Lenovo ThinkPad W500 in Laptops

With the latter setting enabled the W500 lasted 4hrs 22mins in our light-use battery test - not as long as the T500, but still respectable considering the higher power processor and higher resolution screen. You can stretch that out by a few minutes, too, by employing Lenovo's advanced battery-stretch settings, which allow you to switch off the DVD writer among other things.

The ThinkPad W500 is undeniably a very capable laptop. It's very quick, well built and, among 15.4in machines, it occupies a unique niche with that high-resolution screen and workstation certification.

But despite all that, we're not convinced that all of this justifies the high price tag that goes with it. Unless the ISV certification is a deal breaker for you or your business, the ThinkPad T500 offers almost as much for considerably less outlay.

Author: Jonathan Bray