T440s Owner´s Thread

You could have got the 500GB EVO for $250-260 during BF. But that's too late now.

The 16gb cache is sort of meaningless; I wouldn't give it a $50 value. And taxes are irrelevant - you still have to pay taxes on a SSD you order yourself (personally, I'm in a tax-free state). However, I didn't realize that the HDD could be sold for $50 - I thought it was much cheaper, but evidently my intuition was wrong. Anyways, getting a SSD through Lenovo should be about a $75-100 premium, which probably isn't worth it.

 

The point isn't how much the cache is worth. See below, you said an extra $205 isn't so bad to pay extra for getting the ssd from Lenovo. It is much more than that. The cache can be removed by selecting an ssd and then selecting the hdd again. So the hdd model is another $50 cheaper. $255 + 7% tax = $273. Being conservative and saying the foregone 500gb hdd is worth $35, you've now paid over $300 in total cost for a non-Pro 840.

You won't pay tax on an ssd purchased from an online retailer. You may be in a tax-free state, but most aren't and will be taxed if they get it through Lenovo.

 

Any thoughts on the SanDisk Extreme II 480 GB and how well it works with the Lenovo T440s? It's gotten great reviews, with performance on par with the Samsung 840 Pro. Seems like its rated faster than the Samsung EVO 500GB at Tom's Hardware and its MLC. I can get it for the same price and thinking of pulling the trigger on it.

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: I got the Sandisk Extreme II 480GB for $329.99 via Amazon. Seemed like a great deal. I've got 30 Days to return so we shall see. Its also got a 5 year warranty instead of 3 with the Samsung. (Not that I hope to ever need it.)

 

If I were choosing between those two I'd also get the Sandisk.

 

Anyone have really awful wifi reliability? I don't understand what's going on, partly because the modem/router device my cable company gave us might be crap, but I basically cannot connect to my wifi at home these days. It used to be fine, then it stopped working well, then it was fine in Linux for a while but not Windows, and now both are pretty much unusable. My roommates were also having issues so the cable company gave us a new router which looks better on paper (n vs g) but I pretty much can't get a connection to it. My desktop, with a USB wifi adapter, works perfectly fine though. And other networks also work fine for my laptop. Right now I've just been using my phone as a wifi hotspot when I need to but it's really bizarre that a brand new wifi adapter would be so problematic. I guess I will probably get a standalone router and bridge it with my modem because cable company routers always suck, but still, I've never seen a device act so unreliable with regards to wifi. My roommate with an X230 was also complaining of some issues with the new modem so I dunno, maybe my modem/router just hates good laptops?

 

I got the Sandisk Extreme II 480GB for $329.99 via Amazon. Seemed like a great deal. I've got 30 Days to return so we shall see. Its also got a 5 year warranty instead of 3 with the Samsung. (Not that I hope to ever need it.) Thanks again for your thoughts Vinunuero.

 

There does seem to be some vulnerability with last few generations of Thinkpad's. What router? I've had some bad experiences with interference on 2.4ghz (terrible speed, not connection problems) with the X220 and some routers and my cousin has as well with his X230. Problem went away with a 5ghz router. That said I connect to 2.4ghz access points on campus sometimes and am right now with a comcast supplied router/modem without issues. Newer hardware seem to be better.

The two T440s coming to me are identical but for the wifi. I've read some of you complaining about connectivity issues with the 7260AC and it's not reassuring. Though maybe the 7260BN also has these issues, I don't know if anyone here has spec'd theirs with it.

Happy to help, congrats.

 

It's always hard to diagnose wifi issues because so often it's down to some random combo of card/driver/router hardware or configuration along with potential firewall/antivirus interference. I've often been able to fix performance problems by simply tweaking a setting on the router or wireless card.

Having said that, I'm also curious about any 7260AC problems people are having that could be specifically due to the actual card or Intel driver.

 

How many of those having problems are on 8.1. The drivers haven't been updated since september and release notes have nothing about 8.1 either.

