about to buy t400 soon

ok so im gonna buy a t400 today or tommorow. how is my set up?

Intel Core 2 Duo processor P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2)1
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic12
14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ LED Backlight, Camera
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)8
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
ThinkPad WiFi (BGN)10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
6 cell Li-Ion Battery60
2764: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7
ThinkPad T400 / R400 14W Privacy Filter (free)

$829.36

should i upgrade the wireless? are these faster? and whats my wifi tech?
Intel WiFi Link 5100 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology [add $17.00]
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN) with My WiFi Technology [add $34.00]

and which one should i get? whats a smart card reader?
Express Card Slot & Smart Card Reader [add $8.50]
Express Card Slot & 7-1 Media Card Reader [add $8.50]

can anyone get lower than the price i have right now? if you can tell me

 

I would suggest going with at least the Intel WiFi Link 5100, as the Intel cards are superior to the Realtek wireless card (Thinkpad BGN) in terms of signal and power usage.

Basically, if you do not know what a Smart Card is, chances are, you will never use one. It is sometimes used by government and a few corporate jobs for authentication, but is pretty much useless to the typical consumer.

The Media Card reader could be useful, if, for example, you have a digital camera that uses SD cards. I would suggest it.

Also, if it matters to you, the WXGA High-nit LED panel is a lot nicer than the base WXGA LED panel, in terms of brightness and color accuracy.

That price looks great, you're getting very nice specs for a low price.

 

ThinkPad T400 - 1 Yr Depot Warranty
Edit
Ships within 9 bus. days**
$1,276.00
$764.14

$1,276.00
$764.14


Intel Core 2 Duo processor P8700 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2)1
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic12
14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight, Camera
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)8
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
No Bluetooth
ThinkPad WiFi (BGN)10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
4 cell Li-Ion Battery60
2764: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7
Operating system12 Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic
Operating system language Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic US English
Display type 14.1 WXGA TFT, w/ CCFL Backlight, Camera
System graphics ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
Total memory8 2 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Keyboard Keyboard US English
Pointing device UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
Optical device5 CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)
System expansion slots Express Card Slot & PC Card Slot
Wireless card10 ThinkPad WiFi (BGN)
Mobile Broadband Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
Battery60 4 cell Li-Ion Battery
Power cord Country Pack North America with Line cord & 90W AC adapter
Language pack Language Pack US English

43R2472 ThinkPad T400 / R400 14W Privacy Filter
$49.99
$0.01

$49.99
$0.01
[ecode] -$45.85

Estimated total: $718.30*
I think this is the same, oh ya go for the 3 year warranty and upgrade the wifi

To get this price http://www.Lenovo.com/ibmspp then use the code found by googling "cpp fatwallet t400"

 

I would go with 1 dimm of 2gb ram, just in case you want to upgrade to more later, especially if you want to upgrade to 64bit Win7.

I have the Intel 5100 and don't have one problem. I would definitely recommend it.

I regret not getting the Media Card Reader, its worth the little extra scratch.

And also, that is a DVD-ROM and not a DVD-R so you'll be burning 11 recovery discs

Just my thoughts,
Josh

 

Are you sure you don't want a higher res screen?

 

Im still waiting for Lenovo to give out coupon for the outlet. They have some pretty nice laptop there too. Most of them come with the intel Graphic card or AMD 256mb but not the ati 256mb. Can anyone comment on these two graphic cards? Also, how often do they give out coupon for the outlet?
Thanks

 

Ati = AMD http://ati.amd.com/products/mobilityradeonhd3400/specs.html

Benchmark list - http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html
Ati 3470 = #107
Intel 4500 = #132

If you go with discrete (3470) you can switch between 3470 and 4500

 

As far as I know they never give coupons for the outlet.

 

Why would they have a space for you to enter coupon in the outlet checkout? Thank Darktehnub for the information. How hard is it to upgrade graphic card on laptop?

 

On the Thinkpad T400 or T500? Pretty much impossible.

 

Good question. Maybe it was easier for the web developer to just use the same screen/logic as the regular CTO checkout. When I asked about Outlet coupons on this board, I was told there were none.

 

Nevermind....

