Question: T500 Owners Opinions?

Forum Members,

For the past year, I have been researching everything that I can about notebook computers. I have sat down and actually committed to paper everything that I'm looking for in a notebook and then tried to find out which brands/models I think would suit those needs the closest. After painstaking time and effort, Lenovo's Thinkpads beat out the competition about six months ago, with 2nd place going to HP (a really close 2nd) and 3rd going to Sony.

After much more deliberation, I was pretty sure that a T500 was what I was going to order. However, I've recently had some doubt and, in lieu of the T400 thread by Redbarron that sparked much debate about the T400, I was wondering if the T500 owners can share their opinions with me. I've read the reviews scattered throughout and even a thread titled "T500 impression," but I want a more pull no punches discussion. What I'm looking for is real, honest, "non-fanboy" discussion about the good, the bad, and the ugly. I feel this would be the most helpful to me as I look forward to making a final decision.

Here are a few specific examples of what I would like to know, in particular:

1. What are the strengths?

2. What are the weaknesses?

3. What should I be mindful of when inspecting it? In other words, what flaws/shortcomings should I be looking for after I've unpacked it and booted it up for the first time?

4. What are some of the things that you heard about the T-500, good or bad, that have turned out to be false based on your experiences with the T500? This can be anything (build, performance, appearance, ANYTHING).

5. How is DVD/Blu-ray playback, especially when compared to the true multimedia machines on the market?

6. Is the battery life really as good as advertised? I've actually heard that it offers the best battery life of any brand, considering its features.

These are just some examples of what I would like to know. Really, feel free to add anything that you think is on topic. Again, please don't hold anything back. I know there is no such thing as a perfect machine, so I am definitely interested in what's wrong or what Lenovo could have done better with the T500 model. My journey is winding down now, and I want to make sure that I make a decision that I can truly live with. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

THAANSA3

P.S. To those wondering what I would use my machine for, the list is as follows:

Not in any particular order

- Word processing, powerpoint presentations, and I use MS Publisher and Visio on occasion for work

- Spreadsheet calculations (I'm a finance major)

- Reading, creating, and editing large PDF files

- Web-surfing (I'm on the internet almost 90 percent of the time)

- DVD/Blu-ray playback (I view movies almost daily for a project)

- Gaming is something that I do sporadically. Really, the only game that I've played recently is Spore.

 

1. What are the strengths?
built quality is excellent. runs cool, fast, nice selection of ports, good battery life, keyboard,
2. What are the weaknesses? the screen could have less light bleed, ugly(this is a good thing in my case - no one will steal it!). Think light is to dim for me.

3. What should I be mindful of when inspecting it? In other words, what flaws/shortcomings should I be looking for after I've unpacked it and booted it up for the first time? check and make sure they gave you the right components of course...

4. What are some of the things that you heard about the T-500, good or bad, that have turned out to be false based on your experiences with the T500? This can be anything (build, performance, appearance, ANYTHING).
heard a lot of bad stuff about the keyboard, but it's just fine for me. It is the best keyboard I have every owned. (first thinkpad). some people complained that the Thinklight was to bright, but I think it's too dim.
5. How is DVD/Blu-ray playback, especially when compared to the true multimedia machines on the market?
??? I have only put 2 disks in the drive one was office the other Zoomtext.
6. Is the battery life really as good as advertised? I've actually heard that it offers the best battery life of any brand, considering its features.
I ran my T500 today for 1 1/2 hours and it had ~78% left on the battery afterwards... windows said there was ~4 1/2 hours remaining. (screen 100%, balanced mode, wifi on, BT on).

 

Yuio, thanks for taking the time to answer the questions for me. I appreciate it, for real.

 

I just received my T500 yesterday, and from my initial impressions, it seems to be quite a fine computing machine. Like yourself, I spent a rather long time looking at laptops (maybe 6-7 months) and cash is a little tight, so I certainly wouldnt consider this an impulsive purchase.

The build quality seems to be very good, which is why I originally looked into thinkpads to begin with. Im not particularly rough with my laptops, but I wanted something that I could count on lasting for a long time. Ive only had it for a day now, so maybe ill discover some problems as time goes, but im not counting on it.

With regards to the screen and keyboard (which people have recently been complaining about), Im personally very satisfied with both. It's my first thinkpad, so maybe im just not very picky, but I think the keyboard is excellent. It has a nice feel to it and Im quickly falling in love with the trackpoint. As for the screen, I got the standard WXGA CCFL--looks great, and I dont use it outside so it should be good enough for me.

My only initial problem is with vista basic being a load of crap. I intend to dual boot fedora & vista business64 once I figure out what the deal is with hidden partitions.

If you have any specific questions for a new-to-thinkpad-non-fanboy t500 owner, Ill answer them to best of my ability.

