A colleague sent me this video Lenovo made and published to its official blog. My jaw dropped. Not because the content is particularly shocking or offensive, but because of how incredibly misplaced and lame it is as a Lenovo ad.
If anything, it makes clear one thing: Lenovo's talents lie in selling huge volumes of ThinkPads to business customers, and notably not in making smart, hip Internet video.
In the video, a guy recounts to his male co-worker a late-night work session with their female colleague the night before. While he and the girl are working, he starts describing the features of the new W700ds workstation from Lenovo. As he does this, she inexplicably begins removing various items of clothing until, it is suggested but not shown entirely, she is completely undressed.
Needless to say, the video is probably not safe for work for the average corporate office. But besides that, it's just odd. Does this video really find its home in the demographic that will buy this monstrous, expensive workstation? It's hard to imagine.
What's worse, this product is entirely remarkable on its own merits, and requires no suggestive videos to be noticed: It's a laptop with two screens. People will take notice without some silly video that makes the company appear as if it is trying way too hard.
Intel talked up its supercharged processor at the Montevina unveiling last month, but now the first notebooks with it are making their way to the public.
Some people have wondered if four processing cores inside a laptop is overkill, but Lenovo clearly doesn't think so.
Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 is the first to market with the Core 2 Extreme Quad Core processor. As you might imagine, this isn't one of those thin-and-light notebooks the industry is so high on. Nope, the W700 is a mobile workstation, but "mobile" isn't really the emphasis here.
"This isn't meant to be a mobile workstation--it's mean to be a workstation," said Wes Williams, Lenovo's chief ThinkPad marketing manager. "When you do need to be on the go, it means you can take it with you-- don't need two systems anymore."
Besides being a 17-inch notebook, it comes with the option of dual hard drives with RAID configurations, and an optional Blu-ray burner/player. Not only does that mean this beast is on the heavier side, you probably don't want all those cores churning away on your lap either.
The W700 is aimed at creative professionals and content producers, and has a built-in digitizer and a color calibrator to go along with its 17-inch screen. It comes with Nvidia's Quadro FX mobile graphics processor, which has 1GB of dedicated video memory.
Falcon Northwest has been using mobile quad-core processors before this, but Lenovo is first with Intel's offering. Keep an eye out for other vendors sure to follow soon.
Sony Ericsson phones of the non-lethal variety
(Credit: Newlaunches)For those who want some personal security without resorting to an Avurt IM-5, the phone stun gun may be a more discreet alternative. But many of those on the market are fairly obvious even to the untrained eye. (The prominently labeled "STUN" button might have something to do with it.)
But British authorities have confiscated one that looks particularly real, and for good reason: It apparently is. Nottingham police seized a potentially lethal weapon disguised as a Sony Ericsson W700 handset, according to Newlaunches, one that's capable of delivering a 900,000-volt jolt. The BBC reported that the device was seized from a 21-year-old burglary suspect by local officers, who carry Tasers capable of sending shocks of a much lower 50,000-volt intensity.
Perhaps it's time to dispense with the pretense of these clandestine and makeshift weapons and just carry them out in the open as fashion statements.
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