T410s Switchable Graphics Battery Life?

Has anyone received their T410s with Switchable Graphics and tested the battery life?

And is there any information on if it is Optimus or something that NVIDIA did specificially for Lenovo with the NVS card?

 

My switchable T410s is en route and should be to me by Friday or so. Once I receive it I'd be happy to run any tests you need and answer any questions you might have. I regret that I cannot help you until that time

 

Nice! I'm looking forward to your review too mrpeaches. How much did you pay for your configuration?

 

I'm curious if there is a way to manually switch between integrated and dedicated graphics in the bios.

 

I jumped on the shareholder sale they had a couple weeks back. Tacked on some upgraded wireless, 4gb RAM, ultrabay battery, 2 yr warranty and the high end dock for just under $1800 before taxes. I also bought a 160 gb intel X-18 ssd and plan on selling the original samsung 128gb ssd on ebay.

As there has been seemingly a dearth of reviews of this model (in particular the discrete graphics version) I will post up some impressions of the device as soon as I get it. I can run just about any test anyone would be interested in. Also I have a x61 so I can take any comparison photographs that anyone would like. I'm open to suggestions.

 

I am really interested in how the switchable graphics is implemented, because Lenovo has been mute on it.

 

This Japanese user reports 2.5 hours only with the standard 6 cell while browsing through the internet and using twitter. With the 6 cell + 3 cell ultrabay battery, the software estimated 4.5 hours but the reviewer never completed running that long. The link is originally in Japanese so you would need to find a translator,

ThinkPad T410s????????????? | ????????????????

Click on the "Thinkpad" link instead of T410s.

 

Google Translate

i don't know which is easier to read, the Japanese or the Google translation

 

I am currently typing this on my T410s w/ switchable graphics. I recieved the computer this morning (shipped on Friday). I ordered the ultrabay battery but have yet to get through one full battery cycle, I will post up my results once I have them

 

How is the graphics switching handled? Is it Nvidia Optimus?

 

is it possible to choose graphics card in the bios?

 

Switching is handled via the power manager utility. You can choose if you want discrete or integrated for a given power plan. It takes about 2 or 3 seconds to switch between the video cards, no need to log out or anything.

 

How's the battery life like if you don't mind my asking? Thanks a lot in advance!

 

Like all computers, this is factor of many variables. I will say that with the power plan set to max battery life, the ultrabay battery in, and the screen at half brightness, I can surf the internet for close to 5 hours. This is on the max battery life setting which runs on the integrated graphics.

I don't ever use the discrete graphics chip while unplugged, so I can't really give you a fair assessment of its battery life. I imagine if you try to game on battery you'll get about an hour before it runs down.

 

Wish they'd improve on battery life, as compared to the T410.

 

mrpeaches

looking forward to your further comments on the unit. If so inclined, please give us your thoughts on the following screen/graphic card issues:

Quality of the screen: there has been a lot of bashing of this screen on user forums. What are your thoughts as to usability for normal day to day tasks?

NVIDIA NVS Switchable Graphics: Can you describe the differences when using one over the other in terms of clarity of screen image, loading of images, etc.? Would a user notice any difference at all when doing mundane tasks such as web browsing or microsoft office applications?

Thanks much
silvercell

 

No problem. The quality of the screen has been a very contentious issue. It all depends on what you use the laptop for. This is NOT a good enough screen for heavy, professional visual media work. The contrast and colors aren't near as good as a macbook pro or nice vaio. That being said, it is very clear and exceedingly bright. At full brightness it can be almost painful to look at in a dimly lit room.

Personally, I have zero problems with the screen. Would I like a higher quality screen? Sure. But is the screen preventing me from doing work or enjoying movies and games? Not at all. Many people are overly critical of things, and I think that this falls into that category. Viewing angles are also decent. All in all, it's a very average screen with exceptionally bright backlighting. You will have to decide if this will be a problem for you. I think the screen works just fine.

Honestly, the switchable graphics makes very little difference in day to day use. While I'm glad that I got it for the times when I feel like firing up Team Fortress 2 or similar shooting game, the truth is that my discrete card doesn't get a ton of use. Integrated graphics are much improved for the arrendale chips, and the intel HD graphics will smothly run 1080p video, accelerate flash with the 10.1 beta, and run older less demanding 3d games (simcity 4, civ 4, counterstrike source) just fine. The discrete chip makes no difference in any other conditions such as office work, etc. Honestly, unless I am docked and playing a first person shooter, I leave the discrete chip off. The discrete chip does run significantly hotter that the intel graphics, and this combined with the thin construction of the t410s will mean that trying to game on your lap will get toasty quickly.

Overall, this machine is fantastic. Like I said, the screen is perfectly usable, but a lot of people like to compare an old t60p flexview screen to the new ones and cry foul. Unfortunately, the days of those screens are gone, but it's not stopping anyone from have a good time with the laptop. I was concerned too when I saw all of the denigrating comments leavied at the t410s screen, but I'm glad I bought it anyways. My only caveat is that if you are doing professional visual design work, I would get a 15in macbook pro with its wonderful screen and amazing touchpad.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

Thanks for your informative post mrpeaches, that's exactly my thoughts on the screens on this generation Thinkpads.
One quick question for you. Does your T410s make any high-pitched noise?
Mine has it everytime when the harddrive is accessed, but I'm sure the sound is not from harddrive but rather, say wireless card. This is actually a common problem for T61/T61p, but it's just so bad that I got them on my T410s again.

 

I just returned a new T400s. It was a great price but in the end there were several factors that lead to the return. One of them was the Intel graphics chipset in the T400s. There was pretty noticable degraded performance on sites with heavy Flash.

If I were going to buy another 14" machine, there's no doubt I would opt for a better GPU for that reason alone.

How big of an improvement is there from the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD to the Intel HD Graphics? I don't know but the 4500MHD is pretty low end.

 

The new intel graphics are a little under 50% faster than the older generation generally. One important difference is the the t400s ran a lower voltage core 2 duo while the t410s runs a full fledged i5 520m.

Also, please note that the new flash 10.1 beta has hardware flash acceleration. This should help to alleviate any concerns you have about flash performance on the new t410s. I have not been able to discern a difference between the nvidia and the intel graphics chip when it comes to flash use.