T540p!!!

Another unhappy customer. The good news I guess is that Lenovo should have a ton of returned machines in its outlet soon

I'm seeing more negative comments about the trackpad than positive these days, although that's perhaps to be expected online. The sharp wrist-rest issue is a sad example of how Lenovo threw out some wonderful design features of the older machines -- namely that nice sloped front edge, which always made the machines look unique (if kinda old fashioned) but was clearly there for a reason. Now, the case shape of Thinkpads looks like that of every other WinPC out there.

How is the fan pulsing? Is it continuous or simply that it keeps turning itself on and off?

 

Return it? I didn't think Lenovo was going to start shipping them until December 16th. That being said, I'm sorry to hear that you took a chance and were disappointed by your experience. I think the computer industry in general is moving away from discrete buttons with trackpads, so you may find all your options a little frustrating in that regard.

Given how radically different the clackpad is from a discrete-buttoned touchpad, I am really surprised that Lenovo is including the T-series in its experiment given that (to the best of my knowledge) there has been zero demand from consumers for this and a LOT of pushback from the first announcements. Every time Lenovo posts anything related to either the X-series or the T-series on G+, you can count on between 10 and 30% of commenters complaining about the clackpad decision. Lenovo doesn't get so much as a single percent of commenters defending the clackpad. Consumers have been upset by other decisions made, but this one seems as close to universal as I've seen, and companies should not have tin ears to resounding criticism on a single design decision.

If Lenovo has research showing that users grow to love this design, they ought to share that information. If not, they ought to fire whoever overruled focus group studies that surely had potential customers preferring the traditional design over the new one. What a bone-headed call.

On the plus side, reviews are starting to come in for the T440s and reviewers seem pretty pleased by what they're seeing there. Still has the clackpad but the rest of the design seems solid.

 

I can see the T440s pulling in a different market than traditional Thinkpad users. Users that would prefer the large clackpad as it's more mac'esque and therefore more hip for that younger crowd. But the 'P' series should have been kept differentiated more. I can see lenovo wanting to standardize on common parts as much as possible, but this is a case of going a little too far imho.

 

What panel is the 3K display?

 

From the little that we know, it's a Panasonic and I believe that it's currently utilized in ThinkPads only.

 

The sharp wrist rest is the killer for me. I could have lived with the trackpad but now I would have to hold my hand in an super unnatural angle or suffer the sharp edge. This might not be a problem for anyone who wants to use this laptop with the trackpoint or as a desktop replacement with a mouse.

Every so often the fan turns on and off for no reason and it turns on at high speed (tpfancontrol fixes this problem).

Maybe the reason why they shipped it earlier is because I got it as a special student deal in Germany.

 

Hi everyone,

I have a question about T540P 3K Display. I was determined to order an ordinary t540p (with the 720dpi –because I will mainly use the computer to typing & reading, I am a grad student). But then I saw a new Macbook Pro 15inch with Retina display in one of my friends and I am totally sold! The machine is incredible. The text is so smooth and there is no noise coming from the fan at all (I mean zero). These are 2 important things for me.

Now with the T540P 3K Display, my question is: is it that good? The problem is I would never order a 1080dpi display because it makes the fonts too small. If you change the scale, then things would get blurry. I want exactly what Apple made. They have a 2880×1800dpi but the “native resolution” is set to 900dpi. That is ideal. I was wandering if the 3K has the same trick or does it display the fonts very small?

I am really not a fan of Mac. But if we make all the configurations similar, then T540P is only around 200-300$ cheaper than Macbook Pro with Retina Display. I began to think if it would be worth it. Any thoughts are welcome. If 3K display is as good as Retina, then I might still go with the Lenovo –only to not switch to Mac. I am not all that concerned with the trackpad etc. I prefer using a mouse anyways.

 

For a T540p order placed on 11/30, ship date just slipped this evening from expected ship date of 12/14 (today) to 12/24. Expected arrival date is now 01/02.

All the motherboard components are in ample supply (haswell cpu, nivdia gpu, ram, etc) so that leaves either the 3k display or Lenovo's assembly line as the culprits.

For a T440p (FHD + quad core + 730m gpu) order placed on 11/26, expected ship date is still 12/19. A 14" FHD display is definitely not a hard to procure item so this points to Lenovo manufacturing as being the bottleneck for both orders.

Me thinks Lenovo's manufacturing might be having issues or they have been overwhelmed by orders. Given that there's still no reviews, and there's not too many people in possession of this laptop (judging by forums etc), I'm guessing that Lenovo is under-delivering.

Or perhaps they are running through some late design changes to the clack pad, etc.

 

Looking at the T540p in front of me... The screen is good. But that's about it. Sadly it's IPS which is my opinion is an inferior technology. It is not my first IPS with a terrible greenish-cast. The 3k display of the T540p has such a strong hue towards green, I believe it's the worst I've seen so far. On top of that the gamma setting is all wrong. Without a color profile, you're basically lost. But even after a calibration it just doesn't look as good as the old Flexview screens did. Very artificial colors, not natural at all.

