Ordered new T500. Some questions

Hey guys,

I decided to take the plunge and order a T500 today. It's through my scholarship, so I won't receive it right away.

Some of the major specs include a P9500 2.53GHz 25W C2D CPU, ATI Mobility Radeon 3650, 4GB of RAM, 200GB 7200RPM HDD, and a 6-cell battery.

I'm very upset that Lenovo doesn't offer a 15.4" LED backlit display with at least 1440x900 resolution. Do you guys think they will be adding one soon, or was it a good choice to choose the system now?

How bright is the CCFL display on the T500? I really hate notebook displays that are dim at full brightness. Also, what about flickering? Over the past few years, I have begun seeing more and more notebooks affected with flickering backlighting under certain power loads, and it's quite annoying to look at.

Are there any issues that I should be aware of? I have heard people complain about keyboard flex on the new T500's. Is that a widespread problem amongst T500 users, or has it really affected some T500 users and not all? I also plan on performing a clean format as soon as I get it. Are there any specific driver conflicts that I should be aware of first, or should I just download all of the drivers on Lenovo's site (for my model, of course) and then just install them as needed?

Lastly, what about battery life? Whenever I'm on battery, I will be in integrated graphics mode. What can I expect my average battery life to be given my specs above?

I apologize if some of the answers to my questions have been answered in other places.

All input is greatly appreciated!

 

Then buy a MacBook Pro or a Dell. Who knows if Lenovo will offer one. One clue might be the one they're offering in Canada is WXGA.

The screens on the T500 are 200 nit.

 

My university will only allow me to order a Lenovo or an Apple. I looked at the new MacBook Pros, and I wouldn't get the same value for the same price. Also, I think I would prefer a CCFL matte screen to a glossy glass screen any day (even if it's LED).

 

I don't think you need to feel sorry at all that you ordered a T500, it is a beautiful machine. But I agree with you, it would have been nice if they offered a high res LED option. Who knows, they might in the future as the LED screens are really popular right now and seem to be selling well. If you need the machine now then you made the right move ordering it now. If you don't need it now, you can wait and see. I have the CCFL backlight screen for my T61p and I love it, no complaints at all. I set my brightness to pretty high, about 85% and I never felt that the screen needs to be brighter, but I do use it indoors all the time.

As far as keyboard flex, some are complaining about it and others are not. But there does seem to be quite a few people complaining about it. Some are ordering the T61 keyboard and replacing the T500 keyboard with it, as the T61 keyboard has a stronger and stiffer backplate. There is also word that lenovo is starting to gather user input on this issue on their site but it is not known at this time on how they plan on dealing with this complaints. Check out THIS thread.

I think a clean install is a good idea. Not sure if you have Vista or XP. I have Vista Business x64 and did a clean install. It went well but is time consuming. I followed Stallen's Guide. It is a great guide and if followed very closely, will work great. It was written for the T61/T61p, but I think a lot of it is applicable for the T500 as well. I am not sure about driver conflict and the T500. I didn't have any with my T61p. In order to do a clean install you will need to get the Windows media. If using Vista you will need to acquire a anytime upgrade, OEM or retail disc of Vista matching your architecture(either 32 or 64 bit). Also make sure you download all your drivers and keep them on a flash drive before you begin the clean install. It is also important to read the "read me" file for each driver, as some require a few more steps other than a simple double click, next, next, next Just check out Stallen's guide....

I can't comment on battery life as mine is not great, but I knew that while buying my config. I choose the most powerful discrete GPU sold at the time, bluetooth on, Wifi on and the screen brightness up high, but battery life was my last priority anyways.

 

Thank you Fire Snake. That was a very informative post.

 

I have a quick question regarding the P9500 CPU. It's not listed under the Lenovo main site anymore, but it's still listed under my University's Lenovo page.

Are the P9500's still available?

 

your school probably has a stock of them that are unsold, whilst lenovo finds it difficult to maintain supply.

 

It's not the University itself, but the Lenovo University contract page.

 

quick suggestion- if possible, go to the manufacturer's website for drivers. for example, i suggest downloading the driver for your wireless card direct from intel.

lenovo can take awhile to update their driver pages, and is pretty well known for having website errors.