So much disappoint from Lenovo T500

So over the course of the months that i've been here, i've owned 4 laptops including my current and now non returnable T500.

My first laptop back in August? was an HP Dv5t. I had some problems with it, but it was ok. I mostly returned/exchanged because I wanted to upgrade or change some things. In the end, I returned it for no fee at all, I decided to wait.
The laptop was around 1000$-1100$

Months later, I ordered a Dell E6400 from their outlet with nice specs with a 20% outlet coupon. It had 250GB HDD 7200 RPM, 4GB of RAM, WXGA+ LED, NVIDIA Quadro 160M NVS, backlit keyboard, 9 cell, etc.. If I could go back, I would have kept this. I paid around 750$ for this, and it performed well. I, stupidly, wanted to save more money by returning it and opting for no backlit, smaller HDD, and less ram. I never did find one and there wasn't another 20% off outlet coupon I could find.

I resorted to my next choice, Lenovo T500. The outlet deals weren't great so I didn't look there, I went with 15% cpp stacked with another 5-6% off coupon. Still, I paid about 1100$ for some minimum upgrades. All else was basic.


2GBx1 Stick RAM
WSXGA+ CCFL Screen
9 Cell battery
Windows Basic to Premium (this should have been there for base cost... owell. I want a free upgrade to W7)
ATI 3650
WiFi 5300
Webcam


Now, what enticed me about this laptop was the switchable graphics (therefore, good battery life), and how everyone says it's well built and how it's a good company.

Ok, physically, sure, it's well built.

But inside, I don't know what's going on, I've had so many problems.

In many cases, I had to restart the laptop.

1. Switchable graphics didn't work sometimes.
2. Returning from sleep is amazingly slow. There was so much lag, it was unbearable. I'd try to turn up brightness and it would take like 5 seconds. Everything would be slow. This is important to me when i turn on my laptop during class.
3. Battery manager isn't that great of a battery manager. In fact, launching power manager itself and leaving it on in the background uses an average of maybe 53% of my cpu, spiking up the watt usage of my processor. How ironic. I try to use this to check how much watt draw i'm at, but then it just spikes the watt draw up, which is just plain stupid. I forgot how to check using the windows feature...
4. About the battery... As said before, battery manager = sucks. The lowest watt draw i've seen is 8 watts when I saw it under power manager. Of course, after the processor spiked, the watt also spiked. Under my settings (lowest settings with mid brightness and battery stretch on w/ wifi) I expect a power draw of 10-11w, but usually I see 14-17w. Most of the time, battery life is luck. I saw at times 75% I had estimated 6 hours left? Then at 98% estimated 5 hours and 30 minutes? Too erratic.
5. Why the hell is the camera so zoomed into my face?

I can't think of anything else right now, but all in all, a regrettable purchase. Return policy is worse than dell or hp. 15% restocking fee? And I have to pay shipping? Wasn't the case with either dell or hp. I returned theirs with no problem.

The Dell E6400 was quite better.
1. A respectable resolution for a 14" WITH LED. Omg the brightnesses do not even compare. The T500's brightness vs the Dell E6400 is like comparing a cat to a lion.
Dell E6400's battery manager was much better, atleast from what I recall it DID NOT TAKE 50% OF MY CPU, SPIKING BATTERY LIFE! -_-
2. Sure, no switchable graphics, but the watt from the Dell E6400 was still good and the battery life was too, better than the T500's. I expected opposite.
3. Webcam didn't zoom into my face (?)
4. The keyboard layout was better on the E6400. I don't like the ESC key being above the F1... used to it now. I don't like the Fn key before CTRL Key, not as used to it, but kind of now.
5. From what I recall, not huge of a problem recovering from sleep.

Anyway... just ranting here

 

Have you tried updating your software via System Update? There may be outdated drivers at play here causing a lot of your frustrations.

 

Maybe you should try clean installing the OS next time you get a laptop.

Heck, you can still do it with your T500!

 

4 laptops in how many months? That seems very excessive and too much buyer's remorse.

 

Welp his sig indicates as much...

 

Uninstalling all the bloatware, installing all the updates, your own programs, configuring, etc., take at least a day or two. I usually like to avoid doing this as much as possible.

But have to admit, getting to play with different toys every once in a while is kind of exciting.

 

So you plan on getting rid also of the T500?

 

Hm says op is banned now...

 

Brightness in my opinion is not the key to a good screen. Contrast and viewing angles are what differentiates a good screen from a bad one. The T60 FlexViews, the best notebook screens ever, are only 200 nits in brightness. My own 14" R60 was plenty bright on the upper levels, but the angles were razor thin and the contrast was probably less than 200:1.

A lot of the issues you seem to have can probably be fixed on the software side with a little work.

 

I think that is just something he/she put under their username. I don't think he/she is actually banned... I don't think

 

He's not banned. Otherwise, his username would be red, not dark blue. It's just his title (I know many other forums block titles that say "Banned" and anything with "Moderator" or "Mod" in them, to avoid confusion).

