Schavuiten & Co: ThinkPad T500 Consumer Experience

20091224

ThinkPad T500 Consumer Experience

(Lenovo)/ThinkPad T500 2082WG Consumer Experience

Why a ThinkPad?

I had some bad experience with the last favourite brand, Zepto, I was kinda pist off and disappointed so I wanted a ‘100%’ reliable product. This was the trigger.

..I like any device with some thought behind it - doesn't have to be what I think, as long as I can notice that at some point someone sat down a tried to think like a user while using the device. Apple minded users might experience this feeling as 'love' when comparing Windows OS with Max OS X.

Before I bought my ThinkPad I already associated the brand name with quality and durability. I think the link was made by the distinctive 'design' from IBM.

You notice the ThinkPad for its unusual, non smoothed style and beam shape. Next you keep seeing the black box during your career as a human. Add some interest in notebooks (like; want to know what you’re actually buying by reading reviews and comparing products) and you have all the necessary ingredients for a brand name that stands for durability.

Now you only need a high purchase price to add the feeling known as quality to the brand name association list.

You might think that quality doesn't have anything to do with the purchase price and in theory your might be right... but in the real world it is safe to say that cheap stuff causes more headaches – less pleasant headaches.

(First image in this post: IBM ThinkPad R51 (1992))

The specs

The T500 has two GPUs, Intel and ATI. Using the Intel Graphics saves you about 40 min of battery life;

While writing this review on Intel graphics 5:05 and ATI graphics 4:23. (All wireless connection off, 104 processes, CPU usage average of 9% (low performance)).

WiFi is provided by a Intel WiFi Link in 5300. This has 2 antennas and can thus handle 300 Mbit wireless n and most importantly, has a better range. Great advantage in buildings that are not always a seamless wireless network.

The notebook is silent. I rarely hear the laptop cool. The DVD player is not. Something I personally experience as ‘no problem’. DVD writing is still an uncertain science, to be sure that a DVD you burned yourself is readable I use an external DVD burner that I share with the house. In fact, because I almost don’t use the DVD drive I’m thinking of replacing it with some other Lenovo Ultra Bay

accessories like a hard disk holder. That would enable me to switch my new primary hard disk to the Ultra Bay and start experimenting whit a SSD, but that is an other story.

Lenovo Think Vantage and other software

A major advantage of Lenovo, unfortunately also a disadvantage, are the various programs that Lenovo provides drivers and software updates, GPS, HD Shock Protector, GPU switching and wireless connection manager, etc. All very good programs but they make sure that the laptop needs 2~ minutes to boot.

Some screenshots from programs that supposed to make your life easier. They do!

Promises of good computing time to come

The first 6 months promises a stable next 2,5 years. There were some glitches (drivers , don’t install two that perform the same task, you will create a war), nothing serious.

More to come

----

Useful links