T500 questions and coupons

Anyone know any coupons that work w/ the CPP 15$ discount? USETSAVINGS worked for a couple of months but not anymore. It reduced it by an additional 5%, so 20% off.

It seems configuring a T500 with the same specs as I did a couple months ago costs more now... not sure though. Did they increase the price? One thing they did do is change the basic dedicated graphic option from P8600 to P8700. Did this cause an increase in price?

Ok, on to the T500, good laptop all around right?

Does it come with a lot of bloatware?

How hard would it be to install windows 7? My main concern is the special video driver that the t500 uses for switchable graphics.

And the restore back up cds... i don't want to pay for the dvd burner, so will i have to make like 7 cds?

What's the expected battery life for 6 cell vs 9cell? Or what's the 6 cell capacity and the 9cell capacity and what's the power draw of the t500 under low conditions.

 

The reason its more is that back in May they were doing a really nice deal on t series (maybe other models?). It was a really nice deal and mixed with the student discount made a difference between now and then. But its not that much to be honest.

Yes thinkpads come with bloatware, after removing all of it and tweaking/cleaning the bad stuff out its running pretty lean. But I still recommend a clean install.

Windows 7 should install just as easy as vista, but RC/beta 7 wont allow you switchable graphics. But there is a good chance the actual release will allow it.

Yes when you create restore discs there will be quite a few, I don't know how many exactly since I have a dvd burner.

I dont know the draw for a t500 but I think you can et 4-5ish on the 6 cell and 6-7 on the 9 cell (t500 owners please correct me if Im wrong). I can get my t400 down to 10-12watts with wifi on at work, and that isn't idling either.

All in all the t series are really nice rigs, and I don't regret my purchase one bit.

 

1) T500/W500's are beautiful notebooks.
2) it comes with heaps of bloatware, but you can get rid of most of if you don't like it, and probably should. lenovo (probably correctly) figures that it is easier to get rid of unwanted software than to add it.
3) it will be easy to upgrade from vista to 7. hopefully lenovo will provides a 7 switchable gpu mod - I am sure they will!
4) the vista restore CD set is 13 CD's, so it takes quite a while to create them (and restore from them)...