T440s Owner´s Thread

My order was suppose to ship few days ago but is got pushed to 12/20 and today it is showing 1/10/14. Can't understand what could be production issues with the delay?

Also is it possible to get the whatever the price is when the laptop ships? Who should I contact? I ordered it from the Barnes and Noble site.

 

I spoke to Lenovo about this and I think others have also confirmed that all you need to do is take a snapshot of your cart or save a PDF of your cart and submit it to Lenovo once they ship and charge your card. They will then provide a credit for the difference for 21 days from the ship date.

 

As an update on my wifi situation, I got a new router (Asus RT-N66U) which is dual band. In my apartment there are literally 30 2.4ghz wifi networks visible and I'm sure interference on that frequency range is just awful. On 5ghz I haven't yet had the issue with disconnecting or not being able to connect. Also, the modem/router that the cable company gave us sucks so it may have just been due to that (even 2.4ghz on the new one seems fine, though I'm still sticking to 5ghz because there are no other routers in that range). I know others have reported issues with their wifi as well, so I'm wondering if the issue is mainly one of interference (as in this laptop handles it worse than others).

 

I have experienced no issues with wifi on our two T440s's with the AC card.

These issues can be very situation dependent - especially how two pieces of hardware interact with one another. A couple of years ago Apple updated iOS and suddenly nobody's devices could connect to our access points at work anymore. It took a long time to figure out, but it was something specific to the firmware updates on those AP's and rolling them back a version fixed it.

 

I've put my 7260AC into b/g-only mode using Device Manager. At this point I'm willing to forego the extra speed if it means I can go on site with a client and not have to sheepishly look for a LAN port or reset my WiFi every ten minutes. If it is incompatibility with existing infrastructure then I'm going to be disappointed as there's no way I'm going to be able to update the infrastructure at every client's site I show up at

If b/g mode doesn't work then I really don't know what else I can do. I guess I should contact Lenovo to see if they have any suggestions but I suspect it'll be fruitless.

 

Just an update, I received an email this morning that my laptop shipped at 7am PST this morning and my original ship date was 12/17, and I had no delays or set backs. That has been my date all along since ordering on Sunday evening of 12/8. Shows delivery of 12/19 (which was updated from 12/24)

My dad who ordered 10 minutes after me, still shows as shipping on 12/17 and he received the 5% delayed email, I didn't. The main differences between our machines is he got a FHD Touch screen (I got FHD Non) and he got the i5-4300u CPU, (I got the i7-4600u).

Here is my config:

Status

Shipped

20AQCTO1WW

ThinkPad T440s

Estimated Ship Date: 2013/12/17

Estimated Arrival Date: 2013/12/19

5PS0A14077
1YR Onsite + Accidental Damage Protection


Shipment Details

System Details

Total memory 4GB PC3-12800 4GBBS+0DIMM
Hard drive 500GB HDD 7200rpm
Battery 3cell LiPolymer 23.2Wh Front
WiFi wireless LAN adapters Intel 7260 BT ACBGN
Wireless WAN accessories MBL BB upgradable, future use
AC Adapter and Power Cord 45W AC Adpt2 US (2pin)
Accessible Optimized Preload NONE
Assistant Voice Recognition NONE
Battery 2 3cell LiPolymer 23.2Wh Rear
Camera 720p HD Camera
Display Panel T440s 14.0FHD WWAN
ITC - Drop in Box NONE
ITC - Enhanced Service NONE
ITC - Harddrive Encryption NONE
ITC - Solution using SmartImg NONE
ITC - Vpro Provisioning (VPRO) NONE
ITC - Who Created The Image NONE
Keyboard Language KYB (Backlit) US English
Keyboard Patch NONE
Language Interface Packs NONE
Microsoft Office NONE
Microsoft Windows 7 XP Mode NONE
Nok Nok Labs client software NONE
Pointing device T440s FPR,dock
Preload Language W8 64 English
Preload OS Windows 8 64
Preload Type Standard Image
Processor Intel Core i7-4600U on MB
Protection Services NONE
Publication Language Pub; US English
Recovery Media NONE
SIM Card for WWAN 2 NONE
Security Chip 2 Security Chip Enabled
Selectable Warranty 1 Year Depot or Carry-in
Shipping Country USA
Software Application NONE
Storage Adapter No M.2
System Unit T440s Intel i7 vPro1 4GB
System expansion slots Smart Card Reader

