T440s Owner´s Thread

Maybe 12GB is ok now... but after 3 years it will feel like the 2GB of present.

 

I don't think it'll be quite like that, but save this quote and come harass me in 3 years if I'm wrong.

 

Yes! I found that the .60 driver seems to add some kind of crazy acceleration to 2 finger scrolling, making it near unusable. Also found it also made the scrolling unreliable. Reverting back to .56 fixed the issue for me, until my touchpad started failing from what appears to be a hardware fault as a fresh re-image didn't fix it (cursor starts going crazy randomly, or movement is very jerky).

Still waiting for it to be repaired by Lenovo, who initially claimed that they fixed it by reinstalling the driver (ignoring my detailed notes on the fact that multiple driver reinstalls and fresh re-image only seemed to make the issue go away for less than hour, at which point it returns).

 

If you guys want to add these comments to a forum post I made on Lenovo's Forum, that might help to get the right people to see the issue. Here's the link.

 

My t440s is going back.
If you have non-touch and hope to get it replaced with an AUO forget it, get it done yourself.
The technician came with the LG even though I asked them to confirm (and they confirmed) it was 0436 which is AUO.

I don't know if I'll venture into another t440s with touch screen. The time waiting for everything just suck!

Good luck to everyone getting the non-touch.

 

What changed? I thought you mentioned you'd keep the T440s even with the LG screen and replace it yourself if necessary?

Did you try out the second LG screen? Some posts seem to indicate that there is a less offensive version of the LG screen as well.

 

The bezel is screwed now, a new one was not provided (if you're taking yours off, take it off carefully), a new one would take week(s) to arrive which is the time to get a refund.

The screen is the same. I don't find it right paying an extra $100 for something that should be there in the first place. Right now I'm just pissed off and disappointed, I have no idea what I,ll do, maybe move to Apple.

 

I strongly considered the Haswell refreshed Dell XPS 13 after I sent my T440s back for the crappy LG screen. The biggest reason I did not go for the Dell was the lack of an SD card slot. Then I decided to go for the X240 with the touch FHD screen. A forum member posted pictures of the FHD touch screen of the X240 yesterday and I was quite impressed. Now lets hope Lenovo sticks with its shipping date estimate this time.

Edit: Pictures of the X240 with the FHD touch screen here and here

 

That's not bad,
So you gave up on the T440s or the x240 is another machine?
Just checked the est. shipping date, 3-4 weeks. That's what pisses me the most.

I already have the ram and ssd ready, getting dust..

Does anyone know if a sales rep would be able to speed things up? I guess it's just for commissions.

 

I don't think anyone can speed things along in the ordering process, unless you are a large business.

The X240 is a nice machine but it has screen ghosting issues as well. I've looked into it quite a bit and it seems that LG is the only supplier for 12.5" FHD screens. They have promised a fix for the ghosting issues in late February... so if you want a hassle-free experience, I wouldn't jump on it just now.

The 13" or 15" retina MBP is not a bad option to try out if you are closer to an Apple Store. If you don't like it the return process would be quick and painless. The XPS 13 looks good as well. But since you already have the T440s (and onsite warranty) I'd suggest going through maybe 1 or 2 more screen replacements. There are a bunch of positive experiences with LG screens in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/len...ted-t440s-hardware-probably-other-models.html

 

I gave up on it. I didnt want my brand spanking new $1000+ machine to be sent in for warranty a bunch of times right after I have just purchased it. Its ridiculous that us Thinkpad owners have accepted this route as 'ok'.

I returned my T440s. As mentioned above, I dont find it acceptable to go through the warranty process 1-2 times to get what I should have gotten out of the box the very first time. I have heard about the X240 ghosting issue on the Thinkpad Yoga forums and if the X240 has the same issue, its going back again to Lenovo. I bought have gone for a 13" Macbook Air if it had a 1080p screen.

 

Exactly, that's my point. A brand new machine shouldn't be handled multiple times to fix something that is a manufacturing problem.

I know, that's the point of warranty, but it's not acceptable.

