Lenovo T500 Memory Slots

• Thinkpad T500 Memory Upgrade
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• Lenovo T500 Memory Slots 1tb

Lenovo ThinkPad T500 - 15.4' - Core 2 Duo T9400 - 2 GB RAM - 160 GB HDD overview and full product specs on CNET. Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card. According to the User Manaul for you system (see Replacing memory information starting on page 123), there is a second SODIMM memory slot under the keyboard. The Detailed specifications - ThinkPad T420 document, however, states that it only supports a maximum of 8GB of RAM, but I have found that later BIOS updates often allow for more RAM that the origional Lenovo specs, and have heard that.

• Lenovo.com MAKE AN AMAZING NOTEBOOK EVEN BETTER. THINKPAD T400/T500 NOTEBOOK ACCESSORIES: Lenovo recommends Windows Vista® Business. LENOVO 2GB PC3-8500 1066MHz DDR3 SODIMM MEMORY (43R1988) Lowest-cost method to boost system performance. Recommended for Microsoft® Vista.
• 1-16 of 35 results for 'lenovo t500 memory'. Hynix 8GB 2 x 4GB PC3-10600S DDR3 1333 SODIMM Laptop Memory Kit Lenovo 55Y3717. 4.5 out of 5 stars 42.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 - BSOD Occurs When SD Card Inserted

I this will happen almost everytime if the machine has been in use for some time. Inserting an SD card (4GB Canon format) a BSOD is virtually guaranteed. After a new boot up it works fine but catastrophic if not since all info is lost and nothing is closed.
I looked at the dump file and the FASTFAT.SYS is the cause of the crash. This is a very old driver used in Windows 7 and there are numerous issues with it in many forums dating back even to XP. There are no crashes introduced by any other device or USB key/drive connected. Only the SD card.
I thought it may have be due to the USB controller being turned off for power conservation but even after removing the ability by toggling not to turn off to save power to the USB devices it still crashed the very next time I used it which was days later. The system was plugged in as well as it usually is.
I can do the same thing on my old notebook with its internal multicast reader running Window 7 32 bit and it does not have a problem. The Thinkpad does with Win 7 64bit. I am always conscious of a BSOD occurring if I dare plug in my camera card. This renders the port useless since I cannot afford regular crashes and a card reader externally may have to be used.
T520 Model 4239 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2860QM CPU @ 2.50GHz
Intel Sandy Bridge & Nvidia NVS 4200M graphics Intel N 6300 Wi-Fi adapter
Windows 7 Home Prem - 64bit w/8GB DDR3

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 SD Card Reader Not Detectable After Windows 8.1 Upgrade?

My SD card reader became non-functional after a recent upgrade of my T520 to Windows 8.1. Hardware troubleshooting said the Base System Device driver was not installed. I installed the Lenovo System Update software and searched for updates, but the driver was not updated. There is still a yellow warning symbol beside the Base System Device in the device manager. Discovered on the Lenovo driver download website that the card reader in my model is the Ricoh Media Card Reader but there is no driver compatible with Windows 8.1. Would the Windows 8 driver work or is there another solution to get my reader running again?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 RX And TX LEDs Always Lit

My ThinkPad T520, connected to the Internet through the Intel 6300 WiFi card. The indicators fro the RJ45 Ethernet port are always steadily illuminated. I suspect they shouldn't be.
T520 4239-CTO
T61/p 6459-CTO (Gone but not forgotten)
A31/p XP Pro 1 gig memory
A30/p XP Pro 1 gig memory
TP600 Win 2K 288 mb memory
701C Win 98 Don't ask

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Can Memory From T520 Be Used On T430u

I got a T520 with 8G memory, beer accidently spilled on it, it wouldn't start again. So I got a new T430u with 4G memory. I was wondering if I could take the 8 G memory from t520, to be installed on t430u, is it gonna compatible on t430u?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 Crashes Once A Day After RAM Upgrade

