Where are the reviews for the T400/T500/W500 - DEAD - DEAD

I first ordered my t400 on august 5th with a nine cell...the ship date was dealyed to september 26th a few days ago...i called my sales rep today and he confirmed that switching to the 6 cell would bring the ship date back into august like it was supposed to be...that was about 3 1/2 hours ago. From what i have heard from three different lenovo reps is only the 9 cell is having shipping problems....note that depending on who you talk to at lenovo you get different answers for EVERYTHING!!! but i was able to get that consistent answer out of 3 different people.

 

maybe this was answered before, but i'm just curious to know if the T400/T500 has the red LED "terminator i" on the thinkpad logo (on the lid) like the SL series does? that would be pretty cool...

 

Looking at the pictures, the i is dotted with red, but it's appears to be just paint, like the X300, and not an LED.

 

I ordered my Laptop (with the 4cell). I dont think i will unhappy with my Laptop although i did not by the Intel Turbo memory and Fast Boot and smooth running are top priorities for me...Now its to late anyways!

Estimated shipping date is 09/01/08

Thank you all for all of your help!

 

Pictures of my t400 with the 6-cell battery.
Sorry about unclear 2nd picture, its my poor camera taking skills lol.

 

omg its so square

 

What do you want it to be? round?
come on now, it's a thinkpad.

 

Where and how to buy bay battery if needed ? Because there is no option for bay battery for both models on the web.

If there is so call bay battery, how to swap it ?

 

Does anyone know why the Thinkpad has only few famous magazines or Hi-Tech web sites review? Even T61 only had CNet, PCMag and NotebookReview done the "official review" after the product released for a while. On the other hand most "popular" electronic products (in addition to notebooks) usually get preview or review at release date.

It does not make sense that giant company like IBM/Lenovo has that kind of marketing policy. May be they cut budget at marking department?

"Square" Thinkpad is cool. If T500 has 15" or 16" non wide screen but SQUARE display. I do not need to read any review and buy one.

 

I think it has to do with the fact that Thinkpads tend to be for business/corporate use rather than being for consumers. It seems to be the same with other business notebooks. Try looking for reviews for Dell Latitudes/Precision or HP's 8510w/8710w and you'll see that there really aren't very many reviews of them either.

 

Grabbed a souped up T400 with today's price drop. Couldn't resist anymore!

 

I hope you guys will enjoy your thinkpads as much as I'm enjoying mine!

 

I just cancelled my order - I cant believe that they charged me almost $500 more yesterday than today! and he said it would be a good deal because i would get 15% off!

Can anyone send me the link for the student & Alumini discounted webpage I cant find it online (I am enrolled in college!) - I also have a Visa Card if that works better!

The Laptop is now a really good deal, I hope i can get it soon!

 

Here you go,

http://l.lenovo.com/ajtk/servlet/JJ?H=2nhp0e&R=1730313666&P=17679002

 

Deals shouldn't be hard to find now. My configuration got $600 (Canadian) cheaper today. Talked with a rep, and I'll get it all back as a credit once my order ships. Now...what to do with $600?

 

Does anyone know when did the Thinkpad no longer has the "IBM" three letters logo on the case? Does T60 and T61 still has the logo? Will the quality control will be different since IBM may no longer stand behind the products because the product no longer has "IBM" logo, especially the famous IBM patent keyboard?

I thought IBM still has certain percentage of the company stocks. Or Lenovo owns Thinkpad product line 100% now?

Just like Compaq used to be durable/good product, but after HP has taken over, the quality of Compaq is depend on who do you talk to. At least it is no longer "most people" replying that it is a durable product.....

Same as after Sony has changed the CEO, the Sony product......

Same as Dell, when the very first 1st CEO want to retire...

Same as Microsoft has changed CEO, then their current operating system: the "POPLUAR" Vista....

Will T500 as good as classic Thinkpad? Especially so few reviews. Even people may say Thinkpad may be for business market instead of consumers market, but how come Lenovo issue those student discount coupons? Does that mean Lenovo as a company want to make as much profit as possible no matter the profit is from market other than "business market"?

Such few reviews, and takes those magazines' "professional reviewers" such long time to do an "official" reviews. I do not mean those NICE casual reviewers who done it without charging any fee.

I would rather wait for more detail professional reviews before buy T500.

Whoever has previous models of Thinkpad and currently own (will own) a T400/T500, please post your review using previous models as reference. Thank you very much.

 

Does anyone know if this Bag fits the T400
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/...-category-id=A7F5985A95FD40499C359EA4A5713FAE

It says it is up to 15.4" so I am worried that the Laptop is moving around too much

As far as the quality of the Lenovo - I cant say because i dont have one I guess it would need comparison with the HP Eltiebook and the Dell Latitude.

