L440 in my possesion

I have a L440. It basically is like the L430 but with a clickpad, better CPU, M.2 wifi, and new docking port.

It is fat and the screen is awful. Beside that, well built machine.

 

How fat? Can you measure it for us since the "official" measurements are all over the place

 

I'm considering buying the L440. How fat is it? Say you have to grade its mobility and X1 carbon is 100%, how much the L440 gets?
Could you measure the height? the L440 page says 1.04" but according to the PSREF it's 1.35".
Also, about the screen - do you have any other thinkpads to compare it to? as I understand the HD+ screen on the L440 is supposed to be better than other HD+ (1:500 declared contrast unlike 1:400 for the T440s' HD+ version).
Thanks.

 

It is definitely 1.35" or more. There is a hump at the bottom once the battery is attached. I would give 50%. It is around 5ish pound and kind of bulky but it is not a brick. The 14in size also makes it better than most 15in monsters.
I only have one other ThinkPad with me and that is the T440s which is the best screen on any ThinkPad ever. The L440 looks horrible next to it. From the right angle, the L440 is not bad but the second you shift 6 inches up or down, you start seeing inverted colors. I would have to use it for Excel.

 

Yours has a quad-core CPU, right? How hot / noisy does it get if you are doing basic web browsing and office applications? If the computer is on your lap, is it possible to adjust the angle of the screen so that text is sharp and clear? Is the matte screen good at reducing glare and reflections? Thanks for your thoughts.

 

Pictures would be much appreciated.

 

I concur. Especially with these budget models the stock pictures on the Lenovo site really don't go a good job describing what the laptop really looks like (like the adverts for McDonald's burgers, etc).

 

I will have pictures up in less than 24 hours. The pictures on the Lenovo site really doesn't represent the L440 well. I can show pictures of the viewing angles and the size of the machine.

 

Thanks, I'll be looking forward to them. To ensure proper lighting, I recommend taking the pictures outside.

 

Also: the screen is not very "grainy" (beyond the norm for matte displays), is it?

 

Pictures please!

 

Here is the picture I promised. The other ThinkPad is a T440s.

L440 Pictures

The pictures are grainy. The L440 screen doesn't look grainy and text are pretty clear. The anti-glare does a good job.

 

Thanks. It really does look fat, but I think it's no thicker than a T430.

 

Thanks. Your pictures do a good job of illustrating the issues with the viewing angles. Since I plan to just use my new computer with it on my lap and not with other people looking on, I'm thinking the viewing angles are not that bad... Although the FHD of the t440p sounds intriguing, I'm thinking a quad-core i7-4702MQ L440 might be a better option for me than a quad-core i7-4700MQ t440p because I really value a quiet and cool computer over the faster processor. But maybe the cooling design is better in the t440p and can compensate? I'm going to wait for more reviews before ordering one or the other.

 

Based on your pictures, one thing I appreciate about the bezel on the L440 compared to the y410p is that it does not seem reflective. Besides the y410p screen giving me lots of glare even without a window behind my back, its bezel would also reflect my hands, and I would see them bouncing along as I typed, which drove me crazy.

 

Can you identify the manufacturer and model / part number of the screen? Since it's taking forever for other L440 reviews to appear, I thought maybe I could use the info from you and find other computers (e.g., the L430) that use the same screen. Thanks!

PS - I tried asking Lenovo, but they were unhelpful.

 

How's the keyboard feeling compared to T440s? Same type/very similar feedback? What's the difference besides backlight? My roommate has an edge E531 and his keyboard feel soft and uncomfortable compared to T440s, although the appearance is very similar. That worries me a little bit.

I'm thinking of getting a 4702mq L440 with 9 cell, but I also considered T440p, which is $190 more at similar configuration.

After hours of digging I've lost faith in 1080p 14 inch screen for now, I'll consider it again my next laptop.
Also, since I need 125% scaling anyway, it's an equivalent of 1536x864, which provided a less screen real estate than 1600x900, set aside all the scaling incompatibilities. Probably, 1600x900 at 100% is the limit of a 14" display. Wish there's 1600x900 14'' IPS now.

