T400s officially announced.

NotebookReview Review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5097

Impressions: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/23/lenovo-thinkpad-t400s-hands-on-and-impressions/



The Best of Both Worlds: Lenovo Combines Thin and Light With Powerful Performance in Latest ThinkPad Laptop

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – June 23, 2009: Lenovo today announced the ThinkPad T400s laptop, created to give business users a thin and light yet powerful, feature-packed PC.

Lenovo's designers sweat every detail, and the new laptop includes a series of significant enhancements invented to make the laptop more intuitive and easier to use, leading to an improved overall computing experience.

Designed for Thin and Light
Inspired by Lenovo's thinnest and lightest full-function laptop, the featherweight ThinkPad X300, Lenovo engineered its latest laptop, the ThinkPad T400s, to be super-slim at just 0.83 inches thin1 and ultra-light starting under four pounds2. The laptop achieves its skinny frame thanks to the thin 14.1-inch LED screen, solid state drive storage and the second generation Top Cover Roll Cage, which Lenovo first introduced in the ThinkPad X300 laptop. The roll cage's monocoque carbon reinforced fiber, also used in bicycle frames and airplanes, helps keep the laptop extremely light yet surprisingly sturdy. With this design the laptop weighs nearly 20 percent less than its ThinkPad T400 predecessor, also making it much thinner and lighter than the Dell E6400 and HP 6930P laptops.

"We've created products like our ThinkPad T400s laptop to bring thin and light computing to mainstream corporate users," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, ThinkPad, Lenovo. "We've applied thoughtful design in balancing the need for greater portability with strong performance and usability."

Loaded for Performance
The ThinkPad T Series is comprised of Lenovo's most powerful and performance-heavy laptops. The ThinkPad T400s laptop allows users to enjoy the best of both worlds – thin and light mobility without sacrificing the powerful performance they need.

The laptop comes with:

• Choices of Intel® 2.53 GHz Core™2Duo processors (standard voltage) and graphics
• Choices of solid state drive storage up to 128 GB or 250 GB hard drive storage
• 9.5 mm slim DVD burner or Blu-Ray player
• Ethernet, WiFi and optional WiMAX3, WWAN,3 Bluetooth and ultrawideband connectivity
• 34mm Express Card slot or 5-in-1 multimedia card reader
• Support for Lenovo's ConstantConnect and Protect technology that allows users to maximize integration of their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop
• Nearly six hours of battery life
• Supports up to two monitors via a Display Port and VGA connector
• Meets the Energy Star 5.0 criteria for energy efficiency
• Built-in USB/eSATA port

Lenovo is also introducing three new options for ThinkPad T400s laptop users who want to expand their work space by connecting to other peripherals such as mice and keyboards, printers and monitors. The ThinkPad Port Replicator Series 3, ThinkPad Mini-Dock Series 3 and ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus 3 feature new slim and sleek footprints, provide one-step "rip and go" docking and include a range of multi-monitor support while meeting a variety of needs including support for USB, Display Port and eSATA.

Design Matters
Users spend a lot of time on their keyboards, and a comfortable, easy to use keyboard plays a big role in their overall satisfaction with their PC. Knowing this, Lenovo spends a lot of time perfecting the design of its keyboard. Lenovo found the average user hits the Delete and the Escape key 700 times each a week. To help improve the typing experience, Lenovo made these buttons larger. With many people eating lunch at their desks, Lenovo tightened up the spaces between the keys to help avoid crumbs that would otherwise fall below the keyboard. Improvements were also made to the touchpad in order to help keep the laptop thin. The new touchpad lays flush with the palm rest and has a new, textured feel that allows users to feel the touchpad's location without looking down. And with multitouch technology on the touchpad, users can easily scroll, pinch and zoom through documents. Lenovo designer, David Hill, discusses many of these improvements in a video on his blog.

