T440s Owner´s Thread

Certainly you can. Configure your laptop, use the 'email this configuration' link and send it to the rep. He'll work you up a quote and you can place the order from there.

 

Yea that's how they do it.

 

Hi, I wonder what the specs are for the memory what came with your T440s laptop, both the base and the additional 4GB module. Details such as brand, model, delay, voltage.. etc will be great. By the way, is T440s capable of running dual channel ?Thanks.

 

Great - thanks. How long have you been running them for?

S

 

It is easy. It basically is only a few clicks. You just have to use the Lenovo Recovery tool to make a USB recovery drive and there is an option to delete the partition once you are done. Just make sure not to lose the USB or you may be in trouble.

 

All you basically need to know is that it runs at 1600 Mhz at 1.35V. It supports dual channel. Timing doesn't really matter because it usually follows speed. Higher speed often result in lower timing.

 

Whee, my T440s is in Kentucky, expected to receive it in a little over a day, can't wait . It's funny, it went from Alaska to Kentucky but I live in California, UPS international shipping is not very efficient it seems.

 

Just since last Friday.

 

hey, can you guys post which specific brand ram/type and ssd you're all running so we can get an idea of what works and whats problematic?

 

Samsung 840 EVO 1TB SSD

Crucial 8GB DIMM ordered through their configurator.

 

Hi, I wonder if you can give more details about the potential problem with Samsung 840 Pro SSD. I actually was thinking about getting this drive to put into T440s. Thank you.

 

I'm not exactly sure what the issue is, but it has come up in another of the T440s threads here if you look around.

 

I have the FHD non-touch screen, and I have a noticeable screen-door effect that appears only on primary colors. It is particularly noticeable on the green used in the Windows 8 metro interface. Anyone else see this?

 

Is there a way of doing a proper clean install on a fresh drive on these machines?

I know it doesn't come with media, but can proper media be created from them?

I assume this isn't the same as creating the recovery USB, which would be an installation as delivered.

S

 

If you want to do a proper clean install..

If you're getting a Win 8 machine, obtain an ISO of 8.1 from somewhere and confirm its hash then install from an external CD drive or USB stick.

Win 8 will pick up your SLP key from the UEFI bios.

Then get all the drivers from Lenovo and install them over the clean base install. That way you end up with no crap at all.

If you have Win 7 it's a bit more complicated but you can OEM activate it pretty easily afterwards - just don't enter a product key when you install and untick "Activate online" on the key entry screen. I can PM you the instructions if you get stuck.

 

I just ordered the notebook. It has the 4200U with 4 GB memory, a 500 GB hard drive and the FHD IPS screen without an OS installed. I will get myself a SSD and another 4 GB of memory. It turns out it is cheaper when I upgrade SSD and memory by myself. I have a few questions regarding these upgrades.
When buying a SSD is there something I have to keep in mind? Will any standard SSD fit?
Is it true that low voltage memory is recommended and will any memory module enable dual channel?
And one last question regarding the touchpad. Is the clicking sound very annoying? Does it feel cheap?

Thanks for your time. I can't wait for it to arrive

 

So just to verify again, as long as we carefully pry up the tabs in the order specified it should not be a problem, right? My T440s just went out for delivery and my 840 EVO should arrive too so hopefully I can get going right away with those. Forgot to order RAM so I guess I'll have to open it a second time but as long as it's not a problem if we follow instructions I don't mind. If it's something so fragile that even if you follow instructions they might snap I'll be a little annoyed, but I think I know how these tabs work (opened up my tablet recently which has them as well).

 

If you open it up according to the manual and still break something can you send it to Lenovo without having to pay for the repair?

 

Opening the first time can be a pain in the .

Be very careful, no force, no screwdriver. Use of of those slim openers out of plastic. (That's actually shown in the manual too.) The screws stay in the bottom side, don't try to pull them out.

What really bugs me about my T440s is the noise that I have on those built-in speakers. If I power on the laptop, I can hear the speakers. Of course you hear nothing, when the the spearkers are on mute or the soundcard driver sets the card into powersave.
Either on Linux or Windows. The thing for me is, that I can always hear this noisy undertone which doesn't relate to the volume level. So if play something on low volume, the noise seems even louder, because it's way more obvious.
It's just too loud.

This all with a SSD and no cpu fan noise.

Anyone else with this problem?


Edit:

This disappears if you _enable_ the mic in the OS. (I only retested Linux.) Meh. Now with crystal clear sound and no speaker noise. The noise only appears before the OS boots...

