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

I ordered it an hour after it went live (3AM PDT on 11/29). I got a 15% B&N gold discount and bought it immediately. It actually has been shipped today and I will be getting it on Friday 11/8. I might be one of the first US user to get the T440s. This is what happens when you stay up past midnight doing homework.

 

Oh, I wasn't basing it on that, I had an order status page for a few hours before it started showing an error, that did say 12/4 delivery (I forgot what the ship date was, something like a week before that). But it might have been because it was Friday night so my order wasn't actually started yet or something. Anyway, still getting an error :-(

 

Haha, I was also up when the order page went live but sadly I didn't have the money to order immediately (or well, I had enough money to buy the laptop, but possibly not for rent and some other large expenses I needed to take care of last week). Ended up not needing to deal with one of them last week and getting paid on Friday so I actually could have ordered on Tuesday, just would have been close to broke for a few days :-\ well, considering that I ordered 4 days after you hopefully mine ships in 4 days, even though right now I'm not getting anything on the order page.

 

Mine shipped as well. The people that ordered it that night by typing in the URL should be getting them soon. I was happy they had it up by midnight and shared the news here immediately.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in the owners thread!

 

was yours a custom config?

 

Yes. I did customize it.
i5-4200 (should have went with the 4300)
FHD
4GB RAM
Intel 7260AC
3+3 cell battery
some HDD

I am going to buy 8GB of RAM and move my 256GB SSD over to it once I get it.

 

I get an error as well. Ordered mine on 10/30

 

ok cool. was just wondering if you guys are getting em quick simply because you got preconfigured models.

 

I just wish the Razer Blade 14 was available outside of North America and China. According to their sales staff they have no plans to do make it available to the rest of the world.

Who was that poster who was complaining that the US was being treated poorly because @ibmthink had received his student T440s in Germany and the poster couldn't order one in the US? I hope he's happy now.

 

Isn't a razor blade just a re-badged clevo ala system76/pcspecialist? I have one and the battery life is absolutely ***... I'm serious when I say less than 60 minutes

 

Just played with the T431s at the UCLA store and decided the trackpad is tolerable. It's a nice idea by Lenovo and the trackpoint is perfectly useable IMO, but in my view it's just poorly implemented overall. The surface quickly looks like cr&p (though that's partly due to the dark color), the pad itself has too much vertical and horizontal play and the clicks, while not too loud, have a cheap, rattly feel to them. No two clicks were alike... it depends exactly where you click. All in all it just feels like a little rectangle of grease-stained cheapness in the middle of an otherwise fairly solid machine, and I'm disappointed that Lenovo could not engineer something a little more refined, in keeping with a flagship notebook. Reduce the play and add some sort of damping so the clicks have a nice solid feel to them wherever you click and it would do wonders to improve the feel IMO.

Am I correct to assume the T440s trackpad is identical?

Another design snafu that bugged me about the T431s is the design of the top f-key row of the keyboard, which allows way too much backlight bleed from under the keys that's visible at fairly normal viewing angles. I imagine that could quickly get annoying in the dark. Is that still a feature in the T440s?

 

I've followed this thread pretty carefully, I think, but I cannot recall if it's been confirmed that the T440s can (a) boot from the m.2 drive and (b) run linux without too much hassle. I want a machine capable of dual boot (windows 8 / ubuntu) with two separate ssds. Does anyone know if there have been comments on booting from the m.2 drive?

I'm choosing between an X230 and the T440s, both maxed out in terms of CPU and RAM. It seems the X230 will be substantially more powerful for the work I do (scientific computation, big jobs in Fortran and Matlab) with a faster CPU and more RAM. I also like the idea of a proper "base" with an optical drive, etc. At the same time it's definitely tempting to get the newer machine with a larger and more high resolution screen for basically the same weight.

 

Do you guys think 4300U upgrade is worth it?

 

If you can afford it, then yes. Depending on your configuration, it's about an 8% increase in price and gives an 18% increase in the PassMark benchmark suite. It also brings several enterprise and virtualization-related features. Of the 3 CPU options, I think it is the sweet spot in terms of price/performance ratio.

 

Hey guys just wanted to stop in and say that I got my Elitebook 840 today. I know a few others were cross shopping this.

Join me in the Elitebook owners thread with any questions. I don't want to take over the t440s thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-hp-elitebook-800-series-owners-lounge-2.html

 

Unless you're going to use a external monitor, I wouldn't recommend the X230 for that type of use. Get something with higher resolution.

 

Error seems to be gone (by the way, the error was before the part where you put in your order number so it means the whole system was broken). I ordered on 11/2 and my ship date is still 11/25 :-( but it's probably not had enough time to get started in production yet. Getting it before Thanksgiving would simplify a lot of things for me and of course having shiny new things sooner I'd always nicer.

