Thinkpad Ultrabook T430u

No, they don´t overestimate the battery life. They just test the battery life under optimal conditions, so, it is the battery life you can get with the notebook in idle. Thats normal in the notebook-industry.

 

That's true that other companies also measure battery life by running in the most optimal conditions under absolute idle. Battery life is like a big black box-you don't really know what to expect, until you get results from multiple different reviewers.

But no reviews are out for the T430u except for Lead_org's, so I still can't gauge what I can expect in regular use. Can other owners please comment on the T430u's battery life?

 

Anybody check, there is limited set core GeForce GT 620M - 475 MHz, like in S430, or full 625 MHz?
Is it 128-bit version or 64bit?

 

it is 64 bit bus, i will have a look at the Nvidia Speed.

 

Thanks, lead_org. I had already tracked down a number of similar links and ended up resolving my problem by hiding one particular update which seemed to interfere with all the others (on my machine and a number of other peoples'). Once I hid the troublesome update, the others installed Ok.

Thanks again.

 

Screen-door effect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

How does the T430u keyboard compares to other Thinkpads? I've been looking at an X1C, and the owners claim it's a joy to use.
The question is aimed primarily at lead_org, since he had a chance to play around with both of these machines, but anyone's feedback is highly appreciated.

 

I like the ThinkPad T430u kb bit more for the typing experience. In terms of function key layout i like thinkpad x1c a bit more.

 

Just got mine today, and I'm afraid I also have a very noticeable screen door effect.

Manufacturer: B140XTN02.5
Monitor hardware ID: LEN40A0

billyd00d, have you taken any action with yours ?

 

I just got the laptop and have an issue here...

Completed setting up Windows and then:
- Uninstall antivirus
- applied Windows update.
Boom, now the wifi does not work....it says connected in "Limited Connectivity" status.

The problem is not my router and my connectivity since I can connect just fine with my other laptop, posting this reply.

Googled the issue, notice that many people are having similar issue as well..

I think the windows update was the one that causing the issue.

What I have tried so far:
- make sure AVG/any anti virus is not installed
- went to my wireless configuration, under Power Management tab, uncheck the save power option
- Enabled/disabled my wireless
- Executed the following from cmd prompt with elevated permission and reboot
netsh winsock reset catalog (reset winsock entries)
netsh int ip reset reset.log hit (reset TCP/IP stack)

No luck so far...

At this point, I am ready to give up and perform a clean Windows 8 install.

Any recommendations?

 

Seems like the biggest complaint for the T430u is the screen quality (screen-door effect, low resolution, etc). Are there any other complaints? I'm considering sell my T500 and getting something new. Leaning towards an x1c right now but of course, I hear a lot of people also complaining about the lcd.

 

ATT Uverse reconfigured my router settings, causing me unable to connect.
Figured out the issue, it works now...

So far:
- Good LCD, no screen door effect on mine.
- Still playing around with Windows 8. The gesture on the touchpad still needs some playing time.
- Great keyboard, coming from Dell laptop.
- Solid build, no cracking to be found. Just feel very well made all around as a Thinkpad should be.
- At 4 lbs, it is reasonable light.
- Reasonable bloatware..
- Awesome trackpad surface.

 

Has anyone reached out to Lenovo about the bios issue that prohibits user-upgraded RAM?

I would also be interested in seeing some user reviews and possibly a guilde how to clean install windows 8.

 

i have spoken to someone already about the bios issue, and the new update will address the issue (i have tested it on my T430u), just not sure when the new bios firmware will come out.

 

Anyone have experience with t430u with Linux(ubuntu)? Especifically, with the ThinkPad ABGN wireless card with bluetooth?

I'm about to pull the trigger on a t430u, but this issue is preventing me to go.

 

Grrrrr ... Estimated ship date moved from the 9th to the 17th, with estimated delivery of the 26th. After Christmas...

 

Just got mine in today. At my normal viewing distance I'm not seeing any "screen-door effect" and my 'G' key isn't clicking, so it looks like I got a keeper. Now if only the touchpad and trackpoint would stop disabling themselves forcing me to use a USB mouse...

 

There's an option that prioritizes the touchpad when you use the trackpoint. Basically when you touch the trackpoint, the keyboard and trackpad disables themselves for 1 second. You can disable that on the ultranav options (Control Panel ->Mouse ->ultranav) but remember that the palm rejection isn't too good . You may also want to upgrade the ultranav driver : Synaptics UltraNav driver for Windows 8 (32-bit, 64-bit), 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), XP (32-bit, 64-bit) - ThinkPad

 

It seems the issue worked itself out after a reboot.

So after making a recovery USB drive, I installed a new 240GB SSD and I read somewhere to uninstall/disable the Rapid Boot software. Are there any other tweaks/adjustments I should make? My laptop came with a 24GB cache drive and I don't know what I could use it for since I know it's meant to supplement/improve boot speed from the previously installed hard drive. Maybe put the page file for Windows on it?