By the time they request a new screen, come to me and try it, it'd be half way for a new machine.

As for Apple, I really try to like it but the fact that I can't upgrade anything myself and that it has OSX is a no-go.

@anandoc, how many months have you lost waiting for all of your machines/returnings?
I'm running linux from usb in an old vaio laptop with no hdd, I guess it'll have to do it for a bit longer.

 

Ghosting is not a maufacturing problem on Lenovo´s side. It is a issue of the LG AH-IPS technique, and LG is the only manufacturer of 12.5" IPS screens.

I would not send back a machine because of Ghosting. This is a minor issue, not really important. It is not permant, can only be seen on uniform backgrounds and it fades away quickly.

And BTW, the AUO screen in my T440s also has a bit of Ghosting.

 

I ordered my T440s on 25th November 2013 and eventually received it on 30th December. I sent it back on 28th January and ordered the X240 on Jan 22 with an estimated ship date of 11th Feb.

 

This is gonna sound like a dumb question. Where do you get the part number/model number from the T440s? Specifically, I can see the 20AQ part, but after that it's CTO1WW........ In that entire number, I can't find a number that matches up with Lenovo's driver support download page. Am I crazy?

 

i just cancel my order for the t440s couple weeks ago because of the reviews regarding people getting bad screen. now that theres news about lenovo finally update their hardware, which read from here http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/744386-lenovo-has-updated-t440s-hardware-probably-other-models-2.html, i thought i would give another chance to lenovo, and getting t440s again. but I saw a dell xps 12 display in a local microsoft store that seems pretty good as well, at a reasonable price. I was wondering how would you guys comment on the t440s vs dell xps 12 in terms of their build quality?

 

In my search for a ultraportable, I have also owned a Dell XPS 12 (and returned it). The build quality on the XPS 12 is excellent! The screen is also really amazing quality. However, I could not upgrade the SSD or RAM in it and it did not have a SD card reader slot in it and thats why it did notmeet my needs. There is a really good review of it here:

Dell XPS 12 (Haswell) Review - YouTube

 

Hey all.

I just received a T440s with a full-hd non-touch and it has the AUO panel. Checked in regedit (the EDID value was B140HAN01). When I get home tonight, I can provide a screenshot of proof .The viewing angles are superb, tiliting it to 150 degrees, no spotlight effect as per that youtube video that was posted before of the LG screen.

I ordered it on 19th Jan and received yesterday 5th Feb. Note, I am located in Australia.

My ordered config was pretty standard, the only options being the display to full-hd non-touch and the wireless to AC. Everything else was stock, 4gb ram, 500gb HDD + 16GB m.2 SSD, etc. I upgraded it myself with 4gb more ddr3 1600 1.35v ram and an Intel 335 240gb SSD. I also removed the 16GB m.2 as it might come in handy for another system and I didn't need the extra 16gb. As for migrating to my SSD, I basically took out the 500gb HDD and cloned it and resized the partitions to the 240gb SSD using Reflect on my desktop. I cloned all partitions incl the lenovo recovery partition (which is about 12gb) just to be safe, but plan to delete this after. It was fairly quick using USB3 to sata adaptors, only took about 20 mins tops. Also I broke many tabs when removing that bloody base cover - I don't think they're even needed as the screws basically hold it very tight with most of clips broken anyway.

My touchpad is quite clicky, but I have no reference point to compare. It is louder than I expected, put it that way.

Haven't had a good time to burn it in and give my full opinion just yet though.

 

Congrats on winning the AUO lottery! I think the only other poster that's gotten a non-touch AUO recently was located int NZ. Lenovo must be reserving the AUOs for the southern hemisphere, haha.

 

Hi guys....I ordered a T440s before Xmas and received it a week before the holiday. It had problems booting, and sleeping (BTW I now realize that this can be corrected by updating the Fingerprint Pro software). I sent it back and re-ordered, again I ordered with a non-touch screen, but this time I went for the SSD. I checked and I do have the AUO screen. The build date next to the serial number says 14/1 (January 2014). I had it shipped to my Florida home so they are shipping AUO screens to the U.S. I hope this helps.