 

can't decide between this and the yoga 2 pro. Anyone use both and have input? Thanks

 

I think so. It's actually quite similar to the i7 4500U which was released months earlier. Higher base clock even, and 100MHz lower max turbo boost. It also has all those enterprise features.
Additionally, the graphics clock rate is 10% higher (than the 4200U) at 1.1GHz.

 

I'm hoping they're misinformed, or more likely making it up in order to try and sell what they have available right this second - a common sales tactic.

S

 

I also prefer this configuration and would be interested if this is possible (On my desktop I select one of 3 drives to start up on the BIOS screen). Worst case I would dual boot on a single drive. I imagine this would be possible with one of the other models (T440 or T440p), but I definitely want something lighter, while keeping with a 14" screen.

 

Probably more likely considering the advertising push on the UK site in the last few days...

 

The keyboard on the Yoga 2 Pro is extremely shallow. It was a dealbreaker for me.

 

Error's gone, my scheduled delivery date (as reported by UPS) is this Friday, 11/8. I ordered a customized system on October 29. A lead time of little over a week for a newly released custom build shipping from China seems solid to me, I'm glad Lenovo can exceed expectations.

Now I have to hurry up and decide what I'm going to do with the SSD. I'm currently leaning towards just getting a 256 or even 128 gb ssd and forgetting about the m2 slot. While it'd be cool to use the spinning drive, I think having a single ssd will be simpler in the long run.

I plan to dual boot windows and ubuntu linux, I'll write about my experiences with that.

 

I would definitely like to hear how Linux works out. If there are not too many issues with that, as well as the laptop in general, I am seriously thinking about buying this laptop. I have only used Thinkpads at work, but this would be the first one I would ever consider for home. A Thinkpad that is reasonably light, with a good 14" IPS screen is something I have been waiting around for a long time. I would probably triple boot Windows 7 or 8, Linux Mint Debian update pack 7, and Centos 6.4 (If it can handle the newer hardware). Unfortunately every time I get ready to pull the trigger on a more recent Thinkpad, too many issues show up on the forums and I abort. Hopefully they get it at least sorta right this time.

 

My shipping date changed to 11/7 and delivery date to 11/14! If only I ordered it one day earlier.... Made an order on 10/30

 

My estimated ship date was just pulled in from 11/21/13 to 11/07/13. CTO ordered 10/30/13.

 

Figure out which "issues" are real and consistent. What type of people? Under what usage? And who is looking for an issue? Regular normal users, or "experienced" users who know what problems to look for and differentiate between "problem vs preference." To make a short story shorter, don't believe everything you read about online. And watch out for people who posts and/ or posters that explain the same issue in different forums. Nothing wrong with that a person thinks one forum will get a faster or more detailed answer than another but don't add that into the count of people with problems.

 

Awesome, thanks for all the ship date updates, gives me hope that I'll get mine early too.

Also means I'll have to make the SSD decision soon as well, I'm also leaning towards just saying forget the M.2 and go for one big SSD. I'm thinking probably the Samsung EVO 256gb or something, that one seems to be pretty cheap and really fast too (I've seen it going for around $160 and it's only a few months old). Slightly concerned about TLC reliability since it's so cheap for an SSD but I think it should be fine, if there were serious issues with TLC they would have become known by now.

 

neweggs doing a 10% off all SSDs next two days.

i'm not sure if i should order now or wait til black friday, and just use my C300 from the T400 til then.

 

I finally went to an Apple store today to fondle the new rMBPs. Despite all the flaws which have been mentioned here, it's one hell of a computer. I tried various resolutions (i.e. non-native) and they all look fantastic. Reflections from the semi-glossy display aren't too bothersome. The touchpad is awesome, and the keyboard good enough. Alas, the T440s can't compete with what Apple has to offer unless one absolutely needs some specific features, (some of which I realized I was just clinging to out of habit and didn't really need,) so I'll soon be among the MacBook-toting masses.

I'd like to thank everyone in this forum for what's been a fun few weeks of discussion. I would have laughed if someone had suggested I buy a MacBook back then - what an upside-down world it is when Apple out-does the PC manufacturers at their own game!

 

Spoke with a live chat sales representative. Configured a base unit (4gB RAM, 500gB HDD) with upgrade to 4300U, FHD screen, and 2yr depot for $1478. Was offered a sleeve+mouse initially for $1468, asked kindly for something closer to $1200, got $1200 (unit) +$59 (2YR Depot). Order date: 11/4; EST ship date 11/26. So as others have said, you can reasonably get something for 15-20% off of the configured price.

 

Any Idea when T440x configuration and order will be availble in lenovos europe online shops?

 

Ordered the i7/FHD/802.11ac on 10/29 and ship date was bumped up to 11/7.

