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

You also forgot the biggest disadvantage. It consumes 28W at load.

 

Meh, that's at full load though. These days power management is pretty good such that if you're performing light workloads on both chips, power consumption should be comparable, whereas if you're performing heavy workloads the 4600U will just take longer than the 4558U and probably end up using a similar amount of energy over the longer time period (roughly speaking). I really feel that with Haswell chips talking about a higher max TDP as a disadvantage outside of thermal concerns is pretty pointless, (assuming that to first order the 4600U+730m put out a similar amount of heat).

 

Notebookcheck confirmed some of the same issues in their T440s review

In the Housing section:
"Only the lid is mainly between the hinges quite flexible. By pressing on the lid you can also provoke a disturbance of the display on the screen."

Touchpad section:
" Not so well does it work in conjunction with the TrackPoint . Here, working with the upper side of the Clickpads is very used to and can not keep up with the formerly usual solution additional buttons for comfort and reliability."

Personally I think you should take a closer look at a T430s. With both the 6 cell + 3 internal cell bay battery you're easily pushing 8-10hrs uptime and you'll get a very slim & light but full power CPU notebook with lots of muscle when you need it.

 

Why not linking to the English translation: Review Lenovo ThinkPad T440s 20AQ-S00500 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

And why not picking up these parts of the review:

"The surface is smoothly textured and the haptic is a bit more pleasing than the rough plastic material of the older members of the series. "

"Manufacturing is top for this test device and the stability of the case has also been increased"

"The two display hinges hold the screen fix in place, and a minimal bouncing only occurs in case of strong movements. "

"The keyboard with its chiclet design is excellent and represents the typical ThinkPad qualities."

"High mobility together with very low emissions, great workmanship and quality are at the core of the T440s."

"All in all, Lenovo succeeds in delivering a convincing entry with the ThinkPad T440s. "

I can confirm everything what the wrote, but my experince with the new TrackPoint buttons is different. I guess they didn´t disable the TrackPad in the BIOS or even in the driver, and if the Trackpad is enabled, there are some problems with recognizing the click you want to do.

The issue that the lid between the hinges is a bit flexible is not new for ThinkPads, nearly all models I had before, except for the T430u with Aluminum lid. The T420 also flexes there a bit. Thats nothing serious, cause the lid is made out of Carbon that won´t break that quickly between the hinges.

However, I can not confirm that you can disturb the screen image by pressing on the lid. You have to press extremly hard on the lid to make that happen.

 

The english translated review also states:

Case:
"Only the display cover can be bent quite easily especially between the hinges. Furthermore, with pressure on the cover one can disturb the picture on the screen."

Touchpad:
However, the touchpad does not work as well when it is combined with the track point. Here, working with the upper region of the clickpad takes a lot of time to get used to and cannot keep up with the old standard solution of additional buttons in terms of comfort and reliability.

So no matter how you want to spin your incessant marketing BS, the points vinuneuro was concerned about were also confirmed by notebookcheck's own review.

 

You should not talk about a Notebook you never used yourself. I am using it since more than two weeks. To say, that someone with real world experinces is posting "incessant marekting BS" is utterly funny and stupid.

But obviously, it is worthless to argue with someone who can´t do anything else than try to attack someone else personaly with a different opinion and just want to hate without reason.

The T440s is already selling very well here in Germany and there are already many happy users. And there is nothing you can do about it.

And no matter how you want to spin it in your hate, the T440s is better than the former T4xxs models. Of course, you can try to ignore the rest of the review.

 

ibmthink, apparently, you really like the new Thinkpads, especially the T440s since you bought one. Just because it's selling well means nothing. A lot of notebooks sell well but their quality leaves much to be desired. It's just an opinion that the T440s is better. Anyway, what is "better?" I am not saying the T440s is not good. It's just that some people have have a different opinion on what is "better." It's just an opinion no matter how qualified or not it might be.

Some people don't like the new trackpad when working in conjunction with the trackpoint. I can see how they could have an issue. To me, it doesn't look very comfortable, but then again, I have not used it. So what works for some people, such as you, may not work for everyone.

 

You still only end up with 76Whrs total with the Ultrabay battery. I'd have to carry two bay batteries to match the T440s' 95Whr which is what I need. I've picked up a T430 w/ 9-cell, will use it for the next month and see if the size is tolerable until the T440s becomes available.

I'm not biased against the T440s, want it to be good. It's exactly what I'm looking for in size, resolution and battery life.

 

I hope you can forgive me (actually, I don't really care whether you do or don't), but you have no credibility on this forum. If Lenovo was selling crap on a stick you'd be running around telling everyone how great it tastes. I prefer to trust respectable review sites like notebookcheck.