I personally think that for the new price (Acording to the webpage i saved more than $700!) it is a very good laptop (even if the quality is a bit worse than the original IBMs). I also got the 3 year warranty to be save.

 

How long do you guys think until Lenovo decides to drop the price of the T500 w/ discreet graphics?!?! I'm dying to get it now, but I have a feeling they're gonna drop the price, they've done it for all the other T's....

 

This T400 has finally broken my heart

The ThinkLight has been turned into the ultimate blinding light. Instead of being shrouded inside the top edge of the lid, the LED is exposed. when it turns on it is a super bright white LED that blinds you instead of lighting up the keyboard. Thought it was possibly mounted incorrectly, took the lid apart, and that is just the way it was designed. Ugh.

The T500, X200, X300, etc did not have this problem, only the T400. I used that light so much on my T60 too :'(

 

Kevin,
Any word on the W500 review..?

 

Poop

That's not good.

 

How did you get a $600 discount? Did you just ask the sales rep or something?

 

God dam, How about bay battery as advertised ?
Where to buy ?
How to sawp ?

 

The Laptops had a price drop today! I think he called and got his price "adjusted
to his recent order. I did the same thing although i spend a lot of the money ona better configuration...

 

Why would they do that?!

I hope it isn't like that on the R400 too.. But if it is, it can give me an excuse to buy a X200

 

just put some tape on it, and you'll be fine! No more blinding light. Also, you cna paint it red, and you will have the feeling of "dangerous zone" or "nuclear misil ready general". Perhaps you are more "disco cisco" and you will paint it blue.

 

Kevin,

Thank you very much for doing the T500 review. Especially the game screenshot. I used to think Thinpad color is not as good as Sony, but T500 is good compare to those non-glossy notebook in old day.

If you still have Sony FW, could you please put it side by side with T500 & T400 in "T500 detail review"? Really want to see the different of the brightness in same environment.

Thank you.

 

Dont have the FW in the office anymore.

I did just grab some T60 IPS vs T400 LED though

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=3801752&postcount=8

 

Was the FW screen comparable to the T500's?

 

Hard to do a direct comparison between a glossy and a matte screen, but the T500 has a much cleaner look than the FW. No odd tunnel effect massive backlight leakage (or huge banding marks).

 

Do they have t400 without OS installed? It is cheaper without OS license? I don't need windows os installed or the license.

Also in the future, if i order linux version, would it be identical hardware specs as windows versions?

 

I don't believe there's a No OS option.

 

Kevin,

Thank you very much for the T500 &T400 pics. I think that the time stamp of your posted pics which issued by NotebookReview is a proof that you are the original owner of those pics. On the other hand people in other country may use it, so your paintbrush approach is smart. People should appreciate other people effort instead of greedy illegally.

Is there a TURBO switch can be pushed for releasing the T500 detail review? (May be KnightRider "superpursuit" mode).

Lenovo should pay whoever do the first round quality review like Kevin, so the customers happy, reviewers happy, more customers place orders earlier..Lenovo happy. Everyone happy.

In such a competitive notebooks market, Lenovo should ask their directors of their marketing department whether their department is running in right direction or not. No official review since Centrino2 has released for weeks!
Company marketing policy like this, T500 may has a SUPER sale soon due to too much inventory because all the customers have spent their money buying other brands whichever has detail rating and reviews. Due to slow economy, companies are starting layoff, so they watch their budget spending much carefully too when replacing the old notebooks.

T500 seem to be better than T400, even T400 is brighter. T500 color is more saturated and less washout. For reading and internet browsing, T500 may be better. Please comment whether the T500 is bright enough without downgrade the color at the very bright environment such as library.

MicroCenter only put the T61 at 2nd shelve in showroom, so it is not under the direct light.

Does T500 has those on/off low volume high frequency noise when CPU is fully loaded? How about any previous Thinkpad? From your experience of doing so many reviews, could you rough guess those famous noise is from fan or LCD? Can it be fixed if send the notebook to service. As long as it can be fixed, I will not hesitate to shopping. Some service tech guys said that those noise is normal, so think before you buy it. On the other hand loud noise can be fixed! Just the high frequency is normal!

Thank you very much.

 

T500 vs T400 screen shots now

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=3803889#post3803889

 

Because someone wanted to see some insides, here is the T400 against the X200

 

Great info so far Kevin.

So... When is the full review gonna be up?

 

for the x200, I am curious as to what the middle left of the insides is for?

Also, I can see clear where the intel turbo mem is for the T400, but x200 isnt that easy to see or it is not installed there?

 

Kevin,

Thank you very much for posting the pics in Turbo mode.