 

FYI, you can get 15% off just through the Barnes and Noble gold portal if you don't want to deal with a sales rep. But seems like you did better than that, nice! I thought about it but I couldn't figure out how to get a cart ID and didn't really have am idea of what to say anyway so I didn't mind.

 

My laptop is coming tomorrow. I could've gotten it on Monday but I wasn't home .

I will install Arch Linux on it. The distro itself might be a problem but let's see .

 

Enjoy your soon to be purchase!

Everyone has to look at their own needs/wants and has to decide for themselves. The MacBook certainly is great and I'm sure the content will be displayed very well due to better scaling. One big advantage.

 

I have to admit that every time I play with an rMBP I do feel a certain amount of lust Problem is I have too much Windows software and cannot afford a machine that's both semi-workstation grade AND thin, which is why I'm considering a quad-core T440p chubster!

Did you go for the 13" or 15"? And which OS are you planning to run on it?

 

is it that difficult to install win 7 on a mac?

 

Not difficult with Bootcamp, but not ideal either.

 

13" because I often have an external display connected. The 15" is heavier than my ThinkPad, which I didn't want. I prefer Windows, but will dual-boot to see if I can figure out OS X which has always confused me. The Windows battery life seems to be quite good. The 16:10 LCD is a big upside for me.
It sounds like you'd want the 15", but it's indeed very expensive. If you put it next to a T440p though, you may find a way to pay for it! Just buy one less coffee per day or cancel some services/subscriptions you can live without and you'll save up the difference in no time.

I wanted the T440s so I could have two drives as I do now. I realized I'd be better off just connecting an external drive to my router rather than trying to have tons of media files on the computer. I still wish I could have afforded the 512 GB SSD because 256 will always be tight, but $300 extra is just too much. I'm better off trading up to a new computer in a year or two. Filling up an insanely expensive SSD with movies and music doesn't make much sense anyway... [Edit: re-reading this I see how I'm still clinging to my old local-storage ways, hehe.]

Using the garbage LCD on my T410s on the ride home was truly painful after seeing the rMBP, hehe.

 

I think what could possibly be a sell for the low-end rMBP 15 (more in a similar price range to the) T440p could be the graphics. Just what were they thinking with a GK208 GT730m? I bet even just Iris will probably be faster, and since Iris Pro is 10-15% below GT650m, that will definitely be much faster than GT730m. If you can live with the 8GB RAM and small SSD rMBP 15 may be an option.

 

Intel Iris Graphics without the Pro is not faster than the GT 730M, it is significatly slower in direct comparison.

Overall, performance wise, it should be like this if you compare the current ThinkPad lineup with the current Macbook pro lineup:
T440s << Macbook Pro 13 << T440p/T540p < Macbook Pro 15 << W530

 

I'm still a little disappointed with the GT730M, especially the GK208 version which although is clocked higher than the GK107 version and is slightly less power hungry is still a step in the wrong direction. For my uses, however (video and photo editing) the CPU, memory and storage are probably more important to focus on than the GPU, which makes an i7 (ie. 15") MBP just too expensive compared to a quad-core, 16GB, dual-drive T440p

I just wish the T440p was not so chubby. I hate the fact that upgrading my 2-year old T420 to a new model (that also has an ultrabay) will get me a machine that's thicker How on earth did Lenovo manage that when they already had the slender T430s chassis with an ultrabay to work from? If the T430s had a better screen I'd buy one in a flash.

 

It will be nice if someone posts a user review of the T440p with quad core CPU, with some discussion on the thermal design.

 

I'll write something up when my T440p arrives ~Friday. I got the FHD, i7-4700MQ, 7260 AC+BT.

The early shipment was a pleasant surprise. When I ordered 10\29 my ship date was mid November but it soon got pulled forward to 11/4. It looks like the early shipping estimates were pessimistic.
I have always had the impression that Lenovo does not dynamically update the shipping estimate on the store pages, you only get semi-accurate data a couple of days after your order.

 

Awesome. Thanks @wizzardofoz

I'm curious when professional reviews of the T440 series will start showing up. You'd think Lenovo must have review machines available by now, but so far the only reviews I've seen were on a Polish site. Nothing from the US so far.

 

Hey guys, question about billing. Did Lenovo bill you when you ordered or when it shipped? I had a charge on my account for a few days but now it's gone, so I'm a little worried... Might just be my bank being dumb. I think they put a hold on charges over some amount and after a few days cancel it or something? Not sure, but I'm guessing I need to call my bank. Ugh this sucks. My laptop was released to manufacturing according to the order status so hopefully this doesn't delay my order.

If it matters, I used Amazon Payments so that I wouldn't have to enter my credit card information. I still see the order there and on Lenovo's site so hopefully my bank can fix things.

 

i paid through amazon payments too and my credit card is already precharged. the credit line is lower, but no transactions are showing.

 

Any pros or cons to ordering with Amazon payments?