 

Hi everyone,

I hope this is not a stupid question -- I've read the previous posts and understood that 9.2 mm drives will fit in the notebook if you want to upgrade it yourself.
Aren't regular notebook drives 9.5 mm?

Will a 9.5 mm drive fit in the notebook if I want to replace the stock one?

Thanks!

 

There is one 30mm M.2 slot and two 42mm M.2 slot.

 

Mine only has 2 slots. The one below the smart card reader isn't present. I think you only get 3 if you order the caching ssd. Can anyone else confirm this?

 

Getting mine on Thursday apparently (20AQ0069MB)

Now I have to find wich debian-based distro to install...

 

I'm late to the T440s party but looking to purchase one for delivery in the new year. Does anyone know of any discounts of note going?

Thank you,

Scott

 

Try this Lenovo ThinkPad & IdeaPad - EPP Discounted with coupons - no min!! - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

 

Ubuntu 13.10 has been working fine, fwiw.

Also I can confirm that my Samsung 840 EVO has been working fine for a month. It's a bit unclear why some people have had issues with the 840 Pro but one theory I've seen thrown about is that it's only an issue if you clone your hard drive, due to the different structure of SSDs and HDDs. Not sure how true that is, but in any case it's probably best to do a clean install for those installing their own drive.

 

Are these slots in ALL of the ThinkPad T440s models? They don't seem to be depicted in the Hardware and Maintenance Manual.

 

I see a lot of references to cost advantages of purchasing the SSD and ram separate. On the Lenovo site the 12GB upgrade comes in at $80 and the 250 SSD at $50. This seems competitive to me...what am I missing?

Finally does $2,233 seem reasonable for the whole lot including the above, i7 processor and 4YR Onsite + Accidental Damage +Tech Install CRU? I'd love to get that down further especially as I need to add tax to it!

Thanks for any and all comments!

Scott

 

Not sure where you're seeing those price. The RAM upgrade option I see is an additional 4GB for $80, taking the total to 8GB. That's about twice the street price for a 4GB stick of RAM. The 240/256GB SSD upgrade options I see are $370 to upgrade from a 500GB HDD and a $150 difference (downgrade) to a 128GB SSD. Compare that to the 240GB Intel 530-series SSD I just bought for $130.

If you're comparing the base model options then it's not like for like. The T440s with touchscreen is indeed about $50 less than the T440s with a 256GB SSD but the latter obviously has no touchscreen.

 

I just received my T440s, is it recommended that I do a clean windows install?

 

I see no point. It's a lot of work, in my experience it can be problematic getting everything installed as designed. The stock image is very quick.

 

I just checked my battery, one is at 99% and one is at 98% - not charging. Why isn't it charging to 100%?

 

Because it's not supposed to. Your battery will last longer if you're not always trying to charge it to 100%. My Lenovo T410 I use for work doesn't charge the battery until it gets below 95%.

 

Follow up. Turns out the keyboard is bad. The new t440s replacement exhibits no such problems. But major light leak on left side, and yellow whites. Thinking about just keeping the T431s and doing a screen swap when the ips panels are more readily available.

 

No, mine one only has the 2 depicted in the HMM. It looks like you only get 3 if you order a caching M.2 drive at build time. If you spec one up with the online configurator you'll notice that the option '3rd M.2 slot" disappears when you unselect the caching drive. I didn't think much of it at the time - wish I'd specified it even though I don't have a use for such a small drive.

