ThinkPads X240 official release date

[oliversl]

I just read:
http://news.lenovo.com/article_display. ... le_id=1712

Pricing and Availability3
ThinkPad T440s available starting end of October priced from $1149.
ThinkPad T440 available starting end of October priced from $899.
ThinkPad X240 available starting end of October priced from $1099.

The following products will be available initially in selected markets:
ThinkPad S440 available in September priced from €699.
ThinkPad S540 available starting October priced from €649.
ThinkVision LT2934z available starting October priced from $799.

I think its taking too long, and why no black box anymore?

Maybe there is a shortage of haswell or the new design is that solid for production yet. The training videos show a lot cables inside.

[oliversl]

Do they killed the ThinkPad design? Designed by users? I don't know ...
http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/03/leno ... s440-s540/

Those X240 photos hurts

[Puppy]

Designed by users?

Designed by corporate managers who actually uses MacBook.

[Vempele]

Designed by users?

Designed by corporate managers who actually uses MacBook.

Designed by the people who designed Thinkpad Edge. Or at least, the keyboard is exactly... well, almost exactly the same. The arrow keys look Thinkpad-y, but the rest of the keyboard is all Edge.

[Adda]

Designed by the users??? must be users who never used computers much before their ideas became important.

Yet another pointless device.

[oliversl]

I will miss holding ThinkPads by the top of the lid

[csioucs]

Thanks for the heads-up, even if I'm late to notice.

Rant warning: I couldn't contain myself seeing the rounded corners, the discrete and mainstream latches, the undistinguishable impression, and the oh-so-lonely Trackpoint. It really needs a hug. A caress. But I digress.
I used some of the forum features rather expressively. Beg forgiveness.

Sometimes, for various technological reasons, until the recent new Dell Precision announcements, I thought to my self, if only the Macs had a trackpoint maybe I'd considered them. It seems, that, my chimerical thoughts have come to fruition from those craftsmen that are closer to us. Hence the more bitter disappointment.
Arrgh.
Even you Brutus?
Behold the MacPad - The (2nd Hand-)ThoughtPad.
And for oldtimers, now spiced with Trackpoint too. [Don't worry son, will get u outta there too, just wait. Muahahahaa!!]

The *40 generation. Ugh. Not a s i n g l e Thinkpad in the lineup?
Dare I mention the indecently crowd-pleasure-esque rounded forms and curves of the S series (is the letter of the series an omen?)?

The species is extinct.
I distinctly remember passing from a T30 to a T60 and it took more than two weeks for many a folk to realise that I changed machines. I had this inner joy when after about a month one student came to me and asked me: Do you have a new laptop, because I wasn't quite sure. That w a s timeless design.
Now we "a' movin' with da flow, argh, no apple, ahem, mainstream. Hi there, Gaussian curve. Shelter us, will you? We felt really unsheltered the last 20 years or so, standing out. Anonymity is what we lacked. Impart us this long forgotten value. We need to blend in y'know? (Da flow, as in c.a.s.h. flow, cow, wow...)

This is for anyone at Lenovo: CUT the *&^%# trackpoint buttons out if you still insist on leveling them with the trackpad, to have them click individually.
Because you canned can!

(Rant has only same-ish design in mind, about performance we'll see).

[wantathinkpad]

I will miss holding ThinkPads by the top of the lid

I have done this a few times with my Edge. Probably not as often as I did with my T43 but even then I did not do it too often.
Hopefully should be able to do the same with these new ones (T440s! hopefully).

[skinnie]

I've seen the T431s, well that is a "retina" macbook in black.
Goodbye Thinkpad.
The same will happen to X240..a red light in the i?
Soldered ram?
Glad I bought the X230.

[Adda]

I've seen the T440, well that is a "retina" macbook in black.
Goodbye Thinkpad.
The same will happen to X240..a red light in the i?
Soldered ram?
Glad I bought the X230.

LOL WUT?

So it's not like Lenovo doesn't like LEDs, they just don't like the useful ones!?!?

[skinnie]

I've seen the T440, well that is a "retina" macbook in black.
Goodbye Thinkpad.
The same will happen to X240..a red light in the i?
Soldered ram?
Glad I bought the X230.

LOL WUT?

So it's not like Lenovo doesn't like LEDs, they just don't like the useful ones!?!?

