Lenovo ThinkPad T550 Notebook Review

[Redaktion]

Two are better than one. Lenovo's business newcomer features two batteries rather than one. That enables a battery life that makes the contenders green with envy in view of its powerful hardware. An LTE modem ensures the required flexibility, data is protected extensively, and the input devices are again close to perfect. All the more aggravating that it was not enough for an IPS screen.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T550-Notebook-Review.137974.0.html

[Juston Gold]

Another review and AGAIN notebookcheck.net does NOT provide any info if this model uses PWM dimming or not. PWM dimming is a MAJOR source of eye strain and headaches for most people.

[Till Schönborn]

Hi,

if the T550 uses PWM dimming, the frequency must be very high. We've tested the T550 for PWM flickering (via high fps video recording of the screen at different brightness settings) and didn't find any problems. :) Otherwise, we would have mentioned them.

[Juston Gold]

Till, notebookcheck.net does not mention anything about PWM dimming on ANY devices reviewed, even on the devices that do use PWM dimming. This website needs to get with the program and post PWM dimming information as this is a major concern for many people and one of the most important factors when deciding to purchase a laptop.

[Thomas Zay]

Nice product until you realize the back doors which are installed. How quickly do we forget.

[MrSparc]

Nice product until you realize the back doors which are installed.

Are you talking about SuperFish? This bloatware was included in consumer products but never in business target as ThinkPad's notebooks.
Don't be troll.

[Juston Gold]

I just go this laptop and it uses PWM dimming to control the display brightness. This thing makes my eye balls burn. The PWM frequency is pretty standard. All you have to do is way a pen in front of the screen at half brightness and you can clearly see the strobing effect.

Update: removed offensive language

[Paul Schwartzberg]

I'm a developer and bought the T550 for a job i did.
It has a two core CPU, but i was mislead by the i7 5th Generation hype.
You will find no review on Youtube on elsewhere claiming that it is desk top replacement. The reviews i have seen, will not even mention it's performance in relation to the McBook Pro or the Dell XPS 15.

Why did i buy it.  The Hype.  Lenovo Claims it is a high-end "Business Laptop".  Desktop replacement.   -- well i guess i've been duped.

I should have bought the XPS 15 which similiar to the Macbook Pro 15 has a 4 core i7-4712HQ (MBP has a similiar 4 core CPU I7-4870HQ)

The CPU is an i7 "4th Generation" CPU, but it is (in my opinion) faster than the 2-core i7-XXXXU "5th Generation" CPUs. I am writing this because i had colleagues with the DELL MX4800 & DELL MX3800 in the office, sporting similiar "4th Generation" 4-core CPUs (their machines were purchased in 2013 & 2014) Their compile times where at least twice as fast. And my T550 had Problems dealing with extra monitors. The T550 has an i7-5600U CPU. These CPUs (i think he U stands for "Ultra" low energy), it use less energy and allows the user more battery life.

But if they do not perform, it like driving a 5th generation Vespa because you get more gas mileage and it is quieter, than on a 4th generation BMW motorcycle.

As a developer my laptop needs CPU muscle and no heat on top, allowing the wrists to remain near the keyboard the entire day. If the fan makes a bit of noise or if i have to plug it in every 3-4 hours, it is more than worth the comprimise.

Even as i write the his review, my Internet Explorer has about 15 Tabs open and i have two sessions of Visual Studio running, skype, a couple PDFs open, Word is Open.  And the mouse freezes on me.  It is slow.

My MBP is also open -- similiar load,  no Problem.  It makes some fan noise sometimes.  So what.  Better that it freezing on me because of the load.

[noitanon]

The function keys are also tiny and tinier than the previous X230T, W500, W400 lenovo models i had. This part of the T550 keyboard is definitely toy like buildt. Odd to use.

It makes working with the function keys (used in different contexts, by eg software developers when debugging and others) quite cumbersome.

Also (software developer) colleagues who have 4 core cpu laptops (from 2013 & 2014) (as i commented elsewhere too) have laptops that are much faster (my T550, state of the art 16 GB RAM, 500 GB SSD, i7 CPU 5600U) has a 2 core cpu and is much slower  ... freezes a lot

[NickDiZ]

I don't know much about computers. I read some negative reviews here but ignored them thinking they sounded pedantic. I needed a laptop quickly and live in a remote location and ended up making a mistake buying this T550 computer. If you are used to a Thinkpad, the T550 is very different. The keyboard is good but ordinary, unlike the fantastic old keyboard of the T520. As this review said, it does not have a discrete graphics card. Now, the old T520 may not have had one but my brand new T550 struggles to surf the internet quickly because it cannot handle complex news sites, say like Bloomberg. It is very frustrating. Therefore, I suspect the hardware, somewhere, is inferior than the former. Apart from that, it operates my work software very fast and smooth. Imo, this T550 machine is overpriced for what you get. The so-called long battery life is only 5 hours for high performance or 8 hours for medium performance. All of the old handy nifty buttons & gadgets of the T520 are also gone. I wanted a work machine that I could drive hard rather than a hybrid ultra-book that cannot handle internet with videos and moving advertising. My 4 year old T520 was better than this new T550 (but ended up destroyed in an accident).

[R J Skwurl]

Why no mention of missing DVDRW?

[fb1996]

Why no mention of missing DVDRW?

Maybe because the era of optical media is almost over?

[jayce]

no such thing as distracting nxx etc.