 

Yes, the recovery media will restore you to the factory image. I would not suggest installing a generic install of Windows. You will likely have much bigger issues from trying to get all the appropriate drivers installed in the proper order, etc. I've done this in the past and the machine never worked 100% and battery life was worse. Today the customizations Lenovo makes are even more extensive.

Pretty much any SSD will fit. 2.5" 7mm high I believe.

I don't mind the clicking sound of the touchpad and don't believe it to feel cheap. It uses the same scissor mechanism as the keys, and hence feels like a big key. In an office environment I never notice the sound. At home I do, but it is not bothersome to me.

I think if you follow the instructions you'll be ok.

 

Anyone know if NFC is supported for windows 7 (or will be supported in the future)? I see that there is a Broadcom NFC driver for windows 8 on lenovo's support site, but nothing for windows 7.

 

I wonder if anyone knows the difference in charging time between the
45w and 65w AC power adapters (at least in Canada you can order
either one for the same price; the 65w version seems to be only about
60 grams heavier)

 

I disagree. I got my T440s yesterday...I had ordered it with the 500GB 7200RPM disk, which I replaced with a 240GB Crucial M500 SSD. I then performed a clean installation of Windows 8.1. I obtained all of the necessary drivers from the driver matrix ( http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS035955) and had no problems with any of the installations. I have no interest in any of the "value-added" Lenovo applications, so this configuration suits me well. Just my $0.02.

 

I don't disagree that getting a 'working' install isn't that hard. The devil is in the details though, and modern laptops have a lot of integration done to make all the various hardware and functions work as intended, and further optimizations for the specific machine for things like rapid boot, drive caching, power management, etc. To me, it's far easier to start with the factory image and just remove the programs you don't want. YMMV.

 

Exactly. Also you can use thinkvantage system update once you've got an internet connection (which involves installing the chipset drivers first and maybe the ethernet driver) if you want a really easy life.

If zhenya00 was getting poor battery life with a self install, it was more than likely down to power manager settings.

The one exception is rapidboot but if you're running an ssd, do you really need that?

 

I have 8 Thinkpads on my desk right now, and 40+ here in the office, every one of which I'm responsible for. I've been through this before. We have plenty of units that have bare installs of new operating systems where we don't have a factory image to work from. It's rare that they 'just work' if by that you really mean that everything functions as entirely as intended. System Update is one of the reasons we buy Thinkpads, but it's not infallible. Plenty of times some drivers won't be installed. You might be left with unidentified devices in Device Manager that can be difficult to even identify to get the right driver. Read through the instructions on how to do a clean install. It's important that various drivers be installed in the correct order to function correctly. Windows Power Manager gets you the generic Power Manager settings, that's it. Laptops with the same physical hardware but put together by different manufacturers get drastically different battery life numbers. The generic Windows settings 'work' but it sure isn't the best it can be.

Who knows, maybe they've improved that process for the T440s. Given the customizations I've run across specific to how I configured my own machines from the factory though, I'm doubtful. Can we untangle all these various customizations and replicate them and/or change them to our liking? Absolutely. It just takes time, and in my experience, usually far more time than just removing the unwanted programs and partitions from the factory image.

Just some feedback from someone who has been through this many times before.

 

Still looking for some feedback on this, because I'm trying to determine if it is normal or if it is a defect with my screen. Can some owners please take a look at the green tiles on the Windows 8 start screen and tell me if you see vertical lines in them?

 

I am not seeing anything that I can say resembles that. Is it obvious?

If I really look, and especially if I move my head a bit while looking I can see a bit of what I think you are talking about, but I have to really try. I'm comparing it to my Surface Pro on my desk here and if anything, it's worse on that. (And wow, this is the first time I've really looked at the two screens side by side and the T440s looks WAY better than the SP! The SP seems kind of washed out in comparison - and it is considered to have a very good screen).

 

You've got me there - I've only got one very cleanly configured one

It sounds like we have very similar jobs. I've yet to experience a preload that I'm happy keeping. Things aren't so bad these days but unwanted trials for Symantec AV and suchlike are very difficult to remove satisfactorily. Then there's companies like Sony, in the past, pre-installing rootkits on new machines.

I agree that it's not as straightforward as hitting the re-image button but the results are, in my experience, way better.

If you're wondering about the order of installation by the way (not you zhenya00) starting at the lowest level and working up has always worked well for me. Chipset first, RST, ethernet, wireless, power driver, sound then it doesn't matter much after that.

