T440s up on Lenovo website (IPS Screen, 1080p)

Blame Intel for it - they have the IDF then.

But BTW, the Webinar isn´t exactly an P.R. event, it is an presentation held for the Lenovo business partners.

 

It's not T440s but one of coming ThinkPads -- S440 pre-orders started in Germany Lenovo ThinkPad S440 20AY001DGE W8 Pro (Art.-Nr. 90520256) - Notebooks / Laptops - computeruniverse Haswell/HD8670M, HD+ touch screen (IPS?), 1.9 kg.

 

Well, not only the pre-orders, it is already available since a week or so in some European countries (see for example: Google Übersetzer)

But no, the HD+ screen isn´t IPS, it is likely the same es the T431s or the T440s HD+ screen.

 

Agree on the optical drive (I've used mine once in the last year), but losing the ultrabay (or an equivalent flexible expansion system) would be sad. The option of an optical drive, additional HDD or additional battery is one of the things that made the T-series unique.

 

I think T440p is still going to have it, if you want an UltraBay, you should look on this T440 variant. Personally, I wouldn´t want an Ultrabay in a system like the T440s, it would make the chassis to weak and I won´t need a 2nd drive (my old R60 had this ability, I never needed one), and the batteries would be much smaller, so that you would have to use the additional battery to get acceptable battery runtime.

The only thing you really loose (if you don´t use the optical drive) is the abillity to use a 2nd hard-drive. The additional room inside the notebook is now used to make the batteries bigger and to make the footprint smaller at the same time.

Well, many business notebooks (Dell latitude, HP Elitebooks) have the ability to swap out the DVD drive for a 2nd HDD, but you are right about the additional battery, although only T4xxs models could accept the Ultrabay battery (since the Tx10 generation).

 

Not the T-series. Only T4xx "s" models have the UltraBay battery option -- and not an exciting one, at that.

 

For me, it's more about the flexibility offered by the UltraBay. I love being able to swap in and out a battery or a hard drive for additional storage. I hardly ever have the optical drive in there, but it comes in handy a few times a year. If there was some new interface that allowed switching out a battery, an additional drive, or some other components, that might be great. Instead, flexibility is just being eliminated.

But I think the largest "form over function" changes have to do with accessibility of components. I loved that with the T420s I can access 2 DIMM slots, an mSATA/mini-PCIe and the wireless card by removing two screws. I love that I can switch out or remove the hard drive by removing one screw. I love that the keyboard can be replaced by removing just three. I love the disk access LED. This is a tool for me, and I love that it is flexible with hardware, which the new models are not.

I know this isn't important for most consumers, but it certainly is for business. Perhaps companies expect pricing now that doesn't allow for the additional cost of such features--that's certainly a possibility. But in terms of quality and robustness, it's not an improvement.

Really, the perfect system for me would be the T420s with Haswell, a high-resolution IPS display, and fixes for the CPU whine and BIOS fan speed problems. Now it looks like it'll never happen.

Thanks for sharing that. How did you discover that the T440p is the ThinkPad Oasis?

 

When it comes to maintaince, the T440s is even better accessable than the T420s/T430s models. All compontents are under the removeable bottom cover (which is made out of Magnesium). For example, the fan is noch much more easy to remove than in prior generations, the M.2 cards are still very easy to reach and remove. The keyboard can be still very easily removed, its just screwed with more screws now. Read the HMM: http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/t440s_hmm_en_sp40a25360.pdf

I found this document: ThinkVantage Communications Utility - XP [32]/Vista/7 [32,64] - DriverAgent.com It seems accurate, the other names are fitting as well (X230s is Rogue, T431s is Santana etc.)

 

Although this is the T440s thread, I think many of us are eyeing up the T440p, any idea when they will be released? It seems imminent given the plethora of summer sales on the 230/430/530 lineup, but what's your best guesses? Any evidence to support a certain date or time of the month? I'd guess sometime this September, just based on how long the current lineup has been on clearance.