 

+1, or buying a replacement screen and replacing it yourself. I was willing to give the warranty route a try, but after they replaced the LG screen with another LG screen, back it went for are refund.

 

Did the refund show up on your credit card yet? I hear it takes them a long time to actually process the refund.

 

According to an email that they sent me:

"Once it reaches our warehouse there will be a 2 business days quality check and an additional 3-5 business days for your amount to be credited back to your account."

Not that I believe anything that Lenovo tells me after this whole experience, but according to that, and if you add a conservative shipping time of 5 days for them to receive the unit, then I should get a refund by February 16th.

Now I am going to wait and see what ultrabooks get released by other manufacturers.

 

I did not get any such email. All I got was the UPS shipping label via email. The customer experience is so inconsistent! Going by the contents of your email, my laptop was received by them on 29th Jan. Adding, 2+5 business days, I should hope to have my refund by 10th February. Yeah, I am not counting on that at all. Actually, when I received my machine on 30th December, I 'returned' the 3yr depot warranty and bought the 2yr onsite NBD warranty. The refund for the 3yr depot warranty has not yet shown up. However, they were very quick to charge me for the 2yr onsite NBD warranty.

 

I didn't get any email either, only the shipping label.
Machine sent back!

About to order the touch model, my last try with Lenovo.
I noticed the m2 slot is now optional.

 

You people are braver than me.....sticking with Lenovo.

 

Thanks to everyone for updating their information for those who recently received their T440s in regards to their displays.

I ordered mine on the 21st of January with a shipment date of 2/20/14. Will update everyone here with my system.

There is still hope!


BTW: are there any cheaper alternatives to 8gb ram besides the reliable Crucial? $75 is pretty average for the single stick but I'm always open to spending less.

Thanks again.

 

I have a question for those that opened the t440s up.

If i want to change the network card to the 7260AC, I'm guessing I need to look for the M2 form factor card? So I can't be using this card?
http://products.ncix.com/detail/int...d-2x2-ac-bluetooth-hmc-brown-box-08-91817.htm

 

Just saw that Lenovo had posted the refund on my credit card account (for my T440s return sent back on 28th Jan). However, they just posted the refund for the physical hardware and not the warranty. I called them up and a rep would be following up as to why the refunds for the warranties were not processed yet.

 

I can't speak to your actual question, but honestly I would not recommend that card (the 7260AC). Some people claim to have ok experiences with them, but there are tons of people across different systems (including T440s) that are having tons of trouble with them, and it seems to be a driver issue. If the card you're using now is stable, stick with it, I really hate the instability of this card/drivers and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

 

Had it in my returned t440s, tested for almost a week, not a single issue.

 

A few pre-purchase questions before pulling the trigger on the T440s FHD (touch):

1) FHD screen: Any widespread issues reported? After skimming posts it seemed all the issues were with the non-touch panels.

2) Wireless: This is vital for me as I use it all day every day for work. What is more stable and better overall between the ThinkPad Wireless 2 x 2 BGN and the Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC? I'll gladly pay an extra $30 for improved performance here.

3) RAM: Do I NEED more than 4gb if my main use is MS office software and web-based programs (some more robust like proprietary e-contract software,and MLS for Realtors)? I have no experience with Win 8 or a touchscreen for reference. If I do need more RAM will 4gb get it done? I can stomach the extra $40 lenovo charges (compared to crucial) for the 4gb, but not $125 extra for the 8gb. If I really need 8gb, I'll suck it up and do it myself...posts about difficulty dissuaded me for $40 savings.

4) I plan to get the 500GB HDD 7200rpm unless that's just stupid with Windows 8 + touch. I need reasonable but not blazing speed, and don't understand if the 16GB M.2 SSD helps with operating speed or bootup or not. The SSD puts me beyond what I want to pay for this laptop (assuming I could also upgrade to SSD later, and do RAM then too?), but if I'm handicapping the device with an HDD I'll reconsider...again I don't need the fastest possible bootup, just general 2014 caliber performance.

