Lenovo T400 Review

So my new build came new today and everything is perfect. First thinkpad.

There is no keyboard flexing.
There is very slight optical bay flexing, not a problem.
There is no base flexing.
LED screen looks okay.
ThinkLight is actually pretty good.
Keyboard comfort level is not so good, the TX2510 has a better keyboard.
Speaker is good, will update once I install Windows 7.
No piezoelectric noise.
Runs very cool, produces no noise.
In terms of bulkiness, it is not bulky at all. Weight wise, it's good. Portable.


Now the slight problems:
There is a piece of green thread from the left side of the monitor, like it's stuck in the bezel. Not sure what this is, should I return it?
The thinkpad looks plastic, feels like plastic too.
They put a Windows Vista Basic sticker on it. Why would they put stickers??? Should I remove it?
I got the old Samsung SSD drive instead of the new. Benchmarks are around 80mb write and 140mb read. Not a big problem, I'll replace it with an Intel sometime down the road.
There are indicator lights on the bottom of the monitor, when you stream music, the wireless indicator flashes rapidly. Not a big problem.

 

I spoke too soon. There is piezoelectric noise if you put your ear next to it. However, from typing distance, it's inaudible.
It is louder than other laptops at ear level but inaudible at typing levels meanwhile other laptops are pretty much audible even at typing levels.

Why can't they fix this issue? Not a deal breaker though.


The screen is very washed out like. Not a deal breaker.

Now that I've gotten used to the keyboard, it is actually much better than the TX2510. Just wish they switched the CTRL and FN keys. The feedback and feel is nice, best keyboard I've used.

 

Yeah when I first got my thinkpad I went into the bathroom (because its the only windowless room we have) and tested the thinklight and I loved it. I also took my stickers off as I never have liked them. As for the HP tx25xx series, I liked that keyboard but it is definitely not as good as dell business or thinkpad keyboards imho. I see you mention this electric noise in almost every post and I have to say that I haven't had a noise like that in a laptop for a while. Especially the business grade laptops I have owned as sometimes there is nothing worse then a loud fan or a cpu whine in a meeting .

 

I haven't tried this but I've read from other posts that there's an option in the Bios to turn off the power savings for the CPU. I believe the stepping in power consumption is causing the buzz. My T61 buzzes too when its not plugged in, but it doesn't bother me. The latest and greatest Lenovo T400s has this buzzing also.

 

every single thinkpad i've had in recent 2 years buzzed with this piezoelectric noise. THe noise levels were slightly different between computers. So i would guess its totally normal.