The last time I used a ThinkPad was in the mid 90s when I owned a pen oriented, ThinkPad 360P, with an Intel 486SX 33MHz CPU! This was a DOS machine that had a color screen and a step up from any TPC that I had been using such as a Gridpad Convertible in the late 80s and the Dauphin Orasis. The five pound, 360P showed a lot of promise for charting patients in a mobile environment. When it was discontinued, I was devastated. 

In May 2005, Lenovo purchased IBM's Personal Computer Division.  As the owner of the ThinkPad brand of notebooks computers, Lenovo has recently released their next generation convertible tablet PC.  Today, I experienced the pleasure of the latest generation of a convertible Tablet PC called the ThinkPad X200.

This review is from a medical perspective, concentrating on such subjects as mobility which includes battery life, weight and physical form factor, visual acuity under different lighting conditions, inside and out, biometric finger print reader, Dictation with Dragon Dictate Medical Version and how it works with the built in microphone, WSR or Windows Speech Recognition, camera for patient pictures and documenting wounds/contusions, maximizing the CPU in a battery only-mobile environment, charting patients across an N-wifi network, with the data on a separate computer, Hand Writing recognition with Vista and third party software such as Pen Office and ritePen, etc.

When this review unit arrived, 30 minutes before my first patient arrived, I had to go into high gear because; I wanted to use it to chart the first patient! The first thing I did was unbox it and plug it in, assuming the battery had no charge. I was lucky as it was 90% charged! I had no time to read manuals or even look for a manual.

I had 30 minutes until live! 

Mobile computers are by nature small and that means the controls are often miniscule and found in odd places, difficult to see, let alone find. No problem with the intuitive, well thought out Lenovo X200. I had no problem finding the switch to open the unit. There was conveniently, only one switch available in the hinge area. The AC inlet was bright yellow, another plus, as it was not just another orifice, with an unknown function.  I found the white power button (again the only obvious option) in seconds and the unit was booting to the Vista desktop in a few minutes. Initial boot time was a full minute to the Vista Business desktop.

This is the most user friendly TPC I have ever used. Who needs a manual?  The internal wifi chip in the X200 found my Belkin N router and needed a password. I entered my password and I was online in seconds. I changed to my workgroup name, (not Workgroup) so the X200 could join my network of 14 other computers. I then navigated to a networked machine and installed my EMR setup software that was stored there. My EMR was now connected and ready to go.  I then installed the free AVG Virus checker. I wanted to use the finger print reader, but again, no time to read instructions, so I opened the Vista Search and typed in, “Finger Print,” and up came the application, I clicked on it and followed the prompts which worked flawlessly. I was done in just a minute or two. I used biometric finger print reader on all my personal desktops and have readers on three other TPCs. The Lenovo setup was by far the easiest most friendly setup I have ever used. The directions were just excellent and could not have been easier. I was ready to start my day before the first patient arrived! The reader continues to be reliable and easy on a daily basis.

Mobility:  

a.  Battery:

The battery is the bane of mobility. TPCs in general have a terrible battery life and in my experience, at least for my needs, cut the battery life in half of whatever the manufacturer claims. The Lenovo X200 alleges a 10 hour battery life and may in fact get that but not the way I use a TPC. However, I think the Lenovo claim is legitimate, based on my attenuating circumstances, let me explain. I use all my TPCs with full brightness of the screen and with the CPU on full power utilizing the Best Performance Profile. I make sure my power settings are set for Performance, not saving the battery life. Additionally, I am charting across a network, so wifi is constantly on. Given these battery mitigating circumstances, I can still get through an eight hour day, with this Lenovo X200 machine, which is more than one can say for most TPCs. I can go 8 hours straight,  but I would have to throttle back the battery in the last hour. Fortunately, I don't have to do this.  I don’t see patients between 12-2:00 PM. Therefore, that gives me 2 hours to recharge! In effect, I then go from 2-6 with a full charge. The bottom line is that I do NOT utilize and battery saving techniques. I want full power for charting speed and full bright visibility for my eyes. This mandates, no power saving utilities! Lenovo and Electrovaya have the best battery life I have ever experienced.

Doctors want chart data, fast.  You simply can't do that with a throttled down battery. A throttled down battery results in a less potent CPU, among other variables, (see charting below). Lenovo executes a good compromise with the 8 cell. (In an office setting, compromise is easy. In a hospital setting, you may need a secondary battery).
Recharging an extra battery can only be performed with the X200 parked in its docking station. This is one of my pet peeves with all TPC vendors. Vendors need a separate charging dock for spare batteries.

Using Two Batteries:

I don't have a second battery, but I suppose one could charge the extra battery overnight, with the Lenovo in the dock. This would result in two batteries to start the day! Given this relatively long life battery, two batteries would be more than enough to get through any day at the office and probably even the hospital! Even, using the high performance profile that I use! It's easy to change your battery power settings with one click from the taskbar.

b.    Weight: Lighter is always better but very agreeable at 3.8 lbs., with large 8 cell battery, given the pleasant form factor. (4 Cell is 3.5lbs.)
c.   Form Factor: Very comfortable especially with larger 8 cell battery that protrudes to the side. The protrusion is actually a convenience in the long run because my fingers wrap around the battery instead of touching the screen. I don’t think this was a design accident but was intentionally done this way. I like it! 

Visual:
This screen is the best TPC screen I have ever used and I have been using TPCs since 1986. At my age, 39 going on 58, I like it bright and clear. Vista makes it look even better!

