T440s Owner´s Thread

How important is weight/portability for you? T440s and T440p both have amazing battery lives, but the s will of course sacrifice CPU and GPU power for a lighter weight and optional touchscreen. P will have the opposite characteristics.

I personally would go with another T440s, mostly because I appreciate the lighter weight and long battery life, being a graduate student. The 12+ hour battery life has been amazing, since I don't ever need to bring my charger with me to class, and by the time it runs out of juice, I'm pretty much sick of studying anyway.

The T440p or X1 would be my second choice (more likely the T, due to pricing). I've gotten so used to the trackpoint that I get confused whenever I use another laptop without it.

 

Hello everyone,

I'm in the market for a new laptop. I have a Sony Vaio Duo 13 which I love, but I feel it's more useful for math and physics rather than coding (hit me up if you're interested in purchasing it). I'm looking for a machine of the same caliber, and I stumbled upon the t440s.

However, I have a couple of questions before purchasing. There are three battery options, the regular 3 cell, the big ol' 6 cell 72 whr, and then there's a 6 cell 42whr battery. Is that the battery which juts out of the side like extended batteries from previous generation? Also, is the dimensions of the laptop more like a 13" laptop? And, what's the difference between Intel 7260AN and AC, and which one is preferable? Thanks!

 

I believe the AC is newer and has better support with newer routers. It also comes with plenty of driver issues. Search around online and you will see people complaining about the AC! I ordered it anyway just to see if the hate hype was justifiable, but I have a spare AN I can pop in if I need to.

The length and width were the same as my 13" Samsung ATIV Book 7.

Also, the T440s will blow the Vaio Duo 13 away in terms of build quality. I have serviced these machines and plenty of other Vaio notebooks in the past and they simply cannot compare to any of the notebooks in the thinkpad line in terms of build quality!

 

As stated by msweig, it seems that the problems were with the 840 Pro. I searched around about this too because I was planning to install an SSD on my own. Many people in this thread have successfully installed the 840 EVO and it seems like there are no problems after installation.

Ah, I thought I remember seeing an option like that in the BIOS in some video...I think it was a tutorial on how to switch the Fn and Ctrl keys' functionality.
Hm, it just seems like a pain to have to go to Control Panel every time I want to switch the touchpad on/off...

 

The problems with the Samsung 840 Pro should be solved by now. Samsung has released a new firmware which is supposed to solve the problem.

 

Ah ok. Still going with the EVO thought because it's cheaper haha

If I plan to switch out the HDD, install my own EVO SSD, and restore Windows 8.1 from the recovery media I created, would I have to wipe the SSD clean? I heard that the EVO has some software to accelerate the SSD, although I dunno if it's of any use...

Also, when installing RAM and drives, do I have to disable the internal battery? I've read mixed procedures on installing, and it seems that most people don't bother to disable it through the BIOS.

 

I would do so as a precaution. It's a simple process, really. Unplug your laptop. Boot up, go into BIOS, under Power, select the option to disable the internal battery. The laptop will shutdown automatically. Remove the external battery, and then you're good to go.

The battery is re-enabled automatically when you plug the AC adapter in again.

 

Ok, I'll turn it off just in case since it's an easy procedure. Thanks for the info.
Neat how it re-enables it automatically after plugging in the AC adapter.

Small update: Lenovo changed the shipping date on the order status site from 4/23 to 4/19 and delivery date from 4/30 to 4/25. I was really surprised, as I've only heard bad news on Lenovo's shipping speed. Hopefully they keep to this shipping and delivery date.

 

Nice! That's pretty lucky. Mine just got pushed back 3 days today, and estimated delivery was pushed back to the next week.

My last order was received 6 days after I ordered it but it looks like it might actually take a good 3 weeks to a month this time around.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

The internal battery disable itself automatically when you open up the bottom case cover. Lenovo thought of this exact situation and implemented a switch to disable the battery when the cover is off. The switch can be used as a security mechanism where upon boot up, the user must enter the BIOS password or the system will not proceed.

 

Two finger scrolling does seem to be fixed with this, but I am finding that with this version that clicking when in trackpoint position take a while to register after typing.

For me 17.0.12.56 seem to be the most stable drivers still.

 

Yes, this version has an issue with left-clicking - clicks are often not registered. For me as a TrackPoint-only user, I am still using 18.0.7.34.

Hope they will fix this with the next version...

