T500 Info + WEI Doubts

Hi,

After long awaits, I got ma first laptop (T500) ...

The config is as follows

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz, 1066MHz, 6MBL2)
Operating system - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Operating system language - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Display type - 15.4" WSXGA+ TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight
System graphics - ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 with 256MB with Intel Advanced
Management Technology
Total memory - 4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)
Keyboards -Keyboard US English
Pointing Device - UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Camera - Integrated Camera
Hard Drive - 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Optical device - DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial
ATA)
Card Reader - 7 in 1 Media Card Reader
Blue tooth - Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Wireless card - Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
Battery - 6 cell Li-Ion Battery


It costed me 1377$ including tax (1299$ excluding tax)



Doubts

1. Doesn't Lenovo Provide Recovery Disks ( I got an Win Xp sp3 recovery disk) , but didn get win 7 recovery disk...

2. How to test webcam, i cldnt find a utility/built in software to capture an image/video.

3. Can I transmit Audio n Video together with the Display port, if yes how ?

4. I am getting a WEI of only 5.5

Processor : 6.4

Memory(RAM) : 5.9

Graphics : 6.3

Gaming Graphics : 6.3

Primary HDD : 5.5

Base Score : 5.5

Am having a seagate 7200 RPM HDD, but am only getting a WEI of 5.5 !!!

What may be the reason for this...?

If there is a scope fro improvement , how ???

How you find other scores ???

5. Also about the battery backup, I charged it to full n played NFS-MW in Highest possible settings, battery lasted for 78 Minutes, before it went to hibernate

Is this the optimum battery backup , t500 provide ???

 

Seems about right to me.

 

My configuration (seen in signature) is basically identical to yours (albeit with the 5100; and for only $1079 with a CPP deal) and I have a 5.9....that's interesting.

 

Lenovo does not provide recovery disks, they provide a utility that allows you to create ones for your system

There is a utility built in sort of check in all programs under the intergrated camera.

Audio over displayport is not supported as of yet and am not sure if it will be on that model although ATI is going to supporting that in the 10.1 catalysts and if lenovo agrees to it, they should work on mobility chipsets.

Regarding no.4, don't worry about it. It is not important.

Battery life is normal, you should not be doing gaming without the AC cord in anyway, that is not good for battery life, long and short term.

 

To really get out of the 5-6 region in hard drives, you pretty much have to be using an SSD (I have a 7.7 hard drive score with an Intel X-25M G2 80GB SSD). But I wouldn't worry about it - WEI is really quite inaccurate.

 

Agreed. Because of integrated graphics, my X200's base score is 3.4 What does this mean? Not much. My 4 year old CAD workstation at work would definitely have a higher base score, but is noticeably slower for non gpu-intensive tasks.

Processor : 6.0

Memory(RAM) : 5.9

Graphics : 4.1

Gaming Graphics : 3.4

Primary HDD : 7.7

Base Score : 3.4

 

@ midnight sun and others...

Well, this is the reason I asked... I have friends who use the same 7200 HDD and they get a WEI of 5.9 and not me...

What is the reason for it..

ANother thing : My Win 7 (64 bit) is only using 3.90 GB of memory though 4 GB is installed.. What may be the reason ??

 

I couldn't find a Web cam software.. All I could find under Integrated camera is a n uninstaller...

 

Also how to know the make of my display screen ??? I heard LG screens are the best.. How to know it ?

 

I would also like to know this. I am able to get the part numbers by entering details into http://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/supportsite.wss/warrantyform?brandind=5000008 and checking the parts. But it doesn't tell you the actual manufacturer.

Is that only possible through device manager when you receive the machine?

 

If you have the newest Hotkey and Power Managemenet drivers installed you can press Fn+F6. This will bring up a new menu - ThinkVantage Communications Utility - where it will also preview your webcam image.

Although for older models there is no image for Fn functions on the F6 key itself (on the keyboard), this feature was just added recently. And it does work on at least my T500. It brings up an audio/webcam settings window, that is officially called ThinkVantage Communications Utility.

Update: there is actually a blog entry about this communications utility (or rather its new upcoming feature) in the Yamato blog: Beta test: ThinkVantage Communications Utility . However, to work, you DO NOT need these beta drivers. It will work with latest released versions as well!

 

my T500 got same WEI as yours, after upgrading newest intel video driver, both graphics and gaming jump to 4.2.

 

What software do you think you would need? Usually, the webcam is used with
chat programs such as messenger or skype, which are included. I think you can also use it with the installed roxio to record a video. If you need to to more advanced videoconferencing or set up a cam broadcast server that probably goes beyond what we expect from pre-installed stuff.

 

I have no idea why you even care about the WEI, it doesn't represent real life situations whatsoever, my T61p (RIP) had a WEI of 5.5 and 6.2 in gaming graphics, yet could it play GTA 4? Yes, but not very good, i needed to tweak it alot to get visual's right and performance.