Would you suggest buying R500 compared to other famous brand

[great88]

Hi everyone, I am confused and have been reading mixed reviews about Lenovo and R500.

I am getting two options from other brands that are much cheaper but the thing is that I want something durable and sturdy, which I know Lenovo is way more than them. But what really is scaring me is the lots of issues I have been reading about R500.

Do you think I should just go ahead and buy R500? You probably already own one and have used it for sometime, would you buy it again? Or should I go for the cheaper alternatives provided by a different popular brand and save my money?

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

I wouldn't know what "other famous brand" you're referring to, but I've tested a couple of R400/500 units and they're very fine machines in my not-so-modest opinion.

Hope this helps.

[archer6]

Hi everyone, I am confused and have been reading mixed reviews about Lenovo and R500. Do you think I should just go ahead and buy R500? Or should I go for the cheaper alternatives provided by a different popular brand and save my money? <snip>

As a long time ThinkPad user, I have found that when compared to other brands (and I've had nearly all of them) nothing comes close to a ThinkPad. I have used a friends R500 and find it to be excellent. As far as negative comments, many times those come from people that don't even own one, or have nothing better to do than complain. As far as saving money, that's where a ThinkPad excel's as they are very long lasting, very durable and priced quite competitively.

Cheers...

[Marin85]

@OP: Welcome to forum! You may also want to consider other models of the ThinkPad line depending on your budget and your needs.

[great88]

Thank you very much. Everyone's kindness of replying is much appreciated
I was actually referring to Toshiba Satellite and Dell Inspiron as the other brands. The same configuration is like $350 cheaper!

But to be honest, I am a little rough user and I lost the hinges of my old toshiba after a few months, and I checked the Dell in a store and it had pretty slim, weak hinges and a little knock on the table would have the screen shaking so I was thinking about R Series as it is economical as compared to T series and is probably equally durable?
So what do you guys suggest? (set aside your deep love for thinkpads for a moment and give me your honest opinion please and please).

Also, what's the main difference between R400 and R500 except the screen size and also between R series and T series, The T series is around $300 costlier for almost the same configuration. Should I spend the extra $350 and not get a toshiba and get a R series instead and it will mean more life of my laptop or should i go a little overboard and spend $600 more than toshiba and just get a T series? It is so confusing. My only problem is that six months down the line if a thinkpad has to give me trouble then at least i will take solace in the fact that i bought a toshiba and did not lose extra few hundred dollars on a thinkpad. So so confused! Please help.

[archer6]

<snip> I was actually referring to Toshiba Satellite and Dell Inspiron as the other brands. The same configuration is like $350 cheaper! I am a little rough user and I lost the hinges of my old toshiba after a few months, and I checked the Dell in a store and it had pretty slim, weak hinges and a little knock on the table would have the screen shaking so I was thinking about R Series as it is economical as compared to T series and is probably equally durable?
So what do you guys suggest? (set aside your deep love for thinkpads for a moment and give me your honest opinion please and please).

Also, what's the main difference between R400 and R500 except the screen size and also between R series and T series, The T series is around $300 costlier for almost the same configuration. Should I spend the extra $350 and not get a toshiba and get a R series instead and it will mean more life of my laptop or should i go a little overboard and spend $600 more than toshiba and just get a T series? It is so confusing. My only problem is that six months down the line if a thinkpad has to give me trouble then at least i will take solace in the fact that i bought a toshiba and did not lose extra few hundred dollars on a thinkpad. So so confused! Please help.

By the way, Welcome To The Forum !!!

I can answer your questions from personal experience and in a very neutral fashion. Yes, I'm a big ThinkPad advocate of the last decade, but only because I've purchased and used more than one of each of the following brands: Toshiba, Dell, Apple, Acer, Fujitsu, Sony, Gateway, and more. All the while using a ThinkPad as my main work laptop as they are simply so far superior to the rest in my personal opinion.

