T400 Arrived! Impressions and Questions

Having played around with the T400 for about an hour now, I wish to share my experiences on the forum such that it might help others whom are researching to buy a notebook, as others' experiences have helped me greatly in deciding. I am far from a notebook guru (this being the second one I've owned, the first being a HP Pavilion dv2700t that died after 3 months), but I've basically grown up with desktops and am at the very least decently knowledgeable with computers.

The particular T400 that I purchased, at $1019.68 before shipping/tax at CPP with a 5% off code, are stock-specced with the following:

-T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MbL2)
-Vista Home Basic
-14.1 WXGA+ (1440x900) LG LED Backlight, Camera
-ATI Mobility 3470 w/ 256MB RAM (64bit width)
-1GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz
-80GB Western Digital HD, 5400rpm
-Optiarc AD-7910S DVDRW 8x, Max Dual Layer Ultrabay Slim SATA
-Intel WiFi 5300 AGN
-6-cell battery
-1yr warranty

My first impression of the notebook, before even plugging it in, was how solid the LCD backplate and notebook bottom plastics were. The HP Pavilion dv2700t that I had that died was extremely flimsy (you can easily press the LCD blackplate with minimal effort and it will warp) in comparison.

Opening it up, however, led to probably my greatest disappointment; the keyboard has an insane amount of flex on the left (around 'A' and 'S' keys) and the right side (around the ; and ' and Enter and . and / keys). This had significantly more flex than the HP dv2700t keyboard, so kudos to HP for having a relatively solid keyboard for a consumer-grade notebook. Additionally, the plastic left and right palm rest area flex quite a bit as well, but it quickly hits the metallic chassis underneath, so hopefully this thing holds up structurally. The HP dv2700t used stronger plastics in the palm rest areas and had virtually no flex, but I don't know if it also has a metal chassis underbody like the T400. Some have noted that screwing the screws tighter on the bottom helps; I may have to explore that a bit later.

Sticking the battery in, to my surprise, resulted in virtually no wiggle room; that sucker is in there TIGHT. The HP dv2700t battery (12-cell) in comparison, was loose all over the place (granted, the HP battery was significantly heavier). The reports of other users having significant battery wiggle may possibly be on a notebook-to-notebook basis, I'm assuming.

Finally turning the computer on, it takes awhile to run through the first-time power-on (didn't exactly keep track of time, ended up doing some other chores while the T400 was loading), but after everything settled into Vista Home Basic, everything ran and loaded smoothly.

The LED screen is bright, as others have said, but I don't see it as being as bright as people claim it to be, although it is more than bright enough to render the ThinkLight completely, utterly useless. Using it with max brightness (from the Lenovo controls) and the default 100 brightness value through ATI Catalyst, the screen is just slightly brighter than the HP dv2700t at full HP control brightness and default software brightness. The quality of the screen however is leaps and bounds above the dv2700t, though to be honest, I am still disappointed, as the T400 still uses a TN panel. Compared side by side (pictures on bottom) to my S-IPS desktop HP 2035 LCD monitor, there is no comparison; on the T400 the reds look washed out, contrast is lower, as evidenced by almost an entire layer of shading disappearing from her front-face image. This is a bit difficult to capture with a camera, but it gets the point across. How I wish for the days of T500 with 1680x1080 S/H-IPS LED....

One of the best aspects that I find about the T400 is that this notebook runs quiet and VERY COOL. As in, I was using it on my lap the entire time and hardly felt the increase in warmth (though to be fair I haven't tried utilizing any heavy CPU-loading or 3D rendering yet, but I was using the discrete card the whole time). The dv2700t in contrast would probably have rendered me sterile by now.

I haven't tested the built-in webcam, but I did peel the plastic covering off. I might possibly update this review later if I actually end up even using the webcam.