Because more people are using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for communicating at the office, at home or on the road, Lenovo optimized its latest laptop to make VOIP calls simple. There are three main ingredients for a high quality VOIP experience – the quality of the video, the quality of the audio and the quality of the network connection. For a great VOIP experience, Lenovo equipped the laptop with a two megapixel camera for better quality images and to help in low lighting conditions. Lenovo also pumped up the speaker volume more than two times greater than audio levels on the ThinkPad T400 laptop and added a convenient toggle switch at the top of the keyboard to increase and decrease volume. A similar feature can be found on the steering wheel of sports cars. Finally, Lenovo's range of connectivity options give uses flexibility in how they want to connect online.

The constant clicking of keys can be distracting when on a conference call, so Lenovo added dual digital microphones. This helps reduce ambient noise and improve speaker clarity. So users know whether they are on or off mute, Lenovo added separate speaker and mute buttons with LED lights to indicate which button is on. For an even faster VOIP experience, users can activate VOIP applications using the HotKey combination of the Function and F6 keys.

For even more convenience, Lenovo added the ability to power on the laptop with just the swipe of a finger on the fingerprint reader. And an always-on USB port keeps MP3 players, cameras and other peripherals charged when the laptop is in standby or hibernate mode.

Pricing and Availability4
The ThinkPad T400s laptop is available beginning immediately through Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com. Models start at approximately $1,599. The ThinkPad Port Replicator Series 3, Mini Dock Series 3 and Mini Dock Plus Series 3 will be available immediately and start at $149, $199 and $229, respectively.

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building exceptionally engineered personal computers. Lenovo's business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group's acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

1At thinnest point.

2With 6 cell battery.

3WWAN/WiMAX Service Providers: Requires separate agreement with select third party service provider, and is subject to credit approval and applicable service agreement/terms, rate plan and coverage maps of the provider. Service is available in select metropolitan markets, not available in all areas. Service provider, not Lenovo, is solely responsible for service. Lenovo customers may be contacted after purchase to activate service. Special credit and tenure restrictions and additional charges may apply to international roaming. A network connection, third-party software, additional hardware, and/or subscription to a third-party service may be required for certain solutions/applications. Additional restrictions apply.

4Prices do not include tax or shipping and are subject to change without notice and is tied to specific terms and conditions. Reseller prices may vary. Price does not include all advertised features. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/23/lenovo-intros-well-connected-0-83-inch-thick-thinkpad-t400s/

 

If it had even a weak discrete graphics adapter (e.g., Geforce 9400) as an option, I'd be intrigued.

 

Looking on the website right now, does not seem to be "immediately available"

 

yeh i looked on the site and its not available to order.

 

you can remove the DVD drive and put a 3-cell in there.

(I think the batteries sticking out the back on out their way out)

 

very excited. cant wait for version 3 when arrandale is released

 

yeah im pretty sure the op made this up since its not available

 

officially announced and available are two different things.

and yes i know we've known about it but this is lenovos official PR.

 

Yeah, he said this too "The ThinkPad T400s laptop is available beginning immediately through Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com" - He made this post up.

 

ok well its not on the site yet, give it time. this is the official PR statement.

 

Indeed. You said announced anyways.

 

I see it on the CPP site.

$1,279
SP9400
2GB
120GB (64GB SSD upgrade is only $32)
14.1+ WXGA LED
X4500
6-cell

Ships within 9 days.

It dropped the T400s' price by about $20-30 dollars.

 

also configurable on lenovo.com

 

The T400s is so much more refined looking. The green light on the power key looks good and not overly flashy.

 

Any word on prices in europe so far?

 

9 days, reasonable shipping I suppose.

 

I am curious about how the screen compares to the X200s...

 

Its officially available on Lenovo site now!!!

... a little pricey. My config with 15% discount, total: $1,800.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor SP9600 (2.53GHz, 6MB L2, 1066MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows XP Pro (I want to skip Vista, from XP to Win7)
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight
Intel GMA 4500MHD
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
128 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
6 cell Li-Ion Battery
Intel WiFi Link 5300
Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable

 

I like my X200s, but I am pretty sure that this cannot be worse...
In 'the worst LED screen' discipline the bar seems to be set very high by X200s' engineers/bean counters :wink:

 

Good looking machine. A bit too much for me though, so in hindsight I still made a good decision with the T500. Also, the lack of discrete graphics is a bit of a bummer.