 

Why should they? That's not a problem. It's only your subjective perception.

 

Ehhhmm...no. There is a clear difference between 18.0.7.39 and 18.0.7.34. As I mentioned, clicks are often not registered with 18.0.7.39. Thats also what stan3k mentioned (and not only he: X1 Carbon Gen2 - Using TrackPad for TrackPoint but... - Lenovo Community). And yes - this is whats normaly called "a problem" - it is not working like it is supposed to.

Seriously...I was only confirming the problem that stan3k mentioned. Your post is very unneccesary...

 

I've been having frustrations with the trackpoint/trackpad too. I downloaded both of the latest trackpad/ultranav drivers, but I'm still having lots of issues. Occasionally, neither the trackpoint nor the trackpad respond at all. Close the lid and reopen it, and maybe 50% of the time they work again. Sometimes only one works, and not the other.

I've gone to the Mouse section of the Control Panel, and when TPoint/TPad aren't working, its still hit and miss. Sometimes the options are still grayed out. Sometimes they're still there. Regardless, the middle click scroll doesn't work anymore. Left-clicking with TrackPoint is unreliable.

 

for anyone who is interested in buying an additonal 3 cell, there's a few on ebay for $59 shipped from hong kong.

Genuine Battery IBM Lenovo ThinkPad T440S X240 S440 P N 45N1124 45N1125 45N1126 | eBay

 

My T440s arrives early next week. What are the important steps do I need to do after receiving it? I am not very computer savvy but I always see people mentioning that you should remove bloatware upon receiving a new laptop? How can I do that? And is there anything else I need to do? Do I need any sort of anti virus or firewall program?

 

Would anyone know whether the touch screen on the t440s is "digitizer" like the Yoga one? I'm looking for a stylus but the best ones only seem to work with "digitizer" screens.

 

No, it is just a basic touchscreen. If writing or drawing on screen is important for you, you'd probably be better of with a tablet or convertible laptop with an active digitiser touchscreen. See here for options

List of Windows 8 and RT tablets and convertibles with stylus

 

I haven't received mine yet so I don't know about the bloatware but I would not expect Thinkpads or any business oriented machine to have much (in comparison to cheap consumer oriented machines). If you're not very computer savvy may be best to just leave as it is.

If you have bought a Windows 8 version, it will have both firewall and antivirus built into the operating system, but there might be a trial version of an 3rd party antivirus software installed too. If that's the case, I'd personally uninstall the 3rd party antivirus and just use the antivirus built into Windows 8.

Someone who already has the machine will be able to provide a better answer

 

I'm about to reinstall everything once I switch out hard drives. I'll make a list/screenshot of all the software and post it. Then everyone can argue what is and isn't bloatware.

There is a 3rd party anitvirus (Norton, IIRC). I deleted that. Though be aware that you need to actually go into the list of programs to delete it (not just delete from the Metro screen), and it will keep trying to get you to keep it.

 

Does anyone else feel like every new iteration of the ultranav drivers is actually making things worse? I swear the left click while using the touchpoint has gotten less reliable over the last couple iterations, though the middle click is a little easier to do now that they have the 'larger buttons' mode.

Also, is anyone else's machine unreliable coming out of sleep, especially coming out of hibernation? I often come out of hibernation only to find that the computer has restarted while asleep, so I lost everything that was open, as if I'd just done a restart, and Windows tells me there was a bluescreen event. I installed a clean install of Windows 7 onto an M.2 drive, so I'm not entirely sure if this is Lenovo's fault.

A couple other small annoying things: On resuming from sleep or hibernation, the fingerprint reader often doesn't work, or only allows one swipe, and this is with the latest drivers.

Also on resuming from sleep, sometimes the brightness will be set to very, very dim, and cannot be changed without restarting. Has anyone else encountered this?

 

18.0.7.39 had this issue with the lef.clicking. Install 18.0.7.40, the latest version, this should solve this issue (it did for me): http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS034647

I too experince this problem.

 

The TrackPoint works well for me. I haven't had any issue with the newest driver released on 4/14. I however have the fingerprint reader problem often. It most occurs when I am connected to the charger. If I put the computer to sleep and remove the charger, it works fine. It is annoying when it doesn't work because you have to type in your password. I wonder if Lenovo is ever going to fix that problem. It is disappointed that Apple bought AuthenTec.