Pixels, Lighting and Automation:

a. 1280 x 800 pixels in landscape mode
b. 800 x 1280 pixels in slate mode
c. Under fluorescent office lighting, the screen is bright and clear, exceeded only by the contrast of a darker room. Fluorescent lighting use to wash out older TPCs, but not this Lenovo X200.
d. Any screen will of course look better in a darker room.
e. Outside, in bright sunlight the screen is readable and very readable in the shade.
f: The screen automatically switches from portrait to slate mode contingent on how the user holds the X200. 

Screen Dimension: Landscape mode: 12” diagonal, 10.25 wide. Portrait mode is 6.5 by 10.25.  

Biometric finger print reader: Could not be better. Works like a charm,  in both portrait and landscape mode. This is the easiest and best finger print reader I have ever used for a desktop PC or TabletPC. Works equally well in both landscape and portrait mode. Once you have used a good finger printer reader, you simply can't go back to entering passwords manually.

Dictation: I'm using DNS Medical 9.5 on a Lenovo X200, TabletPC, with a 1.8 CPU and 4 gigs of Ram with Vista. The mic is an internal dual array. I installed DNS with a score of 25 on voice testing. this is the best score I have ever had on any TPC or desktop! I accepted all defaults of DNS. I did the fastest, "learning read," that I could and was dictating with 99% accuracy in minutes. I dictated, into my EMR note, the summary impression from a Radiologist MRI reading, (two paragraphs), with 100% recognition! The text just flows across the screen without hesitation or slow motion. (from lack of power, ram and a good mic).

Mobile DNS, without wires is a compelling reason to own a new TPC. No fan noise at all. I'm impressed! This combination makes DNS text flow accurately and quickly across my screen using only the internal microphone. This machine rocks with DNS, accuracy is excellent, setup was a breeze. I played with WSR or Windows Speech Recognition as well. Unfortunately, WSR does not work in my EMR, which I have come to understand is a problem with my EMR and not WSR. Having said that,  I don’t use WSR other than to test it in Office Applications. I have experimented with WSR importing a medical vocabulary, but WSR is another subject.

Fan Noise: Because of Dictation, fan noise is worthy of a subject by itself. If a TPC has a fan going while you are dictating, that can and will result in an accuracy detriment.  I have yet to hear the Lenovo fan at all.

Camera: The software is Roxio and requires multiple steps to initiate to the point where a photo can be taken. This precludes me from using the camera unless and if I have software screen loaded and ready at all times. Additionally, photos cannot be taken in the slate mode because of pixel restraints, which means that pictures can only be taken in the landscape mode at 1024 x 768. Having said that, it works well for head photos but over all needs work.

Charting: Charting wireless is always going to result in a performance hit with respect to accessing data, at least compared to a hard wired NIC. The Lenovo X200 comes equipped with N wifi, which in combination with an N Router makes for the fastest wifi performance. In this respect, I conducted a little experiment. I throttled down my CPU by lowering my battery power and opened a 350 megabyte Access database. I did the same with the battery at full power. The difference was striking, by a factor of twice as fast on full battery power! As noted earlier, this is why I use my TPC with full screen brightness and maximum power profile.Hand Writing Recognition: The native Vista HWR, built into the Operating System on a TabletPC is better than any other version and truly makes HW pleasurable, for the first time. Having said that, I use ritePen by Evernote,  for two reasons, accuracy is very good and I don’t want to see the Tablet Input Panel (TIP), overlying my patient data, while charting in my EMR. ritePen has recently added macros as well, that can come in quite handy with repeat Medical Orders. You can actually jump back and forth between ritePen and the Vista TIP and or Phatware’s Pen Office if you so desire. They don’t conflict with each other, hence the choice is yours. All medical personal should download the free trial of ritePen.

I hope to do a future addendum to this review with the touch screen ThinkPad Lenovo X200T.

Pros:

The ThinkPad X200 has an all day battery prescription, with a bright and visible screen that works well with medical dictation and maintains a comfortable form factor. Without a doubt this is the most technologically advanced TPC I have ever used with a modern OS, friendly well thought out hardware and software that successfully leverages battery life, in a mobile environment.

The Lenovo X200 is the most perfect compromise to date,  of mobility, power and technology that enables the health care worker to be virtual, digital and mobile.

Cons:

There are no serious cons with this unit, only preferences on my part.

• No ability to recharge an extra battery while you are using the Lenovo, in a mobile environment. Recharging an extra battery can only be performed with the X200 parked in its docking station. This is one of my pet peeves with all TPC vendors. Vendors need a separate charging dock for spare batteries. I don't have a second battery, but I suppose one could overnight charge the extra battery, with the Lenovo in the dock. This would result in two batteries to start the day! Given this relatively long life battery, two batteries would be more than enough to get through any day at the office and probably even the hospital!
• Camera works but needs faster and friendlier software.
• Would prefer the pen holder on the top of the unit, given the way I hold it, in the slate mode. Presently, the pen holder is on the right in the notebook landscape mode. In other words, the pen holder is placed for the right handed user that is using the ThinkPad X200 in the notebook mode. I'd like it on the left side, that would put it at the top (left side) in the slate mode.
• Need an extra "hardware," button that can be programmed for DNS. I like to turn DNS on or off with a hard button. This is faster and easier than navigating shortcuts or software.
• Would prefer a button like scroll bar for navigating through pages fast. This would consist of a little knob that would work to move up and down the page while in reading mode.

Updates to this Review (including Windows 7 beta), as well as pictures can be found at my personal web at:

http://www.digital-doc.com/C2/Lenovo%20200X.htm

http://www.digital-doc.com/C2/Lenovo%20200X.htm