ThinkPad T430s / T430u build quality question

I hear people on various message boards make comments about the newer thinkpad laptops not having the same build quality as they used too. My only experience with thinkpads is the W500 I used to have for work and my current T400s, both of which I was very happy with. With my limited exposure to thinkpads, I'm wondering how the build quality of the newer machines (t430s or t430u) compares to my current t400s. Thanks

 

I haven't played with either the T430s or T430u in person, but the word on the boards here is that they are both better-built than the T400s (in particular because the T400s was very susceptible to palmrest cracking).

 

NBR forum member Lead_Org wrote a very in depth review on his website. He says the build quality on the T430u is very good.

Lenovo ThinkPad T430u in-depth review – Part 1 (Overview)

The main complaints about the T430u from this thread are:
- some people, not all, complaining the G key makes a clicking sound
- no option for higher resolution screen, like 1600x900, only 1366x768 (i think) is available for T430u
- some people, not all, complain of the screen door effect on the T430u screen, being able to see gaps between the pixels.
- there are also some people who prefer the previous generation 7row keyboar to the newer 6 row keyboar. The older keyboard had Pageup, Pagedown, home, end all grouped in the top right which is quite nice in my opinion.

I'm seriously considering the T430u though.

 

Thanks for the replies and the link to Lead_Org's review, I haden't seen it since he finished it. I have been following the thread about the 430u and trying to keep myself up to date on peroples feedback on the 430u.

It's interesting to hear that the 430s/430u should have a better build quality than my current 400s, considering I have no issues with the quality of my 400s besides a very small hairline crack on the left side of the palmrest. If the quality of the new machines is on par or better than what i'm currently using then I should be happy with with my next thinkpad.

The 430u looks very appealing right now because of its price point, starting at $585 canadian with an i5, 4gigs of ram and the 320gb hd, that would allow me to spend a few extra $'s on some of the upgrades I would make myself, vs. starting at $760 on the 430s and having to make similar uogrades.

Thanks for the insight

 

• how do you get the $585 canadian price?
• an upgrade you may want to look at is getting a 120GB or larger mSata SSD, and also having a large HDD in the T430u. I see Mushkin now has a 480GB mSATA SSD for $500, hehheh
• another thing nice about the T430u is it has both displayport and HDMI, though as Lead_Org points out its unclear if the HDMI can output to 2560x1600 like the displayport can.

 

I saw the $585 price posted somewhere last week and kept it in mind. When I check the site now it shows as $662 so I must have seen a sale price or something. Regardless of which machine I get I'm planning on going with a 256gb msata drive as the main os drive and some basic storage, and I would like to be able to put a 1tb drive in the main hard drive location. From what I've read the 430s can only have a 7mm drive which seems to make it tough to find larger capacity hard drives that will fit. I don't know what the 430u is capable of handling for drive size.

I didn't know about the displayport and hdmi on the 430u, thanks for pointing that out.

 

The 430u has space for a 9.5mm drive.

 

T430u can take a 7mm drive, or a 9.5mm drive.
"The 2.5 inch hdd is of the 9.5 mm SATAIII (6 gbps) type, which means you can use most of the 2.5 inch SSD drive on the market, including the 7 mm type (Lenovo offers a 7 mm Samsung 128 gigs SSD as an upgrade option). One thing to note is that unlike other ThinkPads, the hdd connections is not fixed to the motherboard or the chassis, but rather it is through a flexible SATA cable. This design address a common hardware problem where SATA connections in the laptop getting damaged because of user fitting non-standard harddrive into the drive bay, or because of chassis flexing in relation to the hdd connection that often occurs when user holding their laptop on the corner."
- from Lead_org's review Lenovo ThinkPad T430u in-depth review – Part 5 (Upgradability/Serviceability)

The 9.5mm drive bay is another unique feature to the T430u. The T430 and T430s don't support 9.5mm drives.

 

I have the T400s, which had multiple palmrest crack issues, which later developed into some other motherboard issues, this made me pretty angry for a long time, since i was expecting X30x quality and really like the format and the SP9400 C2D CPU (which ran exceptionally cool as opposed to the later T4x0s full voltage i Core CPU).

