Thinkpad T410s soon?

Throwing a fit is the wrong thing to do. Being firm is a good idea, but don't act like a child.

 

I just canceled my order without comment. Being belligerent both isn't my style and wouldn't have helped. I will have to find a system that is actually being shipped rather than just accepting orders they can't fill.

 

Let me know what you end up with. The only reason I have put up with lenovo's crap for so long is that I can't find a computer similar to the T410s line.

My have an existing E6400 that I am more than happy to live with if my new computer doesn't arrive.

 

Same experience here. Took me 3 times and a call to supervisor to get my order canceled. In the meantime, the charges were not promptly returned to my credit card and it caused an insufficient funds fee. Was not happy about that.

Lenovo is blowing it. No switchable graphics on the T410s. No FHD screen for the T510. All these shipping delays. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe Dell will launch a new Latitude that is much better while Lenovo is trying to get their act together

 

I guess I got "lucky" on this one. After my order status didn't change for weeks, I called sales and told the rep who answered I wanted to cancel and gave the order number. Order status indicated the order was gone before I hung up the phone. Same experience twice now... but I'm tired of the whole ordering a product not actually for sale bit, so I don't think I'll need to cancel again.

 

So true. Dell is getting ready to launch the new Latitudes and Precision M4500. HP is rolling out the new Elitebooks. And nearly all of them have more features than the ThinkPads.

Looking seriously at Dell for the first time in 5 years. Way to go Lenovo.

 

T410s, 128GB SSD, 2GB RAM - ordered 3/9, original estimated ship date was 3/22. Just checked a few minutes ago and it has slipped to 4/8. However, the IBM order status site at http://www.ibm.com/account/orderstatus/myorders/login?cc=us still states 3/22 as the estimated ship date. I'm getting a little worried that people who ordered in February still haven't received their order yet. I knew I should have gone with the X201s...

 

Yup me too. The Dell PRecision M4500 is about to hit and it or the HP Elitebook might bet my money if they can deliver before Lenovo.

 

Talked with the sales rep yesterday after the date had been moved to 4/21 from 3/17 and he said his status update showed that the unit would actually ship about a week before 4/21 and I should see that reflected today. I got on to check and the date is actually further out now - 5/13. These guys are having some serious issues.
I sure hope someone else starts offering something comparable soon so I can cancel this motherf^@&!
HP is probably not an option for me as I have just had too many driver issues in the past and actually gave the machine away. Dell, maybe again as I have had a few but if you want power then get ready to carry around a cinder block.

 

Mine shows 05/04/10 at the moment, too. Thats a looong time. But at the current fluctuation rate the estimated shipping date will soon jump around again, I'm sure.

 

i really hate to say it, but this shipping date nonsense is leading me to seriously consider hp or dell if their i5 offerings come out competitively

 

The big problem here isn't the fact that these laptop have been delayed so long. It is the fact that Lenovo does not communicate with its customers. If Lenovo posted a statement explaining the shortage and giving a definite shipping date I'm sure everyone would be happy. But Lenovo won't do this, because they never have in the past. Lenovo has HORRIBLE communication with its customers regarding product features and even worse, their website is full of disinformation.

 

Same here. I was all set to get the T410s with switchable graphics back in January. Here it is more than two months later and the switchable graphics models aren't even available for order yet. And, there is not telling how long it will take to ship once they do go on sale. So then I thought maybe I'd get the T510 with FHD screen since a lot of people have complained about the screen quality of the T410 / T410s. That isn't available either.

I don't have any problem with Dell Latitudes other than the mediocre styling. Have owned several Dells over the past 10 years and they served me well. Maybe the the E6410 / E6510 or Precision M4500 will be a better alternative.

 

AGREED! While waiting forever for an order to ship is annoying, complete lack of accurate information is the most unacceptable part. On the one hand they don't explain anything about delays unless you harass them; then the explanations the reps are empowered or informed enough to give end up being bogus anyway. Figures the systems you actually want to buy are both sold by an inept company and not actually manufactured or shipped by anyone...

 

And then there is the false advertising. The banner at the top of the T410s page and all of the copy still says that the T410s comes with switchable Nvidia graphics. I have mentioned this several times to the reps when I called in over the past couple months to get a status update and recommended that they pass it along to the people responsible for the website.

It is as if the web designer lost the original Photoshop file for the T410s banner. Or maybe they are just too lazy / too strapped for cash to update the website so that it has accurate information. Makes me wonder how good / bad their tech support would be if I ever had to call in with an issue. Dell's tech support for the XPS line and SMB division is top notch in my experience.

Anyhow, I may still buy a T410s or T510 if they are able to get them up for sale and deliver in a timely fashion. I'm just losing patience rapidly.

 

I too am getting tired of waiting for this machine. Are there similar offerings (in terms of size and power) from Dell and HP?