Back on topic:
Since your issues are software-related, I would suggest 1.- removing whatever Lenovo tools or applications you do not use, especially those with startups, and 2- install the latest Power Manager software and drivers.

 

Hmm no. I'll have to do that when I have the time.

I didn't want to bother with that with my Lenovo. I did install W7 RC beta on the E6400, it went fine. Didn't want to do it for my Lenovo because of the video driver concerns. And I couldn't reinstall since no cds were supplied unlike Dell...

I realize that.

Yep

Didn't really want to bother with it as much this time. I spent so much time on my dv5t to have it all go wasted. This will be the same too once I get W7. Dell E6400 pretty much had no bloatware, was good from the start. Also, on the dv5t, I went through restore process a lot and just really took too much time.

No. I can't. I would if I could though.

Of course it's not the only thing to a screen, but, honestly, I don't look too much into contrast or viewing angles, or keyboards, etc. Almost all have no difference to me. Brightness, on the other hand did. It's hard to see in my dorm room, so much that I have to close the curtains. Of course this is partially due to the fact that my desk is located next to the window. (Sun always burns my stuff too -_-, i live in a dorm w/ 2 others btw.)

I'll see about software... Busy with school now.

More bloatware zz.

 

Most screens probably aren't going to work well next to a window because either they're matte and not bright enough, except for the high nit screens, or they're glossy, which are brighter, but produce a lot of glare.

 

I have a T500 and my friend has the E6500. The T500's screen is bright enough, but when compared to the Dell, it was really obvious. The Dell's screen was vivid and the colors just pop out. The Thinkpad seemed really dull. Maybe its just me.

 

So much disappoint, I do not have, love my T400 I do.

 

The WXGA+ LED screen on the E6500 is gorgeous. I swear it's the same panel that Apple used in their previous Macbook Pro's.

LOL!

 

With Thinkpads running Vista, unless you got SSD, you pretty much need to clean install, or tweak the system to minimum. Cos 88 threads at the start up just isn't logical.

As for switchable graphics, 4500 GMA is okay for most tasks, apart from gaming. Just use integrated unless you really need to play game.

 

Well I have a E6400 (on it right now) and I'm thinking of going to T400. Reason is is that there are some weird driver and bios issues with the E6400 that make it hang on shutdowns and standbys and also throttle the CPU (in certain cases). Also the screen gets marked up if you keep it in a moderately pressured environment like a backpack. The screen bezel is not built well, its loose, neither is the screen lid, it flexes.

The WXGA+ screen is nice and bright, I'm in full sun here with the brightness at half, but it has really poor colors and contrast.

I have the Intel graphics and the machine struggles to run CS:S at even 30fps.

 

You can always clean install and then download the drivers off Lenovo's website. That will ensure you get the latest drivers.

 

i love my t500 havent had any of those problems

 

Just did a clean install of Vista Home 64 on my T61 (15.4"), which came with the 32-bit version. I was mostly interested in accessing all 4GB RAM installed. I didn't expect it to perform so much better, which I suspect has more to do with the clean Vista install (lack of bloatware and 64-bit) than the extra 1GB RAM. Start-up time and wake-up from sleep are very quick now. Feels like a nice upgrade. It meant using my netbook as my main notebook for a couple of days, but it was a painless experience using stallen's Vista Clean Install Guide.

 

I don't think T500 owners can do a clean install unless they purchase a seperate Vista license. The only option is a factory restore.

 

64bit is noted to have slower boot times.

And you can do a "clean" install. It isn't the exact same as having the pure OS media from MS but you can definitely can do it. Or you could spend time uninstalling software.

 

I know you can uninstall software, but how can you do a clean install on a T500?

 

You don't need a Vista licence if you are installing the same 32-bit of Windows and the same version, with the utility of backing up your activation info. If you install 64-bit obviously you need a licence in the case your laptop did not come with x64.

 

Lenovo does not provide a way to only install Vista from the T500 Recovery discs. There is no way to accomplish a true clean install on a T500 with the discs provided by Lenovo. Only way is to buy a separate Vista license.

 

Or download an oem copy

 

Download standalone Vista from the Lenovo website?

I doubt it.

Have a link?

 

" I don't think T500 owners can do a clean install unless they purchase a seperate Vista license. The only option is a factory restore. "

An MSDN install is clean IF you are one of the people licensed to install it.

Renee

 

I didn't say that . I have one from building a system though

 

That is not true. You can use the same license you got for both Vista X32 and X64, so long as you install the same version(ex: you ordered business x32 you can go to x64 for free). It doesn't matter if you ordered your machine with x32 or x64, you can change between the 2 with no problems. The thing is you need to get the right media(i.e. there are only 2 types, x32 and x64, all versions of Vista are on each disc, regardless of what type of disc it is).