 

The above config costs $1,650 on the CPP web site.

Here's the config I'm considering right now for $1,518 without added discounts:
SP9400
Vista Bus 64
WXGA+ LED
4500MHD
2GB DDR3 (1 SODIMM) - I'll add an OCZ 2GB DDR3 stick for $30 off newegg
Ultranav + FP
128GB SSD
DVD burner
Media card reader
6 cell battery
Bluetooth
WiFi Link 5300

 

I have to disagree. Try the color profile I posted a while back, it makes a day and night difference for me. It goes from being a really crappy display to something really nice (though the viewing angles remain sub-par).

From the review on this site I would guess that the T400s display is probably better though.

 

Nice notebook, but far too expensive for me, either way, I got my tracking # for my T400!

 

spec wise i think its only about 15% costly than a comparable T400.

some may think its costly because you cant configure options with weaker CPUs.

 

I'm calculating a difference of closer to 40% higher than the T400. That's with the T400 as closely as possible to the specs of the T400s. The T400 totals $1117 and the T400s is $1599.

 

Do you mean that profile? I applied it once I got the lappy - see the confirmation here :wink:
Besides the poor viewing angles, "the light leakage/backlit bleed" is really annoying for me - a little perfectionist...

 

Is this config from Lenovo or CPP? Because I wasn't aware of any added discounts with anybody else beside Lenovo. My problem is that I need a warranty greater than 1 year. Does anybody know if I can buy T400s from CPP or any other site and than extend my warranty through Lenovo? I buy my laptops new directly from IBM/Lenovo every 3 years, and if anything I learned (600x, T23, T42, T60) - 3 year warranty is a must, and Lenovo/Thinkpad service is bar NONE!!!

 

yeh i used post #21 above for comparison and compared to what i payed for my T400.

i payed around $1400 with tax. and the configs in post #21 are roughly 15% more.

i guess my config isnt a close comparison hardware wise considering i have switchable graphics compared to the integrated on the T400s, but the T400s is also much lighter and thinner compared to the T400 so that negates any hardware advantage in my T400.

 

I've noticed that Lenovo's processor upgrades are over-priced (compared to most others). On a regular T400, they charge $70 to upgrade from a P8400 to P8600, but Intel charges the same for both of the those models (and Dell offers the P8600 as a no-cost option)! On the U.S.-spec T400s, it costs $125 to upgrade from the SP9400 to the SP9600, but the cost difference is only $32.

 

Engadget impressions here:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/23/lenovo-intros-well-connected-0-83-inch-thick-thinkpad-t400s/

"A new texturized multitouch trackpad that's one of the best we've ever used. Seriously. In contrast to the hyper-smooth glass pads found on the MacBook Pro, the T400s's pad is covered in tiny nubs, which feel amazing under your fingers and make gestures like pinch-to-zoom feel more precise, even if they actually contribute nothing. It's pretty great -- we wish all trackpads were like this."

Heres a comparison shot of the difference in thickness between the models:



And more images:

 

well, i've been mulling it over, and i think i've decided that the t400s is no good for me
mostly on the basis of price

and it is all because of that damn 1.8" hard drive

i love most of what i've seen about the t400s - it has fantastic size and weight - and i think it LOOKS incredible, very clean, very THINKPAD

i like the screen is led wxga+ - i actually like the keyboard changes and the new touchpad

i like the built-in 6-cell and the new ports

however, the t400s already costs a lot more than the t400
and, i'll also have to buy a $300 SSD, an ultra-bay caddy, and a large capacity 2.5" HDD JUST to get the t400s useable
$500 extra, minimum

i guess i just can't justify that, as great as the rest of the laptop is

unfortunately, the t400 looks kinda junky now compared to the fit and finish of the t400s, so i may have to go check out other brands

 

other brands?

the T400 is still much much better than offerings from other brands.

 

t400 does not offer an led wxga+ option

 

so you'll choose some crappy laptop cause you cant settle for wxga led?

and they did offer the option, but clearly there are supply issues.

