T500 Impressions

My T500 arrived yesterday.

I must say, this is a very nice notebook. It's certainly very sleek.

Here are some of my specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo P9500 2.53 GHz
4GB DDR3
Vista Ultimate
200GB 7200RPM HDD with disk encryption
15.4" SXGA+ display
Added BlueTooth, and DVD Recordable drive.
WiFi card: Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN
The rest are the stock options.

Screen: One word: Beautiful. I was worried about getting a CCFL screen since the LED backlit displays are so bright. However, this display is really, really good. It's certainly very bright, and the colors are rich and vibrant. The viewing angles are also very nice.

Thermal footprint: Very tolerable. This system has very nice thermal control, and doesn't get hot to the touch. If playing games, it gets a little warm, but that's to be expected.

Keyboard: There is absolutely zero flex on this keyboard. I was worried after reading the reviews about a flexy keyboard, but IMO, it's very stiff and an absolute pleasure to type on.

Some issues:
The system was preinstalled with XP, which was odd, since I asked for Vista Ultimate. The sticker on the bottom of the system had a Vista Ultimate license key, and I was going to re-format regardless, so that really wasn't too much of an issue.

To perform the reformat, I used this guide here as a reference: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=294974

I didn't need to go into the BIOS. I installed the chipset drivers first. I then installed the switchable graphics drivers, and everything worked fine. Although, for some reason, I have two devices that Device Manger can't find drivers for. They are simply listed as: "Base System Device". If anyone has experienced that and corrected it, please let me know. I am running Vista 64-bit BTW.

The biggest issue that I am having is with WiFi. The card works, but it really doesn't like my router. I have an old 802.11b Linksys BEFW11S4 router. For some reason, the file transfers are very slow. Often, when I should be getting 180+kb/sec, I'm only getting 100kb/sec or lower. It's not uncommon to have downloads in the 40 kb/sec range. That is absolutely unacceptable, and it essentially makes using WiFi to download any software completely useless.

The wireless driver I downloaded from Lenovo's site was quite bad. It was very slow, and would have frequent connection drops. I am using the latest driver from Intel's site, and it's much more stable. Unfortunately, things are still slow. I attempted to use the ThinkVantage wireless network utility, but that yielded the same results as the Vista WiFi manager, so I just removed it.

I welcome all suggestions to enhance my WiFi connection (with the exception of getting a new router ).

 

Nice concise review. Now, pics Please!

 

great review. i too picked up a T500 that came 2 days ago. I only have the P8600 upgrade with the basic 80gb 5400 and no bluetooth though. The machine perfoms quite well. I am however disappointed in the wifi hardware. I periodically have problems connecting to my router (belkin wireless G) sometimes. Also, when I try to access my desktops through wireless, the wifi will drop the router completely. Im not sure how to get around this. I tried using the latest drivers from lenovo but still no dice. Maybe it is because my desktops are both running XP and the T500 is running vista? Who knows. I might try getting the driver direct from Intel like mikee99.

I am very impressed with the battery life. Will definately purchase another 9cell down the road and more ram. Possibly 8gb when its more affordable.

The LED that lights the keyboard is quite handy. I use my laptop at night in the dark and it helps a lot. Playing Cod4 MED-HIGH quality (AA OFF) runs quite well. It sometimes dips to 20fps with smoke but that is to be expected. Might try and look into o/c the ati 3650 since the laptop runs so cool (even when gaming). Its tolerable on my lap, thats how cool it runs.

And I agree with mikee99, the KB is rock solid. Not sure about you guys but I dont pound my keyboard when typing.

I just only wish lenovo wouldnt preload so much junk.

 

Thanks both for your first impressions!
I have given the T500 a lot more thought lately, but was a bit worried since it hasn't even received 10% of the attention the T400 has. I am especially positive to hear those impressions of the screen and the keyboard...
I suppose I need to pull myself together and order one too

Out of curiousity, how is the webcam?

 

It surprises me that the T400 is more popular than the T500. I thought 15 inch laptops were more mainstream than 14 inch.

My T500 is being delivered to me tomorrow. I'm still debating whether to bother with the clean install.

 

I think the LED screen of the T400 attracted many. If I was going smaller than a 15inch, I'd prolly get a U6V, a 12 inch Asus / LED screen, which is on par performance-wise with the T400. Why can't I get a 1440x900 LED in the T500! Ah, don't need it anyway....

 

Mikee!

Glad that you like your T500. How about some pics?

 

@Flying Elvis: I would highly recommend performing a clean install. They preload A LOT of crap on these systems.

I'll post some pics in a few days, since I'm too busy to do that now.

 

I believe the T400 is only more popular is because of the LED screen. The pricing is not much different so you can't say that the T400 is more popular because its cheaper. I however would gladly take the strong graphics card instead of an overrated LED screen. The CCFL WSXGA+ is really good imno compared with previous notebooks from Asus and Toshiba.
The laptop runs like a charm. I think above all, what impresses me most is the build\engineering that went into this unit. It runs so quite and so cool.

 

how did you get P9500? and sxga not wsxga?

 

The T400 is a very good size for portability (without going sub-notebook).

The extra inch or so of screen makes a size and weight issue for many people.

The T400 screen, with LED and WXGA+, is plenty of screen real estate for most.

Still, the build quality of both is better than comparables, so get what works for you.

 

I completely understand what you're saying, but just because something is 'more mainstream' doesn't necessarily mean that it's more popular. It just means that it's more widely available so people buy it. Think back to cell phones. Back when people were carrying huge, heavy cell phones, they did so because that's what was widely available. Once smaller cell phones started being produced, even before they became the norm, you started seeing a shift. I think it's the same with laptops, for the most part.

Hey Quanger,

Don't the T500's have this option too, though? I thought I may have seen it when I was playing around with the config page, but I could be wrong.

 

The LED on the T500 is only available for WXGA.

 

I see. Thanks, Dumpduck.

 

I got the P9500 from Lenovo's University page (for some reason, it's only offered on there).

It's a widescreen display, so it's wsxga+.

 

thanks for answer.

 

anyway, do you a link to that?

 

^The link is specific to specific universities. If your university has a contract with Lenovo, then you can get it.

 

The P9500, P9600 and backlit LED WXGA options now appear on www.Lenovo.com

 

The problem is the WXGA with me....my Strat games needs 1440.900

 

I don't see this for the US website.

 

The P9600 isn't even out yet...

 

My eyes must be going. It's showing the T9500 and T9600. A friend said his school site is also showing a P9500.

 

It's only showing P9600 for me
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2) [add $375.00]

 

Good review. I'm looking forward even more to my T500. Just got notification of shipping today. I chose the T500 because it was a better fit given my graphics usage (Adobe suite products). I already have a 15.4 HP, so the size won't be an issue for me.