 

I've got a Samsung 840EVO on hand waiting for my T440s whenever it arrives (shipment was delayed again today). Is it possible to perfectly clone the image on the existing T440s 500GB drive so that the recovery partition and such are intact? Would the Samsung data migration software work for this? It will have a win7 pro install.

 

Wow. Did anyone yet get a T440s that DIDN'T have problems?

Asking sincerely as the closer and closer it gets to Boxing Day, the more I'm beginning to regret picking a new-gen Thinkpad.

 

I'm curious whether cloning is recommended over reinstalling from recovery media, or vice versa.

I plan to simply create recovery media (likely a flash drive), remove the HDD and reinstall the factory image on the new SSD. I'll then simply mothball the HDD for when I sell the computer.

 

I think reinstalling from recovery media is safer, when I was looking to do this I read that cloning an HDD to SSD can have performance implications due to sector layout differences or something. Though I don't know if recovery media does effectively the same thing as cloning. For me I couldn't make the recovery media for some reason (makes no sense, as this is right out of the box) so I ended up doing a clean install.

 

Which RAM did you guys get for this? I only need another 4GB.
BTW I'm unable to play Dota 2 on this laptop, even on very low settings. It works ok but when there is a teamfight etc. it just stops.

 

Besides costs is there any reason not to max out RAM? Since it is so hard to open the base cover, and these laptops are built to last 3+ years I was thinking 8gb for a total of 12gb.

 

Yeah cost is the only reason, 8GB is like double the cost. I might get 8GB if I get a good deal.

 

Yeah I figured over the life of the computer I don't want to say if I only spent $40 I could have had more a few years down the line. I am actually going to wait and see how the 4gb goes. Because of the shipping delay I will be getting my laptop right before school starts so I won't have time to fiddle and or break a base cover to add the memory and then get it fixed. Won't risk that until summer break.

 

Anyone else having issues with bluetooth cutting in and out? I have a mouse connected via BT and some times it seems to become non-responsive. Not had this issue on my other laptops, wondering if there is a workaround, all drives are up to date.

 

Well, those are probably just enjoying their new computers and not coming in here to complain.

Mine is pretty much issue-free. Had a minor issue with the clickpad but it's fine now. Everything seems to work fine. Display is awesome. Had it for just two days though.

 

Is anybody here who has a T440s play DotA 2?

 

Is the 500gb hard drive that ships with the machine 7mm or 9.5mm?

 

Anyone facing screen flickering? It happened maybe once yesterday but today it's happening a lot.

 

Mine had a 7mm drive. HGST Z7K500-500 (HTB-TT7SAE500) FRU 04X0544.

 

Definitely did. It's pretty much gone away after going into Device Manager and finding the adapter, go to "Power management" and uncheck the box that let's the system turn it off to save power.

 

I suppose you're right. Even then, the vast number of people reporting issues with the displays is alarming. I think I'll leave my decision to be based on Boxing Day prices.

 

Yes I am seeing this too. But only when on battery, which makes me think it is the Intel HD panel self refresh power saving feature (as that is the only Intel graphics power saver that I have enabled on battery)

 

Yeah same here, only on battery. Also, I'm not really impressed with the battery life. I got ~4hrs15mins from it. 2hr normal web surfing, 1hr watching videos (using earphones), 1hr watching something via a TV connected to it (The display of the laptop was off). The brightness varied between 20%-60%, was at 100% for maybe 10 minutes. I was expecting something closer to 8-9hrs.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't expect anywhere near that when doing anything other than the bare minimum. I'd say between 4-7 hours is the normal range from what I've seen. Nobody else is doing much better, for a similar battery size, FWIW.

Do you have the Intel CPPC power settings turned on?

 

Where do I check for that? Is it Display Power Saving Technology under Power settings?

 

It's a setting under each Power Plan under Advanced Settings.

 

Where is advanced settings?

 

The only issue I am seeing is that the USB 3 ports don't want to power an external 2.5" HDD enclosure I have. They did previously. I am updating the BIOS from v2.11 to v2.14 to see if that makes a difference. I know there was some power management work in the 2.14 release but not necessarily for the USB ports.