 

+1. I tried asking lenovo about my keyboard question too, and the rep had no clue about the technical question I asked.

 

I wrote up this review on the Lenovo forums so i'll just copy it over as these forums seem to be a bit more active. I found few reviews on the L440-540 models so this is what i've gathered in 2 days of use.

Pros: great build quality despite being all plastic it is strong (as I understand all thinkpad's are), no flex rigid keyboard. In my opinion it is light, not ultrabook light by any stretch but definetely not bulky/heavy, I got the HD+ 1600x900 screen-sharp, nice 16x9 format (for Excel etc, this is my work system), the text is sharp for a matte screen. Great keyboard, plenty of ports USB, VGA, display port (I'll probably buy a display port>HDMI adapter).

Cons: Trackpad seems a bit finicky, I also have a tough time not having tradtional buttons but i'm sure with more use I'll get used to it. I prefer a mouse anyway, Hard Drive is heard spinning/loading (it is 7200rpm after all). Again it's not loud but noticeable, although i'll most likely swap an SDD in.

My build is I5 4200M, 4gbs ram, HD+ screen, no DVD tray-replaced by optical drive, 6cell battery (can't comment on this, haven't had it long enough) and Windows 8.

While I wrote this up earlier yesterday, I can comment on the battery which I feel runs out rather quick (so far 15-20% battery loss per hour on battery using balanced power option with the brightness just under half)..but I also realized there's a ton of Lenovo bloatware installed. Once I clean up all the un-used crap (some stuff is crap), I will post again in a few days if anyone is interested. Again it is a great computer, solid build, easy to upgrade and really great keyboard!


Edit: I charged the battery fully on friday when I received it, gave it a bump charge yesterday and just charged it fully for a second time. about an hour ago I plugged it in with 10% remaining and put it in sleep mode...it is now at 83%. Not bad

 

L440 looks like my L420 and Y410p had a child.

 

My L440 is now a week old. My initial review still stands, it really is a great laptop, with one exception: the battery. I'm not sure if I perhaps received a faulty battery or if they are all really like this, but I can't even manage more than 4-5 hours on light use such as internet browsing, sorting through a few PDF files and using Word. I haven't even gotten to opening up an excel sheet or using Microsoft Outlook which both should be light use anyway. I'm going to call Lenovo and see what they can tell me, I have no intention on returning but this needs to be resolved. I've read personal user reviews on the US Lenovo web site and a couple mentioned this problem. However, the review on this web site states 7-8 hours in their tests..

 

Notebookcheck did a test on L440 showing a battery life of web surfing is 7:51, based on 99.9wh battery. That's about a 13W power draw. For 6 cells on L440, there are two configurations: 48wh and 56(or 57?) wh, which should give around 4-5 hours of wifi surfing. That's not bad, consider my i5-2410m Thinkpad T420 could only get 3-4 hours with 57wh battery. The power efficiency of haswell dual core is somewhat improved compared to sandy bridge(insignificantly in full load, but more significantly in idle power draw). In the old times even base configuration come with default 6 cell 57 wh. Considering the higher efficiency of i5-4200M CPU, 4-5 hours is an improvement, that's 25%, but other hardwares, like HDD, LCD also take some power, so CPU improvement does help battery life, but the improvement is somewhat limited.

Still, there is a cost associated to normal voltage processors- higher power draw. You get significantly better performance. An i5-4200m could beat an i7-4600u, but the power draw is nearly 2.5 times. Luckily, CPU power draw is much lower now, and they're idle most of the time, so the loaded power draw doesn't matter as much.

Maybe you should get a 9 cell battery, considering the weight only goes up 10% when you get almost doubled battery life.

I used to get topped 5-6 hours with 94wh battery on my T420, and since I will get an L440 with 99.9wh battery, I expect to get a 8 hour battery life.