So to summarize:
Pros:
-Great LED screen, for a TN panel
-Great exterior build quality
-No battery wiggle; may be individual case
-Runs very quietly and cool

Cons:
-Significant amount of keyboard and palm rest flex
-ThinkLight useless

p.s. What is that little piece of plastic from the battery compartment for? And is it safe to pull the arrow-signed sheet out from there?

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Why didn't you get more ram. 1GB???

 

Oh the 4Gb upgrade on Lenovo's site was a lot more expensive than just buying it from 3rd party; I have some 2x2Gb Crucial DDR3 RAM coming in tomorrow that I'm going to insert, and whenever Seagate rolls out their single-platter 250Gb Momentus 7200.4, I'm putting one of those in as well.

So anyone know what that small piece of white plastic is for behind the batter compartment? And if that pull-down arrow sheet can be yanked off?

 

Great mini review! How bad the flex on palm rest?

 

Where to learn about hdd different platter the better?

 

Thanks for the informative review and especially the pictures. Is the TN screen that you have a matte or glossy screen? It actually doesn't look too bad and it sounds like overall you are satisified with your LED screen.

I have a T61 that I puchased almost a year ago when LED's weren't yet widely available or available at all on mainstream laptops. Here is a link that you may or may not have seen yet regarding the keyboard flex that others are apparently experiencing. The replacement keyboard that is noted in the link is the exact keyboard that came with my T61. I have to say it's one of the things that I like best about my laptop. It's too bad Lenovo made this change and hopefully they will change back and drop the flexy keyboard or perhaps offer a choice to the consumer.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=313091

 

Ah yes that's what I did when I bought a d630 from dell. I just got the cheapest amount of ram and ordered more from another place.

 

Hi zerosource, unfortunately there's no comprehensive site that tells you how many platters are on which specific harddrives; it is through a lot of Googling that I was informed of Seagate releasing their new Momentus 7200.4 line, first as 500Gb (two platters) in mid December, and supposedly the single platter 250Gb shortly after. I'm aiming for the single platter for lower heat (less heads on the HD) and lower power consumption (1 platter spinning vs 2).

thinkpad99, the TN screen on the T400 is matte; I don't think they make T400s with glossy screens, although some people have adjusted it to glossy through 3rd party. I personally prefer the lower glare of matte screens. And yes, the LED LCD, for a TN panel, is quite good, though having used S-IPS for years, it's just hard to adjust to lower color saturation. And thanks for the link on the keyboard flex! I'm definitely going to have to check up on that.

 

@achaye: Thanks for your review

Judging from the pictures you've post, It seems that the color of the T400's screen is not as good as that of the nearby desktop's screen. I find it more faded and therefore less true.

To be honest, this is exactly the same with my T400's LED screen. Although it's very bright, it does not totally satisfy me because of its pale tint.

 

Thanks for the answer. I'm thinking of getting T400 and buy 500gb later. How will you rate the T400 out of 10?

 

The white tab on the battery is for the SIM card

 

achaye: did you config Integrated Mobile Broadband?

thanks.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your comments. I, too, truly wish TN notebook panels would die already.

 

zerosource, I'd rate the T400 that I received an 8/10, points off for the significant keyboard flex, useless ThinkLight, and to some extent, a lack of better (S-IPS) panel, even if 99% of all notebook makers use exclusively TN panels. It is precisely because we've had older T60 and prior models with superior screens before, that this becomes a relevant issue.

The configuration in my machine did not include Integrated Mobile Broadband, though the slot is there for upgradeability.

 

The T400 keyboard shows more flex than the solid T61 keyboard. If you are a heavy typer, then you could replace it with a T61 keyboard. Let's hope that Lenovo reverts to the T61 style keyboard in its next generation. If the keyboard gets worse than the T400, there will be mutiny!

There is not much flex with the palm rests on the T400. I noticed that the T400 has much springier rubber feet than the T61. Perhaps that is why people think there is a lot of flex on the palm rest.

