Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Review

Not sure if this was already said or not since its a pretty long thread, but the PC-Card/Express Card combination actually gives you a little springy flap instead of blanks. TBH i would have preferred two blanks - think lenovo will send some over for free?

 

double post

 

It seems to me like the reviewer preferred the spring loaded flap over the "cheap plastic blanks". What's wrong with the flaps?

 

I've ordered the T400 w/ the discrete graphics and WXGA+ LED display and I was wondering if it is possible for the ATI 3470 gpu to output to my external 22" monitor at its native resolution, 1680x1050, instead of having to use 1440x900? I also have the docking station that has both vga and dvi output, if that would make a difference.

 

It may make the area above the slot weak. I know my laptop's case is cracked over its card slot

 

I've had the fortunate or unfortunate situation where my initial T400 was mis-processed. I have just received my new replacement (w/ LED backlit screen) and am just about to return my original (w/o LED backlit). There seems to be some inconsistencies between both, otherwise, identically specced machines.

Firstly, on my original machine, keyboard flex was very minimal whereas my new machine has a noticeable wide bulge over the left side. Pressing the W or S keys for example lowers this bulge, creating the flex. The bulge on my keyboard is roughly centered over the 4 and 5 keys. The keyboards are also slightly different in look and feel. My new keyboard has slightly more rougher in texture and rounded in shape compared to the old. I should also say that while typing normally, I don't notice much difference in flex between either keyboard.

On my original machine I did not experience the blinding ThinkLight whereas on my new machine it is quite noticeable, as the reviewer reports! The LED screen placement is also about 0.5cm higher in the lid than on my original - so it could be due to the slight lid redesign for the LED backlight.

About battery life. On "maximum battery life" setting, while letting the laptop remain idle Vista for a few minutes, my new T400 consumes 8.7W so sure I can see how battery life could last 10+ hours but this is very ideal. Under normal usage, I'm looking at closer to 13W consumption for just under 7 hrs battery life with a 9-cell battery - still not too shabby!

Hope this helps resolve some of the conflicts on this string.

Kevinci


Common configs across both my machines:
P8600. 3GB RAM. 160GB 7200rpm. Discrete+Integrated Graphics. Intel 5300 Wireless. DVD Drive. 9 Cell battery. Windows Vista.

 

Thanks for the info kevinci. So it seems the ThinkLight for T400s with the LED backlight config may tend to "blind" the user, whereas on other models it doesn't.

Hopefully when I get my T400, the keyboard will resemble your first keyboard. I guess it won't matter too much though, since you said you didn't notice much difference under regular usage. Still, I'd like my T400 to be as perfect as possible.

I'm also relieved to hear that the battery life is as good as you say. I didn't think I would be able to get 10+ hours under normal usage, but around 7 hours is still really good, in my opinion.

 

Hi,

Where the light for the keyboard is placed ? I cnnot see it on the pictures ?


Thanks

 

it's located at the top edge.

 

Hi,

Should I wait that LEnovo resolve the keyboard issue before bying a T400 ? or that would never happened ?

 

I don't know if this is really a big a deal as people are making it out to be.

Both keyboards feel fine to me - one just smoother and other more textured. I actually took each keyboard out and did not notice a bulge in either unit. One reason for the keyboard bulge and flex (once installed) turns out to be that some of the wiring underneath the keyboard was loosely routed and outside of their gutter/tracks. I also noticed that some wires (comparing my T400 units) were inexplicably longer by maybe 0.5cm, but enough to be noticeable. So I had to manually re-organize these wires and the bulge has been reduced!

 

Kevinci, this makes sense regarding the keyboard. I just received my T400 and I'll write more of a review soon. The keyboard is totally fine for me. It has considerably less flex than the one I tried at the store (a local college bookstore). Also, the thinklight on the one in the store was blinding and mine is not. However mine just barely misses my eyes. If the led was even a fraction of a mm lower relative to the hole in the case, it would be a problem.

Note that I still decided on the T400 because the flex on the store model did not in any way hurt my typing experience. It did not flex when typing normally. It still felt much better than the keyboards on other laptops. Also, one could easily redirect the light with a little strip of tape...but I don't really care since I can touch type. Also, the bright screen lights up the keyboard almost as much as the thinklight.

