Just ordered a new Thinkpad T520...

[slugg]

Sold my MacBook Pro this morning. I logged on to the Lenovo Outlet just to take a peek, and I happened to find the EXACT T520 I would have configured for myself! There was only 1 in stock. I snatched it and got a heck of a deal. I was looking to buy used, but this is a better-than-used price and I get to enjoy my new warranty. Woohoo!

Link: http://outlet.lenovo.com/423r9h2w0z.html

Copy/paste:
Outlet Part Number 423R9H2W0Z
Condition Refurbished
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-2520M (2.50GHz base; 3.2GHz Max Turbo, 3MB Cache)
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 - English
Total Memory 8GB (2 X 4GB) PC3-10600 DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM SODIMM Memory
Hard Drive 500GB, 7200RPM Serial ATA 2.5" Hard Drive
Display 15.6” FHD (1920 X 1080) LED, W/ 720p HD Camera
Graphics NVIDIA® Quadro® NVS 4200M
Optical Device DVD Recordable SATA
Keyboard/Pointing Device UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Battery 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (Up to 2.8 Hours Run Time)
Ethernet/Wireless Intel® Centrino Advanced-N + WiMAX 6250
Mobile Broadband Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
Bluetooth Yes
Integrated Camera Yes
Color Black
Fingerprint Reader Yes
Form Factor Laptop
Limited Warranty 1 Year Depot Warranty
Manufacturing part number 4239CTRR9H2W0Z

 

[corkyg]

Looks like a good deal. You might want to join the Lenovo forum and check out what other T520 owners have run into.

http://forums.lenovo.com/

 

[Broheim]

ugh I'd kill for a european lenovo outlet, or student deals or something. The only company who can be bothered to do something for me is Apple, which is partly why I have a MBP instead of a thinkpad.

 

[beginner99]

ugh I'd kill for a european lenovo outlet, or student deals or something. The only company who can be bothered to do something for me is Apple, which is partly why I have a MBP instead of a thinkpad.

You mean price wise?

Where I live in europe, with the student deals, thinkpads are about the same price as in US. Without the deals, they cost like 180% of us price. So they basically are only found with business men or students and no normal person buys them. (Same holds true for HP elitebooks or dell laltitude).

 

[slugg]

This will be my third ThinkPad. My ThinkPad history is a T61, X200, and now the T520. Should be here by Friday - looking forward to it!

 

[alent1234]

i like lenovo, 2 of them in the house. but i just bought a macbook pro and like it even more

 

[Broheim]

You mean price wise?

Where I live in europe, with the student deals, thinkpads are about the same price as in US. Without the deals, they cost like 180% of us price. So they basically are only found with business men or students and no normal person buys them. (Same holds true for HP elitebooks or dell laltitude).

there's no student deals here in Denmark, so I'd have to pay full price, neither Dell nor HP offers any student deals either.

 

[gsaldivar]

Congrats!

 

[hans007]

nice choice. when i got my t420 i was torn between getting it or paying a bit more for the t520 with the 1080p option.

Its gonna be a great laptop. best addition i made was an m-sata ssd. one of the few laptops that can take one .

 

[slugg]

nice choice. when i got my t420 i was torn between getting it or paying a bit more for the t520 with the 1080p option.

Its gonna be a great laptop. best addition i made was an m-sata ssd. one of the few laptops that can take one .

I kinda went overboard and spent too much money on Christmas gifts. If my wallet ever recouperates (my rent is going up $200 a month..... uhg!), then that'll be the next upgrade. I plan on removing the optical drive, running a disk drive in that bay, then running a solid state as the primary OS/software drive.

edit: ah, I just realized you said m-sata. Good point. In that case, plans have changed!

 

[zCypher]

loved my T400, my x120e is arriving around the 29th. can't wait!

 

[beginner99]

there's no student deals here in Denmark, so I'd have to pay full price, neither Dell nor HP offers any student deals either.

ok that sucks.

AFAIK the deals here are offered by the university and not HP/Lenovo themselves. Models are limited and I assume that because of a big "batch order" and having no own sales profit it gets a lot cheaper than at a shop.

 

[WackyDan]

ok that sucks.

AFAIK the deals here are offered by the university and not HP/Lenovo themselves. Models are limited and I assume that because of a big "batch order" and having no own sales profit it gets a lot cheaper than at a shop.

