T440s Owner´s Thread

Regarding the connectivity issues with the AC7260, I did a rollback through device manager to 17.0.5.8 and it seems to be working fine now (as it was before, no issues when booting up or returning from sleep state).

I don't think I'll ever update these drivers again.

 

Thanks! l was looking for this comparison.

 

I used the non-HD LG screen for a few days while waiting for an AUO to arrive. It's usable, but the experience changes quite a bit across different viewing angles.

The AUO is fantastic, especially after applying the calibrated profile in the replacement screen thread.

Sent via my mobile device

 

Remember wifi is half-duplex so you have to divide the max number by 2 then minus a lil off for overhead.

866 / 2 = 433Mbps

 

Oh did you order the 900p display and then replace it with the AUO yourself? Does this void the warranty?


Is there any wireless card you guys suggest to order it with? Thinkpad default, AC7260, etc?

 

Ughh, the 7260AC... I've seen bad driver after bad driver for that card. And to top it off, I just got a BSOD (IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL) due to NETwew02.sys, which is apparently the Intel wifi driver. I was running 16.1.5.2. I updated to 16.5.3.6 (Windows Update said it was important), and actually got a lock up for half a second (cursor and music I was playing) while doing it. Absolutely pathetic on Intel's part. Not sure that the Realtek (Thinkpad default) is any better though.

 

I did. Warranty is intact, display excluded of course.

Sent via my mobile device

 

Where is it, please ?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/743388-t440s-lg-auo-screen-replacement-9.html#post9776507

 

How do i change the scroll speed for the touchscreen?

 

Doesn't the screen follow your finger?

 

Yes but you can do a 'flick' motion the same way you would with the trackpad. I'd like it to scroll faster when i FLICK!

 

Thankiss 10 times

 

Hi guys, newbie here. I bought the T440S with SSD and Intel Graphics because I read reviews on how quiet it was. I hardly ever hear the fans, which is fine. However, I can hear a bit of a buzz that changes in pitch around the track point and fan area on the left edge of the laptop if I hold my ear to those areas. Is that normal? I'm sure I can still hear the noise from the track point area when the laptop is on my lap, albeit on a laptop tray. My ears are really sensitive so this is very annoying. I've decided to return the laptop after 24 hours because of this. I'm wondering whether to order another or do they all give off this slight buzz? I'm desperate for a quiet laptop. A bit of fan noise every now and again is ok but not electrical buzzing. I had to get rid of my plasma TV last year cos it was hurting my ears from a distance of about 8 feet.

 

Flick faster? haha I think you would need to play with the registry.

 

You are going crazy. JK. I had the same problem. It was an annoying hissing. It was the speakers. Try muting the speaker and seeing if the noise goes away. If it does, I recommend you open up your bottom case, grab some duct tape, tape it over the speaker holes. After doing that, I don't notice this noise and the speakers still work really well. It actually works extremely well now.

 

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately, mute doesn't get rid of the noise. I don't know what it could be but there is a kind of buzzing/clicking that comes and goes even when idle. I'm going to return the laptop. It's a shame cos I liked everything else about it. Do all laptops make some kind of electrical noise? It appears Macs are the only really quiet machines but I need a Windows machine.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

You probably just lucked out. It doesn't hurt to get a replacement but if it happens again, then I would give up. Apple just has good suppliers and quality control due to the huge quantity they order.

 

What SSDs are compatible with the t440s? I've read there are some compatibility issues but maybe this has been fixed with bios updates? Will I have to stick to an 840 evo?

 

The T440s uses a 7mm drive, so any 7mm SSD or hard drive should work. There's also the M.2 SSD option.

 

I have similar (probably the same problem) you can read my struggle in this post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/734969-t440s-owner-s-thread-226.html#post9783319

I don't know if this cracking noise is normal and only a few people have problem with it but let me know if you figured anything about the exact part making the problem.

 

I got my T440s just today but I have a few questions.

Which SSDs are compatible with it? Is it just the 840 evo?
Also, how often does your fan start up? Mine is always somewhat audible and always running which seems a bit weird. I would think that under a certain temperature would grant passive cooling?

 

Pretty much any modern 2.5" 7mm SSD should be compatible with the T440s. I have a Crucial M500 in mine and it works beautifully.

My fan is usually off (passive cooling), and turns on occasionally under load. Is your T440s the integrated graphics model, or the Nvidia GPU model? Your fan may also be more active during the first few days you use your computer, as Windows runs a lot of other tasks in the background.

 

I was thinking of getting the M500 but I heard about errors of the laptop not detecting it. I have the integrated graphics model. Did you get the 7mm or the 128g m.2?
I tried change the performance mode to balanced in the bios but nothing seemed to change. Updated everything and nothing got better.

