Lenovo ThinkPad T500 Overview

The 15.4-inch ThinkPad T500 is one of Lenovo’s recently announced business-class notebooks, based on new Intel Centrino 2 technology.

The latest ThinkPad T Series laptops, featuring the T500 and T400 models, come with Intel Core 2 Duo 45-nanometer processors, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, optional Intel Turbo memory 2.0, and switchable graphics. This video solution consists of the Intel GMA 4500HD integrated GPU combined with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470/3650 256MB dedicated video cards. Users can switch between the power-saving integrated and higher-performance discrete graphics on-the-fly.

The T500 has a 15.4-inch display with a resolution of 1280×800 (optional LED backlight) or 1680×1050 pixels.

Lenovo’s ThinkPad T500/T400 notebooks have up to 320GB of hard drive space or an optional 64GB solid state drive, various optical drive options, including Blu-Ray, and an optional web camera. There is also a slew of communication features and options, such as 802.11n wireless, integrated mobile broadband with GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and Gigabit Ethernet. In addition, Lenovo will offer WiMAX and Ultra Wide Band modules later this year.

Regarding security, the integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM
v1.2) and BIOS disabling of all ports are standard. An integrated fingerprint reader, SmartCard reader, full encryption of HDD, Softex omniPass, and Utimaco SGE are optional.

The laptop sports three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, DisplayPort and VGA outputs, Firewire, and a 7-in-1 media card reader. Another slot is populated with a PC Card or SmartCard reader, depending on customer’s choice.

The ThinkPad T500 starts at 5.8 pounds with a standard 6-cell battery, which provides 4.3 hours of battery life. An extended 9-cell unit enables 6.4 hours of run time.

The T500 is available for a basic price of $1,159 at Lenovo online store.