Lenovo T400 upgrade - Worthwhile?

Ok, from what I've read - I need to sell my T61 w/ the infamous Nvidia GPU. Its already reaching 60-65 idle with Arctic Silver paste and a H/S fan assembly. Although still stable, its reaching 80+ gaming, and increasing as times has gone on. The writing is on the wall it seems for it.

At anyrate - I've got a Thinkpad Advanced dock that I love at home (Allows me to have second HD docked at home, along with legacy ports...so basically I'd like to keep it - plus it cost a fortune new.) and a normal mini-dock at work. I've also got 2 power adapters, and a few other accessories that I just don't want to go to waste with a new machine - Which will happen with a x10 series. (410 or 510) So even though I'd like a new Ix series CPU - Monetary it makes no sense if I can't keep using all the fairly expensive accessories I've got.

So, here comes my question. I can get a New Clearance T400 from the outlet store w/ C2D T9400 2.53ghz/6mb, ATI Radeon 3470 and a few other niceties for 829.99. I can then use my existing docks and have a real decent GPU w/ swtich graphics. Is this worthwhile? Or should I just suck it up and go for a new T -series when they adapt the Core 2011? Are the T400s reliable? Are they built as awesomely as the T61's?

Thanks for any input!

 

Thats too expensive IMO for T400, even if its new.
For me 600 would be maximum to spend of out-of-date and production machine.
Unless, ofcourse, youre going to use it for 5 years or so.

Just for the record, I bought this:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/quickPath.do?quickPathEntry=7439E4U

R400 back in september for 520$ brand new from reputable US retailer, sealed, 3 year warranty, pretty loaded.

 

Five years? Yes. I wanted to use the T61 for 6-8yrs. But I see your point completely. Any good retailers that I could find a deal like that that you know of?

I just looked since you said that...and Newegg wants 1700 for the same machine. ???? Wow.

 

I used both ebay and google products search to find best deals, google products search gave me more results and lower prices than those that were available at ebay.
In live in Europe so it was bit harder to find good price and shop that sends to Europe from USA, but I found many. So if youre in USA, then there should be even bigger choice of sellers to choose from, both ebay and through google search, tho it acts weird sometimes and doesnt display any search results saying that nothing was found, bit buggy probably since Google product search engine is beta, but worth trying even if it doesnt work for first couple times !

 

I wouldn't exactly get the T400 look at the reviews of the machine. I'm not sure if they fixed the keyboard flex and palmrest flex. Not exactly Thinkpad quality from what I hear.

 

The later models of the T400 were reinforced with a new support structure that reduces flex from the earlier version. But some people tend to solve the problem by simply replacing it with the older T60/T61 keyboards in place.

The T400 is not a bad machine as long you opt for the model with switchable graphics and LED screens which makes them worthwhile. Otherwise the basic models are not much different from its predecessor the T61.

 

Btw. the T61 and the T4x0 series uses the same PSU's I use my PSU's on my T61P, T400 and T410 without any problems.

 

I'm getting the one with switchable graphics and a hi-res screen seen here: Lenovo Outlet - ThinkPad T400 - Discounted Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Refurbished Laptops, Discounted Desktops, Cheap Desktops, Refurbished Desktops

I'm not sure if its LED or not. It doesn't say when i look it up on Lenovo's support site either.

I've got until the end of the day to decide, because the 15% off sale on the T-series will disappear there after. I priced out a t410s with an NVS 3100 w/ 2 docks and it will cost me about 500$ more. Plus it contains an Nvdia - something I don't want. xD (I've known of two desktop 8600's die too.)

 

I'll be blunt since this is so ridiculous. You'd have to be an utter fool to buy any T400 for $829. That one doesn't even have an led screen which is the biggest reason to get one over a T61. If it had one they'd say so, which still wouldn't warrant the ridiculous price.

You can get new T400s' and T410s' on ebay for $699 and $879. T410 in the outlet for $695.

 

There are legitimate reason why someone would pay that price. eBay can be a bit dicey for the initiated and some just prefer not to buy there. Laptops bought in the outlet have a one year warranty depot warranty with no possibility to upgrade them. There's also no IWS or accidental options for those notebooks. If you're interested in those things, the outlet is not an option.

 

It is LED backlit - just called a Lenovo rep.
Ebay doesn't carry anything with a T9400 (all 8xxx series) at the 600-800 price range.