 

Well, as we said on the last page, the new Haswell M-Series (37w TPD Dual-Core CPUs) will be announced by Intel on the IDF 2013 in San Fransico, which will be held from September 10 - 12. It is very likely that Lenovo will announce the entire new lineup around these days (remember, Apple will announce their new Macbook Pros September 10). My guess is that the new models will be widely available in October (maybe together with Windows 8.1), maybe small numbers of units will be available in late September.

 

For the most common components (storage, RAM, keyboard, Wi-Fi, mSATA/WAN) the T420s/T430s were much more easily serviced. Even Lenovo acknowledges this in the HMM; "Memory module", "Hard disk drive or solid-state drive", "Backup battery", and "Keyboard" are listed as self-service CRUs for the T430s but not for the T440s. For the T440s, only "External battery" and "TrackPoint cap" are listed.

I'm not saying that the T440s is worse to maintain than systems from other manufacturers; I'm just saying that it's taking a step backwards. The HDD requires 9x more screws, the RAM 4x more (and you can't even replace it all), and the keyboard 2x more. Perhaps the system board is much easier to replace than the earlier systems, which evens things out for their service centers. But that doesn't help the end user or the IT department. When you're taking drives out to image them, that's a huge difference.

Good find! I appreciate that you've got an eye out for this stuff.

 

I always assumed Intel provides major manufacturers like Lenovo with production samples for engineering and perhaps even significant harware inventory before the "official" launch, so would we really have to wait almost a month before units ship? Not that a few weeks is a big deal, I'm just curious.

 

Thats just my guess, but:
- Windows 8.1 is also targeted at Business users and will be released in october, so it is likely that the new ThinkPads will come preinstalled with 8.1 rather than 8.0
- The current Topseller Portfolio Guide doesn´t contain the new Thinkpads, and it will be updated at the end of September: TopSeller Portfolio Quick Reference Guide | LPN | (US) In October, there will be a new Topseller Guide.
- The factories need some times to start the production

 

The T440s is on sale since today in Japan, you can customize it on the Lenovo Japan Web-Page: ThinkPad T440s

Also, the full specs are now online: Google Übersetzer

No dGPU option yet, but according to ITmedia, this option will come later.

IPS for the Full HD display is now confirmed, and I am happy that I was wrong.

 

If only they would have not had the soldered DIMM as well.

 

I can't recall a ThinkPad being released with the dGPU as a later option. Given the boosted iGPU specs of Haswell, do you think they would actually release the dGPU separate?

Thank God for 1080p IPS though! Any idea what will come on the (potential) T440p? What would be different vs. the T440s...would I be wrong to assume a slightly thicker chassis, more powerful CPU/GPU options, more than 12GB RAM max, larger battery, or am I just being hopeful? (i.e. debating whether I should eye up the T440s or T440/p)...

 

Yes. The optional GPU which will be offered in the T440s, the GT 630M, is much more powerfull than the standard Intel HD 4400. Its a shame that Lenovo doesn´t use the HD 5000, but thats not a problem for me as long as they will release an dGPU option.

These would be my guesses too, we will have to wait until Lenovo finally releases the specs.

 

ThinkPad T440s

"HD + / full HD IPS panel LCD
It is equipped with the possible (1920 x 1080) high-resolution LCD full HD at the maximum, adopted the IPS panel wide viewing angle. It provides a comfortable working environment with a high-definition LCD is bright. * HD + LCD is not a IPS panel adoption"

 

What are the three battery options? I read about the technology where you can switch batteries without shutting down. But there is a front and rear battery But not only that according to the site there is an option for a 72wh battery? Does that stick out or what? And i would be curious if the batteries are installed, when you buy the lenovo sealed battery warranty which battery are they covering?
Also the price translates to a little less than $1500 with only one processor option though.

 

Yes, thats the 6-cell option for the Power- Bridge battery (the rear battery). It sticks out like that:

Since its a sealed battery warranty, it only covers the sealed front battery.

 

Thanks for the picture. So it is actually is raised up rather than sticking out from the back? That is interesting. Well grad school started for me and i have had some problems with my current laptop. if this thing does not come out soon I may have no choice but to get the T431s. I don't want to it but but grades and productivity trump IPS and battery life.

