Wheres the W500 review??

Hey Guys,

Saw the T400/T500 review that everyone was waiting for.. But where is the W500 review?

Am I the only one interested in the review?

Is it the unpopular?

 

Do they even have one to review yet?

 

http://www.extranotebook.cz/thinkpad-w500-–-centrino-2-naplno?page=0,3

The only review I can find,use google to translate it first.

 

I also found some videos of W700 from that site.
http://www.extranotebook.cz/thinkpad-w700-brutalni-masina

 

I ordered my W500 on the 5th, and it had an 8/25 est. ship date.

I called last Monday, and they told me it would ship *before* the 25th...

It never shipped, and this morning, the est. ship date changed to 9/8.

I just called, and he told me the ship date is 9/2...

Has anyone received one of these yet?

Thanks,

Jason

 

I ordered mine around the 6th and the est was 8/26..
It hasnt changed to shipped yet and the dates still the same.. So it looks like ill be in the same boat

 

Yeah, if your est ship date is today, it will probably show something different tomorrow (since mine was yesterday and changed today).

Hopefully they will all start shipping soon.

Jason

 

Is the W500 going to have the same high-quality display as the W700?

 

I think the W500 is the same as the T500 w/ 3 exceptions:
1) 570 FireGL w/512MB GDR instead of the ATI 3650 w/ 256 MB GDR.
2) WUXGA option on the W500.
3) P8400/8600 processor options not available on the W500 T9400/9600 available on both.

As far as I know, aside from these three things, they are the same machine. Not to state the obvious, but the T500 review should be pretty close except where 1 and 2 would make a diff: display, graphics performance, battery life, and heat.

 

And its not like anyone cares about that!

 

Seriously.. If you think the T500 compares with the W500, you might as well only wrote the T400 review..

 

I haven't heard anything about a professional review happening here. I would be interested in seeing a review for the W500 too.
Tim

 

JTM,

Of course they should, and will do a W500 review, but your comment is interesting as the only difference between the W500 config in your signature and the T500 sitting in front of me is the FireGL card and the 3650 I have.

As a matter of fact, the docs sent with my T500 are written for both:
T500/W500.

I was able to make a decision on the T500 based on the T500 specs, the T400 review, the ATI website, and the T61 reviews without the T500 review being published.

BTW, the T500 is fast, cool, and very quiet I am running 1600x1200 on a dock connected 22" monitor. I am pleased with the 3650 and the overall experience thus far.


pastafarian

 

I would go with the T400 except the dedicated graphics is a consumer level card and near worthless for CAD work. The W500 is quite a bit different from the T61p as it has DDR3, hybrid graphics, and a 1066Mhz FSB, as well as a few other minor differences.

What I am personally stuck with is the type of laptop I want....

Do I want a heavy but powerful laptop, or do I want a lightweight but less performance. It is something I haven't quite figured out yet, and probably won't until after I buy my laptop and use it. Hopefully I will guess the right one.

 

i'm waiting too

 

My W500 shipped today. No tracking number yet, but I paid for 2-Day shipping, so hopefully I'll have it by Wednesday...

This was my configuration:

Jason

 

there is one guy listing two laptops on ebay, prices kinda higher

and topsellers still didn't receive any on their warehouses

not sure when they will get their inventory!

 

Yea for me the gpu was worth it because of my college major.. and i should have mine in hand 2mm.. cant wait.. only problem is i cancelled another order for one acouple weeks ago and i dont think they cancelled it.. so i called and had to cancel it for a second time and the item is still showing up at shipping 9/12 idk..

 

The same thing happened to me with a T400. I canceled my original order then a few days later ordered again with a different configuration. Guess what? I received and email today that the original T400 that I canceled has been shipped. Apparently, there is no such thing as canceling an order with Lenovo. Once you place an order they proceed with manufacturing and shipping regardless of any cancellation you may attempt.

 

I just received my W500 this morning. I was greeted by this screen when it first booted up. This I suppose confirms that FireGL V5700 = Radeon HD 3650, or maybe there is just some other reason. I am going to run some benchmarks and i will post the results when i get them in. Also this keyboard is a bit weak compared to what i was used to on the R51, its noisy and has flex.

