Thinkpad SL510 comments

Well, I asked here, had some recommendations to go for an older T500, priced one, decided on it, then the large international seller decided their advert was wrong when I tried to place the order.
So I ended up with the SL510 after all.

It seems a pretty good basic machine. Came with Win7 32-bit, which is the version I wanted. Like most others, I don't like these letterbox screens, but I can live with the aspect ratio.

My main worries, though, turned out to be correct. The trackpad is horrible and very unresponsive to taps. This means I have to use the buttons rather than just tap but, because of the trackpoint, these are right at the front of the case, rather than where I expect. I have used trackpoints in the past (had an old "real Japanese" Fujitsu and old Toshiba) but I'm very rusty.

I'm sure that during my travels round the various setup files, I saw a Trackpoint setup area. Did I imagine this? I can't seem to find it now, just the normal Windows setup.

The other horror is the Sound quality. It is awful. Far worse than the oldish Lenovo 3000 N100 that I'm typing on.
I copied an audio file across to compare directly, and I think the SL510 is worse than any other machine I have here. Even the G550 is better.

Lenovo also now seem to have a policy of disabling the "Stereo Mix" recording option. I have software to provide this, but I shouldn't have to mess about like this. More seriously, I checked the audio setup as the first thing after the initial Windows setup, and it looks as though Lenovo have fiddled with and broken the default audio sample rate settings as standardised by Microsoft for Win 7 (Record and Playback both the same at 44.1).

I made 2 full backups, the first using the inbuilt Windows 7 full backup, the second using the Lenovo option to make "Factory Restore" DVD's. The first time I tried this, I left it running on the machine as initially set up. Big mistake. The machine went to sleep in the middle of the process and when it woke, the DVD writer was signalling "in use" to the software, so I had to reboot and start again to gain control. So a simple, essential job took a whole afternoon.

So far, after 2 days, the hinges feel fine, the keyboard is fine and the machine is nice and quiet. I think my initial verdict is that it's a good machine for the money, but with some small but significant flaws.

 

I have no issues with the trackpad. It feels identical to my former T410. What do you mean by sound quality? The speakers, or through headphones? I find the sound quality through headphones phenominal. Even slightly better than my T410 (which used Conexant audio instead of Realtek).
I never made restore discs as this is just a linux machine for me, so I cannot comment on that.
I love my SL410. It's a good machine, and should last a long time if it's well taken care of.

 

The other machines I have (3 Acers and the Lenovo 3000N100) all just respond when I tap the Trackpad. The Lenovo G550 that I'm going to dispose of didn't and the SL510 sometimes responds, sometimes not. Maybe there is somewhere to set the responsiveness?

The sound quality through headphones seems fine. But, for example, on the speakers the Windows startup sound has a sizzle that is very noticeable. It just seems odd that a machine with a relatively large case and area beside the keyboard should have such poor sound.

I might be attempting to set up this machine with a larger HD and then try to arrange a triple-boot to provide Win 7, XP and probably Fedora 14. I've failed once on another machine, hence the need for rock-solid recovery methods.

Yes the machine is good and solid, and I can live with the niggles, but it does seem a shame that I found them.

Roger, your recommendation was useful in the purchase and I did appreciate it.

 

No problem. What matters is that you're happy with your purchase in the long run, and I hope you will be.

 

Try pressing Fn + F8, then clicking on Manage Settings and going to the UltraNav tab. There, you can set up both the TrackPoint and touchpad.

 

Ah yes, The Palm Check setting was the problem. Now it's fine. Many thanks.

I've been double checking the audio. It is fine on headphones, but the sound to each speaker "sizzles" - a sort of graininess. It doesn't matter to me, but it is a bit odd.