Lenovo ThinkPad T510 Notebook Review

If you are thinking of a device that is durable, with good Lenovo ThinkPad T510 battery power and has nice business capacity, then Lenovo Thinkpad t510 is a great device to have. The build of this model is very solid with a display that offers excellent HD imagery. The battery life can withstand up to 8 hours of power. The design is pretty straightforward and very simple with a matte black outer cover with a rubbery texture so when you hold on to the outside, it will not slip. When it comes to the resolution, the 1600×900 HD capacity of the device is very powerful and amazing with an anti-glare feature. This is an above average screen so aside from work, you can enjoy watching movies and playing some computer games with amazing brilliance. NVIDIA NVS 3100M dedicated graphics with 512MB DDR3 allow for high definition videos or games to be played smoothly.

 

Lenovo’s ThinkPad T410s, T410/T510 and W510 notebooks aren’t new, but the company has brought them up to date at CES 2010 with Intel’s latest dual-core, Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The T410s 14-inch ultraportable has a choice of Core i5-520M and i5-540M CPUs, along with the regular choices of HDD or SSD storage, up to 8GB of RAM, WiFi b/g/n, optional Bluetooth, 3G and WiMAX, while the ThinkPad T410/T510 throw the Core i7-620M into the mixture too.

 

Specifications:

• 15.6-inch HD+ LED-backlit Display (1600x900)
• NVIDIA NVS 3100M dedicated graphics with 512MB DDR3
• Windows 7 Professional (64bit)
• Intel Core i5-560M (2.66GHz, 3MB cache)
• 4GB DDR3 RAM (2GB + 2GB)
• 320GB Seagate 7200.4 HDD (7200rpm)
• Intel 6200 802.11AGN, Bluetooth
• 94Wh 9-cell, 90W 20V AC adapter
• ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus Series 3
• Dimensions: 14.68" x 9.65" x 1.41"
• Weight: 6.22 pounds

Lenovo's ThinkPad T-range provides efficient, robust models for mobile business use. Just like the T500s that have been available for some time the T510s are 15.6 inch laptops. They only differ insignificantly on the outside. But the T510 uses Intel's new innovations inside. A few T510 models only have an Intel GMA HD graphic chip integrated into the Core i processor. Then again, others use the possibility of a dedicated Nvidia NVS 3100M graphic card.

 

The exact name of our model is "ThinkPad T510 - 4349-4JG". Because the inner workings of the single models differ to a large extent, some sections that are strongly related don't apply to other models. One thing first: As already the reviewed ThinkPad T410, the ThinkPad T510 model, with a discrete graphic card, at hand doesn't have switchable graphics.

 

The T510 measures in at 371mm x 268mm x 38mm (14.62" x 10.56" x 1.50") with the included 9-cell Lenovo Thinkpad T510 battery in place, and weighs upwards of 6 pounds. Not the lightest to carry around, but we are eager to find out what kind battery life we can get out of the large 9-cell pack. Read on as we take a closer look at the laptop's features and design.

 

The new ThinkPad T Series keyboard is a joy to use without any of the flex issues that were inherent when the T400/T500 released. We have tested the new keyboard side by side with a ThinkPad Z60 which has the stiffest keyboard on the planet and the T510 keyboard compares really well. And the new design is comfortable to type on.

 

Key spacing has been minimized to reduce crumbs and dust getting under the keyboard. And so that you don’t commit the ultimate gaff and say something untoward whilst you’re on a conference call, separate microphone and speaker mute buttons with built in LED’s have been added to enable you to mute the mike individually.

 

The new ThinkPad T510 notebook is the ultimate business tool, designed to enhance productivity and change the way you work. To begin with, it features a 15.6 inch HD LED-backlight widescreen display that helps to lower power consumption and offers brighter colors. In addition, the T510 notebook comes equipped with a range of technologies that includes the new Intel ® Core i5 processor for not only faster performance, but smarter performance, DDR3 memory, new DisplayPort technology and a wider Touchpad for improved ergonomics. Plus, it’s engineered with Lenovo’s Enhanced Experience for Windows 7, which means faster start-up and shut down times than systems without Enhanced Experience. You will never go wrong with a ThinkPad.

 

Regarding networking, the new ThinkPad sports 802.11n Wi-Fi, optional Bluetooth, as well as optional Gobi 3G mobile broadband with GPS functionality and optional WiMAX.

 

The T510 features a multi-touch trackpad, a 2MP web camera, four USB ports (one of these is an eSATA/USB combo port), an ExpressCard slot, DisplayPort and VGA outputs, a Firewire port, 5-in-1 media card reader, a fingerprint reader, and an optional Smart Card reader.

 

The T510 has a clean, professional, all-business look about it. Some laptops are all glossy black and shiny, but the ThinkPads are designed to let you focus on your work, not on bells and whistles and lights on the keyboard area. As such, they have a slightly textured surface around the palm rest area and the touchpad surface, while being flush with the palm rest, has a rougher surface area that may take some getting used to. Personally, I like the Trackpoint on ThinkPads, so I primarily use it along with the right and left thumb mouse buttons just below the space bar.

 

ThinkPad keyboards are a pleasure to use. They continue the traditional ‘clicky’ feel that I liked so much about the old IBM keyboards. One thing I have to get used to is the function key (Fn) in the lower left corner of the keyboard to the left of the CONTROL key. On my Dell, these keys are reversed, so I find myself hitting Fn+ whatever key to perform an operation that requires Ctrl+ instead, like Ctrl+V to paste.

 

Pros

1. The Thinkpad T510 model is another solid offering from Lenovo that offers high quality performance and speed.
2. The build quality is really impressive that could compete with other newer notebooks in the market.
3. The matte screen, touchpad, and keyboards all combine to deliver ease of use.
4. Although the display screen’s native resolution is also good enough, you can also opt for the HD model and you have to pay an additional $50 for that.
5. Although designed for business applications, it still delivers quality performance when used on mainstream games.

Cons

The addition of new key options could take a while for users to get used to. The same applies for the revamped touchpad layout.

 

Battery life of LenovoThinkPad T510 was insufficient despite the use of 9-cell Lenovo ThinkPad T510 laptop battery pack. You can only use it for a maximum of a few minutes more than 3 hours, which really is not good enough for intensive business use.

 

Lenovo is trying really hard to make the T510 your new ultra-slim business laptop. The ThinkPad T510 actually is only 1.4″ thick and weighs just 5.9lbs. and if you look at all the options for configuration this laptop is already a great deal. Don’t think that Lenovo went cheap either with the T510 they still kept their signature ThinkPad build quality. In tests the keyboard exhibited flex only under lot’s of pressure on it which we found to be acceptable.

 

The Ibex Peak graphics technology optimizes decoding and encoding plus editing and playback of MPEG-4 AVC video used in Blu-ray Technology and HD 1080p video so we expect to see the new ThinkPad T410 and T510 fully HD optimized.

 

Its 15.6″ LED backlight display is supported by NVIDIA Quadro NVS 3100M graphics processoe with 512MB dedicated video memory. Lenovo ThinkPad T510 (431329U) also comes loaded with DVD±R/RW optical drive, 802.11 bgn WiFi, webcam, card reader as well as 9-cell lithium ion ThinkPad T510 battery for up to 9 hours of life. Price, newegg has Lenovo ThinkPad T Series T510(431329U) NoteBook for $1,179.99.