T400s Personal Review

Put my ordered in for a T400s on Sept 17th and recieved on the 22nd (Canada).

Shipping + Customer Server: A++
I ordered online, then figured i want the 128GB SSD. Called them up to redo the order, but the agent forgot the 5in1 drive, call them in again, and redid the order. Took sometime, but no hassle.

Specification / Upgrades:
SP9400 Processor
4GB of ram (2GB which i bought from CDW.ca)
5in1 reader
Bluetooth
128GB SSD
Intel 5300 Wifi
Running Windows 7 Ultimate

My Background (I added this so you know from what perspective I am coming at):
I am IT Leader / Manager at a company of 400 or so. In the last 2 years, I have been replacing a lot of notebooks from various vendors. For the reason to see which is truely the best. Have worked with Dell XPS 1330, Sony TT, Lenovo T400/T500, Macbook, Macbook Pro (Design departments) HP Business Series and Elite Series. I mean, different departments have different needs. And I bought this T400s for myself, personal use.

WHY T400s?
Many people seeks performance, fastest performance for the money that they have but never fully understood what they use it for. Do you need a 3GHZ Quad core with 8 gbs of ram to browse the net? even if it fits your budget? That computer will most likely generates enough heat to burn your lap.

T400s is not about the fastest, but the best that can be fit in this form factor. This laptop is thin, light, suprisingly light for it's size. Runs brilliantly cool, in fact all Lenovo to date runs the coolest. Macbook Pro at 2 hours of work, you can barely touch the keyboard.

Construction is top notch, everything fits the way it should. Holding it with one hand creates no squeak on the chassis (Very important when it comes to travelling and meetings, you will be suprise how many times you hold your laptop with 1 hand while shaking your business partner with another).

Nice keyboard. thats all to say to that.. Just works.

Compare it to our sony TT, the sony TT looks like a toy; very flimsy.

Size is awesome, big screen, light weight. Can't complain.

I play a little of world of warcraft during my break. It works at lowest setting, thats all to it.

My goal: To find the laptop that does all i want it to do, and still be able to carry it around without the feeling of having a woman behind my back. Accomplished.

Its a tough choice for my next vacation now, company of a lady or T400s =)

 

I'm probably one of these people Currently i'm looking at the T400 but like you said I really probably don't need a lot of power...and yet i'm looking to spend a lot of money for specs I don't need!

*goes off to look at the T400s*

 

To me, getting a T400 with an intel X25-M SSD looks like a lot better value than the T400s. Just my opinion.

No denying it though, the T400s is one sexy mofo.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I, too, have had many business-class notebooks and settled on a T400 (T400s didn’t exist at the time) for myself as well—and am quite pleased (especially with my T61 keyboard). I also have to say this notebook is exceptionally cool and quiet—and I think this is one of my favorite features—and hopefully Lenovo never mucks this up (that’ll be the last straw) like they did with the keyboards.

As for your vacation plans, I understand the geek part, but you’ll be much better off with a lady. If you have to bring the T400s along, keep it away from the bed!

 

The T400 is great also.. i am using a T500 at work... all beautiful laptops.
but damn, this T400s was too sexy to pass for $1717 taxed CDN.

 

If your notebook follows you once in a while, you will appreciate the T400s thinness and lightweight.

Just don't ever come in contact with a T400s, the sexiness is hard to reject.

 

xg3, I'm also looking to purchase a T400s but Lenovo canada rarely has any discount promotions for this model. Was wondering if you could share the promo code you used to get the discount - Thanks in advance.

 

CAPREDFLAGDEALS is the coupon but i believe it is gone now.. it was 30% off any orders over $1499.

Check redflagdeals

 

Well most of the times they don't mention in their site that the 25% off deals or coupons include T400s as well. I got mine CAD 1380 (before tax) or CAD 1557 after tax. Its not bad for T400s considering it is a new model.
I was initially bit worried about the battery life as different reviews offered view. I get around 4.30 to 5 hrs depending on the usage with wireless on. Considering I have HDD not SSD it is not bad (compared to T400).

 

I agree on where you said the VAIO TT felt like a toy next to a Thinkpad. Tempted to buy a VAIO Z series but decided not to cause it is flimsy, although the specs are very good.

Are you happy with the TN LCD?

and do you hear any buzzing (piezoelectric) noise that have been mentioned by quite a few owners?

Is the SP9400 processor blazing fast?

I am hesitant to jump in on the T400s because of these two.

 

I'd pick the company

 

Yes, this TN LCD is better than the T400 or T500 at least... very very bright. Decent viewing angle. Not going to be a PVA or IPS quality, but i won't complain.

Honestly, i will say that nearly 30% of the laptop at my workplace has the buzzing noise. My T400s doesn't though.

The processor is fast enough.. for what i do, browsing the web, system testing, occasional gaming, chatting, emails, documents.

A side note, the illusion of speed from a computer is not from the CPU, but from the hard drive. Get the SSD well worth the money. I got the new revision Samsung one (supposely faster), got lucky i guess.

 

So you said you bought it with personal funds, but do you use it as a fulltime work notebook now? The company I work for will only spend a max of $800 on a laptop, but thankfully they're flexible and let me use something I buy for doing work. Plus I could never stick to the same laptop for more than a year, and no IT department is going to cater to that demand

Thanks for the feedback and personal views on the T400s, I agree it's a gorgeous laptop. Like others though, I say go with female company on a trip, so you can share the memories of course.

 

I would agree that the hard drive speed is a key factor in system performance, but it can be mitigated to some degree. Boot times are surely very fast, but if I put my machine into hibernation, it pops back on pretty quickly when I open it. There are some apps that open slowly like Photoshop or iTunes to name a couple, but most typical apps like FF or WMP still open up in short order. A 7200RPM drive doesn't hurt. The really fast drives are a no-go for me on the R60, but I can live with that in exchange for the best notebook screen ever.

 

Yes, this is a personal PC. I don't fully use this laptop at work, its there with me... what changed is I now leave my T400 at work and take the T400s with me. I setup the T400s to access the office network also, so its all good when emergency strikes.

 

Well at least by having a T400 at work by day you can really appreciate the slimmer and lighter feel of the t400s when work is over.

 

Is there actually a noticeable change between the T400 and T400s in thickness and weight?

 

Yes.. SIGNIFICANT.. worth every penny in my opinion

 

the t400s is significantly slimmer and lighter

 

How long to boot from the time you hit the power button till everything loads up? With my OCZ Vertex SSD on my Macbook Pro it takes about 27 seconds now.

 

from off... i swipe my fingerprint.. 31sec, about 5-6sec of bios.

 

Did you disable anything or is that with everything loading up? I hear 47 seconds for some and others in the low 20's

 

FWIW, from power on to a login screen (also included ~5 seconds for the BIOS) takes me ~25 seconds. This is without an SSD, my entire HD is encrypted and I’m running Windows 7.

Then again, I’m rarely booting—always sleeping/hibernating—so this isn’t really much of a big deal either.

 

nope didn't disable anything.. just default setting..
i usually don't mind boot up.. and like BinkNR, is always sleeping anyways.

 

How do you like your speaker quality for using Skype or some other VOIP? Is the sound quality also good on the other end? Sometimes users on the other end complain that sound quality is bad which could be due to cheap microphone parts..

 

From my experience, the built-in microphone on the T400s works exceptionally well with Skype. Previously, ony my Z61p, there was a lot of background noise with the built-in mic which made it unusable. On the T400s, it works great and doesn't capture sound coming from the speakers.