Now to the subject of quality, fit and finish, durability etc. First of all there are only small differences between the R and T series. Between the R400 and R500 the only difference is display size. In all critical areas, or high wear areas such as hinges, Lenovo uses extremely sturdy stainless steel. You can see by my signature I've had a large number of ThinkPads all of which I have kept. They are all in working condition, and many have thousands of hours on them. The R&T have equal keyboards, displays, and other high quality components. The major difference is the T series is designed as the thin and light model while still remaining very sturdy. The R is a bit thicker, and is of all plastic construction, as opposed to the metal lid of the T. Having both, I can tell you that the plastics that are used in the R model are of very high quality and of great strength and durability. So in term of choosing between the two, it's really up to you. There are no downsides to either. Also in terms of weight the R is less than a pound heavier than the T, so again not that big of a deal. At the end of the day ThinkPads actually work out to be less expensive as they last so much longer, the support is so far superior and they just work.

Finally out of the list of ThinkPads below I've only had one failure that required the computer to be returned for service. My T22 had a bad hard drive which became noisy after one year, I sent it back to be replaced and it was returned in four days! I was shocked at the speed of service and the perfectly clean condition it was returned in. I had one Dell that was in for over four weeks, only to find finally have them advise me (after numerous calls on my part) that the part was back ordered. Sony service is abysmal, as are many of the others. When the chips are down, a ThinkPad is what you want. Questions?

Cheers...

[great88]

Hi Archer6,

Thank you very much for the kindness of replying in detail. Your post was very helpful and I have ordered the R500. I will be receiving it soon and I will let you know what I feel or if I need more guidance. Your every single point was solid and made sense. It was indeed very kind of you to help me out. Thank you very much

[Harryc]

Congrats on the R500 order, it will serve you well...and welcome to the forum.

[archer6]

Hi Archer6,

Thank you very much for the kindness of replying in detail. Your post was very helpful and I have ordered the R500. I will be receiving it soon and I will let you know what I feel or if I need more guidance. Your every single point was solid and made sense. It was indeed very kind of you to help me out. Thank you very much

Thanks for the acknowledgment. I truly enjoy assisting whenever I can and it's great to hear that you have a new ThinkPad on order. I look forward to hearing your first impressions when you receive it. This is the place to be, when it comes to maximizing the enjoyment you get from your new ThinkPad. This forum is filled with great people that are here to help one another. I'm glad I could contribute to your decision.

Cheers...

[great88]

Thank you Harryc and Archer6

I just received my R500 and it looks and feels tough! Unlike other Toshiba, Dell and Acer laptops I had. I am really thrilled. I will check it more when I get home from work.

In the meantime, if you could very kindly give me new owner tips, like what I should install, what i shouldn't, if i should register with Lenovo through the laptop or not, is it worth it or does it creates trouble using real name etc., also, where can I download important stuff from the website etc. etc. etc. I am basically a novice and if you could tell me what important things I should do right now that would be great, like I read somewhere a few weeks ago that once I receive the laptop I can contact Lenovo and they will send me free discs etc. what is that and other stuff like that? Also, there are no discs in the package, none at all. Thanks

[Marin85]

1. What you should install or not, depends entirely on your needs. If you are referring to the ThinkVantage software in particular, I would suggest you to play a bit with it and see if you really need it. There are useful applications like Access Connections and Presentation Director, but there are also others that can be considered as bloatware (like Maintenance Manager). There is no reason to keep a certain application if you don´t use it. What is more, many of the Lenovo applications have direct impact on the boot performance (or even on the overall performance). For many people this is not really an issue, but for me it is, because I don´t see a reason why a new machine should take 2-3 mins to boot up... So, this is rather a matter of personal preference.

2. One of the ThinkVantage applications is System Update (SU). I would recommend you to not use this application to perform updates. The best way is to manually update your system. You can obtain all Lenovo-related updates directly from R400 driver matrix. However, you can use System Update to check out whether any new updates have been released. Please also note that SU is probably scheduled to perform updates, so you may want to look first in its settings to disable unwanted update processes.

