T440p first impressions

I personally dislike HDD activity lights, they drive me mad. But i respect that some people use and need them, to know when their system is working.

 

Using the Ultrabay for extra CUDA power (not necessarily for gaming, but perhaps for video editing or brute force) or other cool stuff would be awesome.

 

t seems to me the stereotypical "business" user, ie. spreadsheet+powerpoint crowd is now pretty well served by the T440/T440S. I went for the larger 440p as I need a durable and portable Swiss army knife. Requiring disassembly to swap bay components seems like a step in the wrong direction.

A lot of the potential functionality of the ultrabay concept is now well-served by external aftermarket components connected via USB so at the very least the ultrabay should address those functions not practical via USB such as battery, GPU and possibly a few others.

 

The downsides with the T440S are that you can't have the NVIDIA graphics and the CPU working at top speed without throttling. You can't use a docking station with NVIDIA graphics. For spreadsheets and powerpoint, then that isn't an issue, but there are many other laptops with Intel graphics for competition. There are very few other compact laptops with quad core CPUS, dedicated graphics, a decent screen. The thickness of a laptop means very little to me. I care about the weight and overall dimensions - can I open it up on a train or economy plane seat.

The nice thing about a peripheral in an ultrabay is that it is integrated into the case, with no extra leads and power supplies. With a DVD, hard disk or battery, its fairly simple to specify what they are going to do - getting power, or reading and writing data.

For an external graphics card, its a lot more complicated. You only want it for extra performance, and to get that performance, the programs need to ask for the processing, the graphics drivers need to know that they can shift the calculation onto the GPU. Laptop graphics drivers will typically have power saving features, so the standard NVIDIA drivers won't work, so there is more work for the laptop manufacturer to keep the drivers updated.

I heard from some guys working for a software company with applications which used GPUs for calculations. They had to reoptimise the settings in their code for new graphics cards, and new versions of the graphics drivers to get the extra performance. That is not going to happen for users of niche accessories for niche hardware.

By the time that you pay for the development of the hardware, and then testing the different (eg on battery, powered but on the screen, with a docking station, on battery after starting connected to a docking station), it would be cheaper to have faster graphics chips.

 

Yeah, GPU would be a complicated Ultrabay addition. But cool nonetheless if Lenovo engineered it somehow. I'd be happy to simply have an ultrabay battery option with the T440p. Lenovo has yet to make one for the Ultrabay IV and might never.

 

Damn I just bought a t440p a few days ago and now it looks like the w540 is coming out, which is the laptop I had been waiting for...

I really want that 3K screen and k2100 graphics card in a <5lb laptop.

 

I took my UltraBay IV optical drive out and looked at the connectors in the bay. Unfortunately Lenovo only gave it SATA and SATA-power connectors. There is no chance of a battery being made for it.

I seriously get over 10 hours of battery with the 9-cell, which barely sticks out, so I don't care too much. I wish the bay had a lever instead of requiring the hatch to be opened... But that said, the hatch is super easy to open, and I could swap drives in no time flat if my philips head is handy.

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10 hours? I'm looking forward to my investment in the 9 cell battery!
How much do you estimate it sticks out, exactly? The website only lists the normal depth of the computer (9.01") but doesn't say exactly how deep it is with the larger battery.

 

There's a picture a bit earlier on in the thread that answers your question.

Right here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/737159-t440p-first-impressions-11.html#post9451439

 

That's nothing, the X240 pulls over 20 hours with that same battery, thanks to ULV processors and a smaller display.

Which means if you guys can grab hold of a modded BIOS, you should be able to tweak your CPU's clocks and core activity to achieve around 12-14 hours. I did 5:30 on my measly 48w/h like a week ago. I could most likely do 7-8 on the 72w/h that i could upgrade to.

 

Thanks for the link; I somehow missed that picture.

And seeing as my current laptop is down to a 45 minute battery life, 10 hours is basically unfathomable.

 

Does anyone know what the status of the T440p is with windows 8.1? I know it ships with windows 8 but is 8.1 giving people problems if they attempt an upgrade?

 

Someone earlier had asked if the 9 cell battery and 440p would fit in that ultralight backpack.. I don't know yet... but the width of the slot is 9.5" at rest (not stretched or anything).. so I imagine the 9 cell would fit just fine in there... hmmm.... maybe I'll order that battery as a backup

I also couldn't imagine 10 hrs of battery... that's part of the reason I wanted this notebook... at the moment with my m6600 I can get about 2 hours of actual work out of it...

 

Well, what counts as actual work? Running the CPU and GPU at 100% load, using a bunch of bluetooth peripherals , screen brightness maxed and charging your tablet while you're at it?