 

no, not yet
dell's comparable latitude and hp's comparable elitebook have yet to be released
i'd argue that the t410s has yet to be released also
taking orders for a product that you say will ship in 9 days and then not shipping for 4 months does not count as a "release"

 

You have captured the essence of the issue

 

I think there is a general problem on the market we are not aware.
I suppose either Intel cannot provide enough i5/7 CPUs (and chip sets) for some reason or vendors have too much Intel 2 Core to be sold

 

There seems to be no such shortage on the T410 (non-s), so its either the different chipset (QS57) or a new factory/workflow. Just my 2c

 

GOOD NEWS GUYS!

My unit finally shows as being shipped. My rep promised me it would yesterday (as per my previous post) and he was right - what a shock.

I don't have a tracking number yet (says it will be available in 24hrs). My credit card has not been charged yet!

I have two day shipping so hopefully this thing can get here within a couple of business days. I fly out on the 26th so I need it by then at every cost.

I will keep you guys posted. I am hoping other people would also have some positive news. Unless you guys have seen this before? I won't be shocked it it goes back to "we are making computer still status" and est ship date of 9/1/2010 . But hopefully it is what it is...

Any reason I should expect shipping to not happen in a timely manner? I have heard some stories of issues with custom clearance from China. But most of the stuff I order from China (ebay) gets here in a couple of days without even expedited shipping???? So I am hoping two business days means, it should be here by Wednesday.

I PROMISE to post a detailed review IF I GET IT!!!

 

I ordered mine on 3/7 and the original ship date was 3/19. On 3/17, the ship date changed to 3/31, but this morning (that would be 3/19), I received an email saying it had been shipped and sure enough, later today, I was able to track it.

Couldn't be happier!

 

Guys how long did it take to get an "estimated shipping date". I ordered like a week+ ago and I still have nothing.

 

Whaaat I ordered on 3/1 and its still AWOL! Estimated shipping date is 5/4 (Yes, in May).

 

I got my tracking today and the product is in route through UPS. I should have it by Monday.

I think lenovo ships in batches. So at least some of us should be getting one pretty soon here.

Good luck to the rest.

 

Maybe a day. That is pretty odd.

 

Try calling them. The online "est" ship date is good for nothing. And yes the date sometimes disappears and randomly appears again.

 

Got my Thinkpad T410s today at work. YEAEEEEEEE!

I will post a quick review as soon as I get a chance.

If anyone has any quick questions.... let me know.

 

Can you take some pictures. Is the screen really that bad. One review listed the T410s display only have 95:1 contrast ratio.

 

Hi Kasher, congrats on receiving your laptop. We all hope that it was worth the long wait. Please tell us where you live.

To k2001:
"One review listed the T410s display only have 95:1 contrast ratio."
Sounds like a DELL employee wrote that. At least I hope so. Anyway, I don't think that a regular user would able to measure the contrast to such a precision. He would have had to have a lab.

- avi

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=6049262&postcount=5

 

Congratulations.

Where in the world are you located? curious if different places are getting them first, since i have been waiting since 2/11.

What is your configuration?

And most important, the screen, can you determine the maker? quality? contrast?

 

>> There seems to be no such shortage on the T410 (non-s), so its either the different chipset (QS57) or a new factory/workflow. Just my 2c

I think it's coz they are still trying to get the switchable graphics to work... :laugh:

 

But I don't want switchable graphics in the first place!

Also, web page still shows estimated shipping date of 5/4 but CSR is "sure" that it'll ship this week. We'll see about that

 

I am in Vienna VA, USA. Unit got shipped on Fri from HK and I had it at my desktop when I showed up for work this morning.

My config is base with the following changes
4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 5in1, 6250 Wimax

I am not sure how to determine the screen. It is definitely not as good as my E6400 Dell with a side by side compare.

Also the only difference I can see in the chasey is the i5. The dual thinklights, extra USB ports, slight different speaker panels etc, that I saw in some previews online have not made it into production (at least not on this batch... seems like a 400s chasey with the new chip)

I got the enhanced experience logo (even though I didn't order one) so I was afraid i got someone elses computer. So far can't tell it makes a huge difference.

Will post pics and review when get home later tonight.

 

Damn. That is too bad. I love the screen on my E6400. It is a Seiko. No flickering at the dimmest level, very clear and crisp, decent viewing angles, I'm outside on the patio using it as I type this.

You can find the screen manufacturer in Device Manager (menu option in Task Manager).

I may buy the T510 with FHD high gamut screen if the T410s screens are crap.

 

It would be great if everyone who comments on the screen could also add whether they refer to the touchscreen or non-touchscreen version... The review that aperture_science mentioned is WITH touchscreen (and that is somewhat obscured in the auto-translation)

 

Actually it doesnt matter. Notebookcheck.de did a review of the T400s last year (non-touchscreen version) and they came up with 95:1 contrast ratio when measured. So that's two very consistent datapoints.

The screen is what it is and I dont think Lenovo cares. I frequent their designer blogs and everytime theis topic comes up they try to snowjob or ignore the issue. Even despite a rather obvious outpour of comments from people who wonder why a premium laptop has no other screen option than something this poor.

So dont worry about touchscreen or not. This is the only level of screen available on this Lenovo series, unfortunately.