My T520 (4242) never crashed until I upgraded the RAM.
Initial config : Single stick of 4GB RAM.
- FRU # 55Y3717
- Samsung part # M471B5273CH0-CH9
Tried to upgrade with 2GB from following manufacturers:
- Corsair CMSO2GX3M1A1333C9
- A-data (don't remember the part #, but matching specs)
Result : Approximately once a day, I get BSOD. The system also crashes often while going in and out of sleep.
The A-data RAM works fine on a different laptop (T500), but I experience crashes when I put it in T520. This makes me wonder if my slot has an issue e.g. dust collected over time that causes a random read error. Or maybe I need to find the exact same part from Samsung to upgrade the RAM.
What else can I try? If it crashes randomly once a day, and works fine otherwise, can I conclude anything about RAM compatibility? memtest86 doesn't show any error.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Busted Sound On T520

Sound has busted on T520 for a few weeks now. I can hear sound when I plug in my earphones, but windows recognizes this as a speaker, conexant 20672. I checked the 'find and fix audio playback problems' in windows 7 to no avail. I believe I may have to have my speakers repaired. I am still under base warranty until sometime next year.
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Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Can ThinkPad T520 See 5 MHz Wireless Network?

Thinkpad T500 Memory Upgrade

I've got a ThinkPad T520 and I just bought a Netgear N600 Dual-band Cable Modem Router but my laptop isn't seeing the 5GHz wireless network? Is it even capable of doing so?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: SSD Slow Boot Windows 7 On T520

I have replaced my old sata disk with a ssd disk . Intel 520 240 gb. on my T520. I have a Windows 7 and a minor Linux partition. Dual boot. I have moved the old image with Arconis True HD.
However, there is a HUGE difference in boot times between Windows and Linux.
Windows is 1 min and 35 sec with windows logo until login screen appears. Then additional 20 seconds.
Linux is 7-10 seconds from Lenovo sign in bios until I'm ready to go. Off course I did not expect Windows to boot as fast as Linux, but things has worsened after the change.
When Windows is up and running the SSD disk is preforming in the same speedy way as under Linux. It is just the boot situation which is terrible. AHCI is enabled .

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Usage Of Keyboard From T520 In T530

as i have learned there is no mechanical reason not to use classic keyboard-layout of the 7row model in a t530. but what are the effects of the bios no being able to support the 7r keyboard? which buttons will not work properly?

Lenovo T520 T400 / T500 :: 2nd HD Hard Drive Caddy Tray For SSD?

i want to use the DVD tray to add a 2nd hard drive using one of the many 2nd HD Hard Drive Caddy Trays i see online, but i want to use a solid state drive in it. Can this be done? From what i ascertain via product literature, it appears that any caddy tray i see online says 'accepts 2.5' 12.7MM SATA HDD only' or some such.' While there are many SSD's that are 2.5 inch, I've only seen ones that are either 7mm or '7mm (with 9.5mm adapter).' Is there a product (either a T520-compatible 9.5mm caddy tray or a 12.77mm SSD) that can make this work?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: ThinkPad T520 RAM Clock Speed Stuck At 1333?

I'm having trouble figuring out why on my T520, after upgrading from 8GB/1333Mhz to 16GB/1600Mhz Crucial RAM, Speccy/CPU-Z still says they're running at around ~660Mhz x 2 = ~1330?
My specs are as follows:
For my T520 (4239-CTO) I have...
Processor: Intel Core i7-2860QM 2.5Ghz
RAM: Crucial 16GB (8GB x 2) DDR3-1600
GPU: Intel HD 3000 / NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 4200M
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 (w/latest updates)
After Googling for a while and from looking around here I've read nothing that says I shouldn't be able to run at 1600Mhz especially considering my processor supports that speed officially. Another post on this topic (not for the T520 specifically) mentioned that i7's contain the memory controller within itself. So... am I being thwarted by software settings in the BIOS or within my operating system?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Arrow Keys For Scrolling Not Working In Firefox On T520

I always liked to use the arrow keys on the bottom right of the keyboard for scrolling down pages as I read long documents. For some reason this is not working in Firefox on my T520. What setting I can change to enable this?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 - Flashing Lights On Power Up / No Post Bleep