 

First benchmark in and it is surprisingly lower than I thought it would be given the configuration. It should be noted the OS is Vista Business 64bit with all the default Lenovo crapware installed and running. I will have to try diabling some of this stuff because the results were as follows:

3dMark2006@1280x1024 3909

I see that as low because Kevin got 4371 with the same CPU and 256mb 3650 on the T500. I will disable some programs and try again

 

Here is the T500 GPU-z shot.

With the W500 all you are really buying is the higher resolution screen option, double the GPU memory, and the higher base processor. You are really kidding yourself if you think the W500 is built to a higher standard, has different internal components, better cooling, etc.

 

I ran 3dmark06 at 1280x800 resolution. Unless you have the professional version you cant change the resolution. I will run it again on this review notebook now at the higher res so we can compare.

 

Ok, 1280x1024

 

well my reason for going with the W500 was the hope for a better video card really (even if only slightly better), my theory was 512>256, but I was sceptical if V5700>3650, but since I found out they are the same card, in theory I made the right choice

 

yea i did it for the same reason.. but was it rele worth it.. oh well 2 late mines chillen at home right now.. cant wait till i get off work.

 

Have you guys tested the V5700 in games yet - CoD4, Crysis perhaps?
I still don't know if I should get the T500 or W500 (I do light-med 3d work, but also want to game).

 

One question, i am assuming the Firegl 5700 also has graphics switching to integrated like the 3470?

(i'm hoping as i have already ordered one and just thought of this today)

 

^ Yes, it does.

 

From the GPUZ how can I find whether my GPU is with DDR2 or DDR3?
To Kevin, your GPUZ just says it's a SDR memory type?!

 

Here is your w500 quick review

Display: almost the same
Graphic performance: only a driver difference. The w500 is slower in games but better for 3d design
Battery life: almost the same
Heat: idem

 

Another difference is, the W500 doesnt have integrated webcam - does it?

 

Yes it does have an integrated cam.

 

Thats weird, the danish webshops (only few as of now) doesn't have a webcam listed among the specs.

 

Is there any way I can just turn my firegl 5700 into a 3650 with just installing the 3650 drivers? Or is it written in the videocard's bios which determines which drivers can be installed? There's a way to use modified drivers, no?

 

W500 has DDR3 ,just check the everest or the ATI driver
W500 cannot install drivers modified because it's a special drivers for switchable video card, including both the ATI and the INTEL driver
W500's 3Dmark is not low at all, you run it in 1024/768 and you will get the same ot higher scores than T500, the score in 1024/768 is about 1.15 or 1.2 times greater than 1280/1024
You can play or work with W500 quite well~enjoy it~~

 

Kevin (or anyone else who might know this for sure), could you please clarify which resolution was used for the 3DMark06 in the T500 review?

I still don't understand completely why the W500 would perform slower on this benchmark. I would just like to understand if the 3DMark06 results for the T500 and the W500 are fully comparable, i.e. same resolution, same settings, same OS. If that's the case, then I guess the Radeon 3650 is faster in this benchmark than the FireGL V5700, even with the 128MB difference.


EDIT: removed unnecessary follow-up question

 

Those of you who has the W500, does the high resolution feel too huge for a 15,4" - and, is it possible to lower it to 1680x1050 or smth similar, without it the icons and text turning (just the least) blurry?
Also, what battery life do you get with a 6-cell?

 

What does having more GPU memory mean to the performance of a computer? I know that's a rudimentary question to the more knowledgeable, but I really don't know.

 

Links to my reviews on the W500 can be found in my Sig.

 

If you're comparing between the same core GPUs, the one with more memory will have better graphics performance. Some GPU chipsets have 1GB of memory like those on select ASUS notebooks. More memory is usually good for 3D Gaming and 3D CAD work.

 

Thank you for explaining that to me. I had done some research, but all the computer talk got a little confusing after a while.

 

The W500 I ordered has the best features (2.8Ghz) as at 11/2008 except only 4gb of ram, 2 x 7200rpm disk and 64 Vista business editions ;-)

I'm running CS4 for video editing on mpeg2 with multi applications (3-4).

