Disappointed with 1.8" Drive option on T410s

You would think that Lenovo would have received enough complaints from their T400s users to redesign the T410s to accommodate a 2.5" SATA2 (3Gbps) HDD/SSD. But no, they have stuck with the same 1.8" HDD/SSD option as the T400s. This is probably the only thing stopping me from ordering the T410s.

1.8" HDDs drives tend to be slower than 2.5" HDDs. I know you can get 1.8" SSDs, but how many of them support TRIM? And, do they really perform at the same level as their 2.5" counterpart? I just feel that 2.5" drives are more mainstream and because of this, there will be more options to choose from. I am also aware that you can swap out the optical drive for a Hard Drive Bay Adapter in the Ultrabay. However, the SATA connection in Ultrabay is limited to SATA1 (1.5Gpbs). I am afraid SATA1 just doesn't cut it for me.

Is there any chance Lenovo will refresh the T410s later this year with a 2.5" HDD/SSD? I don't mind if they omit the Optical Drive to make room for main HDD/SSD. Alternatively, why don't they just make the Ultrabay SATA port SATA2?

 

I am pretty sure they were aware of this fact but it's not a piece of cake to put so many ports in such a thing package. Something in there must have prevented the drive being 2.5. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this and get a snappy SSD instead.

 

The 1.8" drives were a size consession for the smaller footprint. The T400s also used this form factor, so I seriously doubt they will be changing it.

Intel has a very respectable 1.8" SSD, so you have at least one opton.

 

I am sure Lenovo would like to put a 2.5" drive in T400s as well, but I suspect they settled for 1.8" due to a design compromise.

The way I see it, Lenovo engineers asked themselves "what if I can use a 1.8" drive and a less powerful CPU in T400" and the answer was T400s. The attractive traits of T400s and T410s come partly at the cost of using a 1.8" drive -- asking for 2.5" in T410s is like wanting to have the cake and eat it too.

 

this is true, although the x18m g2 drives really only exist on paper at this point - they still haven't been released for widespread sale

 

43N3417 256 GB Toshiba SSD with FDE and supports TRIM. 1.8" form factor -- replacement part. I am getting north of 200 mbits /sec on Crystal disk. Almost as fast as my Samsung 2.5 inch SSD. So there are some decent options. They can be had for 700 or so...

 

The intel X18-m supports Trim. Provantage.com has them instock. the 160GB is currently listed as a special order. A couple of weeks ago it was in stock too.
http://www.provantage.com/scripts/search.dll?QUERY=x18-m&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0

Intel X18-m G2, 80GB: $232, 278 instock
Intel X18-m G2, 160GB: $500

 

I'm thinking about getting a T400s, replacing the drive with an Intel X-18M 80GB for my main boot drive, and replacing the DVD-RW drive with an UltraBay caddy with a WD Scorpio Blue.

Does anybody see any potential problems with that setup?

And regarding the UltraBay hard drive caddy for the T400s:
- does the drive screw into the caddy? I wouldn't want it wobbly in there
- is there anyway to lock the UltraBay caddy in place so that it can't be quickly removed?
- if I have *just* an UltraBay harddrive (no 1.8" drive) can I boot from that?


I wouldn't mind just getting a 1.8" 256GB SSD and then keep the DVD-RW ... but hot damn, they're pretty spendy.

 

1.8" hard drives are slower than 2.5" hard drives due to the limitation of smaller the spinning mechanism. Since SSD has no moving part, the only difference between a 1.8" and a 2.5" SSD is that the former has few space on the circuit board to put the NAND flash onto it, and thus it's more expensive for the same capacity. But there are shouldn't be any speed difference, provided that they use the same type of controller and NAND flash (like X25-M and X18-M).

 

Does it really exist? If so, that's the best performing 1.8" consumer SSD, followed by the Indilinx based 1.8" Runcore ProIV microsata.

 

So finally they have G2 1.8" SSDs?
YAY!

But I am hppy with my 1.8" Samsung PM800

 

The toshiba G3 drives have trim support. MUST BE A G3 drive...

I love the PM800 as well...

 

thank you for pointing this out! i've been waiting months and months for intel to finally REALLY release the x18m g2 - looks like it has finally happened!

 

Confirmed existence of x18m G2. A photo of it by this ebay vendor.

 

HP envy 15 ships with g2 as well.

 

Whats the big deal? If you want more space just get an UltraBay caddy and pop in a 500gb 2.5" drive. Problem solved.

 

They exist, just that there is not a lot of demand for them and thus most retailers don't stock them.

There will only be more laptops using 1.8" hard drive in the future, as SSD prices become lower and lower. Perhaps only laptop with screen size 15" or above will use 2.5" drive at that time.

 

Agreed. I have it that setup and it gives me speed + size!

 

Hi,

Judging from this link, you will NOT be able to boot from the Ultrabay.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-71843.html

The link is a link to a Lenovo branded harddrive, and further down on the page it says:

"T400s, T410s: Supported for usage as a second hard drive using the ThinkPad Serial Hard Drive Bay Adapter III (43N3412). Not supported for usage as a primary hard drive upgrade."

 

if you think 1.8" ssd and 2.5" ssd would have performance differences you clearly don't know how an ssd works. go do some homework

as for why the t410s still uses a 1.8" drive? simple. it's the same machine as the t400s. the only difference is the motherboard. the case, battery, chassis, everything, is the same.

also, the t400s/t410s ultrabay DOES support sataii http://forum.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T500-and-newer-T-series/Ultrabay-speed-1-5Gb-s-or-3Gb-s/m-p/199185

 

no. you CAN boot from ultrabay. what that quote says is you can't put a 2.5" hdd into the t400s/t410s as a replacement, i.e. you can't replace a 1.8" hdd with a 2.5" hdd

 

1. the hdd fits in the caddy, not wobbly

2. depends what you mean by quickly...if you mean using the latches and things at the bottom of your laptop, then no, there's nothing stopping you from pulling it out but releasing the latch

3. yeah