Oh... there is profit.

The big three have a higher ed discount on most of the models. The schools decide what configs they want to buy/support as they typically offer break/fix/spare services on campus. They then bundle in bags, printers, software to make the deals usually very worthwhile versus paying MSRP.

 

[slugg]

Well it came in today. I'm on it now... Here are my first impressions.

- Thicker than I expected. It's not bad at all, it's just that I'm used to my old MacBook Pro, which is super thin for the power it packs.
- It feels about the same weight as the MBP.
- Hotswappable opti-bay? Oh yea! Forgot about that. I'll definitely buy a hard drive caddy for it!
- Man, I miss these keyboards. They're so awesome.
- The trackpad is kinda lame. Apple has been the only one to do it right (inside OS X).
- TrackPoint is amazing! I'm happy to be using one again.
- The screen resolution is perfect. It's what a 15 incher should be at - nothing lower. I have no idea how people deal with lower resolution screens at this size.
- View angles are nearly as good as the MacBook Pro
- Brightness is very uniform
- Color representation is good, but not as vibrant as the MacBook Pro. Not a bad thing - I just think Apple's displays are just warmer.
- The ThinkVantage power management software is AWESOME. I love having full control over my system.
- Looks like my battery life is 8+ hours, but I won't have time to drain it today. I'll use it all day tomorrow and report.
- YES! I finally have more than 2 USB ports! And I've got eSATA! I felt constricted on the MacBook Pro.
- Microphone/Line-Out/Line-in combo jack. I have yet to test this, but seems convenient because I keep the iPhone earbuds (with a microphone) in my bag.
- ExpressCard slot... Has anyone found a use for these things? I feel like it's a waste of space.
- The laptop has that "new Thinkpad" smell. I can't explain it, but both my other Thinkpads smells like this when they were new.
- I love how the 9 cell battery acts like a handle. I miss that; I felt scared to 1-hand the MacBook Pro.
- I prefer the ThinkLight to backlit keyboards. Better on your battery, too.

I'm enjoying the machine and I'm happy with it. If anyone has any questions, in case you're in the market for buying one, let me know!

 

[zCypher]

Like your review, congrats! Love the keyboards on them too.

 

[Pardus]

Well it came in today. I'm on it now... Here are my first impressions.

- Thicker than I expected. It's not bad at all, it's just that I'm used to my old MacBook Pro, which is super thin for the power it packs.
- It feels about the same weight as the MBP.
- Hotswappable opti-bay? Oh yea! Forgot about that. I'll definitely buy a hard drive caddy for it!
- Man, I miss these keyboards. They're so awesome.
- The trackpad is kinda lame. Apple has been the only one to do it right (inside OS X).
- TrackPoint is amazing! I'm happy to be using one again.
- The screen resolution is perfect. It's what a 15 incher should be at - nothing lower. I have no idea how people deal with lower resolution screens at this size.
- View angles are nearly as good as the MacBook Pro
- Brightness is very uniform
- Color representation is good, but not as vibrant as the MacBook Pro. Not a bad thing - I just think Apple's displays are just warmer.
- The ThinkVantage power management software is AWESOME. I love having full control over my system.
- Looks like my battery life is 8+ hours, but I won't have time to drain it today. I'll use it all day tomorrow and report.
- YES! I finally have more than 2 USB ports! And I've got eSATA! I felt constricted on the MacBook Pro.
- Microphone/Line-Out/Line-in combo jack. I have yet to test this, but seems convenient because I keep the iPhone earbuds (with a microphone) in my bag.
- ExpressCard slot... Has anyone found a use for these things? I feel like it's a waste of space.
- The laptop has that "new Thinkpad" smell. I can't explain it, but both my other Thinkpads smells like this when they were new.
- I love how the 9 cell battery acts like a handle. I miss that; I felt scared to 1-hand the MacBook Pro.
- I prefer the ThinkLight to backlit keyboards. Better on your battery, too.

I'm enjoying the machine and I'm happy with it. If anyone has any questions, in case you're in the market for buying one, let me know!

hows the speakers?

 

[slugg]

hows the speakers?

The speakers are interesting.

They don't have any bass - just mids and highs. When your head is positioned near where you'd normally use the laptop, the Conexant audio "stuff" really does work. By stuff, I mean it's got its own system wide equalizer and some kind of pseudo-surround, DSP enhancements. It does sound cool; it definitely makes the machine sound bigger. Conexant did a good job with the audio drivers. I'm pleased.

