Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 15.6-inch Thin And Light Laptop PC

Nov 2 2009 - Lenovo's ThinkPad SL510 is a refresh of their budget 15-inch ThinkPad lineup that coincides with the Windows 7 launch. The laptop retains a very business-like appearance with a bulky, boxy design that could really use some updating. Beyond the looks though, the system does perform extremely well thanks to a higher end Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory and a fast hard drive. It would be nice to see a dedicated graphics standard in the system but it is designed for small to medium-business users on a budget.

Nov 2 2009 - Lenovo's ThinkPad SL510 is a revision to their 15-inch budget business class laptop that doesn't make a huge amount of change. Prices start around $500 with the review unit priced around $1000. The design still retains a very plain boxy black design that could really use some design work. The frame is also fairly thick for a business class laptop at roughly 1.4 inches from the front to back of the frame.

What the Thinkpad SL510 lacks in design, it makes up for in performance and usability. The test system comes equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 mobile processor combined with 4GB of DDR3 memory. This provides the system with a high level of performance that lets it power through applications without much of an issue. Battery life wasn't compromised with these parts either as the system was able to achieve a respectable 2 hours 50 minutes in my DVD playback test.

Lenovo is well known for their excellent keyboards and the ThinkPad SL50 is no different. Rather than the isolated key designs, Lenovo uses a traditional design that has a very solid feel and is a pleasure to type on. With all the extra space around the keyboard, it would have been nice to see Lenovo add in a numeric keypad or larger keys. In addition to the keyboard, Lenovo has a multitouch trackpad that is very responsive or the trackpoint if you dislike trackpads.

One of the primary issues with the ThinkPad SL510 is the graphics and display. For a $1000 price tag, it would be really nice to see the system come with even a basic dedicated graphics processors rather than relying on the Intel GMA 4500MHD. The 15.6-inch sized screen has a fairly low resolution for a business class laptop and the viewing angles are narrow. At least they use a matte coating instead of the glare inducing glossy coatings that are so common these days.