For cpu power efficiency I refer to PassMark CPU TDP Chart - Performance / Power of available CPUs
For performance, I refer to notebookcheck comparison.
The test on L440 with i5-4330M on notebookcheck could be found at Review Lenovo ThinkPad L440 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

I was under the impression that review used the standard 6 cell 57whr which is what I opted for instead of the 9 cell. I realize the 9 cell weight isnt significantly more but it does stick out quite a bit as ive read and compared specs on lenovos site. In any case I think stating 11 hours battery and achieving 4-5 isnt great. I do find the i5 4200m uses little battery on idle as you mentioned. But once you fire it up it really pulls a lot of power. Id still like to hear what Lenovo has to say.

 

If anything, maybe Lenovo will have a ultrabay battery for the L440.

 

You are best off getting the T440p. The keyboard on the L440 is fine but it doesn't have as much key travel as the T440s.

 

I like the L440 keyboard a lot; it's way better (e.g., travel) than my Dell E6430 and E6410. It's the best notebook keyboard that I remember using; the keys feel like "real keys" rather than mushy buttons. That being said, I trust phamhlam when he says that the T440s key travel is better.

I have the 4702mq with 9 cell. It's pretty nice. As I've used it more, my biggest issues are that I wish that the matte screen had a bit less graininess and was a bit brighter, and while it is generally quiet, if you work in a very quiet environment, the fan occasionally kicks in with whooshing that is jarring to me; I've played around with TPFanControl a bit, but haven't been able to find a configuration yet that I really like. It might just be the case that it is difficult to have a quad core notebook that is completely silent all of the time (I know: "Duh!"). OH! And I hate the touchpad! So many times I click, but apparently my pushing of the touchpad triggers the pointer to simultaneously slide, wreaking havoc. Using the TrackPoint seems to help alleviate this.

 

So is it the "mushy" feeling like those edges? How does it compare to the old keyboards like those on T420, X220, W520? I've already ordered one and it's going to be shipped in a week and I really don't want to deal with all the return hassle again.

the E531 I played with feels pretty mushy, but it's still very good compared to like Dell. However, I read through the product features and Lenovo didn't use the word "thinkpad precision keyboard" in their introduction, instead an "island style keyboard"

On the other hand, Thinkpad X1 Carbon has short travel and they still call it precision keyboard.


I've gotten 2 1080p ones, T440s and E7440 and both of them suffer the same bleeding and tint issue.

Talking about the ultrabay, would normal HDD caddy from older thinkpads fit? how about ultrabay batteries from T430s? or is it the new slim ultrabay?

Thanks

 

That's probably the same configuration I'm going to receive soon! How's the battery life?

I read about the complaint about a batch of defective fan that makes crashing sound, maybe lenovo can fix it?

 

I haven't used it much when on battery yet. I got the 9 cell even though I rarely need battery power, because I when I do need it, I hate keeping an eye on the battery meter, and the 9 cell wasn't that much more expensive. Work and life have kept me too busy to do as much experimenting as I would like.

Thanks for the tip about the defective fan; I'm not sure that it's defective as much as it goes from pretty much silent to whooshing once every 5 minutes or so. The whooshing is probably comparable to a MBP (with a non-ULV dual core processor) and only lasts for a second or two before the fan drops down to a less noticeable level for a bit before turning off altogether again. When I get more time, I'll investigate if there's a way in TPFanControl to make the max RPM not be so high (although maybe it helps flush out the hot air better than a lower RPM and thus allows the fan to run less often overall; still, I hate that periodic jarring whoosh and would almost rather have something more constant even if it's not always silent).

I hope that you like your L440. Even beyond the keyboard, I like it way more than my Dells (which is perhaps faint praise).

 

The fan on my i5 never cranks up even when gaming. I am amazed at how silent it is in a room with no other noise. I had to put my hand next to it just to make sure it was working. It was definitely on as I felt a large amount of heat. Have you tried just tapping. Most touchpad users tap and trackpoint users click.

 

You will not notice much of a difference with the keyboard beside different travel lengths for models. The keys feels good and I am awkward. I spend most of my time typing on an external mechanical keyboard.

I want to know if I can get the ultrabay battery from last year model and use it in the L440. I am just waiting for it to be an official accessory.