BTW, the LED screen is awesome! At first I thought that it didn't look especially bright until I put it next to my old Dell D610. The difference is HUGE.

First impressions: Thinkpads really never change! Shipped in 1 week. Very solid feel for a plastic case except for the slightly wiggly battery. The estimated battery-life-remaining is not that shockingly good right now. I need to tweak and do some real testing. There are tons of settings.

Drew
NEW: T400, LED WXGA+, P8600 (so far, so good)
Also: Dell D610, D630, Vaio VGN, iBook G4
Previously: Dell D600, Thinkpad i

 

I hope the ThinkLight on my T400 (when I get it) isn't blinding. I don't need light to type, but I'd like the functionality to be there regardless. Glad to hear you think the ThinkPad build is still one of quality. Let us know if you get that battery working longer.

 

Price drop on the the T400 according to the US website.

 

I thought so too, I even did a price quote and tried to do a price match just to figure out the default OS is vista basic instead of business now!!!!

 

hard climates- if you mean cold/hot weather, I dont think it can handle it any better than other laptops

bumpy terrains- it has a gsensor which automaticaly turnes off the hd on falls, sudden movements, so guess this would help, but lower performance

I recommend getting a SSD drive

screen in sunlight- the screen is VERY bright if you get the LED backlit, it might not be the most comfortable experience in direct sunlight, but it would definately be usable.

 

Hi guys,
Don't you notice this T400 has front bus speed at 1066MHZ? Other notebooks are still using frond bus at 677MHz or 800MHz. That is big difference. From my experience the front buss clock is quite important to the performance of my games. This T400 seems to be the fastest notebook on market. Its 6,589 PCMarks shows it is much faster than dell 4900 PCMarks or hp 4,234 PCMarks. Currently i have dell inspiron 6000. It is so slow now and I want my notebook as fast possible. I think I'm going to replace my old dell with this t400.

 

Is anyone who owns a T400 able to provide me with comparison shots of the T400 with LED and CCFL backlight? If there are two people here who have one of each, could they both make pictures of similar desktops in similar conditions? I am trying to figure out whether a CCFL backlighted T400 would be a bad purchase, as there are no LED backlighted T400s in stock in the Netherlands it seems.

 

You could buy it at Notebooksandmore, if you don't mind buying internationally.

 

I'm considering this or the X200T for my next laptop....gosh, I'm torn.

 

Thank you Zuffox - it seems to be a German company, meaning shipment to where I am in Europe wouldn't be that long at all.

 

should I switch out my xps m1530 for a t400?

 

This review was very helpful. It finally convinced me to toss my old inspiron 9300 away, and upgrade to the T400. Two things made this a no brainer.

First the the friends and family discount going on now at lenovo.com. It saved me about 500 dollars (woot woot). Second is the T400's battery life. This junky 9300 only last two hours tops, and weighs around 10 pounds. The T400 can last anywhere from at least 7+hours using the intel graphics. To me this is a major advantage since I could either use the notebook for everyday things for a whole day, or plug the laptop in and enable the ATI graphics.

I can not think of any cons for getting this notebook for a regular sized laptop.

 

I have been thinking about getting a Lenovo for a while now, how do they stand up using Photoshop compared to a Macbook Pro?

 

Photoshop used to develop for the Mac first, Windows second. This is no longer the case today and new Photoshop features come to Windows now before the Mac. While not a good example, Photoshop CS4 can natively take advantage of x64 Windows, but there is no x64 Photoshop support for the Mac (and part of the reason for this is Windows is far ahead of Mac when it comes to x64).

 

I got my new T400 yesterday, so far I am very satisfied.

No dead pixels, it feels very sturdy, I do not experience keyboard flex unless I press down on the keyboard far harder then I do when typing. I do not have a fine scale here, or I'd measure the pressure I need to exert.

I really like that the vents are on the sides instead of the bottom, makes far more sense with a laptop to me.

Furthermore, I think I prefer a matte screen over the glossy screen I had on my Sony SZ1XP/C. Though I lose the ability of shaving using my laptop, I gain the advantage of being able to see what's on my screen far more often than seeing whether or not some deviant is sneaking up behind me.

If I run into anything I see as a Bad Thing about this laptop, I'll post it here as well, but I think that'll have to wait until I've actually used it for a while

 

Hehe. Funny.