 

I tried a 480GB M500, but ran into "2100 HD0" errors half the time (not an exaggeration) when booting. After futzing with that and making sure the BIOS and SSD firmware were up to date, I returned it and bought a 500GB 840 Evo. No problems since. My roommate has a t440s with a 500GB 840 Evo as well, and it's working perfectly for him. On the other hand, others report M500's working fine for them (although I'm not the only one who had those detection errors apparently), and I have a 120GB M500 working perfectly in my x120e (albeit on SATA2 due to what the machine supports).

I suggest getting a 2.5" 7mm SSD unless you need 2 drives for some reason. Besides, the M.2 drives the t440s supports (40mm SATA-based rather than PCIe-based ones if I remember correctly) are lower capacity.

 

Thank you for the response, I'll be picking up an 840 Evo to avoid the headache.


Does anyone know if this ram work in the t440s? (I'm in Canada and NCIX is pretty close to my house)
http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-4gb-1600mhz-ddr3l-non-ecc-aa-88638.htm

 

I haven't used that RAM module, but I don't see why it wouldn't work - DDR3L, 1.35V, 1600MHz. That said, you might as well get an 8GB module instead - at least part of it will still register as dual-channel, and besides, you'd have to replace the RAM module if you ever wanted to higher in the future. May as well max it out now, unless you're sure you'll never need it or money's tight.

Note: I have an 8GB Crucial RAM module. And I think this will work: http://www.ncix.com/detail/crucial-ct102464bf160b-pc3-12800-8gb-ddr3-1600-d1-78741.htm 1.35V, SODIMM, 8GB.

 

I can price match this module down to $35ish from future shop. Do I just match the speed? 1600, 1.3v, and sodimm?
Crucial High-Performance 4GB DDR3 Mac Laptop Memory (CT51264BF160BJ) - English : Laptop Memory (RAM) - Future Shop

Should work right?

 

That's a 4GB while my link was 8GB, but yes, that should work. 1600MHz, 1.35V (aka DDR3L), SODIMM are the key parts.

 

Alright, I'll try it out tomorrow. I figure 8gb should be enough as my desktop uses 8gb and I'm quite the power user on there. I often have an assortment of programs open. Word, games, steam, origin, dropbox, btsync, skype, +~10 more.
On a student budget an extra $40 for 8gb is quite a bit but thanks for the advice on the ram, I really appreciate it.

 

I just checked out the model number on my display and its a FHD AUO, no wonder its so nice

I'm in Vancouver and I ordered 2 weeks ago if anyone is interested.

 

I put on

Crucial 8GB Single DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory CT102464BF160B

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB with RAPID on, very fast

working for 6 months already without any issue. Except 12G memory runs a little bit low from time to time since I'm a jerk in multitasking.

 

Wonder how much would a used T440s touch(4300u, 4G, 500G with another 1 year of accidental warranty) worth by January next year? I'm probably getting an upgrade around then so I'm wondering how much I can sell it for. How do you guys sell used laptop btw?

 

Worth is highly subjective. Much depends on where and when it's sold. It helps to be lucky too. EBay and CL are the obvious choices. The marketplace forum on ThinkPads.com is a good place to sell a ThinkPad.

 

This isn't fair. I've had 5 technicians come to replace my screen. Each had the same LG screen that's already on there...
I've also had many more case #'s with Lenovo for repair, but each and every time the case gets canceled without my knowledge or something else happens...
What's really messed up is that they once shipped out the correct screen, but it ended up getting sent back because the technician didn't pick it up on time. I swear to god. What a worthless company.
Never buying lenovo again.

 

This ram worked and tested fine in the memory test thats built in to the bios. Running at 1600Mhz.
EVERYTHING IS GOOD NOW

 

I know you feel you've been wronged, but that's not an excuse to bypass the language filter and use vulgar language. We run a family forum around here. Please keep it mind.

If you've had your screen replaced five times, Lenovo probably doesn't like you much either. Why not sell it and get something else. You would save yourself a lot of aggravation cause you're not allowed to pick what screen you get. I've yet to see a bad IPS LCD, so I can't imagine the LG is that bad.

 

Wasn't trying to bypass the filter. Yes, I'd like to get something else, but that's not the point here. Have you seen the differences between the screens? The LG is hard to read black text on white backgrounds. The uneven brightness and the light bleed are no fun either.

Lenovo told me that the LG screen problem is a known issue and said they would replace it with the correct screen. The LG isn't even on the replacement parts list for the t440s. It is, however, on another lenovo laptop. It seems to me that they had a bunch of extra screens of lower quality and someone thought they would save money substituting them.

 

The difference between AUO and LG is minor. Have you had both? I do. I had an AUO screen first in my T440s and now I have the LG screen.