 

That would be an interesting accessory to try out but it doesn't seem to be out for the L440 as of yet? I called up Lenovo and was pretty impressed with their after-sales service. I explained I had done all the updates necessary, adjusted settings etc she said not a problem, took all my info and I will get a new battery in 3 business days with a return label to send back the original one that came with the laptop. Quick 10 minute phone call. Hopefully it'll be better or perhaps the same, it could be just how long these batteries last as you mentioned. Either way I won't return the machine, it's my only complaint and it's not THAT terrible, I could manage. + I will be swapping in an SSD within a month so maybe this will add to the battery life.

 

Swapping an ssd on a regular voltage machine would certainly make it awesome.

Talking about the 9 cell battery protrude thing. I actually like it. I used it as a handle to hold my notebook one hand and operate with the other sometimes.

 

Interesting, how long do you get with the 9 cell?

I received the battery this morning heading out for work, not even 24 hours after my phone call...so I opened the new one they sent and noticed immediately it felt heavier than the original one that came with my laptop. Interestingly enough, I compared both side by side and the new one not only feels heavier, but the cell is made in Japan rather than Korea (original). As well, the new one has a 4620 mAH (or something, it's in the laptop I don't remember) and the original is 4900 mAH. Both 57+ 6 cell. I'll report back later on who makes a better Lenovo battery...

 

So how did new battery work out for you? Anyone else tested battery life with 6 cell batteries in this machine?

Btw, this is what they claim on their site:
"Enjoy all-day computing with up to 12 hours unplugged on the standard 6-cell 56 Wh battery—whether you're working on-the-go or simply enjoying downtime, you get more than a full day on a single charge."

So there shouldnt be need for 9 cell battery unless they're incredibly exaggerating. I mean no one is expecting 'full day on a single charge' but 4 hours instead of 12 hours is really weak result.

 

bump..... Anyone owns L440 (L540)? How do you like it? Any issues? What about noise/overheating/speed/built quality/battery life etc.?

 

has anyone here tried putting in a T440s IPS display inside the L440?

 

I just replaced my brother L440 screen with a 1080 IPS screen. Model # B140HAN01.2. I bought mine at bliss computer and it is perfect. It looks like my T440s screen ( great color, minor light bleed). Install was crazy easy thanks to Lenovo simple design. I however would mention that I did have one bright red pixel that showed when the screen was completely black. They can only ensure a max of 3 stuck pixel so it was great that there was only one tine pixel problem.

 

So far, my brother likes it. I did notice the plastic sucks and the material isn't as premium as the T440s. It is extremely quiet, doesn't get hot, is fast with a SSD, and has mediocre battery life. It is a great value and if you replace the screen with a IPS 1080 screen, it is amazing. No need to upgrade to the T440p which cost a lot more.

 

this sounds very promising, a 450 dollar 1080p IPS laptop with good construction.. i do not thing i could go wrong for that price.. did you have to change any ribbon/cables?

 

Nope. I just gently unplug the existing cable from the panel and then proceeded to plug it into the new panel. The only difficult part was just removing a sticky tab but the tab made reinstalling easy. It is a simple process.

The display cost $100 but that is far cheaper than whatever Lenovo is selling. The only other change I would recommend is adding a SSD. The L440 is such a great value machine. I think you would be very happy with it.

 

Phamhlam,

I'm impressed, I didn't think that kind of an upgrade was possible, at least not as simple a procedure as you described.

So, you went from a 1366 x 768 screen to 1920 x 1080 screen? Pull it out, plug it in?

I'm looking to upgrade from a 1366 x 768 to a 1600x900, but I'm unsure what screens will be compatible. I cannot find a list of compatible screens, manufacturers & retailers weren't too helpful when I tried to replace my Acer 3810TZ screen a few years ago.

 

With the ThinkPad L440, it was crazy easy. I was surprised. I went from 1600x900 to 1920x1080. I didn't know it was possible so I paid the factory upgrade from 1366x768 to 1600x900.

Unfortunately, with you laptop, I wasn't able to find a 1600x900 or higher screen.