 

So did you order?

 

wow thanks for the help guys, lots of useful stuff. i need more help please

is wifi 5300 alot better than 5100? should i get that and drop bluetooth<- I don't know if i will need that

is the ccfl screen thicker than the led screen or the same?

and if i get a WXGA+ screen would i be able to change it to a smaller resolution. i don't know if WXGA+ is too small for me or if WXGA is too small lol. i'm using a desktop with 1152 x 864 btw.

no i did not order yet, maybe tommorow haha
so if i choose 2 dimm ram i can't put in 1 dimm ram in later right

 

You are doing the smart thing in not rushing and doing your homework. No buyers remorse later .. Research everything out and then order your ideal config.

1.) From my understanding the Wifi 5300 has 3 antennas and the 5100 has 2. From what I read the 5300 will give you slightly better range. jonlumpkin know a lot more about this and has done tests recently on the 2 cards.

2.) I would definitely get bluetooth. I love it. It allows you to connect a whole host of devices to you laptop without cords or dongles and it is used pretty widely. You can use Bluetooth mice, printers, headphones, pdas and cellphones with the laptop all wirelessly. I thought I would never use it, but boy was I wrong. I don't have it in my current X200 but do in my T61p and boy do I miss it.

3.) LCD screens like to be run in the native resolution they were made for. For example if the screen does 1440x900, you should stay with that and not change it, since the picture will get blurry. If the resolution is too high for you and things are too small, what you can do instead is to increase your DPI, which makes everything bigger on the screen. Vista and 7 are good at this where as XP is not as good.

4.) The laptop comes with 2 memory slots. Each slot can store one card. So if you have 2 dims already, then the 2 slots will be full. That means that you would have to get rid of one ram module to put in an upgrade to another. If you choose the one dim option from lenovo, that means that they put ram into only 1 slot and the other one is free for you to put in with an aftermarket ram module.

 

Hey angrystudent13, I did a lot research on T400 on this forum and no buyer's remorse here

1. answered by The First Snake
2. I didn't get bluetooth because I don't have a lot bluetooth peripherals, and I have a tiny bluetooth dongle if I do need to use bluetooth
3. answered by The First Snake, and WXGA+ is really nice
4. Get 1 Dimm

 

Oh angrystudent13 here is jonlumpkin's thread comparing the 5100 and the 5300. Forgot to include this in my earlier post.

 

thanks again guys; ok i think i'm gonna buy today now

should i get high nite led screen? im going to be working mostly indoors but if it is alot nicer i might get it.

 

is it possible to get the intel 5100/5300 part separate and install it yourself later on?. I spec'ed my T400 with the thinkpad wifi, and after reading this i regret it.

 

theres nothing wrong with the thinkpad wifi...or I have no problems with it.

 

your thinkpad use wifi thinkpad b/g/n?????? what do u feel about it
sorry my english is very very bad.......

 

i love my t400 and henceforth will only ever buy thinkpads.

did plenty of research and no remorse, but a couple of things that were cost prohibitive at the time, which i would offer as 'advice' if i were to purchase the t400 now are:

1) i'd still get the wxga+, 1440x900 is fine. i went from 1280x760 on a previous compaq presario, and this has MUCH more onscreen space, which helps cause i open lots of windows. also, my even older crt before that was 1152, and i'm fine with the current 1440. though i would BUY THE LED backlight, i think it's much less expensive now. when i bought my t400, it woulda been an extra $300.

2) i woudlnt' drop bluetooth for a different wifi card. i have the default one and it works perfectly, never had issues with poor signal quality or anything. it's wireless g, but unless you plan to be on a wireless n network all the time transfering large chunks of data off the network wirelessly, i don't think you'll notice a difference. so wireless G is fine. you never know what bluetooth device you miht wanna add (bluetooth mouse)

3) i got 2 dimms at 1gig each. it was a lot more expensive to get the 1 dimm, and i'm running on winxp, so i didn't need more. with all my optimizations, my system uses on average 500 mb. only photoshop ever puts more load on.

 

You might want to check out a T400 in person before buying. I played around with a display model at a local store and I was not too impressed. See my "dilemma" thread for my impressions.