 

Looks like I'm one that's hit with the talked about quality issues. The left hinge has obvious play in it. I'm going to request them to replace the machine if possible.

 

Ok, so I finally got a minute to sit down with my new T440s. I'm going to give you my first impressions of the device after having played around with it for n hour (Havent installed new SSD or extra memory yet) Also, Im going to compare this to the HP 840 G1 and the Acer p645 at times as I tried the top of the line models of both of those systems.

Screen - It's very nice display. Not as nice as the HP 840 G1 IPS, which was absolutely brilliant with clean whites and no screen door / sparkle effect. However its better thn the Acer IPS which was pretty lusy. Im noticing some screen door / sparkle effect on the T440s and I'm missing that screen from the HP right now. Colors were gorgeous on that unit and everything just popped. Even viewing angles seemed better on the HP. Its a LEN40A3. There is some backlight bleed int he lower and upper right hand corners, but it was only visible on the Lenovo black start up screens. not a huge issue, but I could see where it could be improved.

Trackpad - Right now, it's a major pain in the rear. granted Im used to using a standard track pad with buttons, but I think there is something wrong with my trackpad, or the software. The darn think freezes up every 30 seconds and its literally all over the place and hard to control. Very annoying and a potential deal breaker. Clicking down on the actual pad to achieve things is not my cup of tea, but I could potentially get used to it. I also don't find the track pad itself is very smooth. Almost like its the same cheap plastic of the palm rest. HP Trackpad and buttons were MUCH better. Acer setup only slightly better.

Keyboard - is a DREAM! Good travel, good tactile feedback. Easy to type. Cant say enough good things about it. Heads and toes better than HP , and makes Acer look like a toy. That said, the HP wasn't horrid to use, and I could get used to it, but keyboard wise T440s is a clear winner.

Overall Build - The whole package feels nice and light and looks clean. I like the all black look and the machine feels solid, without being heavy. Unfortunately, Im also not a big fan of the palm rest. While not as bad as dell, it also feels like Lenovo used some soft touch plastic type material and it feels kind of rough... not as smooth of an experience as I was expecting. The HP had a better palm rest but the edge of it bothered me to an extent. Overall, I have to say the HP felt like it had a better quality build to it AND it had a more easily accessible base for components, allowed for 16MB Ram and Dedicated GPU.

Final thoughts - I'm totally up in the air again. I LOVE the T440s keyboard, but I feel like Im compromising on almost everything else vs the HP (Screen, Trackpad, Performance, Ease of Upgrade, Palm rest, build quality.) That said though, I'm going to be using this laptop to write (when it's not docked) and right now this keyboard is hard to beat (the price was significantly cheaper than HP too)

Im probably going to try and spend another day or so with it before making a decision, but I do need to make up my mind soon. I was debating the e7440 but the palm rest is going to be even worse on that one and the screen may not be the best either.

Someone want to talk me into staying with T440s? HAHA... looking forward to other's thoughts too.

 

Thank you HKINGS for sharing your thoughts about your t440s and also the HP/Acer comparison. I am returning my t440s because of multiple issues and it looks like the HP could be the perfect laptop for me (I am not going to do much typing so I can live with the average keyboard).

About the t440s, I share your opinion on most things. However, I have absolutely no screen door effect on my display and the colors/whites look perfect to me, better than my desktop Asus PA246Q. About your trackpad, you must have a driver issue because mine is incredibly responsive and smooth. Multitouch gestures also are a joy to use. Unfortunately I cannot get use to the click action. To make things worse, it gets stuck sometimes and make some cracking noise but it might just be my unit. I am not a fan of the palmrest too, feels very platicky to me. I highly prefer the one on my Dell precision m6700.

 

I must agree with y.a.k..

Mine came with no apparent problem (had it yesterday so still playing with it). The non-touch FHD screen is STUNNING. I am absolutely loving it.