Lenovo W500 Thinkpad Specifications

I finally got hold of a Lenovo W500 Thinkpad. On the outside it looks very similar to a T61 but under the hood are some new and improved upon features. It’s price certainly distinguishes it from the Thinkpad pack by starting at around $1200.00 and adding available options will drive the price higher. Thinkpads are known for their quality, innovation and reliability, so any model you choose you know you’re getting your money’s worth. The full features and specifications are listed on Lenovo’s website.

The W500 I’m working with is a 4061-AC4 and the specs are as follows:

*Processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo P9400(2.53.GHZ)
*ATI Mobility FireGL V5700 graphics
*Switchable Graphics(see below)
*15.4 inch WUXGA(1920 X 1200) LCD widescreen display
*160GB 7200rpm SATA hard disk drive
*4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 memory
*Mini PCIe 802.11 wireless – Intel 5300
*Intel 82567 1GB ethernet
*CDRW/DVDRW drive

*Switchable Graphics has both an integrated Intel graphics chip and an ATI discrete graphics chip in the system. This enables you to save power and battery life by switching to integrated graphics for day to day use, or use the discrete graphics chip for more intensive applications that need higher performance graphics when needed.

The Thinkpad W500 weighs in at just about 6lbs. which is slightly more than T61 models I have seen. The Switchable Graphics feature is available from inside Windows Vista which is very convenient and means no reboot is required. The model I have is loaded with Windows XP and I can still switch the graphics but have to do so by entering the BIOS; still pretty cool. The performance is very fast as expected as is the wireless connectivity. One option for the W500 I want to briefly explain is a mini PCIe Turbo Memory card. This caches frequently used data for faster performance on Windows Vista installed machines.

Thinkpads have an Energy Star 4.0 rating and the W500 has a Silver rating from EPEAT which means these laptops consume less energy, are more efficient, and make use of recyclable materials. Be sure to check out Lenovo’s Thinkpad Energy Calculator to compare and see your energy savings.

I haven’t used the Thinkpad W500 long enough to have reached a final conclusion, but so far I am very impressed with the machine in terms of both quality and performance. The features packed into the W500 should be plenty for most users for quite some time.

UPDATE: I’ve added part 2 reviewing the installation of Vista and the graphics options. Find it here.

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