Isn´t replacing a perfectly good part 5 times, and one as expensive as a screen, a bit extravagant, just because you would like an AUO screen more? Its not like the LG screen are lower quality or something, in some aspects, they are even better than the AUO screens. The only real area where the AUO is better, are the viewing angles if you tilt the display back - and by viewing angles I mean, the display is loosing brightness. Thats very common for IPS screens, my Eizo screen on my desk has exactly the same behaviour. The colors stay absolutely true.

Its no wonder if Lenovo gets stricter in replacing parts if they are exploited like this by some customers...if you don´t like the screen, sell the laptop and get a different one! But you should know, HP (and most likely Dell) also uses the AUO and the LG screen.

 

I've also had both screens, and for me the difference was not minor. It's possible some LG units exhibit less of the "spotlight" effect than others, or it may come down to personal preference. But from first-hand experience I can tell you that the LG bothered the heck out of me while the AUO has been great. The LG may be superior in certain ways, but with the 2 units I've seen, there was drastic dimming of the display with even the slightest shift in the relative position of the screen to my eyes. As a programmer who stares at black text on a white screen all day, it was simply not workable. It took me 3 tries to finally get the AUO unit sent to me, and I did the replacement myself (depot warranty). I love my T440s now, but I absolutely would not have been able to live with the LG screen. So I can sympathize with bulbsaur's frustration.

 

Does anyone have the link to the AUO display configuration? (To get better colour representation)

 

Here you go.

Sent via my mobile device

 

Hi! After painstakingly gone through 235 pages, I could not find answer to my questions. I would appreciate the advice that you could kindly help me as I am about to open the base of mine T440s to install 4 gb of ram and 256gb in the M.2 slot and replace the HDD with Crucial MX100. My intention is to have all OS and programs on the mydigital M.2 256GB and the Crucial MX100 (500gb) will only be for data. Here are my questions.
1. If we replace HDD with SSD, the M.2 16gb cache seems to be redundant. Can I simply just remove the cable of the M.2 Catch and leave it there?
2. If I remove the M.2 cache cable, (I am sure there is a program that would manage the cache), what is the name of that program? Do I need to remove it as well? Can I just simply uninstall it? or is there a way to disable it?
3. If I have to revert back to the original configuration with HDD with the m.2 cache enable and I had uninstalled the program. Where could I find the cache program to re-install it back to the original config.
3. I come across instructions to transfer windows to the m.2 ssd here ( How to Install an M.2 SSD in the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s). Has anyone try this? I am not familiar with the backup / cloning software mentioned in the instructions. are they safe to use? or please kindly point me to the instruction where I could follow step-by-step.

Thank you.

 

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile since I have been on the forum. I have ultimately decided to replace my workhorse laptop (T410) and have decided on the T440s. I am having trouble though deciding what configuration to get. I typically do some programming, web design, and use VMs on Virtual Box for testing, and will be using this unit to complete my B.S. at East Carolina University. So, my dilemma is that I found a good price on 2 configurations on the Outlet site, both of which I ordered and intend on returning one of them, for example if the display in the one I get sucks. I just wanted to see what other people's experiences are that have owned these. So basically trying to decide what the better value is for what I'm getting. I am getting the same price on both, $1,040 plus tax.

The first is a pre-built model, Still New and unopened: 20AQ004GUS
i5 4300u
4 GB Ram / on-board
256 GB SSD
1080p IPS Multi-Touch (panel manufacturer unknown)
Intel Wireless AC-7260
3 cell internal + 3 cell external battery
FP Reader
Windows 8 Pro
3 year warrany - Depot

The second one is a CTO model, New and unopened:
i7 4600u
8 GB RAM (4 GB on-board plus 4 GB SODIMM)
256 GB SSD
1080p IPS (non-touch) (I actually verified that it has the B140HAN01.2 panel from the parts list on the Lenovo site for the build from FRU part number)
Intel Wireless AC-7260
3 cell internal + 6 cell external battery
FP Reader
Windows 7 Professional Genuine
Maybe there is also the possibility of installed software that is unknown to me since it was a CTO order for someone else.
2 Year Thinkpad Plus Warranty/IBM Onsite with Accidental Damage Protection

What would be the better model to keep? The main difference is the touch screen on one vs. the i7 on the other. I'm not sure how useful, if at all, the touch panel would be to have and whether it is worth giving up the i7.

 

More RAM will benefit you more than the 4600U will for coding and VMs. And honestly, there isn't much difference between the 4300U and 4600U - even the 4300U has VT-X and VT-D (4200U lacks VT-D). I'm not sure that a touchscreen will be terribly helpful for you though - I like having one for casual use (when I'm not using the laptop with an external monitor/mouse/keyboard), but I doubt it'll help you much.

