the control pad, although we found it to be more of a hindrance than a help for basic word processing and office tasks.

Battery life is predictably abysmal, although we’re sceptical that any users would see the Thinkpad W701 as a travel-friendly notebook. We’ve yet to see the battery’s longevity extend beyond 150 minutes under standard office usage, although with this type of power under the hood it’s unlikely that the Thinkpad will ever be used outside of the office; most users will simply attach the W701 to the nearest power outlet and work away.

The Thinkpad W701 is not a portable laptop and it’s certainly not something that casual users will appreciate. It’s a business machine, a laptop that has been built from the ground up for immense performance and unquestionable reliability. If the £2200 price tag and formidably bulky design aren’t enough to put you off, this powerhouse of a computer could deliver the ultimate mobile computing experience.

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