 

I was having wifi issues on my 7260AC. Whenever my machine would boot up from powered down, it would not be able to get any internet even though I was connected to my network. I'd have to disable the wireless adapter in Network Connections and then enable it to get internet connectivity.

I went into the device manager and then right click on the 7260 AC adapter and go to Properties->Power Management and unchecked "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". That seemed to make my issue go away.

If you try that, please let me know if it helps you also.

 

Wow, I still don't know what this device has. I guess I have just a plug rather than a smart card reader but don't know if my machine can accept one. Does it have an m.2 cache drive?.
What about WWAN? Anyone have this thing working on Verizon LTE?

 

Yeah, it's really hard to figure out but my other wifi devices have fewer problems (phone/tablet/eye fi card/desktop/printer/etc). My desktop has problems only occasionally, the others I haven't really noticed problems with. But interference is a strong possibility, since I'm in an apartment building with probably 30 wifi networks visible from my devices. My router is an Arris box from Time Warner Cable (terrible service honestly, I don't know why my roommate got it). I do want to get a separate router, at least dual band, may get an AC for the hell of it but only my T440s would be able to use it so it'd probably be a waste of money. Otherwise my most likely router will be an Asus RT-N66U, that looks pretty good and I've had two Asus routers before and both were very nice in terms of features and open source firmware support.

 

Installing the newest audio drivers from the Lenovo support site solved this issue in my case.

 

This one fits perfectly (even with the 6cell battery):

DICOTA

 

I've received my T440s last week and have had the week end to play with it. First impressions are not good at all.

1/ Fan noise problem: it looks like there's something getting in the way of the fan blades (or maybe these are misaligned) resulting in a very annoying noise. Tilting the base of the laptop to different degrees can make the noise disappear or make it worse.

2/ The screen bezel assembly is awful. The worst I've seen on any laptop. The entire right side of my screen is not properly glued making the display come off a bit, leaving plenty of space for dust and humidity to come in. The display barely fits into its bezel, causing several pressure points at the edges. Speaking of the edges, they are very "wavy" and not flat at all. Move your finger alongside the edges and you'll see what I mean. I have noticeable backlight bleed (at least I was expecting that..), especially at the bottom of the screen. It is noticeable at startup and when watching movies. This of course due to the poor bezel assembly.

3/ About the trackpad, well... this is right now the least of my concern.

There are some positive points however, but right now I really don't really feel like speaking about the good. I will contact Lenovo soon and let you know about how it goes. 2 days old and my laptop already comes into pieces. And they call that a "rugged" device. Unbelievable.

 

The fan obviously is a manufacturing issue. Mine did it once or twice but hasn't again.

The front bezel is literally just a sticker, so it is very sensitive to careful installation. Any service for the upper half of the unit requires that piece to be replaced. Done properly, it looks fine (other than the light bleed), but I can easily see some bad installs going through.

Trackpad, well, people are reporting issues, but it is great for me on Windows 8.1. Best I've ever seen on a PC.

 

If your machine has the hard drive, it more than likely has the cache.

I already posted this to you. Since your machine doesn't have it, if you want the smart card reader you'll need to order the part and install it. 04X5475, $84, from ibm below.

IBM Maintenance parts | Retail - Part order - United States

Since WWAN still isn't offered while configuring the machine, you have to add it yourself. The machine is already pre-wired and has the antennas. You just need to install the card. Part number 0C52902, $199 from Lenovo. Cheaper from bhphotovideo.

Lenovo Thinkpad Gobi 5000 Mobile BB/ Verizon 0C52902 B&H Photo

 

This would be me. I am running the 7260AC on 8.1 and I'm experiencing a LOT of wifi and bluetooth issues. For WiFi, I will get random disconnects throughout the day. It'll be fine for 3 hours and then all of a sudden it'll just stop passing packets period. The link with my WiFi hotspot will remain active though, not giving any visual indication that it's disconnected -- it just stops working. Same with Bluetooth. My BT mouse will work fine for a long time and then out of nowhere it will just up and stop responding. I can re-sync and it'll work fine but it might disconnect immediately or it might disconnect in another 4 hours. No way to tell.