Sorry it was a T431s, but I guess they will stay with that on T440
This i has a red let

[wantathinkpad]

I've seen the T431s, well that is a "retina" macbook in black.
Goodbye Thinkpad.
The same will happen to X240..a red light in the i?
Soldered ram?
Glad I bought the X230.

To call this a "retina" macbook or relate the T431s to any apple product is laughable. Those X-Series are nice.

Anyone know the differences between the T440s and X240s besides screen size and ports?

[skinnie]

I've seen the T431s, well that is a "retina" macbook in black.
Goodbye Thinkpad.
The same will happen to X240..a red light in the i?
Soldered ram?
Glad I bought the X230.

To call this a "retina" macbook or relate the T431s to any apple product is laughable. Those X-Series are nice.

Anyone know the differences between the T440s and X240s besides screen size and ports?

I guess they are having the same approach, beauty instead of functionality.
Yes, they are nice, but no more "thinkpads".

[wantathinkpad]

I guess they are having the same approach, beauty instead of functionality.
Yes, they are nice, but no more "thinkpads".

I don't understand that term too much. Why can't beauty go with functionality. I would argue that it did. My T43 was beautiful and my the T440s is/will be also. True, thinkpads are not built like my T43 that I bought 8 years ago (thanks to this forum!) but they are still special and different. I thought my cousin's T60 or T61 (the models that did not have the signature red lines on the trackpoint buttons) was not the same but reading the various forums now people consider those the "Real" Thinkpads. 5 years after buying my T43 I needed a laptop for home use but could not get over the Thinkpad keyboard and trackpoint, so I bought the refurbished Edge with the new chiclet keyboard (which is great) that costs 3 times less than my T43 ($500 vs $1500). And for me that was great. It served it's purpose.

I hope to now get a T440s now that I am back in school. Still has the great keyboard, simple and dark design, sturdy quality and Accidental Protection!!! (I wrote a few posts back on this forum about how many times I had to use it on my T43).

I also recognize that more laptops are made with a better baseline quality than in the past. However, the T series and X-series still stand out (never seen a W-series). I do admit even though the T431s is was sort of a dud, and the T430u was pointless. But such is life.

[Adda]

I was not a big fan of the older HP/Compaq (Core2 Duo generation) business notebooks, or the flashy fancy fashionable Apple look, so I don't particularly like the new Lenovo look either.

Black boxes for me, but in the end it all comes down to, usability, ergonomics, durability, servicability and so on and so forth, but Lenovo seems to think it's much more important to be fancy and modern.

Hey the car industry could learn from this, why not put joypads in cars!!! they are new, so they must be better then the old steering wheel, eeek they are so old fashioned.

[Ibthink]

@wantathinkpad,
I can assure you: The T440s is great. Great keyboard, nearly perfect bulid-quality, nice simple-but-classy ThinkPad Design, brilliant AHVA screen (I have a FHD model). The new TrackPoint buttons are ok, they work just like the older design for me. The option to disable the TouchPad in the BIOS is also still there.

Why can't beauty go with functionality

1+ ThinkPad always tried to be the best combination of form and function, they never were pure fuction- or pure form-oriented.

So it's not like Lenovo doesn't like LEDs, they just don't like the useful ones!?!?

Tell me, whats not useful about this LED? Its a standby LED, and it also blinks when you connect the power adaptor to the Notebook. I think it is very usefull indeed.

[Adda]

@wantathinkpad,
Tell me, whats not useful about this LED? Its a standby LED, and it also blinks when you connect the power adaptor to the Notebook. I think it is very usefull indeed.

Ok ok you win this one, so they removed most of the LED's and moved the last one to a different location, two steps back rather then three, good job Lenovo!

[wantathinkpad]

@wantathinkpad,
Tell me, whats not useful about this LED? Its a standby LED, and it also blinks when you connect the power adaptor to the Notebook. I think it is very usefull indeed.

Ok ok you win this one, so they removed most of the LED's and moved the last one to a different location, two steps back rather then three, good job Lenovo!

Okay this forum is a little nicer than others so I will ask. For those who want and need LED's, for which services or functions are they wanted and what would be the purpose of each? And which do you feel are more of a need than a want or preference?

[Adda]

Okay this forum is a little nicer than others so I will ask. For those who want and need LED's, for which services or functions are they wanted? And which do you feel are more of a need than a want or preference?

