The stability of the case barely leaves room for critique, this being supported from a magnesium roll cage in its interior. The base unit shows itself as very buckling resistant and as long as you don't pick the notebook up in the area of the drive, you can handle the notebook without further ado. The display stability also turns out very impressive. The display lid gives in slightly at pressure but it's barely possible to provoke distortions on the activated display. Therefore the T500 can be picked up at a corner of the display without further thought. Therefore picking up the notebook at a display edge without a hesitation also remains possible on the T500. The display frame differs here, giving away considerably under pressure whereas distortions on the activated display also become obvious.

Even though the hinges seem to be small, particularly the left one, the use of metal stands the test. Therefore they are very robust and hold the display absolutely tight in postition and allow an easy adjusting of the display opening angle, anyway. With help from the proven double hook latch and the display's Clamshell design, this closes cleanly and securely with the base unit in a shut state. An infiltration of foreign materials can be practically excluded. The locked display is opened by a lever on the right front edge of the display. This is fairly stiff and clacks at use.

The included 6 cell battery protrudes at the back of our test sample, which restricts the opening angle insignificantly, though. The notebook can still be opened marginally over 180° with it. Unfortunately the battery doesn't sit very tight in the case, but rather wobbles somewhat.