Only reason I link the two is because the 7260AC runs both the WiFi and BT on my laptop if I'm not mistaken. I've read reviews of people complaining about the same thing so I don't think I'm that far off.

I just upgraded to the latest drives on Intel's site today, maybe that'll fix it. 16.6.something I think. Lenovo's were only 16.3 or something. Don't have the exact numbers underhand.

 

Have you tried disabling the power management on the BT and 7260 device in device manager?

Sent from my Galaxy Note 8.0

 

I haven't yet because I just updated the drivers and I want to see if that has any effect first. If it doesn't, that'll be the next thing I try, thanks

 

I upgraded to the latest driver from Intel and also tried disabling power management. Neither really helped in my case :-(. Gotta get a dual band router and see if connecting on 5ghz helps, since in my apartment there are about 30 2.4ghz networks so it might just be the interference.

 

You might all try the updated wifi drivers posted by Lenovo a couple days ago.

 

Which read and write speeds do you guys have with the original SSD? i got 509 read and 260 write? Is there something wrong?

 

Well, the updated drivers (from Intel) didn't do much for me. Logged in this morning at work and had dead WiFi within 2 hours. Tried disabling power management now but I'm not extremely hopeful. Are there actually new drivers from Lenovo? I ran System Update and it didn't pick them up so I guess I need to go pull them off the support site myself?

Love this laptop but my wifi issues are really starting to grind on me.

 

I'm hoping it's just a driver issue. My crappy Gateway laptop from 2007-abouts had absolutely no problems with this WiFi and switching infrastructure equipment just isn't an option for me

 

so, T440s owners... are you using 8.1 on your machines or did you get downgraded to 7?

I've spoken to Lenovo sales in my country and apparently you can roll back to 7 for free.

are the drivers for 7 all ok? /assuming their main focus is now on 8.1/

 

I went the reverse direction. My T440s shipped with Windows 7 but the Lenovo factory image apparently has a bug that surfaces with the Samsung Series 840 Pro SSD. So I nuked the image and installed Windows 8.1 from scratch. It is working very nicely.

 

I clean installed 8.1 on a Plextor M5 Pro i had lying around until the dust settled with the 840 Pro issues but I have a 512GB 840 Pro I'm itching to fit. How long has yours been installed? Have you made any changes to the UEFI / BIOS settings? I'm not interested in enabling rapidstart etc - don't really see the need for it.

 

Did you guys get 7 restore media with your T440s? My media just cobbles together Win8 clumsily.

 

Can anyone comment on the keyboard? I was typing on a friends W530 today and it felt AMAZING. I'm sure it's similar, but does anyone know if the travel and tactile feel are the same?

I was considering a rMBP but the keyboard on the 530 was just really REALLY good.

 

For most people who been having problems with Samsung SSD, all it took was a clean install from a pure Windows 7 or 8 ISO and that solved all problems. You can then download all the drivers off of Lenovo's website.

 

I just ordered a T440s a couple days ago. I'm not sure when i'll get it, as I am from Canada and its right before Christmas, but it looks like a couple weeks from now. Here are the specs:


Processor - 4th Gen Intel Core i5-4200U Processor (3MB Cache, up to 2.60GHz)
Operating System - Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Display - T440s 14.0 FHD WWAN (non-touch)
Graphics - Intel HD Graphics 4400
Memory - 8G 4G Base + 4G (1 SoDIMM)
Hard drive - 256 GB Solid State Drive, Serial ATA3 eDrive Capable
Front Battery - ThinkPad Battery 3 cell Li-Polymer (23.2Whr)
Rear Battery - ThinkPad Battery 3 cell Li-Polymer (23.2Whr)
Power Cord - 45W AC Adapter - US (2pin)
Wireless - ThinkPad Wireless 2 x 2 BGN with Bluetooth

Am I going against the grain by getting Windows 7 Pro over Windows 8.1? I also opted for the SSD hard drive that Lenovo supplies. What kind of Windows 7 installation should I expect? Should I have any issues or is there a pretty good chances it will be good to go out of the box?
What makes the Lenovo SSD hard drive not so desireable? I hope I made the right decision with my configured machine.
Incase anybody is wondering, I used the 2DAYSALE code and got the machine for $1,375.20

 

Well that's disappointing. I really don't have the time right now to be doing an install from scratch. Maybe someone will find an extra step in the migration process to alleviate the issues.