I've been trying to set-up a second hand T520 bought without the original hard drive. I've installed a Samsung mSATA SSD. I tried to use a set of recovery discs produced on my T510 which seemed to install but got BSOD whenever Win 7 tried to boot. I then downloaded the Win 7 ISO and booted from the DVD to try and initialise a repair which would not initialise. I next tried installing Win 7 Pro from the Win7 ISO disc which succeeded but ran into problems with unrecognised network components and drivers.
I've gone through this whole cycle again and got to the set-up screen for Win 7 then got distracted; my thinkpad then appeared to have gone into hibernation before I could finish set-up. Unfortunately, when I try to power up I get a few flashing lights for a few seconds; no POST bleep and the power dies. I've tried pulling and reinstalling the RAM and SSD but to no avail.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: ThinkPad T520 Headphone Jack On Docking Station

I have a T520 thinkpad with a docking station. I can get my headphones to work fine out of the laptop, but I would like to leave my headphones plugged into the headphone jack on the dock itself. The computer doesn't seem to recognize this jack is even there. My only sound options are the laptop speakers and the audio jack on the right side of the laptop.
How to enable the audio jack on the back of the dock?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Huge Slowdown On T520 After Updating Through TV System Update

I recently updated a whole bunch of things on my T520, and afterwards experienced a significant slowdown in everything -- startup time as well as just general work. There's often a long lag when opening programs or documents, right clicking, etc. Part of this seems to be due to higher CPU usage. While idling (i.e. just sitting on my desktop) and looking at Task Manager, CPU usage seems higher than normal on some things -- SynTPEnh.exe will consume 3-8% of CPU, one instance of svchost.exe will take up to 10%, etc. My total idling CPU usage is generally 15-25% now. (I have a quad-core i7.) Also, my battery life dropped precipitously; it used to be upwards of 5 hours on a full charge when just doing general web browsing and word processing, but now it's less than 2 hours.
Going around in Process Explorer and Task Manager, I've found a few things that seemed somewhat unusual: A lot of my processes have many page faults -- slightly under 15 minutes after starting up my computer, SynTPEnh.exe has about 250,000, SimpleTap.exe has over 50,000, the instance of svchost.exe with the Base Filtering Engine, Diagnostic Policy Services, and Windows Firewall has about 250,000, and Process Explorer itself has about 250,000. There were also some items that seemed like they might be taking up more memory (Private Bytes, in Process Explorer) than they should -- dwm.exe is using about 150 MB, and SimpleTap.exe is using about 115 MB. Also, my CPU percentage of Interrupts jumps around, most of the time staying between 2-5%.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: ThinkPad T520 - How To Reduce Screen Brightness Below Standard Level

How to reduce screen brightness below standard level in ThinkPad T520 ?
I think it is possible somehow, but I don't know how. I reduced brightness to zero using Fn key + End key, but it's not enough, I want to make screen darker, because my eyes get tired.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T520 / Windows 7 - Suddenly Receiving Random BSOD And Applications Crashing

I've been running on a T520 4239-CTO for a little over a year now without issue. I've been getting lots of random bsod and services crashing in the last few days; even Windows 7 cannot validate itself anymore.
I ran all the hardware checks in the provided Lenovo utilities and it all seems to pass. I didn't trust this so I manually checked the smart values on the hard disk and noticed around 2400+ reallocated sectors so I decided to replace the hard disk.
It should be noted that there are no viruses/malware on this machine. After receiving the new hard disk I did a factory restore using the dvd backups I made when I received the machine. Upon booting the new factory install on the new disk I'm still getting the same random bsod and issues with Windows 7 not being able to validate.
I notice that everytime I boot now on the newly restored os that the 'Microsoft Software Protection Platform' service has issues and cannot start. I started doing some updates using the Thinkvantage tools and they're crashing too.
This machine is currently on pass 4 of memtest without any errors so far.
I've replaced the hard drive and from the looks of things so far the ram seems fine. Where do I go from here?

