Questions about the SL series

hi everyone! i have a few questions about 3 of the lenovo thinkpads that i'm considering right now.

is it possible to reflash the bios for the lenovo sl300, sl400, or sl500 series? i am looking into possibly buying one of these and it is important for me to be able to flash the bios for security purposes in case i get a rootkit. many would dismiss this as a concern, but i would still like to have this option because some of the data i work with contains the confidential information of customers, so i wouldn't want it to be compromised. my security as far as software goes is solid, but i would be totally vulnerable if my bios was infected. if my bios was already the latest version, could i flash over it to get rid of a rootkit? could i also downgrade to an earlier version?

does lenovo provide restoration discs for their computers, or am i on my own as far as this goes? i would pay extra for them, and if i don't have this option i might even buy vista separately.

does anyone have any information on which batteries in these three models don't stick out of the back? i know there are 4 cell, 6 cell and 9 cell options, but even a battery with the same cells don't necessarily stick out for all models based on what i found in this forum; it depends on the model. based on the reading i did from this forum "flush" seems to mean it doesn't stick out at all, though i might be wrong.

is it possible to run these models without the battery? given that the warranty of most laptop manufacturers don't even cover the battery for the same period of time as the hardware components, i don't want to wear out the battery, so unless absolutely necessary, i would take it out completely and run the computer by plugging its adapter in.

what is meant by the term "full size keyboard"? does it have anything to do with the size of typical keyboards on a desktop? what are the differences between the keyboards in the sl300, sl400, and sl500?

i am an occasional gamer, but i'm not so much worried about running the latest games with the best settings. all i really want is to be able to run the latest games at minimal settings; as long as it's playable i'm fine with that. is crysis a good game to look at when deciding on a graphics card? the sl300 has only 128 MB memory on the 9300m gs as opposed to 256 MB for the sl400 and the sl500, so i'm worried that this will have an impact on games for which 256mb is the minimum requirement. what fps (by fps i mean frames per second, not first person shooter) would be non laggy? i don't really care about having the best quality; as long as it runs smoothly and without lag i'd be happy since i'm not a serious gamer.

thanks for reading this!

 

That's a lot of questions there, I'll make an effort to answer them.

The BIOS on most Thinkpads can be flashed easily. Usually the best practice is to burn the down loadable BIOS to a CD and flash it that way. You can find the software, drivers, and BIOS for all Lenovo products HERE.

Lenovo does not normally provide restoration discs for their computers. Instead, there is a recovery partition in a hidden protected area on the hard drive. You can access this by pressing the blue button at the top of the keyboard before boot. Alternatively, you can make your own recovery DVD's from within Windows in case your drive fails (this is recommended). It is possible to get a factory pressed recovery DVD from Lenovo, but you have to call them up and pay (usually ≈$40). Vista discs are not normally distributed by any OEM due to current M$ policy.

With most current Thinkpads the rule with batteries is as follows:

3 and 4 cell batteries sit flush
6 cell batteries lift the notebook at the back (3-8 mm)
9 cell batteries lift the notebook AND protrude out the back

The battery is removable on ALL Thinkpads, and the computer will run fine without it. However, I advise setting battery charge thresholds of 30-50% and leaving it in the notebook for UPS purposes. This is possible with the ThinkVantage power manager on most Thinkpads, but this software may not be included on the SL series (most ThinkVantage software isn't).

A full size keyboard is just that. It is the full width from caps lock to enter of a standard desktop keyboard. However, no Thinkpad (except the w700) has a numeric keypad. Also, most ThinkPads, except the SL series, have a 7 row keyboard (pgup, pgdn, home, end, etc. are all in their normal layout). The SL series and keyboards from almost all other manufacturers are only 6 rows. This is really only a concern to touch typists/programmers.

Crysis is currently one of the most demanding games on the market, and very few computers can play it well. I would consider smooth gameplay as being 20+ FPS minimum at the native resolution of the LCD. I do not believe any of the SL series (or possibly any notebook) can achieve this with Crysis. I couldn't even hold 20+ FPS steady on my SLI equipped desktop (I had to drop from 1280x1024 to 800x600 for smooth framerates).

Graphics memory should not be your principle concern for gaming performance. Memory is most useful for high resolution textures. It is particularly important for professional applications, and those cards frequently feature 512MB or 1GB of memory. But for gaming, the graphics chipset is far more important for frame rates, especially at notebook resolutions.

You should should also consider the T400 ( review). It is not much more expensive than the SL series, has superior build quality, a 7 row keyboard, Thinklight for illuminating the keyboard in the dark, an LED backlit matte screen (much better IMO), the full ThinkVantage software suite, and switchable graphics to easily adjust between max performance and max battery life. The only thing you lose is the HDMI port (DisplayPort is an option on the docking station). The T400 offers a great value right now, and you would not be disappointed with it.