HDD activity indicator LED, power indicator, sleep indicator, wireless activity, capslock/numlock/scrollock and last but not least, battery status, you know, LEDs that let you know whats going on.

Edit: Oh forgot the thinklight!

[wantathinkpad]

HDD activity indicator LED, power indicator, sleep indicator, wireless activity, capslock/numlock/scrollock and last but not least, battery status, you know, LEDs that let you know whats going on.

Edit: Oh forgot the thinklight!

What would be the difference between a power indicator and HDD activity indicator?

I can't even remember what my T43 had but what is or would the battery status indicator tell us? Anyone who had the T43 please remind me of what that one looked like?

I never knew laptops had number locks.

But I would certainly love a CAPSlock indicator!! The one LED I do miss the most.

EDIT I LOVED the thinklight. But nothing tops a backlit keyboard.

[Adda]

What would be the difference between a power indicator and HDD activity indicator?

I can't even remember what my T43 had but what is or would the battery status indicator tell us? Anyone who had the T43 please remind me of what that one looked like?

I never knew laptops had number locks.

But I would certainly love a CAPSlock indicator!! The one LED I do miss the most.

The HDD activity LED blinks when the HDD is reading or writing.

The power indicator shows whether or not a powered AC adapter is connected.

The battery status light on the T4x series was green if the battery had high charge, amber at low charge, blinking amber at critically low charge.
With a broken battery it would periodically blink three times.

Look at the U-I-O-P-J-K-L-Æ-M keys, they have numbers on them, push numberlock and they will act as a numpad.

Without all these LEDs you are dependent on the OS to inform you of these things, but what if no OS is installed? what if your OS doesn't support these things?

Fx. I'm installing an OS while running off battery, without the battery indicator, I have no idea when the laptop will power off.

What of the system seems to hang during install, I have no way to check if the HDD is still working or not, if I have no LED to tell me, do they expect me to listen for it? what if I have an SSD?

[Ibthink]

The question is, how realistic are these cases?

When or how often do OS installation programs hang?

When do you install a OS on the go on battery with low battery power? (this is especially unrealistic, because you have to use the notebook to get a low battery power, and to use the notebook, you need an OS first). Also, if you install for example Linux Ubuntu, you install it with in a Live-system where you have a battery bar.

Most people don´t need or even look at those small LEDs. Lenovo has kept the essential LEDs that you need all day (for example, Microphone and Speaker mute, the Standby-LED, the power LED, which is "built in" into the Standby-LED, and the new FN-Lock LED etc.). The only LED really missing is CapsLk (thats also the only one I really miss). The rest - obsolete.

[Adda]

The question is, how realistic are these cases?

When or how often do OS installation programs hang?

When do you install a OS on the go on battery with low battery power? (this is especially unrealistic, because you have to use the notebook to get a low battery power, and to use the notebook, you need an OS first). Also, if you install for example Linux Ubuntu, you install it with in a Live-system where you have a battery bar.

Most people don´t need or even look at those small LEDs. Lenovo has kept the essential LEDs that you need all day (for example, Microphone and Speaker mute, the Standby-LED, the power LED, which is "built in" into the Standby-LED, and the new FN-Lock LED etc.). The only LED really missing is CapsLk (thats also the only one I really miss). The rest - obsolete.

Thinkpads are business notebooks and mobile workstations, what applies to most people, doesn't apply to developers and professionals, you have to be prepared for the unforeseen.

If we where talking consumer notebooks, then I would agree, but we are not.

Will you accept these examples then:

I'm testing a new Linux distro at an early stage, but as I install it, it seems to hang, but I have no way of seeing if the system is still working or not.

I haven't used my laptop in a while, so I don't know how much charge is on the battery, if I had a indicator LED, I would know if there was enough charge for it to be usable just a few secs after I powered it on.
Without a LED I have to boot it fully to see how much charge is on the battery, I might power it up just to see that the battery is dry, and then power it down again.

I'm installing Linux using a non live install, that downloads the packages from the internet, rather then load them form physical media, the install seems to hang, but I can't tell if there is any network activity or not, or if the HDD is working at all.

[wantathinkpad]

The HDD activity LED blinks when the HDD is reading or writing.

The power indicator shows whether or not a powered AC adapter is connected.

The battery status light on the T4x series was green if the battery had high charge, amber at low charge, blinking amber at critically low charge.
With a broken battery it would periodically blink three times.