Now tell me the T440s only gets a very dismal 5-6 hrs runtime with a measly HASWELL ULV cpu. If you want more runtime you have to install a larger battery that sticks out the bottom like a giant tumor and elevates the back of the notebook considerably which looks rediculous. The T430s with it's FULL powered mobile CPU gets 8-10hrs run time with the 6 cell + internal 3 cell bay battery with NOTHING sticking out. How do you consider this as the T440s being better?

 

@Bluebird20,
Yes of course, thats right. This is my opinion. I never said anything different (also in my review). Nearly everything about the outer design of a notebook, the usablity etc. is subjective.

Since "MiB" had posted the link to the Notebookcheck review, the sentence "the T440s is better than the former T4xxs models" was because of the Notebookcheck review (since MiB seems to rate their reviews very high obviously). If you compare the rating, it is clearly better than every former T4xxs model.

And it is right that the fact that it is selling well does not mean much at all alone. But the people who bought it are mostly happy until now. But of course, different people have different expectations, so it won´t ever happen that everybody is happy.

 

Bay battery? If the way Power Manager treats second batteries still hasn't changed.... you can expect that bay battery to die rather quickly. The Power Manager always uses up the bay batteries first and drains them to 0%... that's the fastest way to the recycle bin for Lithium batteries...

I had a bay battery for my T61; it's on my list of worst buys above $100; after 20 cycles it had only 50% of design capacity... and I was not the only one. And when it's that low in capacity at full weight... it makes more sense to lug around the charger in most cases.

 

Actually, that's a pretty interesting point. How does the power manager treat the external and internal batteries on the T440s? If it has the same behavior with the external then won't the same problem occur if you use the full battery life of both batteries?

@ibmthink, what's your experience with this?

 

Hasn't been an issue on my T430s after a year of use.

Some T430s fun facts

Weight
T430s + 6 cell + empty bay = 3.8lbs
T430s + 6 cell + DVD RW= 4.0lbs
T430s + 6 cell + 3 cell = 4.2 lbs

Battery run times
6 cell = ~5- 5.5 hrs
6 cell + 3 cell = 8 -10hrs

p.s. the T440s discharges the rear battery before the internal one, otherwise powerbridge would be even more useless, so by your theory T440s user will burning out their rear batteries too

 

On the T440s, the external battery is used first. It discharges until ~5 % or so. Then the internal battery is used and discharged. They only reach 0 % if both batterys are at 0 %.

- The T440s gets 6 hrs with 47 Wh of battery capacity, the T430s gets 4 hrs and 30 min with a 44 Wh battery
- The bay-battery has to be bought extra, the T440s has a reasonable good battery life standard (if your are using the bay-battery, you are also loosing one of the things always mentioned as an advantage of the T430s over the T440s: The flexible Ultrabay with a 2. HDD or an DVD drive)
- The T440s still has a maximum of 95 Wh, the T430s only 76 Wh
- The optional 6-cell battery is lifting the Notebook up, which makes it more comfortable to use. And about the looks, compare it with the X220t/X230t 6-cell battery, THAT was a turmor. But the 6-cell battery for the T440s is not.
- You don´t have to buy one of the 6-cells if you don´t want to, you can also use another charged 3-cell which is very light and small, and easy to carry around

Also, you still seem to think that ULV CPUs can´t perform well. They do. The fastest ULV CPU (i7-4600U) used in the T440s is close to the fastest i7 used in the T430s. And you should look on the other manufactures: HP doesn´t even have one Elitebook anymore in the 14" formfactor with full-voltage CPUs, Lenovo has one (T440p). Face it, most Notebook in the future will use ULV CPUs, and they can perform pretty good.

You seem to know me very well. or not, because I am not a fan of Lenovo. I love ThinkPads, not Lenovo, and I don´t like some of their products (ThinkPad Edge E, most of the IdeaPads). While I respect them for building ThinkPads and likeing their company policy better than Apples for example, I am not religious about them (like some maybe are / were on IBM).

Maybe the opposite is the truth: If Lenovo would sell 1 kg Gold for 10 $, you would still hate them for doing it.

Funny, thats even heavier than the T440p with 6-cell battery (4.1 lbs). And I thought the T440p was supposed to be fat and heavy?

 

I like the T430s, but those battery life estimates seem really optimistic unless the screen is dimmed. Total capacity with bay battery is 76Whr. With my X220 I'm at around 11 watts average with screen brightness at 14. Given the same consumption (I'd expect it to be higher in the T series), that'd put a T430s with bay battery at 7hrs.