5) Power: 45w vs 65w? Is this slower vs faster (heavier) or US vs Foreign adapter?

6) Depot warranty: Is 3 yrs worth it relative to service...I've used thinkpads since 98 but have no experience with depot warranty.

 

I should clarify that when I said the SDD puts me beyond budget I meant the main hard drive, i.e. 128 [add $170.00] or 240GB Solid State Drive [add $370.00]. I'm certainly willing to upgrade to the Micro 16GB M.2 SSD if that's worth it, but I don't understand what THAT one does. If it's worth the upgrade which one--single for $50 or double for $40?

 

I had the 65W in my now returned T440s. It has a higher power output so charged the laptop a little bit faster. No other impact other than that. US/Canada pins ofcourse since they are selling it here.

 

1. Non-touch screens have been mostly LG panels or a few AUO panels. LG panels seem to be plagued with quality control issues, with some being better than others in terms of viewing angles, spotlight effect (a circle of very bright screen, which dims dramatically when you move out of that circle), etc. AUO panels seem to be consistently better quality in these same aspects. If you decide to get a non-touch, you're stuck with one of these two, but it seems like LG is more common. Then again, it could just be that thread posters only show up to post their issues. As far as I know, touch-screen models all come with the AUO, so I'm guessing they're the sole distributor of those panels.

2. There have been issues with the wireless AC, namely that some users have no issues at all with wireless connectivity, stability, and performance, while others have multiple drop-outs and performance issues. AC is good if you're in an area which has 802.11ac available, as it can greatly increase throughput speeds. I personally would say go for it if you plan on using this laptop for several years, but other people may say otherwise.

3. I would say 4 GB is the bare minimum at this point in time. As time goes by, it won't be enough. I'm already using about 3.5GB of RAM with 5 tabs on chrome, 1 excel, 1 powerpoint, 1 word, and spotify. Browsers hog your RAM like no other, so if you use the internet a lot, you'll use up the 4GB pretty quickly.

4. The 16GB SSD is mainly there to speed boot-up times (like say, from 30-40 seconds to 15 seconds). and maybe when opening up a few programs. If you're used to regular hard drive boot-up times and performance now, you won't need it.

5. 45W is lighter and smaller than the 65W, but it will charge your laptop more slowly. If you plan on getting the 6-cell extended battery, maybe the 65W would be better, since it does take awhile to charge that up.

6. Not sure on this one. Sorry!

The hardest part about changing hard drive and RAM is getting in (as you might have read about). You can always get the 4GB RAM, then if you decide you really need more, go ahead and add more along with say a 120GB SSD for $70-80 or 240GB for $120-140. But, that's all up to you.

Hope this helped.

 

Its a 35g weight difference and 1.2cm length difference between the 45W and the 65W adapter:

ThinkPad 45W AC Adapter (Slim Tip) - Overview and Service Parts

ThinkPad 65W AC Adapter (Slim Tip) - Overview and Service Parts

Since its a no-charge upgrade, I would highly recommend you get the 65W adapter even if you are getting the 3 cell battery.

Also, the removal of the back cover is not difficult at all. It takes a little patience the first time but the second time around, since the tabs have already been loosened once, its really really simple to take it off. When I was returning my T440s, I took off the back cover to put back the 500GB HDD and was really surprised how easy it was the second time around. Get a nice plastic spludger (sp?) and you are all set.

 

Be aware that Lenovo also whitelists WiFi cards, so buying a generic one and installing it yourself won't work unless you also flash a whitelisted BIOS.

 

Thanks for the helpful replies, especially the comprehensive one.

Anyone have input on the 3yr depot warranty?

 

The three year depot warranty is a must buy. The depot repairs are fast and excellent. Top notch telephone tech support is by IBM in Atlanta or Canada, and they send a pre-paid repair box out the very next day (you can also send it back the same day you receive it with your laptop). One of the reasons I buy thinkpads (besides the trackpoint of course), is the excellent depot repair service. I hope this helps you.