From a distance, you lose that effect; it just sounds tinny. It's the loudest Thinkpad I've heard yet, although they say the W series has beefier speakers. It's loud and clear enough to watch a movie, but don't expect to catch every little detail in Mahler's 7th.

Comparing to the MacBook Pro, I'd say the Mac had overall better speakers. From a distance, the Mac delivers a broader spectrum with more volume. However, if you're reasonably close to the T520 and your head is oriented toward the screen, the speakers sound pleasant. The 3D sound effect is surprising and *DOES* make a perceptible difference.

One thing worth noting is that speech/dialogue is very crisp and clear with these speakers and the Conexant solution, regardless of the listening distance.

Now... what is "good?" I say it's good for a laptop. In my opinion, laptop speakers suck across the board. Some suck more than others. 17 inch laptops tend to have the least suckiest speakers, but don't fail to fail. Overall, I'd say the speakers in the T520 are adequate for normal usage, watching TV/movies, and communication. They get the job done with multimedia, but it's nothing praiseworthy. Use headphones if you want quality.

 

[Pardus]

The speakers are interesting.

They don't have any bass - just mids and highs. When your head is positioned near where you'd normally use the laptop, the Conexant audio "stuff" really does work. By stuff, I mean it's got its own system wide equalizer and some kind of pseudo-surround, DSP enhancements. It does sound cool; it definitely makes the machine sound bigger. Conexant did a good job with the audio drivers. I'm pleased.

From a distance, you lose that effect; it just sounds tinny. It's the loudest Thinkpad I've heard yet, although they say the W series has beefier speakers. It's loud and clear enough to watch a movie, but don't expect to catch every little detail in Mahler's 7th.

Comparing to the MacBook Pro, I'd say the Mac had overall better speakers. From a distance, the Mac delivers a broader spectrum with more volume. However, if you're reasonably close to the T520 and your head is oriented toward the screen, the speakers sound pleasant. The 3D sound effect is surprising and *DOES* make a perceptible difference.

One thing worth noting is that speech/dialogue is very crisp and clear with these speakers and the Conexant solution, regardless of the listening distance.

Now... what is "good?" I say it's good for a laptop. In my opinion, laptop speakers suck across the board. Some suck more than others. 17 inch laptops tend to have the least suckiest speakers, but don't fail to fail. Overall, I'd say the speakers in the T520 are adequate for normal usage, watching TV/movies, and communication. They get the job done with multimedia, but it's nothing praiseworthy. Use headphones if you want quality.

Thank for you that info, the speakers on my acer laptop was horrible, Even at full volume, i could barely hear anything. Deciding if i want the 12" Thinkpad/Ideapad or HP dm1z.

Not expecting mind blowing sound, but do expect some quality.

 

[slugg]

The 12" is a different beast. In the past, they only had one little speaker. I haven't checked on the current 12 incher, the X220, but that's something you'll want to research.

That being said, I still own a thinkpad X200. I bought it new - ore-ordered it, actually. I still think it's one of the best laptops ever made. It's the only laptop I've kept for more than a year...

 

[slugg]

Oooo... another pleasant surprise... It returns from sleep in less than 1 second! That's way faster than the MacBook Pro.

 

[randomlinh]

Damn, that seems like a pretty good price. I really need to remember to check out the outlet at lenovo more

 

[corkyg]

The T-520 battery is an easy one click in and out. I am told that is light years easier and faster than changing the battery in a MBP.

 

[slugg]

The T-520 battery is an easy one click in and out. I am told that is light years easier and faster than changing the battery in a MBP.

Yes, but the MBP places its battery at the front of the machine, balancing it's weight better. If you pick up a thinkpad from the front, it feels heavier than it really is because the battery is applying leverage through the chassis. Not a big deal - carry it from the back and it feels nice and light.

Also, Apple's batteries are supposed to last 1000 cycles before they lose a significant amount of charge. I wouldn't worry about it!

 

[ksheets]

- The laptop has that "new Thinkpad" smell. I can't explain it, but both my other Thinkpads smells like this when they were new.


Hmmm...i thought i was the only one who loved the smell of new thinkpads...oh and the smooth silky tops..

nm