 

Compared to the specs described for Hong Kong , the Japanese specs are disappointing, especially for the price.

FWIW, I'd like to see a quad-core processor. The HDD+24 GB SSD drive/cache and some sort of discrete graphics would also be nice. There don't seem to be too many reasonably priced alternatives with a matte FHD 14" screen. I know there's the Clevo W740SU, but I like the Lenovo reputation better...

 

"specs described for Hong Kong" is just a rumor.

 

Ah. I wondered. The source link at the bottom of the Hong Kong post never worked for me. Since the thin / light nature of the t440s is not so important for me, maybe I'd be better off waiting for the t440 or t440p anyway (maybe better cooling for higher-end processors/GPUs?). It's just depressing that the t440s was announced in the first half of July and is not yet available, so how long will I have to wait for a t440 and t440p?

 

I'm a post-graduate student in Hong Kong (HKU). There is a road show/marketing display for Lenovo on campus from Monday-Wednesday next week, and I'll be checking it out when I can. I'm not 100% sure on which models they will have on hand as this showing will be for the Post-graduate Student Association, rather than for the undergrads.

AFAIK, what is listed on HKNotebook or HKEdOffer are the final specs of the products available. This has been the case with all the companies and their products (HP, Acer, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Samsung) for a long time (2007?).

@NRSally - those prices listed on the HK websites are subsidized by the government to help students purchase their first computer. The JPY listings also include tax (which is not applicable in HK). The suggested retail price for the 143514Yen model converted to HKD is around 11273. Suggested retail price for a similar model according to HKEdOffer is 12088HKD.

 

Is it looking like the 1080p option will have a touchscreen? AND IPS?!?
That would make for one AMAZING screen

 

@Verloren:

Are you implying that the retail price of the T440s will be around $1500 USD? You can get a T430s for half that, so I would be shocked if it was actually released at that price.

 

Yeah but the T431 is/was about $1100 or more. This one has IPS and a fancy battery........

 

That's debatable. 1080p on a 14" screen will make for some very small text and the Gorilla Glass used for touch, makes the screen highly reflective, which can be annoying.

 

Hmmm.... I thought about it more, and it occurred to me that what I want is the power of the y410p with a 1080p IPS matte screen. I like just about everything about the y410p (keyboard, processor, basically runs quiet and cool for how I use it, GPU is sufficient), but its glossy screen and bezel drive me crazy because of all the reflections I can see. I'm not sure if there is some other factor in addition to the reflections, but something about the y410p's screen makes it unpleasant for me to read text on it.

@Verloren: Thanks for the info about the pricing for the Hong Kong and Japanese web sites. It was helpful.

 

All the data that has been provided points to around there. However, that is the suggested retail price. Doesn't mean it will be there.

Last year, according to the same series of websites, the suggested retail price of an i7 T430s was 17473HKD (~2kUSD). Amazon has a listing price of 1.7k USD, but as of 1438UTC on Aug 24, 2013, an actual retail price of 1-1.4k USD. I'm not exactly sure what the actual launch price of the i7 T430s was.

For further detail: the subsidized i7 T430s had a price of 9549HKD (~1200USD) for the i7 T430s.

 

any word yet on a release date? how much longer are we going to have to wait? it wouldn't be so bad if they would just tell us a date or even approximate date.

 

Just asked a Lenovo rep via chat on their website. Models/specifications will be up in September, and they'll start shipping in October. This info was for Canada, but I assume that includes the U.S. as well.

He confirmed that an SSD option will be available (didn't specify the size), and warranty options will be similar to the T340s (currently the only option is a 1 year warranty, but that can be upgraded later I think).

Definitely looking forward to this laptop. I've been following this thread for weeks!

 

That's exactly what I thought. Thanks!

(It looks like the release price for the i5 T430s was $930, which is only slightly higher than it is now).

 

Lenovo reps are infamous for being inaccurate, or not-completely accurate at best. I remember some Lenovo reps saying that they would be available in August.