As for the fonts, surprisingly you can read them without any scaling but it does cause quite allot of eye strain so recommend setting scaling to 125%. Works great with Windows 7.

 

Something's going on with Lenovo. There's been little to no marketing of the T-series since the initial announcement in early September and, as you mentioned, virtually no professional reviews, so I would be surprised if orders exceeded expectations, but who knows?! I'm also puzzled how a company could underestimate demand when releasing a product in Q4 -- the biggest computer-purchasing quarter of the year. So that leaves me wondering if it's either a problem with Lenovo's design or manufacturing process or a problem with a component. To me, it kinda smells like a company growing too fast for its own good, although Lenovo's always had a bit of a shipping issue IIRC.

Also interesting to note is that Dell apparently has massive delays for some configurations of its M3800 right now, too.

Still, I would not be surprised if your T440p ship date gets bumped this week. I ordered mine (4700MQ, FHD, GT730M, 7260AC) on Nov. 26 and the estimated shipping date of Dec. 16 just got pushed to Dec. 24

 

Well, at least not much for consumers, maybe because the Tx40p models are focused on Business - the focus of the consumer marketing for ThinkPads is on the Ultrabook ThinkPads (T440(s), X240 and especially ThinkPad Yoga), which are possibly the ones most consumers are interested in. If you look on Lenovos Youtube channel, you will find several videos about these and also some articles in the Lenovo blogs, but really not much about the Tx40p models (these are not really the innovate or stunning lines, they are Lenovos "bread and butter"). I guess their marketing for businesses will start mainly in January, when the new ThinkPads will become TopSeller focus models.

I expect some marketing in the comming weeks for the new X1 Carbon Refresh, which will be announced soon. Thats also one machine in which consumers are possibly more interested in.

The reviews will come, but I think that will take some time, there are many new devices to review. In the last weeks there were several reviews of the T440s and also the ThinkPad Yoga and the X240. The thicker machines will sure follow sometimes next year.

 

Found some info

Removal and Installation steps of the wireless WAN card or M.2 solid-state drive - ThinkPad T540p and W540

 

I ordered mine 12/12, it shipped this morning. I got the 3k display.

 

Ordered mine 12/09 and it shipped this morning as well. The original estimate was 12/17, then got pushed to 12/19. 3K display. This will be my second one as I returned the first due to Lenovo dropping the price but not price-matching. They said to return and re-order. I was able to get the same config with 3YR ADP for the same price so it was worth it to me. Now I just have to decide if I want to give up my W530 for it...

 

Hello, Can you write about your experiences with the computer and display? What is the native resolution of the display? 900dpi? Are fonts small or ok? Are there problems with the colour? What other configuration do you have?

Is the fan working during basic tasks (MS Office, surfing etc.)?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

 

Since everyone is updating, ordered mine on 12/01. 3k IPS display, 730m and 4800MQ. Original ship date estimated at 12/10. Estimated shipping delay to 12/22 but got shipping notice today 12/16.

 

Well, I think any attempt to estimate when one's machine will ship is futile based on the variation everyone in this thread and others are reporting. It really does seem like a complete shipment lottery. Some people have their orders shipped in a few weeks, for others it takes over a month.

 

Interesting to note on my shipping that it's supposed to be hear Wednesday by 12:00pm which is basically 2 day shipping and it hasn't even been picked up yet. It looks like they are expediting trying to get deliveries before Christmas. My last one took 4 or 5 days to get here...

 

Sheer curiosity on my end: are you keeping it or returning it?

 

He does not own it, he is only testing it out. He has to return it.

 

May somebody help me on finding a compatible SSD? What kind of SSD will fit the main compartment. I am going to move the current 1TB HD to the optical bay.

Thanks!

 

I just plugged my existing SSD in without a problem, seems like it takes standard 9.5mm drives.

 

Lenovo claims that my order was shipped on December 14, but UPS still doesn't recognize the tracking number. Also the Order status page doesn't work (Page Exception or whatnot).

Is this consistent with other people's experience?

 

I want to do the same. Has the T540p the same bay as the T420 (size and form)?
(Then I could use my old hdd-bay)

 

Yes it does.

 

No. The T540p has a new 9.5mm bay, the T420 had a 12.7mm bay. You need a new Ultrabay Series 4 adapter: ThinkPad 9.5mm SATA Hard Drive Bay Adapter IV - Overview and Service Parts

 

Source?
They seem quite different.

 

My answer was in reference to the main bay aka HDD slot.

If you're interested in UltraBay options, see ibmthink's post right above yours.

 

Maybe someone already has the 3K version and would like to share some photos of the screen? Would really like to compare it so rMBP screen.

 

Found this on the web.

Looks good.. Can't wait for the W540!

 

Just got my t540p. The 3k display is not matte...

 

Can you describe it a bit more?
Is it glossy? How are the reflections? How does it compare to previous matte screens?

Thanks alot!

 

That's what I thought also, although it is listed as anti-glare in the Tabook. Not really glossy but not the traditional matte that we are used to.

