Intro
This is the first laptop I have ever bought/owned outright so it was a pretty big leap. I wanted something that I could use for work at home, in the office, while traveling etc It was not going to be used for gaming purposes but it should still have enough CPU/RAM behind it to make it fairly slick whatever use I put it to.
I had a straight choice between the Asus X58LE and the Thinkpad N500. After asking for advice on this foum I went for the Thinkpad.
Specs:
This was the advertised Spec.
(it is a Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g). This is currently being investigated by the Linux Emporium (from whence it came) so we shall see how their after-care copes with this :-)
Design
While not exactly ugly the Thinkpad will certainly not win any beauty pageants. The kind of laptop you could bring home to your mother and not be embarassed....but not the kind of laptop you'd hope to get jiggy with round the back of the night-club either.....not sure if that metaphor works but hey...
Screen:
No problems with the screen.....great size for me which is useful as I can have a number of terminals open at any one time.
Keyboard
Keyboard layout again is fine. The Fn key at the bottom left hand corner takes some getting used to though as you assume that is where the Ctrl key will be.....
LEDS
The LEDs are useful but there is little or no explanation as to what they are in the documentation so you will a) have to be a regular laptop user to understand the symbols used or b) Google it....
Wifi –
The Wifi worked straight out of the box for me. no problems there.
Heat and Noise
Noise is non-existent practically. Does seem to get a little bit on the warm side though.
Battery Life
Battery life is just over 2.5 hours. Adequate again for my purposes.
Conclusion:
A very nice, very useful laptop for business purposes. Could also prove useful to those looking to learn Linux as everything seems to work out of the box.
Thumbs Up.
This is the first laptop I have ever bought/owned outright so it was a pretty big leap. I wanted something that I could use for work at home, in the office, while traveling etc It was not going to be used for gaming purposes but it should still have enough CPU/RAM behind it to make it fairly slick whatever use I put it to.
I had a straight choice between the Asus X58LE and the Thinkpad N500. After asking for advice on this foum I went for the Thinkpad.
Specs:
This was the advertised Spec.
- Intel T6400 Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz Processor
- Intel 5100AGN Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n (draft)
- 3 Gb RAM (1x2 GB 1x1 Gb)
- 320 Gb hard drive
- CD-RW/DVD Recordable (dual layer)
- 15.41" TFT (1280x800 widescreen) with webcam
- Intel GMA4500 graphics
- Gigabit Ethernet
- 4 USB 2.0 ports
- 1x PCI Express Card Slot
- 4-in-1 multi-media card reader
- Weight 2.7 kg
- One year carry-in warranty (battery one year)
- Installed Ubuntu 9.04
- Delivery included
(it is a Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g). This is currently being investigated by the Linux Emporium (from whence it came) so we shall see how their after-care copes with this :-)
Design
While not exactly ugly the Thinkpad will certainly not win any beauty pageants. The kind of laptop you could bring home to your mother and not be embarassed....but not the kind of laptop you'd hope to get jiggy with round the back of the night-club either.....not sure if that metaphor works but hey...
Screen:
No problems with the screen.....great size for me which is useful as I can have a number of terminals open at any one time.
Keyboard
Keyboard layout again is fine. The Fn key at the bottom left hand corner takes some getting used to though as you assume that is where the Ctrl key will be.....
LEDS
The LEDs are useful but there is little or no explanation as to what they are in the documentation so you will a) have to be a regular laptop user to understand the symbols used or b) Google it....
Wifi –
The Wifi worked straight out of the box for me. no problems there.
Heat and Noise
Noise is non-existent practically. Does seem to get a little bit on the warm side though.
Battery Life
Battery life is just over 2.5 hours. Adequate again for my purposes.
Conclusion:
A very nice, very useful laptop for business purposes. Could also prove useful to those looking to learn Linux as everything seems to work out of the box.
Thumbs Up.