 

For me real work involves running vs.net, sql server, a browser or two, compiling and debugging through stuff... sometimes running intellij along with those things (we have an optional java front end for one of our products that I've been working on lately).. so that sort of thing ... that 2 hour battery life is with my current m6600

 

A couple of things I forgot to mention about the 10+ hours I'm getting... First off, I'm using the Core i5-4300M CPU, nvidia card (but not actively using it during normal work), spinning HDD and FHD screen running at about 50% brightness or perhaps a couple notches under. I have not tried to optimize for battery life, so it can most probably be improved a lot. My work has consisted of lots of web use, like 20-30 tabs open, Word, Excel, Publisher. Nothing too strenuous, I suppose, so far...

I'm so pleased to be able to unplug in the morning and work without worrying about the juice running out. I don't take the power cord with me when having a day of meetings. Like my Galaxy Nexus, I just plug in at night, unplug in morning. But the phone usually needs a boost during the day, unlike the laptop.

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Hmm, there is a big difference in power consumption between the i3-4000 and the i7-4800...

 

I've been running 8.1 without any issues since receiving it November 11th. Lenovo just released another firmware update (1.17) that lists Windows 8.1 compatibility as it's primary enhancement.

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I noticed that the promotional material for the T440P on Lenovo's site regarding chassis construction seems to have been incorrectly copied and pasted from elsewhere, probably from the T440S marketing copy: "In addition, innovative roll-cage technology, a carbon fiber top and a light-weight magnesium bottom add extra strength and rigidity."

My understanding is that:
1.) There is no roll-cage in the T440P, at least not the same as there was in past T series.
2.) The top or display back is Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic NOT carbon fiber.
3.) The bottom chassis is Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic NOT magnesium.

I haven't found any really detailed info on the specific materials used in the T440P but there is some casual discussion of the generic class of materials in this Lenovo blog from 2011.

I assume the difference in materials from the T440S means they are doing some kind of balancing act between cost, weight and rigidity for the T440P. The above article explains a bit how since CFRP is a conductor they have to cut windows for the wireless antennas and use GFRP in those areas. This joining of materials is problematic because of the dissimilar characteristics of CFRP and GFRP and likely makes it a more expensive part. It would seem for the T440P they just said screw it and went with an all GFRP display back.

I could be wrong but I gather that the CFRP bottom chassis is probably acceptably rigid but both heavier than the T440S's cast magnesium chassis and cheaper to produce. I haven't found a whole lot of data on these materials as Lenovo seems to be pioneering their use in laptops and the specific formulations are not given. All other manufacturer's seem to be using ABS, aluminum, magnesium or occasionally, pure carbon fiber.

Any general thoughts on these materials? Is there much in the way of anecdotal user reports on their durability from past models that used these materials?

 

Getting the blues from finding this stuff out...

Mine still hasn't shipped, feelin' itchy.

 

I may wrong on this point. Some additional research suggests that CFRP should be both lighter and stiffer than magnesium but at the expense of a thicker cross section. They likely chose magnesium for the T440s as they were going for the thinnest laptop possible. In the T440P where width is not as great a concern CFRP is probably a superior material. I have no idea what production costs for cast magnesium vs CFRP are in 2013. That Lenovo blog article seemed to state that they have used different types of CFRP over the years.

 

Whatever the materials and design turns out to be it's clear to me that a big part of this T-Series total redesign was driven by the need to cut manufacturing cost in addition to weight. There's nothing wrong with cutting costs, and I'm impressed by the bang-for-buck the T440p represents when compared to HP and Dell laptops of similar spec, but I'm gonna be far less trusting of the longevity and toughness of the current generation T-Series.

I used to tell people that I bought these ugly black laptops in part because they were built like tanks. Not sure I'm gonna be saying that again any time soon, but time will tell I guess

 

There is no denying Lenny is trying to slim down and change some laptops to please a newer generation (which i'm 100% ok with), but imho they should have left at least one "classic" model.

However people who did not grow up with the old Thinkpads will probably never see why people liked the old ones over the new.

Anyways, i won't derail further, there is a thread on this.

 

Hello Lex_Michdenotebook,
Thank you for checking for me
Digital River does not respect the 36hrs for answering my mail...
Maybe I can ask you again... Do you get any news on your side ?

 

I haven't heard from them anymore. Today is my shipping day, so I hope to get a shipping confirmation later today. If I don't get one, I'll be giving them a call first thing this monday (they are of course closed for the weekend).

It's a damn long wait, I admit, but there's nothing we can do about it. So I try to forget I even ordered something... (it's not really working!)

 

I have the same shipping date but I have no more information that's the reasy why I would like to know about your situation. I sent a new mail (again) yesterday. Just because I'm annoying lol. No answer for now.

The shipping is from China, isn't it ? So, GMT+8, it's over for the 6th. Delay is not the only one problem. I don't know if in others countries you have a better following of your order. In France, "findmyorder" order tracking is just a joke.