 

I'm loving my computer, however, I can't figure out a way to turn off my touchpad when I plug in my USB mouse. I know Asus has the option to automatically turn off your touchpad when you plug in your USB mouse. I dug through all the options and settings of the Lenovo Ultranav and no option is available. There isn't even an option to quickly turn off your touchpad when a click of a button. Am I missing something here? I have the latest driver for my touchpad. I don't know why they don't have this option available.

 

Coming back to thinkpad after a long hiatus. The changes are quite drastic so it's gonna take some time getting used to. The keyboard is quite good IMO though, coming from a fan of the NMB keyboard in X61s.
Screen is definitely worlds better. Gotta thank Apple for waking up all these manufacturers to focus on screen quality.
UltraNav is horrible though, no doubt about that. Gonna try the new later tonight.

 

In Device Manager, under Biometric Devices, double-click on Validity Sensors, and under the Power Management tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."

 

I'd like input on this as well. Most computers have some sort of shortcut on the keyboard to turn off the trackpad, but from what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be any other method (other than going through Control Panel) to turn it off...pretty inconvenient if this is the case.

 

Ok. I swapped my HDD for an SSD and put in more memory. Getting the bottom off the case wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The separate thread on the forum and the training video from Lenovo helped. Also, my ignorance probably helped, as I've only opened the bottom of a laptop once or twice, so I don't have experience with easy.

After that I reinstalled the Win8.1 Pro copy from Lenovo (with all the added software). Here is the default programs installed from Lenovo. Feel free to comment on what is/isn't bloatware.

First, the Metro Screen. I'm assuming Office is a trial (I deleted it without even opening it)



And here is the program listing.




I also had a chance to look at one of the Yogas in a Microsoft Store, and there are definitely some differences on what is installed. The Yoga had some stuff that wasn't on the T440s. The T440s had the following programs which were not on the Yoga: Absolute Reminder, Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, Lenovo QuickControl, Lenovo Reach, Lenovo Solution Center, Lenovo EMC Storage Connector, Maxthon Cloud Browser, Multifactor Authentication Client, Nitro Pro 8, Norton Internet Security, Pokki Start Menu, RapidBoot HDD Accelerator, Realtek High Definition Audio Driver, Validity WBF DDK 5011. Some of these I'm sure are needed (I believe the Validity thing is related to the fingerprint reader), but if anyone wants to say "feel free to drop this" I'm sure it would be appreciated by many (including me).

I know I would consider Norton and the Pokki Start Menu bloatware, and I'm pretty sure Absolute Reminder, Lenovo Reach, Maxthon Cloud Browser, Nitro Pro 8 are also bloatware. Not sure on some of the other stuff, particularly the Lenovo programs.

 

Could you please link me to the training video and the separated thread?

 

Here are 4 things I found helpful

1) Thread on how to remove bottom
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/740784-how-remove-base-t440s-t440p-t440.html

2) Link from thread with some photos taking off the bottom (helps you understand which way the clips are oriented)
https://plus.google.com/photos/117436154327433424940/albums/5958446209463702609

3) Hardware maintenance manual (written instructions on what to do)
Hardware Maintenance Manual - ThinkPad T440s

4) Training videos. Two notes on this: the bottom isn't as easy to take off as shown in the video (I found more prying at the very edge necessary), and there is a sheet of plastic covering everything in reality, so the inside doesn't quite look like what is in the video. There are areas you can pull away to access the RAM slot, etc.
ThinkPad T440s Service Training Update RTPW1150 v.2

 

So apropos to this topic - my computer was purchased for me by my employer (a university) and our techs took it apart for me to install an M.2 drive. However they brilliantly forget to put most of the bottom screws back in. Does anyone know if I can get Lenovo to send me new ones? Would I just contact normal customer support for this?

 

I've also heard that if you use a SSD, you should "enable AHCI" through the BIOS. Dunno what it is/how it helps, but it seems like many people enable it when working with SSDs.

 

We'll that is on by default on the T440s, and probably isn't even available in our BIOS

 

Oh ok, one less thing to worry about then. Are there any settings I should change when using an SSD instead of a HDD? There seems to be mixed recommendations on various things (such as disabling defragmentation) and I dunno which ones to follow.