 

By the laws of physics, T440s should have appreciably longer battery life than T430s with the comparable batteries, unless lenovo did so well with T430s or so bad with T440s, which seems unlikely.

 

Ummm....you're picking selected parts of the review to knock the product--a product that appears to be tied for the top spot overall (or in 2nd) in their review. The only real issues the reviewer had were the display (a different panel than ibmthink's screen) and the gaming performance (not traditionally a big issue for TP users). With the IPS display, this would have clearly been their top-ranked notebook in the category.

It seems pretty clear who is "spinning BS" here....

 

You quoted the wrong person.

 

I didn't--the forum software did! Sorry! I'll try to edit... Still, I think anyone reading the thread can figure it out. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

Fujitsu has just announced the Lifebook U904, which looks like a direct competitor to the T440s:

LIFEBOOK U904 Ultrabook™ - Fujitsu CEMEA&I

It could be out as early as this month.

 

Wow. How is Fujitsu construction, how are their keyboards.

There's also this one, seemingly even better.

LIFEBOOK S904 - Fujitsu CEMEA&I

 

Available for sale starting at $1549 ! That was short-lived excitement.

Fujitsu America | Tablet PCs | Notebooks

 

Personally, I always held them in the highest of regards. Well-built machines in my book.

Definitely not ThinkPad-grade. Having not used the newest ones, I'll say that the older ones reminded me of Panasonic keyboards with a trackpoint...

Try before you buy is all I can advise, but they are nice machines generally speaking.

 

Doesn't matter. We posted simultaneously, see the post above yours.

 

Fujitsu machines are generally solid and well built (at least they used to be). Keyboards are/were OK, nothing special but nothing mushy, either. Bang for the buck, however, Lenovo's Thinkpads still beat all comers. Yes, you can get as good or better spec machines as well built from other manufacturers like Dell, HP, Fujitsu, Apple etc., but they'll generally cost considerably more. For the record, I hate this fact... makes me feel chained to Lenovo

 

I'd venture a guess that Fujitsu's price range had the effect similar to a very cold shower...back to the square one for anyone who's in the market for a laptop of this nature...

 

That S904 is the one that looks relevant here.

S904, 13.3", 2560x1440, 24hr quoted run-time with ultrabay battery. The U904 seems to be going after the X1 Carbon, so I'd guess this one is the real T440s competitor. And should be less than the $1550 U904. Too bad it only releases in Jan. Looks like an interesting machine.

 

juat wondering - I see the X1 Carbonn and this new T440s among others have a new power plug. I usually need two of them, and reallise that apprt from having to buy 2 new docks (thank you marketing department at lenovo!) I need to get 2 spare travel plugs (just in case they fail when I am overseas which happened twice). Anyone know if someone has made an apapter from the current lenovo plug to the new slim one? Then I could use any one of 20 power adapters I have already... (Just trying to save my company a few dollars since they are getting me a new PC)

 

That display though, seriously drool worthy. Too bad $1500 is about my upper bound, though I'd be willing to shell out another hundred or two if necessary to get the 4600U and max out the RAM. But on the whole I feel 1080p is a more "useful" resolution in some sense because it gives more working area, whereas that is effectively 1600*900 doubled so the work area is sort of the same. Then again, most of my work is code editors and terminals and text scales pretty fluidly either way. I would have liked to get a super high resolution laptop but I think it's more useful on a tablet where you hold it closer to you, on a laptop it's more of a luxury.

 

If you look at forums people's real world usage of the T430s with bay battery, it did not equate to 8-10hrs. Sorry. T430s was a crap laptop if you wanted long battery life. You should also read up on Hasell CPUs chips.

 

Power Charger Converter Cable Adapter for Lenovo ThinkPad x1 Carbon 0B47046 CC | eBay

5 5mm Female Power Converter Cable Adapter for Lenovo ThinkPad x1 Carbon 0B47046 | eBay

 

That depends... normally your system goes to sleep when the battery reaches 5%. Not so with the Bay batteries in, say, a T61; the bay batteries is drained to 0%. Everyone with an ounce of knowledge about lithium batteries knows that that's bad for them.

It seems they did improve on that software though, since ibmthink replied it would now drain second batteries to 5%.

In case of the bay batteries you don't want them to drain first, nor want them to drain to 0%; per Whr the bay batteries are more expensive, so you'd rather wear out the normal batteries.

But internal battery.... wth. It's like Apple...

 

Thanks but are these for generic laptop chargers or the lenovo one which came with my t410s?