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: ThinkPad T520 Reconnects To WiFi After Wake Up From Sleep But Web Pages Load Very Slowly

My Thinkpad T520, Windows 7 Pro takes over a minute to load any webpage after waking from sleep. The wifi icon shows that the network has connected to the internet after about 10 seconds from wake up. But if I attempt to use a browser to load any webpage, I must wait nearly a minute before the page will load. After that, pages load quickly.
This problem occurs in multiple browsers (FF, IE, Chrome). I am using Intel Centrino Advanced N-6205 wireless adapter. I've updated the wireless driver and BIOS. I've cleaned out my registry using CCleaner, and I've defragmented.
One bit of advice I've read that I've tried from these forums does NOT work: Uncheck from Device Manager under the Power Management tab for my wireless adapater the option to Allow the Computer to Turn Off This Device to Save Power. Unchecking that option (which would seem to keep the driver on) makes the problem worse because the wifi will not reconnect at all.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: Where To Insert SD Card

I can`t find out where the SD Card slot is! On Lenovo T400

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: SIM Card Not Recognised In T431s

I inserted a mobile broadband SIM card into the slot of my T431s, as described in the user manual. The SIM Card (EE 4G) works fine in my Huawei Mobile Wifi E589.
The Laptop is installed with WIN7 64bit Professional and all WIN7 updates are installed. I gave the laptop to our IT department, who called Lenovo Helpdesk and we got the reply that they can give us a brand new image of the harddisk which MAY fix it. Our IT department as well as myself tried everything including the obvious such as access connections. The WIFI module in access connections is greyed out. It seems that the SIM Card is not recognised. We tried also SIM cards from different providers, which do not work.
Having just spent some time installing my programmes and files, I am reluctant to have the whole laptop wiped and re-imaged....

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: How To Stop Express Card From Popping Out

I bought an ExpressCard 34 USB 3 card. However when I plug a USB cable in the card springs out.
I can't see a way to stop this from happening.
I need a CF card reader ExpressCard but can't afford for it to keep popping out.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T430 Low Cpu Clock When Using NVidia Card

When I'm using any aplication with Nvidia card (Photoshop, 3D Max, etc.) or switching to external monitor (Display Port) my CPU sets down to minimal values: 1.15Ghz.
This issue very important for me, because working on such speed is impossible ....
[ T430, Core i5-3210M, Nvidia NVS5400, Windows 8 x64 PRO ]

Lenovo T530 T400 / T500 :: Use Wireless Operator's SIM Card?

I have a SIM-card slot which is supposedly for WWAN, but I don't have a WWAN modem. Can I use the SIM slot in this state for WLAN (HSPA) and such (with Intel Centrino?), or do I need to buy an USB modem from a wireless operator?

Lenovo T420 T400 / T500 :: Replace 4-in-1 Card Reader With 5-in-1?

my 4-in-1 card reader (04W1701)is on the fritz, can't find any on ebay, but there are plenty of '5-in-1' (FRU 45M2658) to be had. Can I use that instead?
T440p Core i7 4700MQ @ 2.4 ghz 8 GB Samsung 840 EVO 240gb SSD 14' Intel HD Graphics Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T530 Photoshop CC 2014.2 Can't Detect Nvidia Card

I have up-to date Windows 7 x64 SP1 ENG version of windows.The problem poped up 2 or 3 revisions of Nvidia driver ago with original version of Photoshop CC 2014. As you can see updating program and video card drivers to date, do nothing. And yes, i tried to launch PS with mouse context menu and forcing to use Nvidia chip. In control panel of video card PS is assosiated with Nvidia card too.

Lenovo T440p T400 / T500 :: Ericsson N5321gw Doesn't Recognize SIM-Card?

my new T440p with built-in WWAN Ericsson N5321gw doesn't recognize the SIM-Card. I'm running Win7 64 Bit and in the device manager, I can see the Ericsson device showing up without any errors. Once I launche Access Connections, I receive the error message there's no SIM card inserted and I should insert the SIM and try again. The SIM is inserted as shown next to the slot (although I tried other ways, too). I tried two different SIM-cards just to be safe, both SIM-cards are working in my phone.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T430 - Upgrade To Wireless AC Card Intel 7260HMW Runs On Failure On Boot

is theire an possible option to get an Intel 7260HMW card (wireless AC) up and running on Lenovo T430 - Type: 2350-1B6 - Bios: G1ETA5WW (2.65 ). I runs on failure on boot, assuming this is related to the BIOS, but i use the newest one.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: No Display After Installing Win 7 Home Premium On T400

Bought a refurb T400 and installed a PNY SSD in it. It POST's okay and I can access bios. I can also read/install Linux from DVD just fine.
Trouble is when I insert my win7 home premium DVD into the drive and boot it, I get POST and then I get a black screen. It seems to be reading the drive and when I interrupt with the Esc key or open the DVD drive, I get a Windows menu explaining that the installation has been interrupted.
I've looked at the bios options and can't see anything obvious that should be changed.