 

I found a review of the T440S here: T440s ThinkPad T440s Review + Vergleich mit X1 Carbon! [ACHTUNG BILDER + VIDEOS!]!

It is written in german though. He compares the T440S with the X1 Carbon and writes that unlike the X1 the T440S has no visible grid. You can see screenshots in the display section of the review.

 

I ordered mine without any operating system preinstalled. Do you have any advice on what order to follow?

 

Just got my T440s, it's awesome so far. Screen is as amazing as everyone says, I've put the text size at 125% for desktop apps and it seems fine. Keyboard is nice, though now I can see what some people were saying about the backlight - the keys are elevated enough off the board that the backlight bleeds out from under them. Seems like a weird oversight but not a big deal. The Clickpad is a little strange at first but I'm already only using the trackpoint, no real issue there. It's just slightly unsettling when the pad moves down the first time but I think it's a better approximation of physical buttons than touchpads which don't click. Tap to click, which is what I primarily used on my old laptop because in Linux the drivers didn't properly prevent movement when using standard clicks, is a little awkward since it does depress a tiny bit if you tap.

One weird thing, when it first booted it said something about not properly booting last time and did I want to recover it, to which I said no, just boot normally. Anyone else have this?

The other annoying thing is that I can't seem to make a recovery disk, it just says that it can't make one (also, the option to copy the recovery partition is grayed out). And I don't see a recovery partition in my computer. Not sure what happened there are, but I'm going to get need some way of installing Windows 8 on my SSD when that arrives later today. I actually have a Windows 8 pro iso from my old school, I wonder if I can use it to install the standard edition and use the key embedded in the laptop?

 

You'll have to do some looking around. It's been a while since I've done it and it may change from model to model.

Congrats!

I would personally just clone the existing drive. Fast and reliable. Not sure what's going on with your recovery partition. I was able to make the USB recovery media from right in Windows.

 

Actually, I looked at the Disk Manager snap-in and there is indeed a 12.2GB recovery partition, it just doesn't have a driver letter assigned to it. So I'm confused now. Just to clarify, how did you create the recovery media, did you just go to Recovery in Control Panel and then click "Create a recovery drive"?

 

How are the lid corners so far? Any wear?

Thank you.

 

There is no wear on my lid so far, this should be the same for all new ThinkPads, since Lenovo now uses a new lid-coating. I don´t think the corners will wear off over time.

 

Awesome! Was this new coating added with Haswell models?

PS: One more reason to get T440p...

 

It was first added with the T431s, and all later T/X/W models (so, all new models with Haswell) should have it.

 

Great, thank you.

 

Hmm, that'd mean I'd need an enclosure and stuff, which I don't have with me right now (got a bunch at my parents house, but that's 500 miles away :/). I might just go for a clean install, even though as you said it can be complex getting the drivers right I've generally tended to do clean installs on all my machines anyway. Just need to find a Windows 8 disk I guess.

One thing I didn't mention in my first post, the touchpad is actually really awesome, for those who are into that sort of thing. The glide is really smooth. Personally I find clicking it a little awkward (more so than when using the Trackpoint) but it's probably something you could get used to easily.

 

Yep. Just stick in a USB stick large enough (has to be 16GB) and it will create it.

Haven't had it long enough to tell. It does seem better than the earlier models we have around here. Hard to tell how this will last. The Surface Pro looks kind of similar in how it's coated, and that does chip at the corners. My best Thinkpad ever in that respect was my z61t with the (blasphemous!) titanium cover. Once I stripped the anti-fingerprint coating off that still looks great, what 6-7 years later?

Yeah, you would need an enclosure or dock. Sure makes it simple though.

I agree about the touchpad, it's great. Even one of my curmudgeonly co-workers commented on how well it works.

 

Huh, that's what I did, but it's still just not letting me do it. I'm impatient to start actually using this so I think I'm just going for the clean install for now, since I'll still have the HDD as is so worst case I can put that back in and clone it if things go poorly.

By the way, for those who are curious, you can download Windows 8 legitimately from Microsoft here: Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Help . You'll need a retail product key to download it though, the one from the T440s (extracted using Belarc Advisor) doesn't let you download. The downloader program doesn't automatically read the license from the BIOS or whatever it is. It says you have to run it on the PC you want to upgrade but once it's downloaded you can make an ISO or a USB drive (I suggest making the ISO and then running the program again to copy it to your USB drive).

I'm not sure if it will let you install the retail version this way using the built in key, but as I'll be installing on a clean drive I don't have anything to lose if it doesn't work. I do have a spare Windows 8 key but don't intend to use it on this if I can avoid it.