 

thank you for such a detailed reply jonlumpkin! to clarify, when you say that the bios on the thinkpads can be flashed easily, do you mean that the bios can be reflashed even if the version that you want to flash to your bios is the same version or an older version? that would be nice if you get a bios rootkit because if you can't flash with the same version as the one you have, then you cannot reflash if you already have the latest version. this is very important to me.

sorry for the formatting on the links, but the forum won't let me post links until i've made 15 posts. it doesn't help that i can't access my first account (clamshell is me) until i talk to an admin about some of the login problems i was having. so please just change the x's to t's in the links below after copying and pasting for now.

can someone confirm that the 6 cell battery for the sl300 really isn't flush? according to kevin in this thread it is flush on the sl300:

hxxp://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3875757

however, according to admlam, the 6 cell is NOT flush on the sl400:

hxxp://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3616737

i think they only offer the 6 cell and the 9 cell on the sl400 and neither of them are flush. if the 6 cell is really flush on the sl300, it would be a huge advantage over the sl400 and the t400 in terms of aesthetics; according to this thread here, the 6 cell is not flush on the t400:

hxxp://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=13811

so to have a flush battery on the t400 you would need to get the 4 cell one, which hasn't been tested for battery life on the review here on this site (linked in the second post).

i actually would prefer the t400 if i had a choice; the switchable graphics alone would be enough to convince me, not to mention the other features you mentioned. the only reason why i'm hesitant is because the 6 cell isn't flush on the t400 based on what i'm reading so far, and there doesn't seem to be a way around this without getting the very weak 4 cell battery. what do you think about this?

finally, regarding what you said about video memory not as important for gaming, i understand that the sl series wouldn't be so great for gaming. some people have reported though, that they have been able to run games like crysis at minimum settings and it achieved playable framerates (20+) when the resolution was lowered. i would be ok with this, but it brings up a deeper question that i've been wondering about. do game manufacturers sometimes overstate their minimum requirements? some people report being able to play crysis on 128 MB memory cards while the minimum requirement is listed as being 256 MB. i'm just a casual gamer, so would i be future proof if i could run such games at the bare minimum settings in 800x600 resolution? i'm just worried that newer games will come out and i won't even be able to touch them. stunning graphics is not what i'm expecting; even the lowest settings would be ok as long as it's playable (meaning no lag).

by the way, does anybody know about lenovo's warranty plans? i'm looking at the "3 year depot 9x5 Next Business Day". how does this work? if i have to mail the computer in, is shipping covered or do i have to pay for it on my own? onsite is actually looking much better, regardless of whether it's the sl400 or the t400.

 

I am pretty sure that you can flash the BIOS with any version. This even includes current and prior versions (although it must be for the appropriate model). However, I have only ever gone up in BIOS versions (never had a rootkit, I don't buy Sony CDs:wink: ), so I can't say for certain.

The sl300 offers a 4, 6, and 9 cell option. For this reason, I believe that the 6 cell is not flush, it either raises the laptop up, or it sticks out the back (otherwise, 6 cell would be standard, as it was on my T40). Likewise, the 6 cell battery sticks out the back a little on the T400. The problem here seems to be a switch to wide screens (less depth on the notebook), as the T60 and earlier models seem to have had flush 6 cell batteries (only the 9 cell stuck out).

You should also be aware that there is more to battery life than cell count. The actual WHr rating (AmpHours * volts), is more important. The 4, 6, 9 cell batteries on the T400 are 37.44WHr, 56.16WHr, and 84.24 WHr respectively (straight linear 1 cell is 9.36WHr for the T400); the batteries for the SL do not seem to list this rating. The 4 cell for the T400 actually isn't bad and should give you 2/3 of the very good 6 cell battery life. For comparison the x200 series uses a much worse 4 cell prismatic battery that is only rated at 28.8 WHr (half of the 6 cell for the x200), and the x300/x301 use 3 and 6 cell batteries at 27.33WHr and 43.2 WHr respectively.

Additionally, you need to factor in the efficiency of the laptop in question. I believe that the T400 is more power efficient that the SL series due to its LED screen, switchable graphics, and other features. You should also consider a P (P8400/P8600) series processor, because these operate at a lower voltage, and hence consume less power, than processors from the T (T9600 et. al) series.

Game manufacturers have to make a best guess as to what is a minimum acceptable standard to play a product. The PC market is very complicated with dozens (if not hundreds) of different individual processors, video cards, and other peripherals in millions of permutations. So they just have to throw out a guess. Games may perform acceptably with less if you have other items that make up for it, or can cheat down on resolution, anti-aliasing, and other settings. Compare this with the Mac or Console market where only a small handful of possible configurations exist. Requirements for a game should serve only as a rough guideline, only trying it out will tell you for sure.

Regular 3 year depot is what I would recommend (on-site is overkill for a laptop at this price point). If you have any problems with your Thinkpad, hopefully you won't, Lenovo pays for overnight shipping in both directions. You just call them up, explain the problem, and open a trouble ticket. If the problem can easily be fixed by you (bad hard drive, optical drive, RAM, etc.), they will overnight you a replacement part, you install it, drop the defective one in the box, attach a prepaid label, and call up the shipping company. If the problem is more severe, they will overnight you a padded box with a prepaid label for your computer. It will then go to a local depot and be repaired, and sent back to you (probably a week for a turnaround on this). I have never had any issues with service (I have used Thinkpads for 6 years, only had minor issues, but they were always well taken care of), and don't think on-site is necessary.