Lenovo T400 / T500 :: T400 Corrupt Windows System Files

I have tried to make a fresh Windows 7 installation, but after installing updates via Lenovo System Update the system gets corrupt.I replaced the hard drive on an T400 and loaded a image that I had on to the drive. After a installing a few updates and program I noticed strange system beaver. So I did a system file check and it came back that files was corrupt and cold not be repaired.So I did a new fresh Windows install. But it to became corrupt after just running Windows Update and Lenovo System Update.So I ran some hard drive and memory diagnostic without find and problems.
Then I did a new Windows 7 install again. After I installed all recommended updates from Windows Update I did a system file check, all OK. The I installed Lenovo System Update and all its recommended updates and did a new system file check, Windows system files corrupt. What Lenovo update is destroying the system?

by Kevin O’Brien

The T500 Thinkpad is the latest 15.4' refresh of the longstanding T-series out of Lenovo. Combining the latest generation of Intel goodies, ATI Hybrid graphics, and DisplayPort connection this notebook has many new things to offer over the previous ThinkPads. With all these changes taking place, is Lenovo keeping the ThinkPad as well built as we have come to expect, or has some quality slipped through the cracks? In this review we cover all aspects of the new ThinkPad T500 and tell you if we think it deserves a spot on your desk.

Our ThinkPad T500 specifications:

• Screen: 15.4' 1680 x 1050 WSXGA+ LCD (Matte finish)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• Memory: 2GB DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 160GB HDD (7200rpm)
• Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
• Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 w/ 256MB or Intel X4500 integrated (hybrid switching)
• Built-in web camera
• Battery: 9-cell (84Wh rated, 81Wh actual)
• Dimensions: 14.1' x 10/10.9' x 1.8'
• Weight: 6lbs 7.2oz (w/ 9 cell battery)
• Retail Price: $2,223

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Build and Design

The design of the T500 has changed a bit. The changes are subtle to the untrained eye, but they are there. The right side is now gently sloped similar to what can be found on the older T4x series, where the sides angle inward instead of dropping off flat. First clue about this is the optical drive bezel which sports a nice beveled edge. The rubber feet have also been slightly tweaked, now feeling softer than before, meaning less sliding on your desk surface. Moving past the minor case design changes, the ThinkPad is every bit as conservative (boring) as all of those preceding it. We have the same paint, same durable rubbery texture, and we still have our ThinkPad logo.

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Upgrade and expansion is a step harder than most notebooks, but still very simple. To gain access to all user-replaceable parts, you simply remove five screws and carefully remove the palmrest and keybard. Here you gain access to an open WWAN slot, another for Turbo Memory or UWB, two DDR3 memory slots, and your wireless card. At this stage you can also see the processor and heatsink, but a few additional items must be removed before you can lift those items out. Although this setup does seem like Lenovo is trying lock the user away from upgrading parts, they fully allow anyone to handle upgrading or adding components to their notebook without voiding the warranty. Processor swaps or messing with other advanced components might not be as kosher though. The hard drive is the only item accessible from the outside of the case (besides the battery) and is easily removed with a single screw.

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Build quality is very similar to the previous generation T61, with all of its strengths and weaknesses. Fit and finish are great with most parts, but you still have a good amount of battery wiggle in the back, as well as the cheaper feeling plastic LCD lid. The molded plastic panels throughout the notebook feel sturdy, overall feeling much like the previous generation of notebooks. Compared to the pre-Lenovo Thinkpads, the T500 feels leaps and bounds better. Now the T500 is not without its flaws, and the new keyboard definitely falls into the flaws category.

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Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard layout has stayed the same, with only very minor changes in the feel of the key presses. Some of this may be attributed to the differences in keyboard suppliers (NMB, ALPS, and Chicony) though, as my T60 came with the 'clickier' Chicony keyboard, whereas the T500 is much quieter. The keyboard strength seems to have changed, with more flex present on the right side of the keyboard. To find the culprit of this flex, I took apart the notebook and inspected the keyboard area.