 

......................i dont know if anyone knows this or has mentioned this but this review has been quoted on lenovo canada!

http://www.lenovo.com/ca/en/index.html

 

man this is cool but it is kinda small with such a huge battery

 

Hi,

I waited forever to get SSD option on T400, then ordered it and picked it up at the UPS amidst a heavy snow storm after 2 trips. I come home and try to boot it up and find that 128G SSD is missing from the system. They shipped to me without the harddrive. It is incredible, is there no quality checks before shipping it out. Please let me know what the redressal procedure is.

Thanks & Regards,
Nat

 

There is an issue with T400 platform and potentially T500 where switchable graphic/bios seems incompatibile with video drivers. Just search for "T400 display crash" for more info. To me it happens more under XP then vista. There seems to be no fix for this at this time.

 

Overall I'm pleased with the T400, but disappointed with Lenovo. I popped for the Advanced Docking Station, and found the T400's CD- drive is not compatible.
http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=20919

Also, I bought this computer because it is quiet. The Advanced Dock is NOISY.

Also, be aware that you'll need to remove a 9 cell battery to dock.

These are issues that Lenovo should disclose upfront. Oh...and don't even try talking to their tech support about these issues. They really couldn't care less...

 

I'm really interested by the issues you are talking about.

I see here that, in fact, you CAN leave the 9 cells battery while docking the laptop. But what about the noise? Anyone else has experience with it? Is it really that noisy?

Also, are you refereing to the docking station on which you can add an extra cd drive/hard drive or the "regular" advanced one?

Finally, when you say the "CD- drive is not compatible" do you mean the CD drive inside the T400 itself won't work when docked??

Thanks in advance.

 

...yeah you're right and this is a huge draw for people as well.

 

I really can't stand the wiggling thinkpad batteries.

Why IBM and now Lenovo can't fix that is beyond me.

 

It doesn't bother me too much. It would be cool if Lenovo could fix that though.

 

Is the T400 presently a good choice for a student? Is it reliable, long-lasting and comfortable to type on? Or I can find something better elsewhere like in the Dell's latitude or Vostro line, or in HP...? Thank you.

 

Its great for school. Its much nicer to type on than my C90s and is made "better" than the vostro line from Dell. I personally prefer it to the Latitudes and HP's buisness line, but that's just my opinion

 

How exactly do you switch between integrated and dedicated graphics? I can't seem to figure out how and I'm pretty sure that my t400 is still using dedicated graphics even when running on batteries because under display settings it lists the ATI 3640 as the graphics card.

 

You did not specify whether you are on XP or Vista, but here goes:

With XP, you have to enter the BIOS and switch between discrete and integrated.

With Vista, you can right-click the Thinkpad power monitor on the taskbar and from the 'Switchable Graphics' menu, you can choose which graphics option you wish to use, on the fly, no reboot required.

 

correction: you have to left click on the icon

 

Just taken delivery of my T400 (manufactured December 2008) and I'm pleased to say that it looks like Lenovo have been listening. My T400 seems to have the same solid keyboard as that pictured for the T60 in the original review, NOT the 'new' T400 version.

I'm also pleased that is has the full size (double line) enter key (presumably that is standard for a UK layout).

For those that are interested the keyboard has the following part numbers:
Parts No. 42T3265
FRU No. 42T3297
ID No. 8C21W1
Model No. MW - 90GB

 

I get my T400 a week ago. And I have keyboard like T60 too. It is finnish/swedish version.
Parts NO. 42T3262
FRU No. 42T3294
ID No. 925081
Model No. MW-90S0

Picture in flickr: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3356326424_f492ffb7fc_o.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarin/3356404370/

 

Beware of Lenovo customer service, it is horrific especially after outsourcing it. I just bought a T400 system, free shipping & handling was to be included as well as a $0.01 privacy filter special. Neither was included although it appeared initially when you customize your system. I called and they returned my shipping and handling charge but refused the privacy filter, stating I had no proof of that sale and they have no proof that it was ever offerred, even though it has (for months) and continues to be offerred.

As for the system itself, still well built compared to HP and Dell, but subpar from previous models. Battery life on a new laptop with wireless is ~4.5 hrs using 25W P processor.