 

Picked mine up last week. Build quality is superb. keyboard is excellent (I dont notice any flex).
I love the way it looks and feels. One word to best describe it "professional". One problem I am having - wifi keeps dropping when i am accessing my desktop to retrieve files. Not sure if the wifi card doesnt like my router or there is some glitch. Hopefully new drivers will correct that.

 

Hows the webcam on it, guys?
I am planning to purchase mine one of the next days

 

Webcam is mediocre quality. I believe 1.2 mp. Gets the job done as long as there is ample lighting.

 

Just got a quote for a T500 after the price drop today and it really helps reading all the comments here. Thanks guys.

I'll give myself another 3-4 weeks before taking the plunge. It is really competitively priced now with other laptops which is great.

 

Yeah, I'm truly thankful for the comments. I was hoping to get a full discussion going, but the massive responses have not come. Ah well. I appreciate those that did take the time to reply. Thank you very much.

 

Howdy Thaansa.

I have had my T500 for almost 2 weeks now.

If you are interested in a little gaming then the T500 has a slight edge over the T400 in terms of graphics card. However, the T400 is reputed to stay a little cooler when the ATI graphics card is in use iirc ....

The switchable graphics option is a wonderful thing, but it only works in Vista. Still, it gives another 90-120 minutes should you be away from a plug.

The build is sturdy, but I found that when I first received it the keyboard had a LOT of flex in it - much more than I am used to with ThinkPads. However, when I took the notebook apart, re-set the keyboard, and then tightened the screws down firmly the overall sturdiness of the chasis and the keyboard improved quite a bit (although there is still a bit of flex on the keyboard - very usable, but present enough that I notice it ... although I am very persnickety when it comes to laptop keyboards).

The T400 has better battery life in all the reviews I have seen, which may be a consideration for you if you will find yourself away from a plug. The T500, with Intel graphics and as many gongs and whistles shut down as possible for battery life and with a 9 cell battery can give me a little over 8 hours of unplugged computing ... read here "only word processing".

 

This is a very useful thread, I'm also trying to decide between the t400 and 500.

Has anyone got the t500 only to find that the fonts on 1650x1050 resolution was a bit too tiny to be comfortable? I'm only asking because it sounds like a nice increase over 1440x900 but I'm finding it hard to gauge if the text would be a lot smaller :/

 

Do you have WXGA+ on a 15.4"? WXGA+ on a 14.1" to WSXGA+ on a 15.4" isn't that bad. Look at the DPI in the guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=124093

 

Thanks, Mycanid. I've heard about the flex issue, and that's something that I decided is probably not going to stop me from getting a Thinkpad in the end. It's interesting that you were able to go in and tighten things a bit, although I feel that the customer shouldn't have to do that. Have you been able to watch any DVD's? If so, what was your experience?

 

If it really bothers you, you could get a T61 keyboard. I agree though, you shouldn't have to do this. Too bad they removed that plate.

 

Yeah, I have already considered the T61 keyboard. I want to see if the flex is really bothersome once I actually own the laptop.

 

Thanks that's very helpful indeed!

 

When I mention "going in and tightening things" I am referring to the screws on the bottom of the notebook. They are simply placed there for tech support related stuff. I have opened up ThinkPads in the past, and IBM/Lenovo has user manuals available on the web for the models out there, so it wasn't too difficult.

Still, I also agree that the customer should not have to do that.

As for DVD's ... I have watched a few - mostly anime movies: Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. I watched them using both the ATI card and the Intel card. I did not have any trouble or issues personally. I have the screen resolution maxed out too. But to be fair, I am not as persnickety about movie quality as I am about laptop keyboards, so I could be missing some things that a more "trained"/savvy eye would notice. If it is an issue or of interest, the dvd burner is made by HT.

I should perhaps mention one thing which was a minor inconvenience for me personally, and that is that all the usb ports are on the left side of the machine. The external notebook mouse I like to use (a Logitech V150) has a short cable - and it was not long enough to reach around the laptop. So I will have to get a new one.

Not too big a problem, as I just got a Dell e6500 for a co-worker who also prefers external mice, and the e6500 has ports on both sides of the laptop, so it will be fine for him. Still, it was a minor annoyance.

 

Once again, thank you. I didn't know that all of the USB ports were on the left side of the computer. I wonder what the thought process was behind that.

 

I believe the reasoning was that most users use the mouse on the right hand side. And you don't want USB cords to other peripherals (external HD, Ipod, etc) sticking out into the same area that the mouse will be in or tangling up the mouse cord.

 

To be honest I am not sure - most of the laptops I have seen at least have 1 port in the back of the machine, most have at least 1 on the right side as well. Oh well.

I still like the machine a lot!

 

Does anyone have the WXGA LED screen? I am wondering if the difference between LED and CCFL is as dramatic as seen in Kevin's review pictures. Hmm I can't seem to put the link in until I have 15 posts - try copy and pasting this instead:

notebookreview.com/picture.asp?f=36092

Are there any pictures that compare the WXGA LED side by side with the WSXGA+ CCFL T500?