To my great surprise, I found Lenovo had completely redesigned the keyboard, with weight savings as the primary goal. The old design has a much stronger back-plate, which is removed on the new revision. This cuts weight by 25 percent (6oz to 4.5oz) from the old model, but at the huge disadvantage of tarnishing the long-standing ThinkPad keyboard reputation. For now I am leaning towards weight savings, instead of cost savings as the main redesign reason, but I still don’t like it. Anyone who knows the ThinkPad name knows at least two things; boring business notebook and great keyboard. If you take away the keyboard and make other weight reducing or durability reducing changes to the notebook design, you will no doubt alienate many of your followers. I really hope Lenovo takes notice at this, cause I would take a brick glued to the bottom of the case before over a keyboard change such as this.

As with older models, the liquid drains are still in place, ready to get your notebook out of harm’s way if a stray coffee or soda spills all over it.

The touchpad has grown compared to the T61, expanding to the width of the lower touchpad buttons. With the ThinkPad touchpads always being the runts compared to other notebook designs, this change was very welcomed (even if they did paint scroll arrows on it). The texture is identical to the older touchpad, and sensitivity is just as good. Compared to my T60, the touchpad buttons feel much firmer, and have more support from edge to edge. On the T60’s touchpad, the far left and right side tend to sag slightly, whereas the T500’s touchpad buttons have equal support from side to side.

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My only disappointment with the touchpad was the lack of red strips. After seeing the X300 and X200 that offered 'legacy' red strips on the touchpoint buttons, I was upset to see that Lenovo didn’t include that finishing touch on the T-series keyboard.

What still works and what doesn’t

Those who have older ThinkPad accessories from the T6x/R6x generation will be happy to know all of the older docking stations are still fully compatible with the new notebooks. I can’t say for certain that the older equipment won’t be replaced with newer revisions that offer different connections, but at least you won’t need to upgrade.

The optical bay connections have changed from the previous generation, moving more towards a SATA style connector, rendering older drive incompatible. One change that might anger individuals in an IT position is the removal of the native Serial/Parallel hookup inside the ultrabay for use with the adapter. With many older devices needing native serial connections, these individuals might be wary of upgrading their current notebook.
The power connection appears to have stayed the same for use with the UltraBay battery remained the same.

Display

The CCFL-backlit display on our T500 looked nearly identical to the display currently shipping with the older 15.4' T61 models. Brightness is much less than the LED-backlit panel found in the new T400, but still good when compared to other notebooks on the market. Don’t expect to use this notebook outside on a sunny day, since the bright light will wash out anything on the screen. Backlit evenness is very consistent throughout the display, with no excessive bright or dark areas. Contrast appears to be very nice, and the colors are bright and vivid without looking washed out. Viewing angles rate better than average, but not excellent. Vertical viewing has a nice sweet spot before colors start to wash our or invert, and the horizontal range is better still. Compared to the LED backlit T400 display, the vertical viewing range extended further, but still not coming close to the IPS FlexView panel on my T60.

One defect or feature which was thankfully not present in our review model screen panel was a shimmering or dirty white texture. Some of the older matte ThinkPad screens had this problem that annoyed many users, and from what I can tell this screen had none of this in the slightest.

Performance and Benchmarks

Our Lenovo ThinkPad T500 came with the Intel T9600 processor, clocking in at 2.8GHz, and jammed packed with 6MB of cache. For graphics, Lenovo included an ATI Radeon 3650 video card with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. While not the latest SSD, Lenovo did include a 7200rpm hard drive which helped keep access times to a minimum and transfer data at a swift pace. This combination proved to be exceptionally fast in the Windows Vista environment, getting very high synthetic benchmark scores. The T500 also performed remarkably well in games which you generally don’t find running on most business notebooks (well non-workstations that is).

Gaming was not a problem with the T500, handling games such as BioShock at native 1680×1050 resolution at 15-20FPS. If you scaled the resolution back to 1280×800, 20-30FPS. Slightly less intensive games like Portal or Half-Life 2 ran even better, consistently averaging framerates above 40 even in high action scenes.

One unique aspect of the T500 is its ability to be able to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics with a simple click of an icon on the task bar. You can switch between the Intel X4500 graphics and the ATI 3650 chipset without rebooting, and doing so lets you conserve quite a bit of power if you don’t need to game.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it ismulti-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.

