Lenovo T500 vs HP HDX16t

[Trauts]

Howdy-

I've been unable to really find a comparative review between these two laptops, for fairly obvious reasons: one is marketed towards business users, the other towards home media users.

They have similar benchmark results. And by the time I've finished customizing them, they both end up around $1300-$1500ish.

I'm looking to replace my aging TC4200 tablet PC with a reasonably portable laptop that has moderate gaming performance and good battery life.

I guess the big differences boil down to

T500 Pros:
-slightly more portable
-slightly better battery (6-7 hours)
- switchable integrated/dedicated graphics
-Lenovo reputation
-Pointing stick on the keyboard

T500 Cons:
-1680x1050 resolution
- crappy speakers

HP Pros:
-1920x1080 resolution
-HDMI and a host of other nice ports
-Blu-ray drive
-Slightly better gaming performance
- good speakers

HP Cons:
- without the 12 cell, battery is terrible. With it, battery is pretty good.
- no pointing stick
- weighs more
- glossy screen


How much difference does weight really make? My current tablet is supposedly 4.5 lbs, and I carry it around with me pretty much everywhere. Either in a backpack or slung over my shoulder in a case. I often barely notice its even there.

As far as the pointing stick goes, I have a bluetooth mouse, so I don't know how important this is to me. I know I always gravitate towards the pointing stick when it's there. On my tablet, I use it so frequently that I've had to replace the nub about 4 times. I use the touchpad occasionally, depending on what I'm doing, and it's a quality touchpad. I just don't prefer it to the stick.

The only real dealbreakers on the T500 side are the touch stick and potentially the lighter weight.

The HDX16t, on the other hand, has blu-ray, speakers, ports, and higher resolution.

Given the two have similar prices with my feature sets... I'm torn. I like the feature set of the HP way better, but I'm hesitant to part with the pointing stick. And the lower weight of the Lenovo is nice, too.

I guess the thing to do is attempt to track down similar models in a store and try them out, and see how they 'feel' weight wise.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I would recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad. I'm purchasing a Thinkpad soon for two main reasons, the pointing stick and the Lenovo reputation.

Lenovo Thinkpads are sturdy, business-grade laptops. They are fairly durable and more reliable than most other laptops out there.

The pointing stick is a huge advantage to me. I also own an older IBM Thinkpad R51, and I mostly use the pointing stick. In addition to being able to use it as a mouse, the pointing stick can be used to scroll through pages.

The Lenovo battery life is also a huge advantage. A 9-cell battery could probably last you a good 6 hours.

If weight is an important aspect, Lenovo also makes a slightly smaller T400 laptop. I personally never really had a problem with the weight of my IBM Thinkpad R51, which should weigh close to a T500.

The Lenovo does have crappy speakers, but you can easily get a set of headphones or speakers to fix the problem.

The HP does seem better for movies and such, but isn't that what our TV's are for?