 

The Chinese are being exploited, so with that 25 hour work day they have, I'm not worried that they're not building my laptop as quick as possible. Just try to forget you've bought it, so it'll make a better surprise when it arrives.

As soon as I have news of mine I'll post it here.

 

Ooo encouraging news about my shipping date, it's now 12/10.. so it's backed up by 2 days

 

Ordered yesterday, 12/5. Estimated shipping 12/31.

 

seems all of the machines are in the same batch. Mine is ordered 11/17, and its shipping date changed from 12/6 to 12/9 and 12/12, now 12/10.

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Lenovo assembles all of their laptops in China, so they usually arrive in monthly batches.

 

There are some ThinkPads assembled in the USA and Japan. The ThinkPads assembled in the NEC factories are for the Japanese market only, the ones in the Lenovo US factory only for the US market. Some X230 units were assembled in the US for example (they still make them: ThinkPad X230 Laptop - Assembled in the USA | Lenovo (US)). but I don´t know if the assemble the T440p yet in the USA.

 

Can't even upgrade the Thinkpad 'Murica Edition without DIY

 

I ordered a T430 in October for delivery to California. It shipped from Hong Kong.

 

Yes. As I said, they only have limited number of models assembled in the US, the X230 for example, or the TPT 2.

 

Anyone burned the recovery disk set? How many did it take on DVD?

 

They only give you the option for removable media (a memory card/flash drive) and it requires more than 8gb. I had to use a 16gb flash drive.

Edit: I'm speaking for the Windows 8 setup. Not sure if Lenovo offers DVD option in Windows 7.

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Is there a specific reason why you want to keep those recovery files? Isn't that stuff just riddled with bloatware and stuff you want to get rid of immediately? A fresh and clean install (in my case dual/triple boot Win7/Linux) works best and gets you the best experience in my opinion... Am I doing it wrong?

 

I'm planning on doing that when mine arrives, I'll just take out the original drive and save it while I get everything set up on ssd's and then use the original as a backup drive in an external enclosure...

 

I plan on removing the factory drive and simply keeping it safe for when I sell the machine. Meanwhile I'll do a clean install of Win8 on an SSD and add a nice 7K1000 drive for the fun stuff

 

I'm still waiting for Crucial to release a 240GB M.2 M500... All takes way too long...

 

but will lenovo ship the media you need to do a 'clean' install of WIN8 (if that is the OS ordered)?
I too am swapping HDDs and would like a fresh install, but not sure if it will be shipped with the OS install I need to do this.

 

I didn't think there was much bloatware. I wanted to check out all the Lenovo utilities before deciding to remove them or not. There's one or two I think I'll remove, but it's easy to procrastinate since nothing is getting in my face and annoying me. I think if I remember correctly, just Norton and Nitro PDF trials were included. Being a business class laptop, few unwanted programs come on it.

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Further reading suggests that burning the recovery disks requires 3 DVDs.

Also, the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the 440p describes the disks as #1 for the OS, #2 for the initially installed applications and drivers, and #3 for any additional apps or updates to whatever was on #2. This suggests that you can do a clean install by terminating the restore after disk #1.

I read elsewhere on one of the Windows help forums that someone did just that, accidentally, actually, and ended up with an install of Windows 7. He then had to feed it the drivers.

But this is good to know overall. Copy the driver and apps folders on C: drive that come on the new PC to a USB key, burn the recovery set, restore disk #1, and point the Windows install to the driver source. Install only the apps then that you want. I think that I might do it this way.

 

I believe they're already available, but as with most M.2 drives they're 80mm long and therefore too large for the T440. Not sure Crucial will ever release 42mm versions.

I've given up waiting for any decent 42mm version to appear and will be buying a regular 2.5" SSD and caddy for a two-drive setup on my T440p.

 

The largest 42mm M.2 drives will be the upcoming Intel ones, which are 180GB in size.

 

You're ever the optimist

Since the 42mm versions of the Intel 530-series and Pro1500 M.2 drives have not yet apparently seen the light of day, I'm not holding my breath that the Pro2500 version slated for next year will appear, either.

Which leaves us with just the 128GB MyDigitalSSD as the largest 42mm M.2 drive, and with no published tests I'm not planning to trust it with my OS just yet.

 

Some people say it's a reliable drive, but just a few days ago a guy said his M.2 from MyDigitalSSD failed on him.

I'm on the same boat, as much as i respect boutique resellers, i'd rather buy from a more trusted brand, every single intel product i've owned has performed rather reliably in my book, can't say the same for AMD/Nvidia.

 

Are you really sure the 80mm doesn't fit? I thought I saw in the HMM there was a 42mm and a 80mm spot... Now I'm unsure.

 

Reading the feedback with interest and noticed the opinions on the quad core cpu options, but I am wondering about the opinions on choosing between the i7-4600M dual core and the i7-4700MQ quad core.
Would the dual core have a slight advantage in today's every day tasks?