PCMark05 comparison results:

3DMark06 comparison results:

As an added bonus, we also tested the T500 with the new PCMark Vantage benchmark, and the T500 with ATI Radeon 3650 enabled returned a score of 4,176.

HDTune storage drive performance test:

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Heat and Noise

The cooling system worked very well, keeping overall system temperatures down, and doing so without making a ton of noise. At idle and under low activity the T500’s fan stayed at a slow speed (nearly inaudible), keeping processor temperatures in the low 40C range, and GPU around 50C. While gaming, greater temperatures made the system fan speed up, but even at its highest speed it still seemed quieter than my T60. The outside temperatures are great in all situations besides gaming. Sitting around surfing the web or typing a document, the notebook is very cool and doesnt build up that much heat. Gaming is different, and the T500 gets much hotter all around the case, and gets some hot points on the bottom of the case.

Heat Under Stress/Gaming (listed in degrees Fahrenheit):

Lenovo T500 Memory Slots Downloads

Battery Life

Unlike the T400 which saw a massive jump in battery life over the previous generation 14' notebook as a result of the LED-backlit screen, the T500’s battery life was in line with the 15.4' T61. While the 9-cell battery in the T400 gave 7-8 hours of battery life, the same capacity in the T500 barely manages six hours. The key differences between each notebook are the screen size, backlit technology, and graphics card model, as all of the other options are identical.

In dedicated graphics mode, the screen brightness set to 60%, and wireless active the T500 managed 5 hours and 6 minutes before it shut itself down at 5% remaining. Even though it is still way under the T400 by a couple of hours, it is still very impressive for a 15' notebook. In integrated grahics mode with the same settings, the system squeezes out an hour and a half more, bringing the average consumption from about 13 watts down to 11 watts. The 9-cell battery gives you more than enough time to watch a movie or two on a flight, or even get some work done.

Speakers and Audio

The sound system on the T500 is fairly week compared to other mainstream notebooks, but that is fairly common for a business notebook. The speakers lack most all bass and midrange, but are find for watching the occasional movie or YouTube clip. Headphones are a much better option to enjoy music and video. The headphone jack on the T500 put out clean static free audio.

Ports and Features

The port selection on the T500 rates slightly above average, but still shows room for improvement. The DisplayPort is nice, but with current TV’s and monitors finally starting to show HDMI, it would have been a better choice as the T500 cant output any resolution higher than the DVI spec. Three USB ports is cutting it close for a highend 15.4' notebook, and with them grouped together, if you have any large devices you will overlap. Moving past those complaints the rest of the port selection is fine. Some may argue that the headphone and microphone located on the front will cause problems, but there was no space what-so-ever left on the sides even if Lenovo wanted to mount them there.

Front: Firewire, Wireless On/Off, Headphone/Mic, SD-Card Reader

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Rear: Kensington Lock Slot, AC Input, Battery

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Left: VGA, DisplayPort, LAN, three USB, PC-Card Slot, ExpressCard/54

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Right: Optical Drive, Modem

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Conclusion

The Lenovo T500 as a whole is a great step up from the T61, with a faster processor lineup, much better graphics card, better cooling, larger touchpad, and even a digital video output from the notebook itself. System performance was phenomenal, coming close to workstation or gaming notebook levels. What is not so great is the famed ThinkPad keyboard going floppy on us where they used to be rock solid. No matter if this change was to cut weight or cut costs, Lenovo should have known better not to mess with the most important part of ANY ThinkPad notebook. Don’t get me wrong, the keyboard is still much nicer than a budget notebook keyboard, it just isn’t as good as what it used to be.

Overall the Lenovo ThinkPad T500 is a fine notebook worthy of a spot on many office or dormroom tables, but it could have come closer to perfection if Lenovo didn’t mess with the keyboard.

Pros

Lenovo T500 Memory Slots 1tb

• Very powerful
• Cool and quiet under normal conditions
• Great battery life for a 15.4' notebook (5.25 hrs with dedicated graphics, almost 7 hours with integrated)
• Impressive switchable graphics, would you like gaming or battery life?

Cons

• ThinkPad with keyboard flex
• Screen could be brighter