Lenovo T500 ThinkPad Review

[aforce]

Is the section above the pc card/express card slot as flimsy and flexible as it is on the T61? The one i saw at microcenter wiggled quite a bit.

[trucks]

You noted that your screen does not have the grain issue. Past T series notebooks were shipped with two possible screens. The LG which did not have the grain and the SEC (Samsung) which did. I would imagine this notebook, like most notebooks, also has multiple possible parts. Can you please tell us which screen this one is? This is the program I use to tell: http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

Kevin, any chance you can tell us this?

[dickeywang]

Well, if the keyboard really turns out to be as bad as described in this review, then I'd say Lenovo is out of their mind.

[{ISV-K}SVX]

Does anyone know if you can take the palm rest with the wider touchpad/trackpad from a T500/W500 and retrofit it on a T60/T61? I have a T61p and don't see that the T500/W500 are worth upgrading to at this time, however I would love the wider touchpad/trackpad. From the images it certainly looks like it can be done.

[dietcokefiend]

Does anyone know if you can take the palm rest with the wider trackpad from a T500/W500 and retrofit them on a t60/T61? I have a T61p and don't see that the T500/W500 are worth upgrading to at this time, however I would love the wider track pad. From the images it certainly looks like it can be done.

My educated guess would be yes, but the fingerprint scanner is the iffy part. It is not the same model, so that might show up as an invalid device or something.

[THAANSA3]

I feel compelled to add my 2 cents as well, hoping a Lenovo engineer is paying attention. I'd seriously looked forward to the new Thinkpads, because as the review suggests, good strides have been made from the T60 with respect to fan noise. Unfortunately, I'd taken the top-notch keyboard for granted, and had always assumed it would stay that way. I purchased a ThinkPad because I type approximately 80-100 pages a day for work. Luckily, my keyboard is an NMB, and it's fantastic. The notebook isn't perfect, but I'm going hold onto it for dear life until Lenovo's keyboards are no longer of questionable quality. Furthermore, I'd be willing to pay more to be guaranteed an NMB. It's that important to me, and I'd really like to have that option.

I certainly feel what you're saying here. I guess some people just don't understand that you just can't change something that's become a trademark. I have a hard time imagining that someone in some boardroom suggested this change and convinced everyone else in the boardroom that it would be a good decision. Ah well. Unfortunately, I don't see them reverting to the old model keyboards anytime soon.

[aforce]

The part over the HD (left palmrest side) is much stiffer on the T500 than it is on the T60.

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION! i'm about to leave for college and would like to order my laptop, but i would like to know this before purchasing:

Isn't the left palm rest above the pc card slot not the HD? That said, is the section above the pc card/express card (bottom left) slot as flimsy and flexible as it is on the T61? The one i saw at microcenter wiggled quite a bit.

THANK YOU,
and good review kevin

[{ISV-K}SVX]

My educated guess would be yes, but the fingerprint scanner is the iffy part. It is not the same model, so that might show up as an invalid device or something.

Interesting. When you did your review, did the connectors look the same? The images of the female end looked identical, but of course where not clear and pinout could be different. I would assume it is simply a USB device leveraging a proprietary connection to the planar. I would need to pop the rest off my T61p to check, but do you recall if you could in fact remove the scanner from the rest? If so, then I could simply swap the scanners from my T61p to the wide-pad edition

[MaxGeek]

I like it for the most part.
Disappointed in the keyboard, but that sounds like an easy fix if it is noticable.
Wish it had HDMI over a display port because I won't be using this laptop by the time a Display Port becomes common.
I wish the USB placement was the same as the T61.

I'll get a new one if they offer a LED screen and maybe a P model with a better video card.

[angelicvoices]

Kevin, any chance you can tell us this?

I guess not..