+ My general impression is good for graphic card and general speed as well as the screen (I except what I need for a laptop).

- The screen is relevant good for pictures and video analyses, but I'd not recommend for gaming or video watching, I think the W700 would be better but not the best, if you look for a great screen simply use dual screen!

+ The performance are good, you can read HD videos @ more than 80MBps, you can use (2-3) heavy programs at the same time e.g. Pr, AE, AI, Ps the graphic card is interesting depending on the programs it can be used to help the RAM.

+ for a 15" it takes 5 sec to ad/change a second sata2 hard drive. Note that for multi task use it is important having one program-drive and another for data. At that time I wouldn't recoment a SSD. After 3 hours of use it is slower than a 5400 rpm!, simply wait 1-2 years...

+ Workshop, drivers, customize, keyboard, (sorry I'm Swiss with a US computer), ultranav, etc...

+ energy performing with 9 cells and only core 2 processor you can work for a while without being plugged

- pice, but it is the only 15" computer on the market with these features... maybe sager can be an interresting competitor for the W700

 

The W500 I ordered has the best features (2.8Ghz) as at 11/2008 except only 4gb of ram, 2 x 7200rpm disk and 64 Vista business editions ;-)

I'm running CS4 for video editing on mpeg2 with multi applications (3-4).

+ My general impression is good for graphic card and general speed as well as the screen (I except what I need for a laptop).

- The screen is relevant good for pictures and video analyses, but I'd not recommend for gaming or video watching, I think the W700 would be better but not the best, if you look for a great screen simply use dual screen!

+ The performance are good, you can read HD videos @ more than 80MBps, you can use (2-3) heavy programs at the same time e.g. Pr, AE, AI, Ps the graphic card is interesting depending on the programs it can be used to help the RAM.

+ for a 15" it takes 5 sec to ad/change a second sata2 hard drive. Note that for multi task use it is important having one program-drive and another for data. At that time I wouldn't recoment a SSD. After 3 hours of use it is slower than a 5400 rpm!, simply wait 1-2 years...

+ Workshop, drivers, customize, keyboard, (sorry I'm Swiss with a US computer), ultranav, etc...

+ energy performing with 9 cells and only core 2 processor you can work for a while without being plugged

- pice, but it is the only 15" computer on the market with these features... maybe sager can be an interresting competitor for the W700

hope it helps

 

So in a sense, W500 ought to be T62p, while they got rid of the p version of the 14 inch with FireGL card.

 

From what I understand, on the T/W500 it will mean just about nothing, as 256MB is about all either one can make productive use of, anyway.

 

Yes. In fact, I believe some of the recovery DVDs that shipped with the early W500s said T62P.

Lenovo just decided to seperate the TxxP models into their own series, as opposed to being a subset of the T series.

 

I think some of the reason they changed designations was because they had to fit what ended up being called the W700 somewhere in the production line. They realized that if they were creating a whole new designation for the Godzilla of mobile workstations, it didnt make much sense to have the King Kong of mobile workstations as part of a different line (using a naming scheme that would make Nvidia envious).

There was a user who had a photo of the recovery discs and it definately said T62 as on of the models... but I also think it listed the T400 as well... Lenovo really must have had issues figuing out what they were doing for the new models (ie internal education).

 

Hi All --

Looking at getting a T61p or W500. Is it even worth comparing them, T61p vs. W500?

 

having owned the W500 for about 3 months now, I can say that yes it is an awesome laptop, when everything runs the way you want. The GPU has more than its fair share of issues though, and has made problems for almost everyone. You can't even get drivers for the card from ATI's site, even though all the other mobility Fire GL versions are supported there.

I don't use this thing for CAD, but I play quite a few games on it and they run really well (COD4 fps = 150 on medium settings, Unreal Tournament, RA3) so I really enjoy this thing, esp for the price that I got it for, but really, there have been a lot of hiccups along the way and the lack of support makes things troublesome.

If I had really known everything I know now about it, I may very well have gone with something else.