I found a refurb with the same specs at the outlet for $695. I'm starting to think about going with it. The t410 requires me to buy new docks - a 350$ expenditure i don't see worthwhile.

 

You can always upgrade it with T seris CPU later on.

 

I have a T9400, it's nothing special. Marginal performance improvement over equivalent P-series processors with much higher TDP when you're loading it.

Zaz, I've bought many Thinkpads so far, new and refurbs, from ebay. All from IBM/Lenovo business partners. There's nothing dicey about it. When warranty needed to be updated to reflect in-service date, it was done without a hiccup.

 

Although I don't like 15" laptops as much, this seems like too good a deal to pass up. Lenovo Outlet - ThinkPad T510 Refurbished - Discounted Laptops, Cheap Laptops, Refurbished Laptops, Discounted Desktops, Cheap Desktops, Refurbished Desktops

I'm thinking on sucking it up and getting that.

 

I bought the T510. W/ a Scratch N' Dent dock. Thanks for all the input. I was able to get that, with the dock and SSD for the same amount it was gonna cost me for me to install a 80gb ssd and another 2gb off ram on the t400. I'm happy. Thanks!!

 

Congrats! This is a much better deal than the T400, and a fantastic one on it's own. T510 w/ Nvidia, HD+ screen, 128gb ssd and 9-cell for $899 is amazing.

 

I know! I'm awesomely excited. Only prob is, I haven't gotten complete confirmation of the order - so I hope its still available - there was only one in stock I guess. I guess we'll see. It is Sunday. Got the T61 listed on ebay fairly cheaply in my eyes with the advanced dock. Should give someone who doesn't game 3-5 more years I'm sure.

I have a question regarding the T510. The Nvidia NVS 3100m apparently is 256MB. The ones on Lenovo's normal sales website state that they contain 512MB ram. Did they come in 2 different sizes? Or is the spec page I got for my model incorrect? Just wanting some clarification.

 

Good for you, but just because that's your experience, that doesn't mean that everyone else will have the same. I've gotten some great deals from eBay, like my X200t, but I'd say the return rate for me is 50%. I've seen refurbed machines sold as new. If you're new to eBay and don't want to deal with this, buying elsewhere, perhaps for money, is a completely valid reason.

It borrows 256 from the system memory to give it a total of 512MB of memory.

 

So that isn't like Windows 'hyper memory' or anything like that. Meaning, its shared as needed from system ram? Sounds good to me.

I've bought things from eBay many times before, but I don't feel conforatble buying a new machine off there. However, I'm a self confessed Thinkpad fanboy, or however you want to word that. I've had a T22, and before that a Compaq Armada e500. Then the T61, and soon a T510. Its been a fun ride. The T61 is the only one that has given me any issues, and ironically it is the only one bought new. The rest were used/salvaged. Hopefully the Refurbished T510 I just ordered with follow the used/salvaged ones I've had. I can't believe I bought a machine with another nvidia graphics card though.

Nvidia has already angered me enough with the ruling of the faulty MCP's that sold to HP that caused much (earned or otherwise) grief to HP customers when it was obviously Nvidias fault. I've personally replaced 2 logic board in those affected DV6400s and know of a DV6600 thats not supposed to be affected that is. But lets not derail the topic of the thread. Thanks much for the input thus far!

 

I'm not sure if I need to formally end the thread or not, but either way the thread can be closed. I've received the T510 and absolutely love it. Fastest laptop I've ever used by far, and one of the best deals I've ever seen. Its also built just as well as the T61 was, minus the keyboard. Keyboard seems no differant then any other laptop on the market anymore...the wonderful tactile feedback is gone. (Although still better then most.) This saddens me.

Otherwise though, I love it. Thanks for nudging me this way.

-Tyler

 

Hows the fan noise?

 

Silent and much cooler running then my T61. I mean the fans ramp up, and they're kinda loud when doing CPU/GPU intensive things, but its nothing abnormal. Why do you ask?

This ones loudest fan speed is still about 2x quieter then the T61 was on high, and blows more air. (This, I am assuming is because of the larger form factor. (14" vs 15.6")

 

I dont know how loud is T61, but my previous R400 was silent, while T410 that I currently own is loud and fan is spinning at 3500rpms all the time, thats why I asked