The T400 LED screen is decent for TN panel. Notebook screen are generally mediocre in brightness and picture quality. I am spoiled using high brightness, high contrast, colorful, and accurate IPS desktop monitors. Notebook screens (even from Apple) do not impress me.

The ThinkLight is useful in certain situations. If you are on battery at night with no lights (like on an airplane), the ThinkLight comes in handy. Otherwise, it is not that useful.

 

Thanks for clarification.

 

thanks for answer.

 

It has been just a few days short of one month since I received my T400, and I must say the lack of any glaring issues is a welcome sign of hopefully lasting durability.

The keyboard flex that I wrote about, well, that was about the biggest problem with the T400 (and I guess I'll inject some obligatory disappointment here again with the lack of IPS panels in the ENTIRE NOTEBOOK MARKET sans tablets), but having contacted customer support, and sniffing around the Lenovo forums, I could honestly say that the quality of their support is comfortably reassuring, to say the least.

Lenovo is offering people whom are dissatisfied with their flexy keyboards a replacement to the older T61 models, which supposedly are sturdier.

http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/...&view=by_date_ascending&message.id=3069#M3069

From the responses of those that have received theirs and installed it, it seems the vast majority are content (hopefully not due to the placebo of receiving great customer support and with such short turnaround time). I've contact Lenovo and they've confirmed my request and are processing a replacement keyboard to be shipped. I will update once I receive, install, and have used the keyboard a few days.

ADDENDUM: I forgot to mention that the bloatware, though not completely intolerable, is quite an annoyance; the HD light keeps flashing long after booting into Vista, even with superfetch, indexing, and virtual memory disabled. Once I figure out what harddrive to upgrade to from my stock 80gb drive, I'm planning to do a clean Vista x64 Business install, and add probably only the power management thing from Lenovo, canning everything else.

 

It's good to hear that you've had no glaring issues with your purchase. That's definitely reassuring, especially in a time when the general consensus seems to be that Lenovo is cutting too many corners and tarnishing the Thinkpad brand a bit.

 

Just though I’d chime in to say I am one of those who recently received a replacement keyboard and the springiness, from everywhere, is COMPLETELY gone and I am, actually, typing more efficiently now. It’s pretty amazing to see what a difference the springiness of one or two millimeters can make. Lenovo actually shipped the replacement keyboard to me overnight and I am quite pleased now.

 

Hi BinkNR,

What road did you travel to get your replacement keyboard? Was it really as simple as calling Lenovo and asking for one?

 

Just posted a message on Lenovo’s official forum and they took care of everything from there. The URL for this is in Achaye’s recent post in this thread—and I think the same URL is in a few other places in this board as well.

 

Thanks. Oh, you have to be under warranty, no?

 

Don’t know/perhaps. All I basically did was give them my serial number and they took care of everything—no warranty questions asked.

 

I hear you. Thanks again.

 

Good mini-review. I agree with most of your impressions.

Two quick comments:

On the palmrest flex: it is present on some machines. My T400 definitely has some flex, another one I used clearly didn't. The springy supports are another issue, the laptop made a weird vibrating noise against my notebook pad when I was typing on my bed, I later figured out it was the supports.

On the screen: I find the screen to perform better at 85% brightness than at a full Benjamin. But, as has been noted previously in these forums, I'm not an imaging guru, but I love this screen compared to other screens I've used.

 

My free keyboard replacement arrived last Friday, so I've had the weekend and a few days to play around with it, and I must say, I am wholly satisfied with the replacement. When I took out my stock keyboard and compared it with the replacement keyboard (which was the old T60 model), it looked exactly like the comparison made by the Notebookreview review of the T400 keyboard; the stock one was littered with wholes to reduce weight, and the older T60 model was one solid chunk of metal with a few holes for the drain.

All the flex that was exhibited in the stock keyboard is gone; the replacement is one badass keyboard. I highly recommend those who receive the flexy keyboard (it is very, VERY obvious if you receive a flexy keyboard by just pressing down on some keys) to contact Lenovo about a replacement.