Look at the U-I-O-P-J-K-L-Æ-M keys, they have numbers on them, push numberlock and they will act as a numpad.

Without all these LEDs you are dependent on the OS to inform you of these things, but what if no OS is installed? what if your OS doesn't support these things?

Fx. I'm installing an OS while running off battery, without the battery indicator, I have no idea when the laptop will power off.

What of the system seems to hang during install, I have no way to check if the HDD is still working or not, if I have no LED to tell me, do they expect me to listen for it? what if I have an SSD?

I have to say how often is one installing an OS, installing on battery, and not have an adapter for at least some of the installation. I have reformatted on battery but eventually plugged in just because sometimes things can hang or whatever.

The battery information is the one thing that actually is least important considering the OS tells you and changes color when it is doing that.

I assume when you say your OS you mean Linux? (how many Oses are out there?) Two, hasn't battery information been given through the OSes for years now. Isn't it easier to add that feature into an OS?

I have a 3 year old Edge, so I am not sure if the numberlock feature is only on T-or X series, or pre-2010 Thinkpads or whatever model you are using as your reference.

The power indicator would be helpful sometimes when I am not aware that two part cord is actually unplugged at the brick.

Regarding the hanging, I feel like I did pay attention to that alot back in the day when I was installing alot of programs. But I am wondering if my mouse freezing is now the "indicator" but usually something on screen will say "not responding." I haven't had to restart a computer for a bad installation in years. It may tell me there were errors but nothing requiring a restart. Don't know if that is a Windows 7 improvement, or improvement to the standards of making applications or programs over the years. But I admit I think there is some usefulness in the hard drive activity light.

What do people with SSDs do now?

[Adda]

I have to say how often is one installing an OS, installing on battery, and not have an adapter for at least some of the installation. I have reformatted on battery but eventually plugged in just because sometimes things can hang or whatever.

The battery information is the one thing that actually is least important considering the OS tells you and changes color when it is doing that.

I assume when you say your OS you mean Linux? (how many Oses are out there?) Two, hasn't battery information been given through the OSes for years now. Isn't it easier to add that feature into an OS?

I have a 3 year old Edge, so I am not sure if the numberlock feature is only on T-or X series, or pre-2010 Thinkpads or whatever model you are using as your reference.

The power indicator would be helpful sometimes when I am not aware that two part cord is actually unplugged at the brick.

Regarding the hanging, I feel like I did pay attention to that alot back in the day when I was installing alot of programs. But I am wondering if my mouse freezing is now the "indicator" but usually something on screen will say "not responding." I haven't had to restart a computer for a bad installation in years. It may tell me there were errors but nothing requiring a restart. Don't know if that is a Windows 7 improvement, or improvement to the standards of making applications or programs over the years. But I admit I think there is some usefulness in the hard drive activity light.

What do people with SSDs do now?

Yea alright, installing OS on battery might not have been the best example.
Lets say I'm using Linux without a GUI.

What if I have no power outlet near me, but I have two or three batteries with unknown charge, to see how much charge is on these, I have to boot all the way in to the OS to see how much charge is on there.
With the battery indicator LED, I can get a rough idea of how much charge is on each battery, in seconds rather then minutes.

If I don't say what OS, then I don't mean any OS in particular.
Could Be Windows, Linux, QNX, ReactOS, Haiku maybe even OS/2 or DOS or what about OSX?
Might be easier and cheaper to write a piece of software to read battery levels, but using hardware to do it, provides functionality software can't give.

I just realized that the makeshift numpad on ThinkPads disappeared as the chiclet keyboard got introduced, along with the browser keys.

I think the power indicator is still there, the red LED in the "i", it is very useful I agree, it's good to know if you remembered to actually power on the wall outlet.

I have acquired a sort of HDD LED empathy over the years, I use it to check if my system is behaving as it should.
It is very handy with regards to installations that behaves funny too, I cannot understand why they removed it, it is essential.

The thing is, I don't want to rely on software to tell me everything, software is unreliable, hardware is near perfect and keeps working even if the software has gone crazy.

[wantathinkpad]

1. Thinkpads are business notebooks and mobile workstations, what applies to most people, doesn't apply to developers and professionals, you have to be prepared for the unforeseen.

If we where talking consumer notebooks, then I would agree, but we are not.

Will you accept these examples then:

2. I'm testing a new Linux distro at an early stage, but as I install it, it seems to hang, but I have no way of seeing if the system is still working or not.