My trackpad seems a little stiffer than the last one which is a slight improvement. I still think the HD/Memory cover is a bad design and still can't find an ultrabay adapter in stock anywhere so I'm stuck in HDD land which can be excruciating at times and alters my view of the laptop in general.

Also, my WEI scores on the T540p are a little lower than my W530...so much for progress...maybe I just to switch to Win 8 so I can't compare.

 

What are the specs of the two machines?

 

I have not had a chance to play with it too much, but you can defintily see a clear reflection of your hand/face in the screen. I would describe it as more on the glossy side than the matte side.

 

probably just coated, not a true matte

 

How sharp is the screen at different/lower resolutions? Any chance of posting pics

 

There are different kinds of matte and anti-glare coatings. Even if the screen on the T540p is not as matte as prior screens, it is still anti-glare.

 

W530 -= i7-3840QM - K2000
cpu 7.7
mem 7.7
graphics 7.0
gaming 7.0


T540p - i7-4700MQ - GT730M
cpu 7.6
memory 7.9
graphics 6.8
gaming 6.8


They're close, but I did think the T540p would be a little better as opposed to a little worse. It just increases the difficulty of deciding which to keep as it's another small strike against the T540p. I do need to compare battery life, because if the T540p is substantially longer, that would make a big difference.

 

Average CPU Mark
i7-3840QM : 9026
i7-4700MQ : 7948

 

Yeah well there you have it

I just tested a MKV to MP4 Conversion using Handbrake and the W530 was about 20% faster than the T540p. Again, not the end of the world, but...

The biggest thing is that the trackpad as a button is starting to grow on me a little. The fact that it's slightly less clunky than my last one makes a difference. I actually had an occasion today where the dedicated num pad came in really handy.

The 3k screen still amazes me every time I look at it. Switching between the FHD of the W530, my 24" IPS desktop display and the T540p, I am always suprised at the clarity of it. I'm running Win 7 x64 at 1920x1080 @ 100% DPI and the screen is just razor sharp. I've been running at level 10 out of 15 for brightness.

 

Would you mind to share which ssd you want to use? and do u want put it in the main compartment ? Thanks.

HTC One Tapatalk

 

I'm not particular on the SSD really. I do need a 512gb however and it would go in the primary bay. If I could get an ultrabay adapter I could get by with a 256gb and put a 256gb in the ultrabay.

 

I just received my T540p. I'm not sure if this normal or not, but very often, the touchpad's buttons fails to register my clicks (I'm a trackpoint user, so I'm using the ones on the top)

It's possible that sometimes I don't press where I'm supposed to, but it's very annoying.

 

Alright, I just got mine too. Liking it a lot except for the following things. First, when I opened it up, there were fingerprints all over the outside and keyboard. Never seen anything like it before and felt like I needed to clean off my brand new computer. Second, some of the keys in the keyboard are significantly louder than others. Specifically, the keys in the upper left are much louder and actually feel a little bit different than the other keys. Not really sure what that is about...

 

Got mine last night as well. Haven't played with it much but have the same issue. My TAB key in particular is very "clacky".

The touchpad is every bit as terrible as I'd heard. I use a mouse 90% of the time though so not a super big deal to me.

 

Another problem I have with my T540p: It simply won't resume from sleep. If the computer ever goes to sleep, I literally need to remove the battery and put it back to use my computer again.

If I hold the on/off power button, it will turn off, but then I cannot turn it back on without removing the battery (and my goal is just to resume from sleep, which I haven't been able to do so far)

 

Have you upgraded to Windows 8.1 by chance?

I had to reinstall the Intel display driver after upgrading to 8.1 to fix these issues:
1. Black screen when coming from sleep.
2. Brightness buttons didn't work.
3. Dithering was broken (anything with a gradient looked horrible).

 

Ha, I wish I'd read this earlier. Just figured this out myself about 20 minutes ago. Took me forever to try and get the darn brightness working (was stuck on max in a darkish room).

I did a clean install of Win 8.1 on a 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD and going through Lenovo's software and driver updates to get rid of all the yellow exclamations is a royal pain. I've just about got it and I'm going to do a restore from the image I made after the install and install all the correct drivers (had to experiment with card readers until I got the right ones).

 

It's a bit of a long shot, but has anyone who has the 3k display also seen the Dell XPS 15? There's a special on both of these machines atm in Australia, with the Dell being about 2k (comes with the slightly higher res screen, 16GB and proper QC proc and a GT 750 at 2 grand) whereas I can configure the T540S for $1650 with a lower spec dual core and 4gb of RAM (and obviously the 730). Coming from a X220 I think I'd prefer the Lenovo layout (big fan of the touchpoint) but I'm a bit torn. This machine would primarily be used for client site excursions (I've got high res monitors at both work and home normally) and a bit of light gaming when on holiday.

I'd imagine there's probably going to be a bit of bias in this thread, but which one would you guys go for? I don't *need* a laptop right now but really don't want to miss out on the sales =/