 Powerful Workstation |
| Review Date: June 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Rich, Seattle, WA |
Well it is an entry level workstation, but has a professional graphic card not the gaming one. Basically the different are the drivers. I think 15" widescreen is the good balance between portability and getting some work done on a good size screen. The version I ordered from Lenovo is almost max out with the newer technology. I use N draft at home with 5 GHz frequency. When I go to a coffee shop I have no problem connecting to G and B routers. There is also a wimax which is the next big thing that I don't use or have service. There is a little keyboard light which is cool, but I don't use either; gaming laptop have glowing keyboard.
Features:
I can't live without the rubber head mouse; I went one generation last time with a Sony Vaio SZ and had to go back. Mainly Lenovo ThinkPad and Dell Latitude laptops still carry this feature. I got to say I like the design of this laptop better than any of the new curvy edge shiny one you can find at electronic stores. Maybe the new Latitudes look very cool and modern too. Displayport (can use hdmi converter) is a great plus while the PC input is still there. I go the turbo memory and I didn't think its made a differences to the boot up speed or software performance. There aren't really any bloat-ware, but some Lenovo system softwares are hogging too much resources. Loading was a fast as my old Sony Vaio SZ, which is much slower than regular computer, which I wanted the turbo memory would fix, but didn't. I use my finger print scanner to save passwords and that is a feature I have grown to like more and more everyday. I connected my bluetooth keyboard to this once.
Built quality is good,
The speakers went out after a week, but I sent it in and Lenovo fixed it. Also on the way back the hard drive got damage and they sent me a new hard drive and disc so I install the OS. Overall it is solidly built; layout is very good, only flimsy part is the area over the PC express card. No dead pixels or weird screen things.
Performance:
I have Photoshop CS2, sometime do Sketchup and Google earth. There is only a very small difference between my laptop and PC with this software; only on bigger files. I hardly ever lose any connections with my D-link N draft router and this laptop. N draft is better than G, I did lose connection when I had an old g router. I stream Netflix and Hulu and it is almost as good as the hardwire connection of my PC. Beside the boot-up is a little slow, I can say this is powerful enough to replace my PC on most tasks. I thought battery these days will last longer, but they really don't, even if the wifi off. I did a movie test on full charge. Sadly this laptop battery didn't last as long as my 2002 Dell Inspirion 8200 for the movie "Star War" but not by much. I did turn the wifi off. The Vaio performed about the same as this Thinkpad.
Service
I got to say Lenovo is a lot better than Dell. I never had to use Sony. They got my laptop fixed after I sent it in and tracking and call them was very easy. They want to please me, where Dell thought I was stupid (back in 2002). They had diagnostic they told me to do and immediately knew what the problem was hardware or software. They sent me 3 different installation discs. I guess I didn't make myself clear; I got Vista Professional 64bit. They assume things are 32 bit and Vista home if you don't tell them, which I guess I didn't.
I will buy from Lenovo again, and told my brother the same. Quality and service is top notch. Only the speakers went out for some reason.
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Lenovo ThinkPad W500 4063 – Core 2 Duo T9400 / 2.53 GHz – Centrino 2 with vPro – RAM 4 GB – HDD 160 GB – DVD?RW (?R DL) / DVD-RAM – Mobility FireGL V5700 / GMA 4500MHD – cellular wireless ready – Gigabit Ethernet – WLAN : 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft), Bluetooth
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Features:
I can't live without the rubber head mouse; I went one generation last time with a Sony Vaio SZ and had to go back. Mainly Lenovo ThinkPad and Dell Latitude laptops still carry this feature. I got to say I like the design of this laptop better than any of the new curvy edge shiny one you can find at electronic stores. Maybe the new Latitudes look very cool and modern too. Displayport (can use hdmi converter) is a great plus while the PC input is still there. I go the turbo memory and I didn't think its made a differences to the boot up speed or software performance. There aren't really any bloat-ware, but some Lenovo system softwares are hogging too much resources. Loading was a fast as my old Sony Vaio SZ, which is much slower than regular computer, which I wanted the turbo memory would fix, but didn't. I use my finger print scanner to save passwords and that is a feature I have grown to like more and more everyday. I connected my bluetooth keyboard to this once.
Built quality is good,
The speakers went out after a week, but I sent it in and Lenovo fixed it. Also on the way back the hard drive got damage and they sent me a new hard drive and disc so I install the OS. Overall it is solidly built; layout is very good, only flimsy part is the area over the PC express card. No dead pixels or weird screen things.
Performance:
I have Photoshop CS2, sometime do Sketchup and Google earth. There is only a very small difference between my laptop and PC with this software; only on bigger files. I hardly ever lose any connections with my D-link N draft router and this laptop. N draft is better than G, I did lose connection when I had an old g router. I stream Netflix and Hulu and it is almost as good as the hardwire connection of my PC. Beside the boot-up is a little slow, I can say this is powerful enough to replace my PC on most tasks. I thought battery these days will last longer, but they really don't, even if the wifi off. I did a movie test on full charge. Sadly this laptop battery didn't last as long as my 2002 Dell Inspirion 8200 for the movie "Star War" but not by much. I did turn the wifi off. The Vaio performed about the same as this Thinkpad.
Service
I got to say Lenovo is a lot better than Dell. I never had to use Sony. They got my laptop fixed after I sent it in and tracking and call them was very easy. They want to please me, where Dell thought I was stupid (back in 2002). They had diagnostic they told me to do and immediately knew what the problem was hardware or software. They sent me 3 different installation discs. I guess I didn't make myself clear; I got Vista Professional 64bit. They assume things are 32 bit and Vista home if you don't tell them, which I guess I didn't.
I will buy from Lenovo again, and told my brother the same. Quality and service is top notch. Only the speakers went out for some reason.
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