Err, so people who did clean installs, does it automatically grab your key from the BIOS or do you have to use a different key?

Edit: Here's the error screen if anyone has any ideas: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?res...uthkey=!ANxAZ-i4hSnedBA&v=3&ithint=photo,.png

 

Last time I did a clean install using the Windows 8 DVD, setup read the embedded key correctly.

 

Hmm, well the ISO downloaded from the Microsoft site did not like the embedded key, it wouldn't even let me enter a key manually, just kept nattering on about the key not matching the type of Windows on the disk. Annoying.

Trying to figure out how to clone now, it seems like the Samsung tool doesn't like GPT disks which sucks because I like GPT disks (mainly because it removes the 4 partition limit, and I dual boot). Any tips on free software to do the job? I'm gonna try Macrium Reflect and if that fails probably will just fall back to Clonezilla, though I'm not sure if Clonezilla has specific support for GPT/EFI and whatnot.

One thing I'm wondering about is what to do about the EFI partition and the 1GB Windows system partition. I assume these are needed to boot, so I probably would need to clone these as well?

(Samsung 840 EVO 250GB is what I'm trying to clone to, just for the record).

 

It'll read the embedded key if it does a UEFI boot.

 

Huh, do you have a T440s or recent Thinkpad with UEFI? I don't have any option to boot UEFI or not so I'm assuming it's booting in UEFI since that's what the BIOS option says. On my desktop for USB disks I get two options that let me decide whether I want to boot the disk in UEFI mode or not, but here it just shows my USB disk. Still haven't gotten the damn disk clone to work either, but I'm about to try Clonezilla because all the Windows based cloning tools kept throwing errors. Just had to shrink my Windows partition first because Clonezilla doesn't like cloning to smaller disks than the source partition. I'm kind of wishing I had just gotten the Lenovo SSD lol, though as a broke grad student it would not have been such a good idea.

 

UEFI is the 'non legacy' mode.

This is an extract from the bios update readme which explains which settings to change when you are doing and install and how to restore the factory keys if they are lost for any reason. Essentially if you are installing Win 8 X64 you shouldn't need to change anything from the default values.

I'm currently using a W530 which does have UEFI - my T440s is crossing the oceans right now..

 

Huh, interesting, I wonder if that will help me if I decide to clean install with the spare Windows 8 key that I have.

Right now I don't understand what's going on, my system is unable to make a recovery disk and I've been trying every disk cloning tool I can find to no avail. I just got desperate and paid $16 for Paragon Migrate OS to SSD but now this is giving an IO error too. Now I'm wondering if it's a problem with my Samsung 840 EVO or my enclosure... But the recovery disk creator not working is retarded too. I might try doing a factory restore even though I started trying to make the recovery disks literally the minute I got the system. I guess I'll have to submit a support ticket or something to Lenovo since there's clearly something wrong with the recovery disk creator at the very least, and worst case maybe RMA my Samsung drive too. Bleh, not how I wanted to spend my first day with this laptop :-(

 

What was the OS that came pre-installed on your machine?

I've had weird problems with some imaging software on external USB3 enclosures. Do you have access to a desktop machine with some spare SATA ports. That's always the best way.

Alternatively if you have an older Thinkpad with an Utrabay HDD adapter you can take out the main drive and put your new source drive in then put the destination drive in the bay. That has always worked well for me.

Also make sure you use cloning software that is sector-alignment aware otherwise you'll get poor performance on your SSD.

 

It came with Windows 8 standard. I've got a Windows 8 Pro iso and license from my university which I was planning on using on a different machine, but I may just give in and use it on this since I've now found out how to bypass the embedded OEM license from being activated automatically in the installer. For reference for others, you can just do this: http://sharepoint2010mcp.blogspot.com/2013/06/solved-product-key-entered-does-not.html if you've got a USB drive with the Windows 8 installer on it. I may make one last attempt to find a standard Windows 8 iso and see if I can install that on the T440s.

I do have a desktop actually, I need to find some SATA cables and I may try that method of cloning as well. But I'm thinking that if the Windows 8 Pro clean install works I may just go with that, I've spent 6+ hours on this and don't want to spend any more time. The sad part is that I'm primarily a Linux user so all this trouble is for 10% of my computer use anyway, and I do have Windows on my desktop so it's not like I couldn't survive with only Linux on my laptop. I just feel like I paid for the damn OS, I might as well use it.