Thinkpads Forum

Hello folks,
I am a photographer, and I am traveling a lot. I'm on my way to order a T500, I want to hear opinions on my configuration:
This will be my main computer, a lot of picture work and photoshop.
When I am home/office it will be in a docking station and I use a desktop screen.

Lenovo T500
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)
Genuine Windows Vista Business
15.4 WXGA TFT, w/ LED Backlight
ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 with 256MB with Intel Advanced Management Technology
3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
1.3 Megapixel Integrated Camera
320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Intel Turbo Memory 2GB
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology
Integrated AT&T Mobile Broadband Card (3G)
6 cell Li-Ion Battery

How bright is the LED screen? How much improved battery time? Should I instead go for a hi-res screen?

Turbo Memory worth it? I know about the article that says it just gives 20 minutes more battery, but that article is old, and this is 2gb.

Is it just a SIM-card slot in the computer with this broadband solution, so I can use my European SIM-Card?

Should I instead go for a T400, how is it the high up lighted screens? Good? I am sometimes working outside.

I read the Turbo Memory is not worth that much if any at all.

You can put your european SIM Card inside this notebook. Whether it works depends on the wwan card that is inside the thinkpad. There are wwan cards for AT&T, Cingular and european networks (Vodafone).

The T400 has an option for a super bright display, I'd highly vote this display then is far brigher than any T500 display. The 15 inch WSXGA+ CCFL displays have superior contrast to any 14 inch displays. The led displays are usually much brighter than the ccfl displays. I'd go for the ccfl displays any time. If you are interested in the ccfl vs. led discussions read about this on these forums here on forum.thinkpads.com.

Yes, the WSXGA+ is a pretty decent panel by todays standards. If WSXGA+ is too small, Vista does a pretty good job of making things bigger through adjusting the DPI, better than XP where sometimes fonts are hard coded and can't be made bigger.

How is the backlight on WSXGA+ CCFL vs. WXGA LED and battery time?
I have a Ideapad S10 with LED display and I love it. Thats way I also want LED on my everyday computer.

It doesn't make a difference on battery time... there are too many LED's required to light up the screen.

I'd consider the 9 cell battery... and agree on the WSXGA CCFL screen

tjintokk wrote:I have a Ideapad S10 with LED display and I love it. Thats way I also want LED on my everyday computer.

Before going on LED I'd take a look on the computer in real life. The Ideapad S10 led display can be far better than the led display of the T500. Most people tend to say: This computer is so expensive, it must have a good display. This is just not true to actual lenovo computers. There can be cheap T500 models with wsxga+ ccfl panels that have a good display and the x301 on the other hand which display is discussed a lot in these forums here (lots of people also like this display).

The WSXGA+ CCFL panel is the best out there throughout the whole non-tablet lenovo line and known for its high contrast, lots of people like this display. The only other comparable display with a higher resolution can be found in the W700.