News Bits: 512GB SSDs, Lenovo W700 With Second Display, Memory Prices Increase

ThinkPad W700 features secondary 10.6" display

The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 will be available shortly with a secondary 10.6-inch display. The display has a WXGA (1280x800 pixels) resolution. Please see the link below for further reading.

Lenovo Product Link
NotebookReview.com review for the ThinkPad W700

Toshiba introduces 512GB SSD for notebooks

Toshiba today introduced the world's first 512GB SSD. The 2.5-inch drive has a SATA 3.0Gbps interface; maximum sequential read and write speeds are 240MB/s and 200MB/s respectively. The drive, THNS512G8BB, is likely to enter mass production in the second quarter of next year. Pricing information has not been released.

Full Story (HEXUS.net)

DDR2 memory prices hiked 20%
A DigiTimes report states that DDR2 memory prices have jumped nearly 20 percent. Distributors of the memory have been clearing inventory while suppliers have been cutting production.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

Clevo notebook shipments to reach 1.7 million in 2009

Clevo, the second-tier Taiwan-based notebook maker we have been talking so much about lately, is expected to see a 20% increase in shipments next year to 1.7 million units. This year the company shipped 1.45 million units, just short of its 1.50 million units goal.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

 

Question: If Clevo's shipping goal was 1.45 million units, and they in fact shipped 1.5 million units, correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall from my oh-so-distant school days that that should mean that they exceeded their shipping goal by about 50,000 units, not that they fell short of their shipping goal by 50,000 units.

'Course, I could be wrong - it's been known to happen from time to time!

 

Aye - it was switched around. They were 50k short.

 

OH WOW, 512Gb - that IS something... I bet the price tag will be over $2k

 

I thought it was a review of a 10.6 inch Lenovo with a 512GB SSD.
lol

 

The link for the NBR review of the W700 doesn't work for me. Is that the case for anyone else?

 

whoa 512Gb SSD. is this even possible in our lifetime?

 

512GB SSD?

I bet it costs twice the price of an average laptop...

 

10.6''??? ?? Not Lenovo too!!!
and dang, 512GB SSD!!!
@Scythie: It will cost 4 times the price....I just can't wait long enough to see those prices go down.

 

I will only be impressed with SSD when the price becomes competitive to hard drives. Until then, make 4TB SSDs for all I care, if its over $10,000 US, who cares?

 

Well, I for one would be fairly impressed with a 4TB SSD.

 

I care about 512GB SSDs because it should theoretically push prices down further for SSDs with less space.

At first it was 32 GB SSDs that were top of the line, then it was 64 GB, then it was 128 GB etc. It's just another step in pushing the price down for SSDs.

 

I agree with Swingman here. While we can pretty much assume and expect to see this new Toshiba drive going to be very highly priced, it means that by Q1 to Q2 of next year, the 128 GB and 256 GB SSDs that are around should fall from the $250-$500 range down to where the 32 GB and 64 GB units are now (i.e. the $100-$250 range) which will be much more affordable. I mean, G.Skill is already leading the competitive price front with a, still high but more tolerable, 128 GB drive in the low to mid $200s. This does not even take into consideration not only natural competition between companies that will help to lower price but also any possible new technological advancements in SSD creation and manufacturing that could help to lower cost of production and/or production output that affects consumers by typically providing a lower price in the market.

BBGus

 

The link in the forum thread should be fixed now. It was fixed on the homepage but not on the forum thread...


BTW, any word on a IDE version of the 512GB SSD?

 

which part you didn't like?

 

he's just ranting about 16:9 ratio, how lenovo should have standard res instead and all that.

 

I think it is not a big deal on sec. display!

 

Did you guys read PCMag's review of the ThinkPad W700:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329027,00.asp

They didn't review the model with the secondary display coming early 2009, but talked about it (see end of quote below). Note that he said it slides from the back of the main display, and is positioned in portrait mode. He didn't mention resolution, but said the second screen is 10.2" instead of the 10.6" size mentioned here?


"The ThinkPad W700 is monstrous, and its look may not strike a chord with fashion photographers, but some unheard-of built-in features will instantly make style moot. The Pantone color sensor, for instance, eliminates the need to carry a separate color calibration device; a Wacom digitizer that's traditionally part of the screen is cleverly positioned on the palm rest; and an option for a 10-inch secondary display that slides out from the back of the primary one is an industry first. These features, along with the built-in Intel quad-core technology, earn the W700 an Editors' Choice in the workstation category."
...
"Those familiar with the Pantone color calibrator remember the hassle of using this awkward peripheral as an external attachment. Lenovo did an ingenious thing by integrating its three sensors into the W700. Positioned on the palm rest, the sensors are barely noticeable, but the rewards of building them in are immeasurable. The aim of color calibration is to make sure that colors are accurately portrayed on the screen, so when they're printed out, for instance, there won't be any surprises. The included software that controls the calibrator is X-Rite's huey Pro. Once the software is initiated, a voice prompts you to close the lid, thus flushing out the light (so it's pitch black) for optimal results. With an external calibrator, flushing out lights in a room requires more effort than closing a lid on a laptop. The process takes about a minute, and the same voice will let you know when it's completed. The results show the pre-calibrated screen and the corrected version.

Right below the calibrator is another rare occurrence: A palm-rest Wacom digitizer. Traditionally, you'd find one on the screen itself, as with convertible tablets. But since the W700 doesn't have a rotating screen and the surface area below the keyboard is enormous, putting it on the palm rest made more sense. Writing, annotating, and drawing are similar to the way you'd do them in the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet. The writing area is substantially smaller (5 by 3.2 inches) but pleasant to work with, nonetheless. It's not touch-enabled, so you needn't worry about brushing your hand against it. The only way to use the digitizer is with the included digitizer pen that you can eject from the right-hand side.. In some ways, having the digitizer away from the screen is actually better, as it makes writing and drawing feel more natural."
...
"Although the secondary screen didn't come with my configuration, having one that slides out from the primary one (available in early 2009) is an amazing feat. This is basically a 10.2-inch widescreen that slides out into portrait mode and can be used to check e-mails, surf the Web, or multitask without interrupting the operations on the primary screen. Lenovo thought of everything in the feature set. A CompactFlash slot is available for D-SLR cameras that use the format, in addition to a separate SD slot on the bezel. There are three options for video-out, two of which are digital: a DisplayPort connection, which streams both video and audio, and a DVI-D port, which does video only."

 

It's not quite that bad. According to cnet, it will only cost $1652 in sample quantities. However, I agree that the reason to be excited about this is not because it's affordable (it's not), but because it will push the prices of smaller drives down. It's actually only twice the price of what the 128 GB drives used to cost very recently (some still do) so at the very least Samsung and others who're working on 256 GB will have to lower their prices accordingly.

 

Pity about DDR2 prices.

Guess it had to start eventually.

 

What the heck is DigiTimes talking about? When I bought my 4GB DDR2 kit for my macbook from Crucial a couple weeks ago, it was $54.99, now checking today, it dropped in price to $43.99. A couple weeks before I bought it, it was at $63.99, so atleast from my perspective, DDR2 has been dropping in price.

 

I believe they're talking about the supplier prices, not the prices you are seeing.