 

no, i'd never settle for a crappy laptop
but i'm now open to looking at other competitive options
t400 is pretty dated compared to lenovo's latest

 

i guess i should check though, as i cannot find out on lenovo's site
anyone know how much this t400s ultrabay hard drive caddy is priced at?

 

Caddy cost $49.95. You can pick up 320GB 7200rpm 2.5" drive for about $60 or less. So for a little over $100 you get yourself fast 2nd hdd. Also, keep in mind Lenovo's upgrades to 128GB SSD high quality drive for $240 is very generous considering you can't get anything good (I'm talking about reputable brand name) in 1.8" for under $300.

Anyway, just placed my order. Estimated arrival July 7th. I actually called Lenovo sales rep directly since they are offering 20% discount over the phone. Worked out config to be about $1700 (not including taxes or ultrabay):

P9600, 4GB DDR3, 128GB SSD, 5-1 media card, Intel wifi 5300, video camera, 8xDVDR DL.

Will keep you guys updated as soon as I get it.

 

the 2.5" drive i need is $90
so $50 for the caddy
would just throw away the drive that lenovo sends
for a decent boot/app ssd, have to get intel x25 (why couldn't lenovo just use this brand?) - they have an 80GB for $320
reviews say the samsung ssds stutter a bit and aren't good for boot/app drives - great for storage though!

so there's $460 - plus shipping, you'd be right at $500

all this on top of an already-almost $2000 laptop just to get it useable

i just don't think i can stomach that

 

why do you need to spend $320 for 80GB when you can get 128GB for $240 from Lenovo? As an alternative, you don't have to upgrade to SSD drive and just stay with a default 120GB 5400RPM (1.8"). Than all you have to do is spend $140 to add 2nd hdd (caddy plus hdd). In your case, this would be the most cost efficient solution.

 

WXGA+ LED on T400 is still offered, you just have to order through educational/state reps.

 

the $240GB ssd offered by lenovo is a poor choice for a boot/app drive
this has been shown in multiple reviews of those samsung drives

a 1.8" 5400 RPM drive also is not acceptable for a boot/app drive

if 2.5" was an option, there would be tons of cost-effective choices for a boot/app drive, but 1.8" currently limits the choice to the intel x25 drives

 

i qualify for neither of those programs

 

I'm still wondering if that weird port 'headset' port you can use standard headphones jack on it, or if it requires some sort of adapter, in any review it comments regarding it.

 

Plenty of 1.8" Samsung 90/70, 100/80 on ebay. There's even latest 220/120 units on ebay.de . PQI also make a 1.8" SSD, but uses jmicron controller.

 

supposedly, the samsung drives aren't the greatest for boot/apps

 

Does anyone know of a brick and mortar store where you can get a hands on with the T400s? I believe Lenovo has a 15% restocking fee if you return a ThinkPad for any reason other than it being defective. I'd like to try out the new touchpad in person.

 

Its all "supposedly". Do you have any links to a review where they formatted two different SSD drives, optimized (very important!!!) OS for best performance, and than ran the test on the same machine? I personally haven't seen any apple-to-apple comparison.

 

Actually Tom's Hardware has made very thorough comparison of the latest Samsung vs others, and albeit being a good performer, Intel X25-M and X25-E still topped all performance charts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/256gb-samsung-ssd,2265.html

How do you "optimize" OS performance for SSD?

Btw... even though Sammy has good sequential r/w results, the IOPS are what really matter. Read what Linus Torvalds has written about this topic. His article is a year old, but the facts are still the same.

http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2008/10/so-i-got-one-of-new-intel-ssds.html

 

Does the T400s also use standard 1.8" SATA drives, I'm confused with first 2 options:

 

For those of us (me included) who don't want to pay the going rate on the T400s, remember that it's a NEW product! The X200s was very pricey for several months, costing only a few hundred dollars less than the X301! The price is now about $500 lower than when it was a brand new model.

The T400s will cost less at some point in the not-too-distant future. And I'll be waiting to pounce!