Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 review: Lenovo ThinkPad SL510

Without proceeding any further, I am about to make a guess: you have already decided whether or not you're buying a ThinkPad. The iconic brand, the unending combination of professional respect, solid features, and unabashed blandness, combine to make a product that has surprising appeal across the board, yet remains, literally, a black box. The newest update to the line, the ThinkPad SL510, is part of Lenovo's Windows 7 product launch. Like many companies, Lenovo is taking the 7 launch as an opportunity to tweak and improve some of the features in its existing line, and so it is with the SL510.

7.8

Lenovo ThinkPad SL510

The Good

Solid construction; matte 16x9 screen; flexible configurations and pricing.

The Bad

Bland, boxy design; somewhat bulky frame.

The Bottom Line

Lenovo's Windows 7 upgrade to the ThinkPad SL500 keeps the price affordable, and features a consumer-friendly 16:9 display.

The SL510 starts at $529, but that configuration only has a 1.8 GHz Intel Celeron T3000 and no Webcam, Bluetooth, or other bells and whistles. For $1,024 in our build, you get a matte 15.6-inch screen in 16x9, a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and a thick, solid chassis that's lighter than you'd expect. Customizable to the gills for 3G, antiglare, and the always popular fingerprint reader, the SL510 is exactly what it looks like: a large-screened business laptop that runs Windows 7. The good news is that the tweaks are likely to make you happier if you're a ThinkPad person.

We're not going to mince words here: this ThinkPad is a wide black box that's stunningly generic. It could have come from five years ago at first glance, but to Lenovo's credit, the basic black design is at least timeless, and the back of the laptop's black lid is devoid of large logos, leaving the ThinkPad imprint to one tiny corner. The smooth matte surfaces and angular lines lend to an all-around solid feel, though not as iron-clad reinforced as higher-end models such as the T400 line. The laptop base is thick, but the whole machine is actually lighter than it looks.

A full-size tapered keyboard fits the usual bill for Lenovo-typing comfort, but it was an odd decision to leave off a number pad: one could easily have been fit in, and instead there's a lot of empty space on either side of the keyboard. Dedicated buttons control volume and mute for both the speakers and microphone, as well as a blue hot key for Lenovo's ThinkVantage suite of help tools. The matte multitouch touch pad is made of the same excellent material as on the T400s, and has great traction. As always, the trackpoint rubber nubbin remains lodged between the G, H, and B keys, which is either your dream come true or your aesthetic nightmare (some people still love those trackpoints). Buttons are arrayed both above and below the touch pad, depending on which control scheme you prefer; that's still a selling point on the ThinkPad line.

New to the SL510 is a 16x9 screen, making the viewing of DVDs and other HD movies more enjoyable with less letterboxing. It's an unexpected addition in a business laptop that otherwise seems like it couldn't care less about multimedia, but most modern laptops have already made the switch, and it's appreciated. Also notable: our 15.6-inch screen was matte instead of glossy, which is uncommon, but still found more in business systems than consumer ones. While it certainly helped reduce glare, colors and brightness seemed a bit washed out as a result. Otherwise, the 1,366x768 native resolution screen looked good, although we've also seen screens this size with higher resolutions. The ThinkPad SL510's stereo speakers are set below the screen, facing outward in the upper lid. Their volume was average and their quality was passably fine--being exposed, they at least didn't suffer from any sound-muffling.

Travelers looking for a complete complement of ports on their laptop won't be disappointed here; with the exception of ExpressCard, there are a full assortment of USB ports spread across the sides and even the rear of the ThinkPad SL510, one of which is eSATA as well. VGA and HDMI are both included. Those touches, combined with the 16x9 screen, help nudge the SL510 into media-friendly notebook territory. We certainly wouldn't call it a media laptop, but the higher-end SL510 configurations represent an extremely solid package for ThinkPad lovers who want a Windows 7 preinstalled package.

The SL510 starts at $529, but comes in a variety of processor configurations and other options that can push the price out as far as you'd like. Our config had 3GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive running at a better-than-average 7200rpm speed.

Our ThinkPad SL510 came with a P8700 Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.53GHz, which is a very good processor that we've seen before in models such as the IdeaPad Y650. While there are no discrete graphics on the SL510, it was able to handle Unreal Tournament 3 in passable-but-choppy fashion. For playing high-def movies or streaming media, the SL510 will suffice more than adequately. It also handled Windows 7 Professional very well, doing everything we needed.

The ThinkPad SL510 ran for 3 hours and 37 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. That's comparable with the ThinkPad T400s, and is better than average for a laptop this size, but there are certainly laptops out there that can do far better. Our battery drain test is especially grueling, so you can expect longer life from casual Web surfing and office use.

Lenovo includes a one-year, parts-and-labor, mail-in warranty with the system, although for a high-end business laptop, we'd expect a three-year plan as standard. Upgrading to a three-year plan will cost an extra $119, or $219 for three years of next-business day, on-site service. Support is accessible through a 24-7, toll-free phone line, and an easy-to-navigate online support site with a knowledge base and driver downloads.

Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Lenovo Thinkpad T400s
726

Dell Studio XPS 16

750

Lenovo Thinkpad SL510

755

Sony Vaio AW170Y/Q

761

Lenovo Ideapad Y650

821

Adobe Photoshop CS3 image-processing test

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Sony Vaio AW170Y/Q
126

Dell Studio XPS 16

134

Lenovo Ideapad Y650

135

Lenovo Thinkpad T400s

149

Lenovo Thinkpad SL510

153

Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)

(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Lenovo Thinkpad T400s
135

Lenovo Thinkpad SL510

143

Sony Vaio AW170Y/Q

144

Lenovo Ideapad Y650

146

Dell Studio XPS 16

162

Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Lenovo Thinkpad SL510
217

Lenovo Thinkpad T400s

213

Lenovo Ideapad Y650

137

Sony Vaio AW170Y/Q

117

Dell Studio XPS 16

103

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations:

Lenovo Thinkpad SL510
Windows 7 Professional; 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700; 3072MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 128MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD; 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

Dell Studio XPS 16
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600; 4096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 512MB ATI Radeon HD3670; 320GB Seagate 7,200rpm

Lenovo Ideapad Y650
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600; 4096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz; 256MB Nvidia GeForce G 105M; 320GB Western Digital 5,400rpm

Sony Vaio AW170Y/Q
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400; 4096MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT; 320GB Hitachi 7,200rpm

Lenovo Thinkpad T400s
Windows 7 Professional; Intel Core 2 Duo SP9600; 4096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1066Mhz; 64MB Intel GMA 4500M; 128GB Toshiba Solid State Drive 128GB Toshiba Solid State Drive