Lenovo ThinkPad T510: Hardware

On this page, I describe the hardware specifications and some hardware peripherals of my laptop. I conclude with an assessment explaining why I love this laptop, and it's the best I've ever had.

Hardware specifications

The content in this section is modified from ThinkWiki, a website concerning running Linux on ThinkPads. Thus, the content on this page is dual licensed under GNU Free Documentation License (the license for ThinkWiki) and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (the default license for this entire website).

• Machine Type: 4313-CTO
• Intel® Core™ i5-520M (Dual-core, 2.4GHz, 3MB L2)
• Intel HD Graphics
• 15.6" TFT display with 1600x900 (HD+) resolution with LED backlight
• 4GB PC3-8500 memory standard upgradable to 8GB
• 320GB 7200rpm 2.5" SATA HDD
• Intel Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) PCI-Express
• Intel HD Audio with a CX20585 codec
• ThinkPad Modem (MDC-3.0, 56kbps HDA)
• Serial UltraBay Enhanced DVD Burner II
• MiniPCI Express slot 1 with Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200
• Empty MiniPCI Express slot 2
• ExpressCard/34 slot
• 5-in-1 MultiCard Reader
• Trusted Computing Group TPM 1.2
• Active Protection System
• Integrated Fingerprint Reader
• Bluetooth
• UltraNav (TrackPoint / Touchpad combo)
• Firewire 400 (IEEE1394a)
• Intel Active Management Technology (AMT)
• 2.0MP Integrated camera
• 9-cell battery (5-6 hour life in Windows; 4-5 hours in Ubuntu)

Assessment of my laptop

What I love about the Lenovo ThinkPad T510

The features above speak for themselves. Since any laptop loaded would those features would be great, I won't comment on them, except to say that I have a very fast and responsive system, in both Ubuntu and Windows 7. Here I comment on a few Lenovo-specific features that might not be present on other laptops with similar specs as above.

• The UltraNav (TrackPoint/Touchpad combo): The TrackPoint is a mouse pointer embedded in the keyboard. This is a signature feature of ThinkPads; I think only some Dell Latitude models and a few HP models have this feature. I love it because you can use the mouse without lifting your fingers from the keyboard. Although a lot of people don't like this feature that much, I actually prefer it to having a separate mouse. With the TrackPoint, I never use a separate mouse from my keyboard.
• The 1600x900 screen: This didn't come standard; I paid extra for it. I love high-resolution screens, so this was a necessary feature for me. For some reason, it is very hard to find laptops with a high-resolution screen; the typical maximum is 1280x768. For my former Toshiba laptop, I used to install separate USB keyboard and mouse, and an external 21-inch monitor. With my ThinkPad (both my last one and this one), I never need to do this. The laptop alone is a full desktop replacement without any docks, external keyboard or mouse.
• One always-one USB port: Always-on means that even if the computer is turned off or asleep, as long as it is plugged in, I can plug in a USB cable that transmits power to a device, such as my iPhone. This sounds like a small item, but it is incredibly practical, and I take advantage of it all the time.

What I don't like about the Lenovo ThinkPad T510

There's nothing not to love. This is my most perfect laptop ever. There were only two things I didn't like about my previous ThinkPad T43: First, it was stingy with USB ports: it only had two. The T510 has four, which is plenty for my needs. Second, the T43 didn't have a built in card reader; I had to by an ExpressCard reader, which was a satisfactory solution. However, the T510 has a five-format card reader built in. I'm a very happy customer.

Hardware peripherals

Multifunction printer/scanner/copier: Brother MFC-7840W

I have a wireless Brother MFC-7840W, which has printer/scanner/copier/fax functions. I don't use the fax functions at all (I use 100% Internet faxing), so I wish I could have paid for a similar device without faxing capabilities. Anyway, I'm very happy with my purchase of around $280 or so. I bought a Brother device because it allegedly had Linux support. My first choice would have been HP (which seems to have the best Linux support of all printer manufacturers), but I read a lot of reviews that indicate that in the past few years the quality of their printers has deteriorated from the rock-solid standard I used to know. Thus, I decided not to risk buying a newer device based on past reputation that was no longer valid.

The MFC-7840W is a pain to install under Linux. However, after carefully following the instructions provided by Brother, which took me a while, I got everything to work flawlessly, including wireless printing and scanning. Windows installation is very simple, as could be expected. The device works great as advertised. It provides rapid and high-quality printing, scanning and photocopying.