Thinkpads Forum

Hello friends,

1. I have a T60p (full specs out-CPU 2.33Ghz and 4Gb RAM with Intel 5300, 200Gb 7200RPM HDD) and a A31p and very happy with it as they are running great till now. Thinkpads are the best! I am planning on upgrading to a W500. I am thinking how much more will I get if I have a W500.

2. Currently, my limitation on the T60p is the 3Gb RAM usage cap even when I put 4Gb max. Even when I used W7-64x beta, the RAM still max out sometimes. I tend to open many tabs in Chrome or Firefox and somehow this max out the memory and slows the whole system. Would the same thing happen for a W500 running Vista 64x? Will W500 be far superior?

3. I am in a dilemma. It is worth to upgrade to a W500 now? Meantime, I am also wanting to have a 15.4" 1900x1200 Full HD White LED or RGB-backlit display but W500 does not seem to have this at present yet? I also like to have USB 3.0 and SATA-600. Should I wait W500 has all this to be the Ultimate Laptop or should I just grap a good W500? Bearing in mind, I want to succumb and fully utilize my 4Gb RAM on my next laptop for "multiple tabs" websurfing and image processing.

4. Comparing the dpi of a 15.4" and 17" WUXGA display at 1900x1200, is it still the same iirespectively., ie. at 96 dpi? If so, what is the difference between those two displays? I would like my screen text to be crisply sharp like what I am having on my 15" UXGA 1600x1200 now? Comparing with my 1600x1200 UXGA display, is the new 15.4" WUXGA 1900x1200 display just bigger on the right and left side by 300 pixels and no difference in vertical resolution and size? How about 17'?

5. Which one has the brightest display compared with my existing 1600 x 1200 UXGA? Is it a lot brighter? 15.4" WUXGA 1920x1200?

6. My specs for my new W500: Please comment whether I need some of the items like fingerprint reader, Turbo memory HDD cache for fast boot-up, USB security keys, Integrated camera, 7in1 media card reader, Express card slot and smart card reader? Should I configure with XP64x or Vista64x Ultimate and upgrade to Win7 Ultimate 64x, which is most favorable? Please kindly advise which to have and which to remove or add? Thanks and appreciate.

4058CTO ThinkPad W500 - 1 Year Depot Warranty

Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)1
Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate12
15.4" WUXGA TFT
ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 (512MB VRAM) with Intel AMT
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
9 cell Li-Ion Battery60
4058: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7
Ships within 10 bus. days** $1,839.00 $1,839.00
40Y9213 1 Year ThinkPad Protection $39.16 $39.16
41N8460 ThinkPad and IdeaPad 90W Slim AC/DC Combo Adapter $119.95 $119.95
41R4317 Lenovo L9 Tip for Generic USB $9.95 $9.95
41R4481 Lenovo L10a Tip for Apple iPod and iPhone 3G $9.95 $9.95
43R1980 ThinkPad Serial ATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter II $49.95 $49.95
41U5119 Lenovo USB 2.0 Security Memory Key - 2GB $39.95 $39.95

Cheers,
Lucas

Dear Lucas,

I can try to answer some of your questions, although I cannot answer all of them.

RAM: If you actually manage to eat through 3GB doing routine tasks, I think you will quickly find yourself eating through 4GB as well. The W500, however, can utilize as much as 8GB, in dual 4GB sticks, although these are very expensive.

LED displays: Nice to have but overrated IMO. They are not really that better than traditional CCFL. Especially white LED, which is what laptops seem to have typically these days.

USB3/SATA600: It's true that W500 doesn't have them, and I don't think its successor will have them as well. So if you wait for these things to become available before your next laptop, you might wait for a while...

Displays: The 15.4" wide display is wider than the 15" display you have now, but shorter. It is about the same height as a 14" standard screen. The 17" wide is about the same height as the 15" standard. As long as you run them on native resolution, text will be crisp and sharp in all of them.

Personally, I find WUXGA on 15.4" to be too much. It is 147PPI compared to 133PPI for your UXGA 15" display, which would make all the text at default DPI (96) very small. Some people are not bothered by it. Others work around it by increasing DPI or font sizes.

15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) or 17" WUXGA would be closer in terms of pixel size / text size to your 15" UXGA, but of course with WSXGA+ you lose quite a bit of screen space overall, and 17" laptops are heavy monstrosities, not fit for leaving the office on a regular basis. So either way, compromises have to be made, and one has to sacrifice screen space, weight or eye comfort.

Brightness: As far as specs go, the WUXGA on the W500 is not brighter than your UXGA displays (175nit compared to 200nit). In fact if you search the forums, you will find several complaints on the dimness of the display. The 200nit WSXGA+ is considered to be a better display as far as brightness/contrast go, on the W500. With that said, since your laptops are now several years old, and displays do lose brightness over time, it is possible that the new display will be brighter than what you currently have.

If memory is really your problem, buy a 4GB SODIMM and Vista 64 and run your current machine at 6GB. It should do fine.