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While I’m sad my old laptop was stolen (go on dirtbag, I dare you to boot it up, I’ll track you down!) my new laptop is sweet.

It’s a Lenovo T530, 15.6″ widescreen custom ordered from Lenovo.com. Here’s what I like:

Keyboard: feels great, solid, slightly clicky, backlit keys and a “thinklight” that shines on the keyboard. I like the backlit keys more than the thinklight but I’m sure they will both come in handy.

Responsiveness: frickin fast! 180 gig SSD drive, i5 processor, 4 gig RAM. All the Lenovo quick boot technologies seem to work great, for example: it takes only 4 seconds to go from sleep to the password prompt!! Internet powers up nearly instantly. Just 15 seconds to wake up from hibernate mode, but I might stop using it because the sleep mode uses so little juice.

Audio: sounds great, loud, stereo, crisp.

Screen: nice, bright, good color, good off-angle viewing. I’m thinking maybe just maybe I should have gotten the 1920xwhatever screen instead of the 1366×768, but that might have made the text a little tiny for my eyes.

Trackpad: They nailed it. Excellent feel, performance. It also has a trackpoint nipple thing that I might start using.

Extra Buttons: There’s a mute speaker, volume buttons and mute microphone in easy reach. They work great.

Battery control: There are Lenovo battery settings that allow me to specify that the battery should only charge so much and then stop (it’s said that leaving a lithium battery fully charged makes it die quicker)

5 hour battery life. Plenty of battery.

It’s a tiny bit heavy at 5 lbs 6oz, but I paid $880 all inclusive. A lighter one might cost twice as much and I’m a poor student! (and I’ve got a great backpack to carry it in). It took 2 weeks longer to arrive than they originally promised which was a bother, but that’s forgotten.

It’s kinda weird to say this but the Lenovo extras and the operating system seem to be configured very well. I’m used to battling crapware at every turn but I’m not with this computer.

I got PDAnet working on it (it was a snap!) so I have data wherever I have 3G service on my phone. And darn if I can’t surf just as fast on 3G as on wifi!! Really!

Full specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5-3210M Processor (3M Cache, up to 3.10 GHz)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit)
Display Type: 15.6″ HD (1366 x 768) LED Backlit AntiGlare Display, Mobile Broadband Ready
System Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Total Memory: 4 GB DDR3 – 1600MHz (1 DIMM)
Keyboard: Keyboard Backlit – US English
Pointing Device: UltraNav without Fingerprint Reader
Camera: 720p HD Camera with Microphone
Hard Drive: 180GB Solid State Drive, SATA3
Optical Device: DVD Recordable
System Expansion Slots: Express Card Slot & 4-in-1 Card Reader & Bezel
Battery: 6 Cell Li-Ion TWL 70+
Power Cord: 90W AC Adapter – US (2pin)
Integrated WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters: ThinkPad 1×1 b/g/n