Personally, I got a t440s with base RAM and HDD, but 6-cell extended battery, i5 4300U upgrade, and 1080p touchscreen. I then put an 8GB SODIMM in (12GB total) and a Samsung 840 Evo SSD.

 

Thank you for your input. I too have thought that the touchscreen may be nice to have, even though I don't initially see the benefit, but the availability of an additional input device (the touch) is nice to have to complement the other input methods (keyboard, trackpoint, touchpad), and as you said it may be nice to have for casual use. The model that has that also has a 3 year warranty from Lenovo as opposed to the 2 year warranty on the one with the i7 (although it has accidental damage with it). Such a hard choice!

 

Ehh, I'm not sure how much the warranty is likely to be of use. Think bathtub curve - though accidental damage protection might be worth it, depending on how clumsy you are. The only downside to having the touchscreen is that it adds a little weight and reduces battery life a little - it doesn't bother me though, and overall I'm glad I got it.

 

While it comes down to your personal preference, the second configuration would be a no-brainer for me.

It has the best CPU this model has to offer. You might not notice the difference now, but you mentioned that you're a university student. As you approach graduation and even beyond, the specs on this machine aren't going to feel as cutting-edge. You'll appreciate the longer legs on the faster processor and the fact that you can get through graduation and beyond more comfortably with the extra power. You can upgrade a lot of components on this platform, but you only get one chance to choose its CPU. I tried to go minimalist with only a netbook that seemed "sufficient" for my last two years at university; using it became a painstaking affair toward the end when my requirements began to tax the older, outdated hardware to the brink of its limits.

You've already got the AUO screen. Jackpot! Seriously, lottery winner. I ordered mine with the basic HD+ screen and replaced with a third-party acquired AUO, because it was that important to me to guarantee AUO over LG. The touchscreen is a personal preference. I can't stand them on notebooks and prefer matte screens. If you find that you must have one, it's a simple matter to purchase the touchscreen via third-party and sell your AUO to anyone in the "T440s screen replacement" thread who hasn't already picked one up. They'd be happy for the discount...or ebay.

Finally, the included accidental damage protection (ADP) is a blessing. You don't have to be a klutz to need it. We were installing heavy tool storage in the garage when we heard a crash inside the house. The impact driver had rattled decorations off of a shell on the other side of the wall and onto my wife's pristine, three-week old Asus Zenbook, cracking the display and denting a bezel. Fortunately, Asus includes 6-months of one-time use ADP on that line of notebooks. They paid for return shipping and had it back to her, good as new in seven days. Things happen, let them pay for it.

Given the same price point, the second configuration is the far better deal in my *experience*. Either way, it's your call.

 

I bought the T440s! My mini-review:

The important configurations: i5 4210U; 8GB RAM; Installed 840 EVO by myself; FHD Touchscreen;

The screen is great compared to what I had before. Some very obvious backlight bleeding, I can accept that though, its not nice however. The anti-gloss sort of works, have not used it in direct sunlight, but my reflection is not as annoying as it could have been, I did wish the screen was just a bit brighter, and it did need some calibration (it was quite green), but excellent overall.

Performance is fine. Coming from a 2 year old quad-core i7 laptop CPU, I do notice the difference, as in that the i5 is slow. I feel a bit disappointed, but the laptop also has 2-3 times the battery life and works perfectly for my university needs. If there is a noticeable difference with the i7 4600U, I say get that one and upgrade RAM/SSD another time (if you are short on cash).

What does bother me though is the fan noise, but I might have screwed up there when I opened up the case, or that is just how it is? It's a high pitched whine even on the lowest fan speed. I solved this problem by installing TPFanControl_0.62 and using smart mode, and minimising CPU performance from BIOS to try and prevent the fan from even turning on, which it does at 62C. While typing this it hovers at 58C and it is stressing me. Is this fan noise normal? I read that a solution is to put a bit of pressure on the fan, like putting some tape on it, anyone with experience know if this works? I will be trying it in a couple of days when I have some free time, and I will say if it works unless I am given another solution.

I feel disappointed with the trackpad. It does fine, but the clicking noise is such a pain, I would not click if I am at uni, only tap. Not cool Lenovo. Keyboard is fine, a bit on the loud side, but its not like any other laptop is quieter. When pressed it is more like a thump noise rather than a click noise, which is good.

Taking into account the high pitched fan noise, the loud/difficult to use trackpad, and slow (coming from a qc i7), I give this laptop a solid 7. For my needs its a perfect 10. It will do excellent for my university needs.

If someone can tell me what is normal for the fan, than that would be appreciated!

 

I have no fan noise unless I'm going deaf.