 

All the reviews out there call it (and other Lenovo keyboards) the best out there. So it will most likely feel the same. I will let you know by the end of the month ..hopefully.

 

Don't know if it's exactly the same, but the T440s is fantastic.

Plenty of businesses will continue to order Win7. For consumers and most users, I think Win8 is a good upgrade. Much faster, a lot of nice modernizing touches.

Most people avoid the OEM SSD's because they are relatively expensive.

 

I installed Windows 8.1 from scratch on 11/27/2013 and it has been problem free since. I am not using Rapidstart or any of the other hokey technologies. Just the native OS and drivers from windows update and the support.lenovo.com area. I am not using UEFI. I have zero need for that and secure boot.

I'm pretty confident something in the Lenovo factory image is the problem. I don't really care at this point to assess what the problem was.

 

Ugh. My order was just postponed another 10 days.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk Pro

 

The pre-authorization charge that was pending on my card has disappeared which concerns me.

 

It will re-appear. Same happened to me and now it has re-appeared and its not a charge...just a hold for now.

 

I just overnighted a pre configured model from Provantage. I cant wait anymore.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk Pro

 

I have been trying to set up a windows8.1 all afternoon on my newly acquired T440s. When I put the SSD in (Crucial M500 480GB) it just doesn't recognize it every second time. Same for the USB stick on which I put a win 8.1 bootable iso. Once by chance I managed to boot on the windows setup but the disk wasn't there to be installed on. Not sure what to do anymore. If I put the original disk back in it boots fine though. I disabled secure boot and enabled "both" for the boot mode (legacy + UEFI). If anyone has a pointer I'd be very grateful.

 

Check your rev for the M500 firmware... make sure it's the most recent. There are updates applicable to Haswell and 8.1. I have a 960GB M500 running 8.1, upgraded from the Windows store download.

 

Ok so with EaseUS Todo Backup the disk clone worked. It still has issues detecting the drive every now and then but at least I can boot and use it. I tried upgrading the firmware but the machine won't boot on my USB stick firmware update utility, so I'll have to try again later with another stick.

 

Hmm. Where exactly is the M.2 cache SSD in my T440s? I opened the machine to replace my spinning disk with an SSD and to upgrade to 12GB RAM, but the only M.2 card I saw was the Wireless LAN card. The slot next to it was completely empty.

 

what's the exact model P/N? are you sure it's supposed to have caching drive?

 

I think it's 20AQ005SCA. I'm fairly sure it has the M.2 caching drive because I'm seeing it in the disk management msc and just now formatted it as a blank 16GB partition.

I replaced my 500GB spinning disk with a 128GB 2.5" SSD and I'd love to swap out my M.2 caching drive with something bigger as well, but I have to find the darn thing first

 

Edited since my info was incorrect

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 using Tapatalk Pro

 

According to Lenovo's service training videos it is to the left of the WiFi card:
ThinkPad T440s Service Training RTPW1150 v.1113a
(FRU Videos -> M.2 Solid-State Drive)

The HMM shows this on page 62:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t440s_hmm_en_sp40a25360_01.pdf
(pictured is a WWAN card with antenna cables but it says it's either that or M.2 SSD in this slot)

 

Under the internal battery is a hiding cache drive. The T440s has 3 m.2 slot.

 

As I recall from a previous thread, each of the three slots has a M.2 interface but the actual size that supports a component is different. I neglected to confirm that when I had mine apart but would appreciate it if someone else does. Pics would be nice, too.