3. Your ThinkPad comes with the so called hidden partition, that stores the factory contents (=the original Lenovo preloaded image of windows with all the Lenovo applications included etc) of your machine, and the Rescue&Recovery predesktop area, that provides your various recovery options. To access the predesktop area you need to press the ThinkVantage button upon boot up (right after powering on the machine, when you see the ThinkPad logo on the screen). If your ThinkPad is shipped with XP, then you could perform custom-restore from within the predesktop area. This would give you the option to restore your machine to factory contents but without some of the preloaded Lenovo stuff you might not want to have it installed. (see 1.)

4. Whether you can obtain the recovery CDs from Lenovo for free, depends pretty much on the case if it´s covered by the warranty or not (Lenovo judgment applies). Problems related to the original Lenovo preloaded windows image are covered by the warranty. Now, the important thing is that you can burn these recovery CDs yourself, using Rescue&Recovery (from windows), and it´s highly recommended to accomplish this before you have made any changes to the original factory contents. Thus you will have recovery CDs that restore the very original contents. This would even allow you to wipe out the hidden partition if storage space is consideration. So, burning the recovery CDs is one of those first things you should do

5. Regarding registering with Lenovo, it is a matter of course that such things are related to your privacy. I´m not aware of any cases where there were any privacy or other issues proceeding from this registration. In fact, if your ThinkPads happens to be stolen (:knock on wood:) and then found, there is a chance that it will be returned to you.

Hope this helps,

Marin

[ssd_thinkpad]

2. (...) The best way is to manually update your system.

What's the advantage of manually updating?

[Marin85]

The advantage is that SU doesn´t screw up your system Well, I admit that´s slightly exaggerated, but there are so many reports that something doesn´t work after SU...

[rongvietnj]

Thank you Harryc and Archer6

I just received my R500 and it looks and feels tough! Unlike other Toshiba, Dell and Acer laptops I had. I am really thrilled. I will check it more when I get home from work.

In the meantime, if you could very kindly give me new owner tips, like what I should install, what i shouldn't, if i should register with Lenovo through the laptop or not, is it worth it or does it creates trouble using real name etc., also, where can I download important stuff from the website etc. etc. etc. I am basically a novice and if you could tell me what important things I should do right now that would be great, like I read somewhere a few weeks ago that once I receive the laptop I can contact Lenovo and they will send me free discs etc. what is that and other stuff like that? Also, there are no discs in the package, none at all. Thanks

Hi Great88,

I am planning to buy the ThinkPad R500 and came across this thread. I would like to hear what you feel about your new R500 after using for 2 months. Thanks for your help.

[archer6]

I am planning to buy the ThinkPad R500 and came across this thread. I would like to hear what you feel about your new R500 after using for 2 months.

I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the R500 is a stellar laptop. While I do not own one myself, I have other R models and a friend with the R500. I've used his and inspected it quite carefully, I find it most impressive, and perhaps one of Lenovo's best kept secrets, as the pricing is low for a computer that is nearly identical to a T-model, with the only differences largely confined to it being ever so slightly heavier, and made of a different yet equally great case material.

That's my take on it....

Cheers...

[rongvietnj]

Thank you very much Archer6. I will take your advice.

[ZaZ]

Check the Lenovo Outlet too. The past few weeks they've had some R61s/R500s in the $350 range if you don't mind the Celeron CPU. If you don't need a lot of battery life or CPU power, it might not be a bad choice.

[archer6]

Freds suggestion is also a good one.

I have a Celeron equipped R51e and it's a very nice model for surfing the web, working in office, email and other basic and typical work. The money you save is worth it as long as you don't need a more capable processor. Celeron advantages are cool running and long battery life. I'm very happy with mine. The new ones are even faster as they use a faster bus and memory, as well as chip speed. Overall another good option.