When you did the review for Sony FW, have you removed the Sony keyboard and look at it's craftmanship. If you did, could you give some comment on it, especially the heat management design. The T400 has several big copper components for transfer heat, The X200 does not has those. Just wonder whether Sony FW has such nice design or not. Previous model FZ is hot, so I think FZ did not has similar design like T400. How about FW?

Could you give some rating about the "overall" FW internal craftmanship in compare to T500?

It is very tough to pick T500 or FW. If previous FZ did not has such high frequency noise and hot, I will not hesitate to pick FW for bigger screen to do a lot of reading daily.

If you were given a free notebook to pick, which one would you pick (T500 or FW...exactly same spec. Both with 3 years warranty.)?

Thank you for the info.

 

Well the X200 has all of the cooling system on the other side of the board, which is why you cant see all the beautiful copper showing

 

kevin, i would really appreciate it, if u said smth about outdoor viewability in ur upcomming indepth reviews of t400/t500.

my first post is a wish, bit childish but i couldnt resist

 

Getting rid of what you call the "crapware" is a piece of cake.

Simply wipe the drive and install Ubuntu Linux ver 8.04.01, it's what I'm running on my ThinkPads and a great OS.
Comparo:
Boot up time: Win XP Pro, optimized. 2 min 12 sec.
Boot up time: Ubuntu ver 8.04.01.............. 23 sec.
Shut down time: " " " ..............................11 sec.
OS comes with free Open Office 100% MS Ofc compatible
Firefox 3
Games
And the entire process of wiping windows, then installing Ubuntu less than 45 minutes....
I could not be happier.

 

thankinfo, have you tried handling an FW yet (in a Sony Style) store? I played around with one and it felt pretty good.

Do you live near a major university? Some school bookstore may have newer ThinkPads on display.

 

Two general questions -

Is the keyboard flex a very slight deformation that I am unlikely to notice/hate (coming frommy T42 with a rock solid keyboard) or more of squishy problem that will drive me mad (like my wife's Dell M1330 with its mashed potatoes feeling keyboard)?

Does anyone know if the T400 comes with UWB for wireless USB? This isn't clear on the Lenovo website for this model (as opposed to, for example, the x300). Thanks.

 

Be sure you get a better HDD to swap too.....the ones from Lenovo are Hitachi which are know to have very high performance

 

I thought Lenovo had a few HD providers and not just hitachi?

 

They use Seagate, Hitachi, and Fujitsu... I have had almost one of each.

 

I wish mine is either the Hitachi or Seagate....do you have to unscrew stuffs to get the part number (eg. keyboard, HDD, screen) Kevin?

 

curiouspeter,

Sony Style only show the demo unit which has locked the brightness adjustment. The saleman said it cannot be unlock! All he said that the FW will be brighter if the display setting is unlock. He said that he knew because he has bought the same model for himself. BestBuy is better, they let you adjust any setting, run benchmark etc, but their FW is XBriteEco. It cannot tell whether any noise by only running those pre install "lite application".

No local stores have T400/T500 yet. Beside Kevin is nice to show some review. There is no other reviews, and no local stores have display model. One more week without any other reviews or no display models in local stores, I will not consider T500 anymore. Thinkpad is not those rare Lamborghini. Lexus used to make similar marketing trick to upgrade it status by put people at waiting list.

If the T400/T500 product is really good, the company should send the unit for "P-review" instead of letting customers waiting for "R-eview". Centrino2 has already been release for weeks.

They don't even has the "IBM" three letters logo.
Thousands dollars can buy a lot of items, you are not talking few dollars. Some HDTV can cost less than a notebook and it has lot of official review plus they let customer see it at TV showroom!

Lenovo may becomes Dell. When Dell "was" top rank famous.....! HP took over major notebooks market because they are marketing friendly.

Thank you.

 

What points are you trying to make here? Lenovo Thinkpads are like brand name business line laptops...if you want to know what it's like....you can go read from the reviews of the previous models....If you don't like how it has not been reviewed yet.....go ahead with other laptops that have already been reviewed....some people can wait and some people can't.....and some people like me don't bother....because I am getting a THINKPAD for only 1,200$....where could you find a laptop with this specs and builds for this price....I don't want a Sony FW....it barely has 2hrs of battery life.....and besides.....most of the really good things don't need advertisement....people know they are good.....and they are not marketing consumers....that's why they don't have Thinkpads on your local stores....I agree that you have made the right decision to go with Sony FW.....people have different expectations.

 

FW is a fine laptop too. I did consider it briefly. (But then if I am to have only 900 pixels of vertical resolution, I may just as well get a 14" laptop.)

NBR did have a preview for the X200 a while ago. Perhaps Lenovo cares more about that market (ultra-portable executive laptops)?

If there are still no reviews soon I may just go ahead and buy a T400 anyway. But if it turns out bad I may not get another Lenovo ever again.