 

I'm also about to replace the HDD on mine with an SSD. I'm considering a Samsung 840 series 256GB SSD. Any opinions on SSD choices?

And where did you see the "disable Rapid Boot" advice. I too have the 24GB mSATA cache drive and have been wondering what to do with it and how it will act with a full SSD as the main drive.

Thx...

 

I returned it for a refund. The build quality is solid, but the screen is fatally flawed. As a person who spends many hours per day in front of his laptop, there is absolutely no way that I can "settle" for a low quality screen, so it's back to my 2007 Dell XPS M1530 for the time being. The funny thing is that my 2007 Dell dinosaur has a lower resolution (1440x900) and larger screen (15.3") than the T430u, but exhibits absolutely no screen door effect.

The problem may lie with 14" LCDs. After returning my T430u, I decided to order the new Dell XPS 14 ultrabook, thinking that it would have a better quality screen than the T430u. I was only partially right in my assumption. The Dell XPS 14 ultrabook, with its higher 1600x900 resolution, also exhibits a noticeable "screen door" effect, albeit a little bit less pronounced than the T430u.

My hypothesis is that the current generation of 14" are plagued with a flawed manufacturing process. Perhaps the engineering is not quite where it should be with this relatively new screen size?

 

The advice to disable/remove the RapidBoot was back in this thread: Disable RapidBoot

 

Finally got mine today after about 3 weeks, so far so good, however I'm not a fan of the chicklet keyboard, I much prefer the older ones. Aside from that, so far so good, loving it right now!

 

i have showed the T430u to lot of people this week, and they all love it.

 

Thx for the link... reading now.

 

Hey all, those who have a T430u please check your control panel for a setting:

On mine, the RapidBoot BootShield is checked and On, but the RapidBoot HDD Accelerator is Off, apparently by default (as I didn't fiddle with it yet). BTW, my system has the 320GB spinning HDD and the 32GB mSATA cache drive, along with the Lenovo-installed 64-bit version of Win7.

Is this the default state they are shipped in? And should I turn the RapidBoot HDD Accelerator on, at least until I get a full SSD installed as my main drive?

Thx...

 

Thank you lead_org. Another question for you, if I may. How much flex does the screen on T430u has in comparison to, let's say, X1C again? It is an aluminum cover, so, while resilient, it can turn out to be quite flexible, considering its thickness (thinness in this case

 

There's a pretty good demonstration of the screen flex in the last minute of this review video (audio in German). Lenovo ThinkPad T430u - HandsOn [German / Deutsch] - YouTube

 

I got mine earlier this week. I love the keyboard and build quality, but the screen sucks (low resolution and screen door effect). I'm getting used to it though. Just hope someone finds a compatible upgrade for it.

Also, Lenovo released an upgrade for the bios a few days ago that fixes the ram upgrade problem. I installed 16GBs with no issues.

 

Whoa, that's a whole lotta flex
I found another video (Chech, I think), that also demonstrates the rigidity (or lack thereof) of the keyboard:
Lenovo ThinkPad T430u -
Are the chassis (keyboard) and the lid really that flexible? Unless it is the way the videos are shot, this is simply not something I've expected from a Thinkpad.

 

the person on that video is putting a lot of force into making the whole keyboard and palmrest flex, which is not the typical situation you would encounter in normal usage. If that person exerted the same amount of force on a T430s and T430 palmrest and keyboard, i think you would see the same sort of flexing.

Also, the screen case can be flexed when you apply a torque to it. If you apply the same amount of torque to the T430, T430s, X1 and X1 Carbon screen, the amount of flex in the screen would be even higher.

 

The screen does flex a lot, but not the keyboard. If you pick up the laptop by pinching the corner (on the thinkpad logo) with the laptop open it barely flexes at all. The guy must have been applying a lot of force.

 

Here's a link to the google english translation of the Czeck Lenovoblog review (linked at the video mentioned a couple of posts ago). Translation is a little rough in places but it's a worthwhile read.

Lenovoblog.cz T430u Review

This review reconfirms my belief that the T430u is an Edge-developed product and really should be viewed as a high end Edge ultrabook.

 

ThinkPad T430u wasnt developed by Yamoto and it has a cousin called V490u, so it is not a traditional thinkpad. But that is old news now, wasnt there a long discussion on this last time?

 

Yes, however it was remarkable the number of times the Czech reviewer found the 430u to have Edge-like characteristics. It was his conclusion too.

 

If even the X1C (which I considered my ultimate purchase) flexes this much, then I have to continue my search for the holy grail of a laptop that you can simply throw in your messenger bag (throw, not carefully place it with two hands in a protective sleeve, like I did with my Yoga and then not give a single thought to the screen being impacted by an external object or the body being twisted from a lunch box I've shoved in the same bag. Sadly, the only machine that I feel absolutely comfortable doing that with is MBA or MBP, simply because I've seen how much punishment the latter one had endured at the hands of my gf, and how it is being tossed around every day. But I can't stand Apple That, and maybe the UX31A - absolutely solid build when I played with one at BB before they took down the display models.