Cheers...

[PRAGUEGUY]

hi I am new to the forum

I am just considering to return to IBM/lenovo, I had 3 toshibas to big satisfaction, and a Fujitsu Siemens which was ok, but for horrible heat that could eradicate any chance of my reproduction ability if I put in on my LAP.
really terribly hot it was. It got stolen recently.
I also got an ideapad s12, netbook lenovo, I am very satisfied with itbut the display is small for work

I am a translator, most demanding work I do on home desktop, sometimes I need to work away from home.
Then the work includes gazing into the computer for hours, and have a reasonably large screen to be able to edit Power point charts in documents
I have a couple of issues:
- R/T/SL
I have given up T series, it would be a luxury, as I need almost a desktop replacement, for mobility I will use th netbook
- I have difficulty choosing the right resolution/screen size/screen type (LED backlight or not) combination.
I looked at the r500 1600x1050, and I feel that the screen looks a bit too dark to me, also the resolution is good but I struggle to see the letters...I have to exercise my eyes to see the search bar in a web browser for instance.
- R500 1280 x 800 is well visible in terms of size of letters, but I feel the resolution to be to low...fells not sharp enough.
- So in the end, I brought back the SL 500 into the picture. It is supposed to have a bright screen..with the bright screens, the visual feel is different...
- and, if none of the resolutions feels ok with the 15 inch, I would compromise on size, and go down to 14 inch, that is the R400 model which is supposed to be almost like a T notebook.
Anybody has a link for some advice on resolution? I am trying to work out the pixels per cm horizontal vertical, to get some order into the issue of screen size/resolution...

thanks for any comments.

[ZaZ]

If WXGA is too big and WSXGA+ is too small, then perhaps WXGA+(1440x900) might be a good fit. Unfortunately 15" ThinkPads are not offered with this resolution. Perhaps the Dell E5500 or E6500, which do offer WXGA+, are worth a look.

[PRAGUEGUY]

thanks.
What I mean, what determines the size of the letters, is the number of pixels per cm on the screen isnt it?
So WXGA may be too big and coarse on 15 inch but might be ok with 14 inch.
I will try it.

[ZaZ]

You can always adjust the DPI, which works pretty good in Vista and Windows 7.

[PRAGUEGUY]

well I am told the native resolution is the best.... I would ,like to choose the best size of letters/that is, pixels per visible inch of screen space/ for me in the native resolution of the laptop...

[PRAGUEGUY]

I am now in great temptation just to buy the thing...I am fed up with looking at it, in the shops.
They often do not even have Windows installed , as they cant afford to pay the license for the software on the displayed items...
then they should not cry if the internet shops take all the business away. I get no benefit from going to a brick and mortar shop.
Amazingly, here in Prague, the more glossy official distributors do not yet have the r500 with preinstalled win7 on stock..but the major web store does.
So, I will order..and if I dont like it, I have a statutory right to return the goods within 14 days, without giving a reason
I was told win 7 offers a good way of increasing the size of fonts and icons, that should do
I should be able to see things in good resolution, and large enough at the same time
Ill report the result
I have a big assignment for translation coming, I would like to do it on the new machine
and it justifies the expense as well
will report back the results.

[PRAGUEGUY]

Well, finally I will be deciding between a 15 inch R and SL, the SL is markeded here as SL510..it is a bit cheaper, has a glossy display, and is said to be "less thinkpad", more for work and fun,

R500 is "more Thinkpad", more for work,
and has a matt/anti glare display

I quite like the bright display on my netbook, but then I never worked for a long time on the netbook so I cannot judge if the glare is tiring, and if the reflections people worry about do matter for me

The Rs in geral seem to be better regarded for worksmanship..so well see


This will be my decision point..the resolution I hope will be sorted by Windows 7 s funcions on adjusting DPI, which I did not know from XP

[PRAGUEGUY]

I have bought the r500, will get back when I have it