The T430s and T420s has a much better designed ThinkPad chassis, which eliminated these crack issues. But the CPU can get hot (so be warned) when pushed, as compared to the ThinkPad T430u which uses the ultra low voltage ivy bridge cpu.

Also for some reasons the T430s chew through battery really fast, my 4 cells only lasts about 2.5 hours under normal use, the same usage pattern can get me around 6 hours in the T430u.

 

Thank you for this info, I was wondering about battery life. I get around 7-8 hours on my t400s with standard battery and the 3 cell drive bay battery so i've become accustomed to long battery life. I know the 430s still offers the drive bay battery option, but if I can accomplish 6+ hours with the stock battery in the t430u I would be happy with that. I read somewhere that the 3 cell drive bay battery for the t430s is a #43 which states that it is compatible with the t400s and the t430s, while my t400s is a #42 battery. I'm wondering if my #42 battery would be compatible with the t430s or if I would need to get a new battery if I went that route?

Thanks

 

The #42 batteries will not charge in the T430s, so they aren't compatible. You have to buy the #43 to be able to charge and discharge in the bay.

 

That's the conclusion I reached when I ordered the T430u for US$599 on a black friday deal. My only interest in the 430s was the HD+ screen, which increased the price differential to almost $250 -- too much for a display that's still mediocre at best. Assuming I keep the 430u, I can do upgrades and still have money left over compared to the 430s starting price -- or I can pocket the savings/upgrade money and look at X1C-type options in a year or two when W8 products mature and prices moderate.

Now, if Lenovo would just deliver it...

 

I picked up the top-tier i7 T430u for $950 after tax, which is a really good deal for what is included. The only thing I'm not sure about is the display (of course) which is a bit lackluster.

I'm coming from a MBP 15" and I'm giving the T430u a shot to see if it will be a suitable replacement. I'm definitely interested in the build quality, since that is a major selling point of the Apple products for me.

I'm probably going to order a T430s on Wednesday when I receive the T430u. The better resolution and expansion slot are attractive to me, especially since the weight/thickness is almost identical. Since Lenovo is offering no-restocking fee and free return shipping for ordered placed before Dec 30th, I figure I have nothing to lose by trying out both machines.

 

Thanks mdel1 for pointing out the no-restocking fee offer! I was afraid I was going to have to eat it. I bought a T430s which I really like, except for one thing: the touchpad is textured with raised dots which I find quite unusable. I can't get by with just the stick pointer, and I don't want to be stuck with a laptop whose touchpad I can never use.

I got the HD+ display and think it's a great choice: 14" is lightweight but it has a lot of pixel real estate.

As for build quality, it's my first Lenovo, but it seems pretty good to me. The chassis feels stiff and sturdy to me, and the hinges seem tight without being difficult to open. The lid has a release catch on the right hand side. It is amazingly lightweight.

I'm looking for something with the same size display and smoother-feeling touchpad and keys. (I always feel like I'm going to make an unintended double entendre! "Stiff chassis with slick feel" -- geez.)

Hope you have better luck with your choice than I did!

 

@dark_girl: Well, I can tell you that if the raised dots are your biggest concern, you should not opt for the t430u - it has the same feel. Coming from a Macbook Pro, I initially found the raised dots uncomfortale myself. I got used to it pretty quickly though, and I actually really like the touchpad.

The build quality is AWESOME on this laptop. The t430u and the Dell XPS13 are the only 2 laptops I've seen that compete with Apple on this front. Very solid and study, and no issues out of the box.

I've read more and more mixed reviews on the higer-res screen on the t430s, but I'm still considering ordering a t430s to test. The resolution on this screen is fine, IMO. I do miss the real-estate from the MBP, but I think that might be a concession worth making for the rest of the pros on this machine.

 

Someone recently mentioned removing the bumps by scraping a credit card or something similar across them resulting in a smooth surface. I can deal with the bumps... What I dislike is the durability of them in general. Mine have worn away in the middle of the touchpad, but are still there around the edges.

 

Apparently the bumpy surface can be peeled off. Some people replaced it with after-market solutions but it looks like it can be left peeled.

forum.thinkpads.com • Solution: replacing the gritty touchpad on newer Thinkpads