 

And you can't do that in T440s becuase the BIOS is signed.

Also, answering the original question, yes, T440s takes M.2 cards, not MiniPCI-Express.

 

Is it possible that it is easier to open up the bottom of the T440s if you put it in the freezer for about 30 mins to shrink the tabs?

 

Hello, I haven't seen one of these machines in person yet but am hoping to view one in a store in the next few days.

1) I'm interested in the LG vs AUO quality issue on the FHD displays. Assuming the display model has an FHD screen, would it be possible for me to identify which panel is being used? How do I check? Are there any issues to consider with the HD+ panels? (in case the display model has HD+)

2) Also, I'm surprised from the specs that this machine is apparently only about 4mm thicker than the macbook air (20.65 vs 17 mm). Is this really accurate or are Lenovo somehow being a bit cheeky in their measurements?

Thanks

 

But surely that would shrink everything, including the case to which to tabs attach. It would probably also make them more brittle and more likely to break.

 

1. To check what panel the laptop has, see the second to last post on page 82 of this thread. The HD+ display is your normal TN panel, so it won't have the same viewing angles and color quality as the FHD displays. I don't think there are other issues besides that.

2. Just measured my touchscreen model. It's right around 23-24mm, which is what Lenovo specs it at (22.94). I think it just doesn't seem as thin as the Air because there's no tapering of the chassis.

 

I was just checking out the Lenovo Outlet store ( Lenovo Outlet | Laptop, Desktop and Tablet PCs | Lenovo | (US)) and there are quite a few T440s machines listed there (from all the returns I guess?) but get this - they are all the Core i5 4300u/4GB RAM/500GB HDD/FHD models and are listed at $1368. Whereas the same configuration could be had brand new from Lenovo for $1240 (US Site). Why would one pay more to get something from the outlet?

EDIT: Nevermind, some of them do have the Core i7 4600u processor or the 128GB SSD or the touch IPS FHD screen. Apparently they ship in 3 days. So if anybody is interested in ordering from there, this is your chance.

 

Does plastic shrink substantially in cold? Anyway the whole tabs/removing the bottom thing is way overblown by people here, they're stiff the first time you open it but after that it's easy to open, and if one breaks it doesn't mean anything because there are still screws.

 

Just my T440s back to Macmall. They're going to send me a replacement. They said they just got a new shipment.

I'm really hoping I won't get an LG display.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

Hello everyone, so I'm thinking of ordering a T440s, and here is my plan. I'm looking for feedback on whether you think it will work:

1. Display. Order the low cost HD+ model, and do a manual swap for an aftermarket FHD AUO no-touch panel.

2. Memory. Order the low cost 4gb option, and add an aftermarket 8gb module.

3. M2 drive. Order the 16gb M.2 ssd, not because of its utility, but rather to get a total of 2 M.2 slots (one used, one free).

4. Hard drive. Order the low cost 512gb HDD, and replace with an aftermarket ssd. **Here is a potential problem, because harddrives are whitelisted in the bios. Bios can be reflashed, but I believe that currently it is signed, so that means, no reflash possible. Is that true? Am I forced to order the expensive SSD option from Lenovo?

5. Wireless. Get the Intel 7260AC, due to a good reputation of Intel drivers under Linux.

6. Power supply. Get the 65w, as the weight + dimension is not significantly greater than the 45w version.

7. OS. Get windows 8.1, keep that on the stock hard drive. Install Linux on the new SSD (assuming that I can install a new harddrive)

 

Hard drive is not whitelisted, plenty of people (myself included) have installed after market drives. Have they ever been whitelisted? I think someone mentioned earlier that there was only one fairly old Thinkpad model that ever had a hard drive whitelist.

 

That's good news. My T43 (production ~2005) has a whitelisted harddrive. It's not fatal, just a nasty beep and warning when restarting if using an aftermarket drive. This can be fixed by flashing a modded bios.

What do you think of the other concerns? Most importantly the display...