Update on my T440s: As I said in my earlier post, shipping date was changed from 4/23 to 4/19 and delivery date from 4/30 to 4/25. According to UPS Tracking Information, the order was processed on 4/19. I checked the Lenovo Order Status on 4/19 and the delivery date was changed to 4/28. The laptop left Shanghai on 4/21 and reached Anchorage on the same day (likely due to time difference). It left Anchorage on 4/21 and reached Louisville yesterday, and the status hasn't changed yet. Up until today, the UPS site said "No delivery information is available" but when I checked this morning, it changed to "Scheduled to delivery by end of day 4/24". Really looking forward to tomorrow =]

 

I didn't change anything at all after installing my ssd, other than its own settings through samsung magician software.
You don't need to worry about defrag as it doesn't happen in ssds, Windows detects what type of drive you have and perform the appropriate tasks based on that information (defrag or trim).

See this link for a clarification: Optimize and defragment Drive on Windows 8 - Microsoft Community

 

Did that and it still has the problem.

 

Everything on the Start menu can be uninstalled/deleted.
Things you can uninstall: Absolute Reminder, Lenovo Experience Improvement, Lenovo User Guide, Lenovo Warranty Information, Maxthon Cloud Browser, Nitro Pro 8, Norton, Pokki, and that is it. The rest are usefull IMO. Lenovo system update is great for drivers. No need to go to Lenovo website to download them.

 

Anyone else notice that they removed the $1000 FHD T440s from the website? Specifically the unit with multitouch. Now if you want the same specs you need to pay $300 more.

 

Just went to pick up my T440s. Right out of the box, I was really surprised at how thin/light the T440s is and how small the charger is (it fits in my hand!).
I played around with it just to make sure everything worked and am currently making the recovery drive to swap in my 840 EVO and 4GB of RAM.

I'll post some more impressions as I play with it more, but so far, I'm really really happy with my purchase, especially since it got here almost a week earlier than the initial estimate!

 

What do you think of your screen? You can download Speccy to see if you got an AOC screen.

 

I got the touchscreen version so I'm fairly certain I have the AUO screen.
I really like the screen so far. I've used the touchscreen on the Metro screen and it's very responsive. It doesn't seem to pick up fingerprints too much either. I haven't checked the viewing angles yet, but I'll report on that later.

 

The latest ultranav driver 18.0.7.40 is freezing at times, it was working just fine
Anyone else experiencing issues with this version?

This thread is a bit dead now, that's a good sign, looks like everyone is enjoying their t440s

Edit: For some reason I am now getting the follow alert whenever I enter mouse settings: "Control panel extension is incompatible with driver version"

 

Why does every mouse update reset my track point and pad settings? Very annoying.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

Can someone help please.

I want to find out if the behaviour of my T440s is normal or broken.

With windows 8 started up and running on the internal and external batteries if I remove the external battery and reinsert the system tray no longer reports two batteries.

Its the same with linux.

I thought that "power bridge" technology would have had some smarts and it would register the battery insertion.

The problem is always resolved by suspend/resume, hibernate/resume, shutdown/startup or plugging in the power supply.

Can someone please do a quick check on their T440s and tell me how many batteries are shown after removing and then after reinserting the battery.

 

Mine does the exact same thing. I don't think I like it either!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

mine does the same thing. i have to put the computer to sleep and resume and then it will see it as 2 batteries.

 

One of you guys should make a thread on community.lenovo.com about this issue then, or report it some way to them

it obviously is a bug!

 

That or we're all resigned to dealing with the flaws - this computer at the moment, and I understand it's new, is WAY WAY less stable than my T60 had been (random BSODs following/during hibernation, fingerprint reader doesn't turn back on after wake from sleep, screen is sometimes unchangeably dim after sleep, the damn wireless card, bluetooth randomly not working after sleep, not waking sometimes if unplugged) and things like the spotlight effect (just learning to live with it maybe, might try to replace it myself some day, but hear the AUO screen also has ghosting problems.) and the clickpad which I don't think I'll ever like as well as the dedicated buttons (and which logically makes no sense anyway, in addition to the occasional crazy 'cursor goes nuts' bug that requires a restart) The battery life is nice, keyboard is nice (apparently I got a model with no backlight, which I hadn't realized was even possible), it's fast, especially with the SSD, but it's a long way from ideal.

 

I just got mine a few days ago and it doesn't have this problem. When I swap batteries it takes a few minutes (say 2 or 3) to recognize the one I just put in. But I don't have to suspend/wakeup or plug in the AC.

I'm have BIOS 2.22.

--mark

PS. Forgot to add, I'm on Linux/Ubuntu 14.04.