T400/T500 questions.

Hi,

I have been lurking for a while, and I just registered.

I read Kevin's review of the T500 and most of the comments posted to it.
Thanks, Its a good review, but...

I found it interesting that most of the machine's listed for comparison in the benchmarks were not even in the same league (i.e. HP, XPS1530 or the other dell's was not there, no machines with nvidia 8600/8800 or even ATI 3650 vid cards, no 9400 machines - no good reference for comparison IMO). Maybe the intent was to stick w/ business machines, but some better reference machines could have been selected for performance comparisons.

I am thinking about getting a T500, 9400, 2G , ...loaded w/ the Vista business/XP downgrade.

Now the Q's:

Does the switched graphics capability work w/ XP?

Does the turbo memory work with XP? Is this option tested, and/or worthwhile under vista? Any feel for how this might impact system performance during boot or waking from standby or hibernation?

Overall, how convenient and reliable are the sleep and hibernation functions on the T500? What about w/ switched graphics....

Does the XP downgrade come loaded on the machine along w/ a licensed Vista CD?

Does the T500 come w/ the facial recognition SW that other lenovo's have w/ the integrated camera for the purpose of logging in?

If I get the Vista Business w/ XP recovery media, do I get both DVDs, and what is the distinction between this and the XP downgrade in terms of future upgrades etc.?

Can the fingerprint reader be configured to control access to the bios?

Can the machine be configured via bios to be dual boot?

Can the machine be configured to boot off of a 2nd HD installed in the bay?

I am a Norton Ghost fan (not really a fan, but it is a convenient and a necessary evil for a business macine). Does the TP come with the ability to image (not the same as windows restore points) my drive onto a backup drive any time I desire like Ghost?

Thanks,

Pastafarian

 

Apparently, there are issues with switching graphics and XP - you might need a restart or it might not work at all.

Turbomemory is useless and probably won't work for XP since it's designed for Vista. The concept is good but implentation of it is poor.

There is no racial recognition unlike the IdeaPads, as far as I know. The fingerprint reader is most likely Windows based so you wouldn't be able to use it to access BIOS.

 

Switching graphics must be done in the BIOS for XP.

One reader claims that he can't even enable TM on his new machine.

Freudian slip?

 

"racial recognition" ?

Quick, somebody draw up a business plan and we'll make millions selling the application to the boarder patrol and other profiling gov authorities.

On a more serious note, can the bios select which of the 2 possible hard disks to boot from, and completely disable the other if desired?

 

Hi, I’ll answer what I can, but many of these can be answered simply searching the forum.

This is my biggest problem with the review—it gives the impression that the T500 “beats everything else out there.”

It doesn’t work with XP, but this is answered elsewhere as well. There is back and forth as to how much it really helps, but, in general, it should help.

Dual/multiboot tends to be a function of the boot loader, not the BIOS.

They have something called the ImageUltra Builder, but you have to download it and only the evaluation version is without cost. I have not used this yet.

 

BinkNR,

Thanks for the reply. I have read most of the info on this site/forum re: the TPs, but I had some conflicting info from the Lenovo sales support...

re: dual boot- In my current bios I can set the boot sequence and disable a device: HD1, Floppy, CD ...CD, HD1, Floppy, etc. So, If a HD is put into the bay, can it be booted from and do I have the option to not init the default drive? This is much different than disabling something in a windows HW profile.

re: turbo mem: is it visible as a volume in the HW profile under XP? (Some say yes, some have said no).

In general I would like to know what the T500's bios supports. I find it interesting that the hooks are built in to control the video HW. So, based on Kevin's info in can be set at power-up for both Vista and XP, and during run-time for Vista only.


Thanks,

pastafarian

 

What if I decided to install Linux (say Ubuntu) on the T500, would I be able to switch between the gfxcards - in the OS? at all?