Thinkpad Noob, help with a T500

[JSenSA]

Hello all, I have been lurking these forums for a few weeks now and I registered today because it seems the best site for it

I have always been a desktop user but I have been wanting to get a lappy for a while now as it makes more sense and I will be moving overseas in a couple months, everywhere I looked the word 'Thinkpad' popped up so I have been doing my research and have decided that's exactly what I want. I live in South Africa and tech here can be prohibitively expensive here and the availability isn't great at all. I was originally looking at the T61p before I found the W500 and then the T500. I have been searching high and low for a W500 but today I got offered a T500 for an attractive price. I was wondering if you guys could help me make a decision about it all, here's what I am wanting to use it for:

1) Linux, I have recently discovered linux and I love playing around with it. Especially minimal DE environments (Openbox and the tiling WM)
2) Multitasking, I usually have twenty to thirty tabs open in Firefox (bad habit I know) and I usually have a few PDFs, other documents, few network drives etc open at the same time.

I'm not a gamer and I don't really do anything graphics intensive. I might do some mathematical modeling and Photoshop occasionally.

When I saw the offer for the T500 I did a few searches and a few place said that it was almost identical to the W500 (which I am in love with) is this true? I know it has half the VRam and the max resolution on the W500 is 1920x1200 but apart from that what are the big differences?

The resolution is also a biggy for me, as I said, I enjoy tiling WMs so screen real estate is a must, I checked a few threads and it seems that i might be able to put a T61p or a W500 screen in if I can get my grubby little paws on one? Is this viable/possible? I was looking to order one on ebay but most sellers don't ship here and the exchange rate hurts bad. I eventually want to put all 8gigs of RAM in too.

Are there any issues I should be aware of when it comes to the T500 and age? Anything to look out for? I also checked what I should look for when buying a second hand Thinkpad and it suggested that I ask for the seven digit machine type which i have been doing. The only problem is that I search with the model number and machine type and it sometimes comes up with conflicting specs and the like, what am I doing wrong? The number I got back from the seller was 'TYPE 2241 AL6' can anyone assist me?

Sorry for the really long post but I have my heart set on a Thinkpad now and I want to make an informed decision about it

Also, any general advice, experiences with the T500 would be appreciated

Thanks

[Cigarguy]

I have a couple of t400 which is the 14.1" brother of the T500. I really like it. It's able to take the next higher class of CPU, native SATA II support and DDR3 ram. If you are running VM and your usage pattern of lots of apps open the more RAM is better. 2x4GB of DDR3 RAM is less than half of what it'll cost you for 2x4GB of DDR2. One of my T400 is running Linux Mint without any issue. Actually it's quite sweet. T500 are very well built machines and can be had for relatively cheap. I'd wouldn't hesitate.

[Neil]

Original Specs for ThinkPad T500 (2241-AL6)
Based 2241-3XG: P8600(2.4GHz), 2GB RAM, 160GB 5400rpm HD, 15.4in 1280x800 LCD, Intel X4500HD, CDRW/DVD, Intel 802.11agn wireless, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav, Sec Chip, FPR, Camera, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Business 32

Sourced from support.levono.com "Quick Path".

For comparison info between T500 and W500 models available look at something like thinkwiki.com

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:T500

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:W500

[JSenSA]

Thanks for the replies!

Does linux generally play well with the T500? I have seen linux associated it with it a lot so I'm assuming so.

Thanks Neil, that's very helpful. I just went through the quick path myself to see if I know how to use it.

Which WUXGA screens will work with the model? Anyone have any experience with this? Will the GPU be sufficient to run that kind of resolution?

I read that some of the T61p models had overheating and graphics problems, does the T500 suffer from anything like that?

[Cigarguy]

Linux plays really with our Thinkpads. You'll have no difficulty with the either T500 or W500. With Linux Mint on a T400 I had to do nothing extra/special with regards to drivers. I haven't heard of any GPU problem with this gen. The GPU is more than sufficient for anything but games or video intensive workstation applications.