I purchased the Lenovo T500 2 years ago as a result of a Christmas deal going on at Lenovo, and I can honestly say this is the best computer I've ever used.  The combination of speed, ease of usage and the quality of the build have come together to make a fantastic laptop. The body of the laptop is solidly built, and there are no parts on it that feel cheap or like they are going to break off.  The trackpad is smooth and accurate, and the keyboard feels great to type on for long periods of time.  The screen is bright and large, though off angle viewing tends to be somewhat iffy. I originally bought the computer with windows vista, but then decided to upgrade to windows 7 -under vista, i was having an issue with the wireless card causing BSOD errors that I could not correct, and having done a fresh install of windows 7, I've not had any such problems. The computer runs lightning fast and has never give me any issues outside of that wireless hiccup.  Battery life on the machine lasts about 2.5 hours on the 6 cell battery, but it is usually plugged into my dock and dual monitors. The computer handles gaming quite well also, being able to play games from Counterstrike and Portal up to Starcraft 2 and Crysis.  Sure, you're not going to be able to play on super duper settings, but in the end, you can still play them with good graphics and good frame rates. Overall, I cannot say anything bad about this laptop - the included support software is great, and I;ve never had any other issues with it in my time owning it.

marlin29311

Flemington, NJ

I honestly have to say, This laptop is amazing. My mother won it in a contest at her job 2 days ago. She gave it to me, as a present. I thought it would be terrible, because I though IBM's were more of an 80s kind of computer. Boy, was I wrong. It's fast, and its reliable. I havent had any crashes so far. All of my programs are working fine right now. Its easy to use, and sleek and compact for traveling. It is easy for me to update my website with this, too. I highly recommend it. It came with Windows XP, which made me angry. But I simply found out, I could change the nasty outlook to the Vista outlook easily! I bet me and this laptop are gonna be the best of friends!

Toplegggedskater

Hollywood, FL

The computer in itself is not bad. But the customer service is awful. My mother decided to give me a new laptop as a birthday present, and she bought this one. Among the features, it was supposed to have bluetooth, wireless internet, etc. When the computer arrived, the wireless internet did not work. It was a problem of the computer, not of the router setup. So I called customer service, and they told me to try something. I did, and it didn't work again. So he had no idea of what to do, and try to pass me to somebody else who refused to let us ship the computer back. Finally, after calling again and talking to a third person, they took the computer back. It took them more than a month to send it back fixed and guess what? It wasn't fixed!!!! It was still not working. So we call again, and they said that since it already had passed a month, we could not return it. I told them that it was their fault since they had had it back, and he denied that they had ever had my case. I asked to speak to a supervisor, who played the same game. He said that there was no data of me, my problem or the computer in their system. I told them that regardless, the computer was under warranty, and he said no. After almost yelling at the guy on the phone, I finally decided that it was easier to try my luck with yet another customer rep. So I called the next day, and I got a simpatethic one who allowed me to ship it back for a second time. This time, they actually fixed it. So after three months, I finally got my computer, but I have to go through awful stress and fight with their customer service reps in order to get it. My advice: RUN AWAY!!!!

natjac

Cincinnati, OH

This is my first impressions review of a Lenovo T500 laptop I started using a few days ago.  I will add to the review as I gain more experience with the machine. First, a bit of background.  I am a demanding laptop user.  I rely very heavily on my laptop for both constant e-mail web surfing, and office applications such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint.  I am not a gamer and don't care that much about the high end graphics features of some gaming laptops.  My priorities are: a) a long battery life, b) a nice screen, c) fast and worry free and d) a nice solid well built feel.  I use a computer 12 hours a day so it I have no problem paying a premium. For the last year or so I have used a Dell XPS 1330.  It performs like a champ and I am a big fan.   However, Dell recently discontinued the XPS in favor of their Studio line but I was still interested in upgrading to Windows 7. My reasons for wanting to upgrade were: a) I had read that the Lenovo in particular had very fast boot up and recovery from suspend/sleep mode.  That is a feature that I really value.  and b) I like new toys ">) **Look & Feel**In any case, I know am the proud owner of the Lenovo T500.   I have owned several IBM Thinkpads in the past and one immediate observation is that Lenovo has cheapened the sturdy feel of the Thinkpad.  There now seems to be more plastic feel than there used to be.  Bummer.  Using a ThinkPad used to be like driving a German luxury car.  No longer.  Now the feel and even the clacking of the keys sounds  and feels just a little bit cheaper. So, score the feel a solid 3.0 which is disappointing since I was hoping for a 4.0 or 5.0. I would rate MacBook to be a 5.0, so that is my standard. (Although I do not care for the MacBook keyboard.)  **The mouse/pointer**I will say however, that the red track pointer is like an old shoe.  I have always preferred it over the touchpad and I am very happy to have it back on this laptop. **Startup/Resume Time**My next observation is the start up time from suspend.  VERY fast.  Basically instantaneous. This is a  huge plus.  I give the T500 a 5.0 for this feature. **Windows 7**So far Windows 7 otherwise seems remarkably similar to Vista to me.  I will say that the task bar is nicer because it has a cool pop up preview capability and overall the whole OS seems faster.  However, I guess I was just expecting something more dramatic.  So far it seems like they could have called Windows 7 something else like Vista with a few bug fixes and enhancements.  I guess that would not have made for a very dramatic marketing campaign. **Battery Life** Regarding battery life, the Lenovo T500 gets about 2:50 minutes when it is on the most efficients setting.  When I move it to high performance the time remaining changes to 2:08 but then seems to adjust back to 2:45.  Not sure I get why.  This is typical for most laptops so I will give the T500 a 3.0 for this feature. I will point out however, that the T500 does not get as hot on my lap as the Dell XPS did.  That is a big plus. More to follow as I use it more.

Matt

Chicago, IL