That being said, October shipping seems very reasonable.

 

Good news, everyone!
The T440s will be released on the 27th of August according to a friend of mine at Lenovo!

 

Really? US release on the 27th? Wow!

 

October still sounds like the most realistic shipping date. The possible August 27th "release date" will most likely just be an announcement that the T440s exists and will be "coming soon". Lenovo is not Apple where they have products ready to ship soon after announcing something. Judging from the last 3 ThinkPads I've ordered in the past 2 years, there will be at least a month from when a product is officially announced and shows up on their website to when the product is actually delivered to your doorstep. Would love to be surprised and get a T440s soon than that but I'm simply going by recent Lenovo order history.

 

You are partially right, the product won't start shipping for a while after it is released. But the models and specifications should be released on the 27th, because it was announced (even with a website page) months ago

 

Don't think the T440s was ever "officially" announced. If you look at the website link that I started this thread with, it was not publicly viewable and most likely was put there by the web designer testing things out. Try to find the website now on their homepage and you won't be able to see anything.

Anyway, it's probably not important to discuss official vs unofficial announcements, etc. Only Lenovo knows what's really going. We'll hopefully know soon in the coming week(s) how much longer we'll have to wait. I also get the feeling that there is pent-up demand for this unit so we may even face delays to production not being able to keep up with demand (for the first few weeks).

Lastly, Lenovo may even be delaying the release due to outside forces (windows 8.1 issues, Intel chipsets delayed, etc)?

 

I want to believe!

 

Believe it, because here in the US there's a huge thinkpad sale that ends august 28, so expect to see the T440s hit the online store around that time period.

 

I watch their sales though, they just keep pushing back the end of the sale date.

 

Well, here in Germany, the student-resellers say that they will get the first T440s units next week or the week after the next week (week 35 / 36). One week ago, all resellers stated "week 36", but now they moved to week 35, which is a good sign that Lenovo will finally get the T440s out of the factory. Also, the T440s sale in Japan started last week, which means production has already started.

A US release can´t be far away.

It was indeed announced in July, but not ready for sale back then when Lenovo announced it.

 

Very true. I am thinking announcement then a few weeks for ship date and then month for shipment. I have never bought anything brand new without first reading reviews but I can't wait. The reviews can be slow for certain machines. The T431s does not have that many reviews. Two new reviews just came out on august 21 & 22nd and that laptop has been out for several months. My only concern would be battery life. Don't want to get an extended battery if I don't need it. But I am curious if one has to have a 72wh battery as it shows on the Japanese site, then the standard batteries must be average.First adopter of something you can't just bring back to the store and return. I don't want to eat a restocking fee. But Lenovo is my only choice. I am rough with my laptops and I need something rugged, with a great keyboard, and a pointer. I will take my chances with the new one if this Edge can hold up for the semester.

 

Haha so true, last year when I almost bought an X1C I watched their sales for a while and they always extended it several times.

A late August release would make me ecstatic, I start grad school September 23rd and if I could get it before then it'd be sweet. I feel like with a brand like the Thinkpad T series they're not going to screw up the essentials, and as for me as a first time Thinkpad buyer I don't really care too much about the keyboard or light changes. I really just want a thin laptop with Haswell, a good screen, and a pointing stick, and this seems to tick all the boxes hopefully. I guess screen is still a question mark but I'm not picky, just need a good resolution really. For heavy duty stuff I intend to use a workstation anyway, or at least an external monitor, but it's nice to be able to use a laptop away from your desk

 

if there's a SSD/quad core/dGPU/FHD/touch config for T440 available in the next two months i'll have a tough time deciding to go with this or the Dell M3800

 

Even if they released it tomorrow, it'll probably be a month before CTO buyers get theirs. Buying a pre-configured model through an internet retailer might be an option, though it tends to be more expensive.

 

True enough, though my current laptop hasn't completely failed on me yet so I'm fine either way. Just would rather have a new laptop sooner rather than later or course.

 

True and sometimes next to a certain option (processor, graphics card, etc) it will say expect and even greater delay.