 

There is also an official Lenovo cable for this: Lenovo 0B47046 NB Power Adaptr TP Slim Power PWR Conversion Cable | eBay But of course much more expensive.

 

So can someone clarify? I'm confused about the battery life on the T440s.

Website says up to 6 hours with 'standard' 3-cell. But... this comes with 2x 3-cells. (1 swap, 1 internal). Does this equate to >6hrs? That seems a little... bleh. Considering the MBPr 13" gets 6+ hours with the same capacity battery, with a bigger screen, and last gen processors.

IBMthink can you comment? Really this comes down to the new release of rMBP and the t440s for me. I'm only assuming that the apple will have much improved battery life with haswell.

 

The T440s is rated for 12 hours which usually means in idle. Notebookcheck already tested the battery life and got 11 hours of idle time and 6 hours of real world usage with the 3+3 cell.

The MBPr with windows drains battery like any other Widows laptop. Mac OS is more optimized for battery life. A MBA can drain 4 WHr while the equivilant Windows laptop would drain 6 WHr.

 

Yes, 6hrs with real-world useage, 10 hrs in Idle. Thats realistic with the 3-cell + 3-cell combination.

 

L440 and L540 are up for sale in the US guys. Shouldn't be too long!

 

That's a deal for a Fujitsu.

 

I prefer to trust respectable review sites like notebookcheck. wireless web battery runtime

T440s Thinkpad T440s i5 4200u with 46...48Wh 1.56kg = 6h -> Review Lenovo ThinkPad T440s 20AQ-S00500 Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews ... we can easily estimate battery runtime for T440s equipped with 95Wh battery weighting total 1.77kg at about ... more than 12h of wireless web

yours 430s
Thinkpad T430s i5 3320m+NVOptimus...i7 3520m+intHD4000 with 44Wh 1.79kg 3h...4.5h (or 1.95kg 4.5h...6.4h - DVD replaced with battery 31Wh)
Review Lenovo ThinkPad T430s Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews
Review Update Lenovo ThinkPad T430s Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

 

The L440 and the L540 have the option for a i7-4702MQ quad. Though this is the lower end Quad-core, nonetheless, it can be useful to some. I wonder if getting a higher clocked dual core i5 might be better for most people though. The L540 seems to automatically come with a FHD screen, which is a nice thing. Wonder what kind of screen they are using?

Overall, these look like solid laptops. Price seems a little high but overall good looking laptops. The downside is that the new 15" Thinkpads have the off-center keyboard due to the number pad. Thanks Tirilwen.

 

I'm looking for a T440s with 14.0" FHD Multitouch, Intel Core i7-4600M, 8GB RAM, 256GB OPAL SSD, Win8Pro, and 3-year Depot.

Found two models with what seem like identical technical specs, but differing only in TopSeller and global availability:

20AQ004JUS $1899.00 (TopSeller, not global)
20AR001AUS $3049.00 (Not TopSeller, global)

Lenovo Solutions Center

I'm having trouble believing that TopSeller and global availability makes such a difference in price. In fact, everything in the 20AR line seems more expensive.

Is this normal Thinkpads to have such a price difference?

 

There is no T440s with Core i7-4600M, this CPU will be only found in the T440p or the L440. This is likely to be an mistake.

The prices in the Solution Center are B2B prices, not retail.

 

Yes it is.

Overhere in the Netherlands Thinkpads are absolutely crazy in prices. One or two topseller models have a "normal" price (just a few hundred too expensive), while all the others, even with minimal differences (say a better Wifi card) are sometimes €500 more expensive.

 

The "off-center keyboard" is actually aligned with the spacebar/trackpoint. If it were actually centered, you would have to move your hand every time you wanted to use the trackpad. Functionality > apparent asymmetry.

The 16 GB NGFF cache drive looks to be a free upgrade on both models.

 

Yes, of course you can't have a centered trackpad with a num-pad. A centered keyboard provides a better overall experience though. A num-pad is something I don't use often. Apparently, there is a demand for it so Lenovo put it there.

 

That's good. Bad, however, is the fact that the only OS options are Win8 and Win8 Pro (I presume this is actually Win8.1). No Win7 option anymore

 

You can downgrade 8 Pro to 7 Pro for free

 

Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements
Problem solved. At least, that's the only area I can think of where Windows 8 has arguably regressed compared to Win 7.

 

Windows 7 will be an option for all ThinkPads, at least for the non-CTO models, as I have heard in the last Lenovo Webinar. Like on the last gen, the systems will come with preinstalled Windows 7 but with an Windows 8 license in the UEFI.