 

I'm curious.. with all this bellyaching about screens, how bad are the screens really? I mean, let's look at this from the perspective of the average to slightly above average PC user, the professional who needs to worry about getting from meeting to meeting, contacting clients, etc. instead of worrying about the overall quality of their panels. You know, important people.

Are the screens really not good enough for word processing, YouTube video watching, DVD playback, and/or surfing the web? For webcam meetings, excel sheet editing, e-mail writing, or even viewing pictures from your last vacation?

Is it fair to say that, generally, Lenovo's screen quality only comes into question when individuals get very picky.. when they forget that this particular product (T410s) is meant first and foremost for the mobile business person?

Is it fair to say that if you desire top notch screens, you're probably looking in the wrong corner of the market (ie. the 14-inch, mobile, business laptop market) and that maybe you should try looking somewhere between mainstream and gaming? The percentage of readers on this forum that actually require a durable, business-class machine with extreme mobility and top-of-the-line quality parts (screen, graphics, processor) just can't be high enough to justify all this hoopla over screen quality, can it?

Kevin O'Brien had this to say about the T400s screens, which I interpret to be not that bad:

So, my question remains: how bad is it really?

 

excel and word documents? sure, the screen is just fine
watching video? absolutely horrible

is it odd that they don't offer a decent screen option on their top-of-the-line flagship model?

 

Pics or it didn't happen!!!

It would be great if you could take a good picture of the machine stacked on top of another ThinkPad if you have one. Makes it a nice thickness comparison.

 

http://pbckt.com/su.hZ6

Let me know if the pictures are not viewable.


So after a long wait I finally got my T410s this morning. I haven’t had a chance to do any in depth testing or benchmarking so I am just going to be very brief.

This thing is a lot lighter than it seems in the pictures. I read a couple of review online and I wasn’t convinced that it was going to be so portable. It weighs nothing. Also the build quality seems to be fantastic. The keyboard is nice and no flex issues. I do think there is some noticeable difference in stroke depth and feel compared to my old thinkpad. However the clicks are ver quite. The spacing between the keys is indeed very tight like the pro-reviews state but there is definitely a visible gap underneath the function keys row.

Speaker sound seems a lot less loud then what I read in the reviews. It was stated that they are twice as good as T400 speakers. Well I have never owned one of those so I don’t know about that… But you certainly wil need headphones. The sound is clear enough at low volumes in a quite room.
Battery seems to be draining a lot quicker too. I seem to only be getting 2hrs, granted I am playing around with it a lot so who knows (haven’t messed with power saver settings).
Out of the box I had an issue with SD card not being read (when I tried to upload the pictures) but a simple driver update from lenovo solved that issue.
The screen quality is not bad at all for txt and general use (Work). However as many people before have said it is definitely not ideal for pictures or movies (colors wash out at almost an viewing angle that is not dead one ). Screen is bright enough but not as bright as the panel on my E6400. The screen itself is very thin.
Track pad is very good. Wireless reception with the 6250 card is good. HDD seems very fast since I have been doing a lot of data migration since morning. Lenovo think vantage tools are a bit annoying but once you configure them everything is good. Windows 7 is doing ok too, although its my first time really using it (still use xp at work mostly – and that is what the primary use of this computer is going to be).
I am kinda tired so I will stop now. I will update with more details. Happy to answer any specific questions.

 

Have you checked the Loudness Equilization option? Control Panel->Sound->Speaker->Properties-Enhancements. Helped my x200s sound a lot.

 

Could you post a pic of a side by side LCD comparison with the E6400? Thanks.

 

>> Actually it doesnt matter. Notebookcheck.de did a review of the T400s last year (non-touchscreen version) and they came up with 95:1 contrast ratio when measured. So that's two very consistent datapoints.

Don't understand. '95:1 contrast ratio' makes text almost invisible. Every screen thee days has at least 500:1 and probably more. I need at least about 1000:1 to not get eye-strain.

For me, low brightness or less than best colors is not good but not a show stopper. A contrast of much less than 1000:1 would be a show stopper.

-avi

 

According to the tabook.pdf, the screen is 300 nits with a 300:1 contrast ratio. That should be plenty clear and bright. If it isn't, I would check the BIOS to see if there's a setting for screen brightness. I don't think there's a setting there any longer but I have't looked.

 

Thanks for the pictures. The one pic of you holding the machine was the best because it provides a good point of reference. Thanks again.

 

Most screens have inflated contrast values, which do not accurately reflect how good a screen is. You'll never find a laptop with that high of a contrast ratio. Some info (about desktop LCDs) but still relevant for notebooks LCDs:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/specs.htm

 

Lol, while I agree with the fact that the 95:1 is unacceptable, I seriously doubt you'll find many screens out there with the 1000:1 ratio.
Even the FHD LED with wide 95% Gamut has only 514:1, and even the best gaming screens (17" E2E Dual CCFL or RGB LED with 100% gamut) have nearly 700:1...
1000?

 

Question to lead_org do you still use T400s? IF not what didn't you like about it or liked? Looking into t410s, guess they are similar.