 

Flexible isn't always bad. It means the screen is less susceptible to breaking. Sure, flexing to the point of being wobbly isn't nice at all, but rigid, with a good amount of give is what you want.

 

sometimes i hate reading people's review saying i get huge flexes when i push on the laptop or do this to the laptop without giving a reference to how much force is exerted on the laptop. This is one reason i like to read Notebookcheck.net reviews, due to the fact that the result they give can be reproducible using the said condition and equipment.

I have used a lot of macbook pro and air over the years, and i can say that ThinkPad classic can take more punishments and abuse then the Apple laptops. Try to hold the MBP by the edge of screen and let the screen take all the weight of the laptop, and see how much bending you get.

 

After reading this I went and downloaded the BIOS update utility for Windows 7, but it informed me that the BIOS on my unit was newer than what it wanted to flash. How did you get yours to update your BIOS with a newer version?

 

So it's finally on sale in the UK
Certainly not buying at that price though, even with the discount. What a shame

 

I received the T430u from the US a couple of days ago. I am based in the UK.
Laptop build quality is very good but the Display panel is really bad. There is no way I am keeping it with this panel.

I bought a HD+ panel from this website: http://www.laptop-lcd-screen.co.uk/laptopparts/IBM-LENOVO-THINKPAD-T430U-14.0-HDPLUS-LAPTOP-SCREEN__16171.asp
but despite the fact that it fitted it didn't work properly as the screen started flashing. I could get into windows and see the resolution set at 1600x900 but it was unusable. After I reported the fault they seem to have removed the panel from the website now. The model was B140RW02 V.0

 

I got the T430u this week, and I am very impressed with this machine. The build quality and design/finish is great, and exceeded my expectations - absolutely on par with Apple. The keyboard is the best I've used on a laptop. Linux (Ubuntu 12.10) runs very well, and has no issues out of the box. The speakers are weak compared to my MBP, but that's sort of expected. The touchpad is also not as nice as an Apple machine, but it is still very good in addition to the trackpoint. Performance is exactly what you would expect - very fast. I compiled ruby in what seemed like a few seconds.

The only reason I'm considering returning it is the screen. I knew the display was low resolution, but I did not expect the poor quality. The viewing angles are terrible, and the display looks washed out. I don't see much of a "screen door" effect, but overall the display underwhelming - more so than I expected.

I'm considering returning this and ordering a T430s with the slightly better screen, but I've heard mixed reviews on that as well. Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to keep the T430u.


tldr; The PERFECT laptop (trust me, I've checked), but the screen kills it.

 

@mdel1 Have you tried billyd00d's screen calibration in post 330? There was someone else on this thread who was ready to return it because of the screen washout, but was pleased with the changes of this calibration. Obviously, YMMV...

 

I did adjust with the color settings with little improvement.

Comparing the screen to a 4 year old MBP and a newer (non-retina) Air makes the screen look really bad. I don't think it is an unfair comparison, as the resolution isn't the only difference. Perhaps I will post some pictures later...

 

I think that saturation is one very important point. Turn it up, and the screen will look much better.

 

Currently with the charger constantly plugged in, my t430u stops charging at 50%.

The first few days I got this t430u I vaguely remember seeing a setting which I could disable it...however I can't seem to find it anymore? Anyone have any ideas on how to disable this?

 

Not sure which setting you're remembering, but if you open Power Manager, make sure it's in Advanced mode (not Basic), then go to the Battery tab, click on Battery Maintenance and look at the settings.

The "optimize for battery health" setting keeps it between 40-50% or something similar, to maximize the lifespan of your battery. If you use your machine unplugged regularly, make sure it's on a setting that will charge to 100% or something close to that.

 

That's the one I'm talking about, I had the Power Manager on my computer when I first got it (but I must've accidentally deleted it afterwards).

I went on Lenovo's website and downloaded it again ( http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles/geku16ww.exe), installed it and restarted the computer, yet I still can't find the Power Manager anywhere on my computer (Yes I'm sure I installed it). I even tried using the Windows 8 search and still couldn't locate it... Anyone else ever experience this?

 

As far as I can tell, there is no power manager for any lenovo devices with win 8; there's no power manager support. It's really annoying because I wanted to set the charging thresholds so that my battery doesn't charge when it's plugged in.

Also, is anybody else working with win8 getting terrible battery life? I have an i7/128gb ssd/gt620 configuration, and it's about to die after 3:45 of web browsing on energy saver mode on 30% brightness I can only attribute this to bad driver support for win 8, just because there's no good reason why my results should differ so much from the ~5+ hours reported by lead_org and some other foreign website reviews. Anybody else having similar problems?

 

Actually, the link I posted above is the direct link to Lenovo's power manager for Windows 8. As for the battery life, I can't really test it fully, since my laptop only charges up to 50%... :\