Thinkpad SL500 Pics and Discussion
Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:26 am
The Thinkpad SL series is often belittled around these forums, and some don't even consider it a true Thinkpad. Really, it definitely lacks some of the features expected on Thinkpads (docking station, anyone?) but it does have some other common Thinkpad feature. All in all, I would rate it much closer to a "true" Thinkpad than to the value series.
I visited a friend who has a Thinkpad SL500 2746-P3G, and took some pictures. Here they are. You can click them all for larger versions.
While I didn't spend enough time with the machine to form a real opinion, my first impressions were rather positive. I will talk about them a bit while describing the photos.
Starting from the outside of the machine - top lid with the black glossy finish. Looks and feels very different from other Thinkpads, but quite nice. Definitely a fingerprint/smudge magnet, but most of the time they are not as obvious as with this flash photo.
A close-up on the Thinkpad logo, where the red dot is actually a LED.
With the lid open, a view of the 15.4" widescreen. The hinges are plastic, not steel, but feel solid enough. They don't allow the screen to be open a full 180 degrees, but only about 160-170, which is still wide enough for almost anything. On top you see the camera (no Thinklight). Overall the design of the inside of the lid is quite pleasant. I like it more than the recent T/R/X series - looks smooth and polished.
The keyboard and touchpad area. Keyboard is very similar to a classic Thinkpad, with one major difference - it's six rows and not seven. Which means that the Pgup/Pgdn buttons are relocated next to the arrows, where the browser buttons are on a normal Thinkpad, the other 4 navigation keys are arranged in a row, and PrtSc/SysRq/Break/ScrLk are now accessed using Fn key combinations. This is not as good in my book, and I don't understand what the reason for ditching the standard layout is. Surely there was more than enough room to accommodate the full 7 rows, and how much more expensive would it be anyways?
The keyboard itself is pretty solid, although some flex is present in certain areas, most notably the top right corner. Overall, it feels somewhere between the T6x keyboard and the T400/T500 keyboards.
The touchpad is nice and big, similar to the recent T series touchpads. I understand that SL400/SL500 use the higher quality Synaptics model, while SL300 uses Alps. Thinkpad purists will appreciate the red stripes on the trackpoint buttons.
Finally, the plastic around the keyboard and in the palmrest feels quite solid, nice and smooth. It is not the rugged texture of other Thinkpads, and so I imagine it is more prone to scratches.
Left side of the keyboard, where the Thinkvantage, volume and mute buttons reside.
Top right corner of the keyboard, with the LED-lit power button, and some of the LED indicators. The speakers with the SL series are above the keyboard and not on the sides, as with recent T/R series.
A view from the front, with the WiFi switch and some more LED indicators. These are visible when the lid is closed (most Thinkpads have them on the top of the lid). The front edge is angled, like on 15" T42/T60.
Back-left edge of the machine with the battery and the VGA port. The power jack (not pictured) is on the back-right side. The battery itself is the standard T/R/Z/W/SL 6-cell battery, which is nice for compatibility. Notice how all the side edge is also angled. It is an interesting design, no doubt to make the laptop look sleek, but makes some ports harder to reach, since they have to reside inside groves, as will be evident from the following pictures.
Back left - USB ports and an HDMI port - something that I would like to see on other Thinkpads. True some of them have DisplayPort, but it is not as ubiquitous and not as useful, especially since I understand that Lenovo has not implemented audio over DP.
Front left - card reader and Firewire.
Most of the functional stuff is on the right (sorry about the blur) - audio, 2xUSB, DVD recorder, modem/Ethernet.
One final pic with the screen turned on. It is a regular matte WXGA TN panel, but the quality was a pleasant surprise to me. Here the screen is actually at its lowest brightness setting, and in these conditions it was still quite readable and the contrast was pretty good. At maximum brightness, the screen is too bright in most normal lighting conditions. I can imagine it will be even semi-useful working outside.
Overall, I find it a very nice laptop for the price.
I visited a friend who has a Thinkpad SL500 2746-P3G, and took some pictures. Here they are. You can click them all for larger versions.
While I didn't spend enough time with the machine to form a real opinion, my first impressions were rather positive. I will talk about them a bit while describing the photos.
Starting from the outside of the machine - top lid with the black glossy finish. Looks and feels very different from other Thinkpads, but quite nice. Definitely a fingerprint/smudge magnet, but most of the time they are not as obvious as with this flash photo.
A close-up on the Thinkpad logo, where the red dot is actually a LED.
With the lid open, a view of the 15.4" widescreen. The hinges are plastic, not steel, but feel solid enough. They don't allow the screen to be open a full 180 degrees, but only about 160-170, which is still wide enough for almost anything. On top you see the camera (no Thinklight). Overall the design of the inside of the lid is quite pleasant. I like it more than the recent T/R/X series - looks smooth and polished.
The keyboard and touchpad area. Keyboard is very similar to a classic Thinkpad, with one major difference - it's six rows and not seven. Which means that the Pgup/Pgdn buttons are relocated next to the arrows, where the browser buttons are on a normal Thinkpad, the other 4 navigation keys are arranged in a row, and PrtSc/SysRq/Break/ScrLk are now accessed using Fn key combinations. This is not as good in my book, and I don't understand what the reason for ditching the standard layout is. Surely there was more than enough room to accommodate the full 7 rows, and how much more expensive would it be anyways?
The keyboard itself is pretty solid, although some flex is present in certain areas, most notably the top right corner. Overall, it feels somewhere between the T6x keyboard and the T400/T500 keyboards.
The touchpad is nice and big, similar to the recent T series touchpads. I understand that SL400/SL500 use the higher quality Synaptics model, while SL300 uses Alps. Thinkpad purists will appreciate the red stripes on the trackpoint buttons.
Finally, the plastic around the keyboard and in the palmrest feels quite solid, nice and smooth. It is not the rugged texture of other Thinkpads, and so I imagine it is more prone to scratches.
Left side of the keyboard, where the Thinkvantage, volume and mute buttons reside.
Top right corner of the keyboard, with the LED-lit power button, and some of the LED indicators. The speakers with the SL series are above the keyboard and not on the sides, as with recent T/R series.
A view from the front, with the WiFi switch and some more LED indicators. These are visible when the lid is closed (most Thinkpads have them on the top of the lid). The front edge is angled, like on 15" T42/T60.
Back-left edge of the machine with the battery and the VGA port. The power jack (not pictured) is on the back-right side. The battery itself is the standard T/R/Z/W/SL 6-cell battery, which is nice for compatibility. Notice how all the side edge is also angled. It is an interesting design, no doubt to make the laptop look sleek, but makes some ports harder to reach, since they have to reside inside groves, as will be evident from the following pictures.
Back left - USB ports and an HDMI port - something that I would like to see on other Thinkpads. True some of them have DisplayPort, but it is not as ubiquitous and not as useful, especially since I understand that Lenovo has not implemented audio over DP.
Front left - card reader and Firewire.
Most of the functional stuff is on the right (sorry about the blur) - audio, 2xUSB, DVD recorder, modem/Ethernet.
One final pic with the screen turned on. It is a regular matte WXGA TN panel, but the quality was a pleasant surprise to me. Here the screen is actually at its lowest brightness setting, and in these conditions it was still quite readable and the contrast was pretty good. At maximum brightness, the screen is too bright in most normal lighting conditions. I can imagine it will be even semi-useful working outside.
Overall, I find it a very nice laptop for the price.