3. I haven't used my laptop in a while, so I don't know how much charge is on the battery, if I had a indicator LED, I would know if there was enough charge for it to be usable just a few secs after I powered it on.
Without a LED I have to boot it fully to see how much charge is on the battery, I might power it up just to see that the battery is dry, and then power it down again.

4. I'm installing Linux using a non live install, that downloads the packages from the internet, rather then load them form physical media, the install seems to hang, but I can't tell if there is any network activity or not, or if the HDD is working at all.

I numbered them to make it easier.

1. This is sort of my 1 pet peeve of some Thinkpad lovers who don't think outside the box or don't realize the limitation in their own definitions of business users.

Thinkpads, particularly the T X and W series are indeed for businesses. Businesses often include large companies, like Colleges, hospitals, financials businesses and of course computer companies.

I worked in a hospital and I am a college student. My school is sponsored by Lenovo(no Ideapads/Edges etc) and Apple. You can only get one of those two computers. 90% of incoming students get either or. How many of them you think are aware of the usefulness of those indicator lights?

The hospital was stocked by Thinkpads used by business people but not by computer specialists.
Half the people who use Thinkpads may be aware of its quality just by feeling it, but they are not looking for the same things that a small number of people are looking for, dear I say individual business minded....consumers. It's really more like "hey the company gave me this laptop let me do my work." Let me do it and go home.

In that positive sense, people do realize that Thinkpads and business laptops by other companies are still not sold in stores? You have to actually know about them to buy them. Yes everyone can go online but usually they are going to the section of the website to purchase a laptop they heard about in the store. I feel that despite all the "consumerization" of Thinkpads the online only sales and price still signifies them as business machines.

2. This is a legit question, what do you do when it is hanging? Wait? How long do you wait? I remember my T43 would hang but eventually I would hold down power and restart, what is could have been my other option?

3. Honestly, that is purely a convenience example and it sort of cancels it self out. If you had to plug it in and saw that it needed charging, what would you do? And if you saw that it had a low charge, but again, had the power connector, what would you do? Plug it in. Especially if you are saying "I haven't used my laptop in awhile". If you are going to be using the laptop that means you the end goal was to be turning it on.

4. By network activity you meant wireless? I thought the wireless light on my T43 would only tell me if it was on or off versus consistent or strong connection?

[Adda]

I numbered them to make it easier.

1. This is sort of my 1 pet peeve of some Thinkpad lovers who don't think outside the box or don't realize the limitation in their own definitions of business users.

Thinkpads, particularly the T X and W series are indeed for businesses. Businesses often include large companies, like Colleges, hospitals, financials businesses and of course computer companies.

I worked in a hospital and I am a college student. My school is sponsored by Lenovo(no Ideapads/Edges etc) and Apple. You can only get one of those two computers. 90% of incoming students get either or. How many of them you think are aware of the usefulness of those indicator lights?

The hospital was stocked by Thinkpads used by business people but not by computer specialists.
Half the people who use Thinkpads may be aware of its quality just by feeling it, but they are not looking for the same things that a small number of people are looking for, dear I say individual business minded....consumers. It's really more like "hey the company gave me this laptop let me do my work." Let me do it and go home.

In that positive sense, people do realize that Thinkpads and business laptops by other companies are still not sold in stores? You have to actually know about them to buy them. Yes everyone can go online but usually they are going to the section of the website to purchase a laptop they heard about in the store. I feel that despite all the "consumerization" of Thinkpads the online only sales and price still signifies them as business machines.

2. This is a legit question, what do you do when it is hanging? Wait? How long do you wait? I remember my T43 would hang but eventually I would hold down power and restart, what is could have been my other option?

3. Honestly, that is purely a convenience example and it sort of cancels it self out. If you had to plug it in and saw that it needed charging, what would you do? And if you saw that it had a low charge, but again, had the power connector, what would you do? Plug it in. Especially if you are saying "I haven't used my laptop in awhile". If you are going to be using the laptop that means you the end goal was to be turning it on.

4. By network activity you meant wireless? I thought the wireless light on my T43 would only tell me if it was on or off versus consistent or strong connection?

1. As a computer technician, the one who keeps the computers running, and fixes the problems that will arise along the way, I'm very aware of the usefulness of those indicator lights.

2. Nothing to add, the HDD indicator is essential.

3. The point is, I don't have a power outlet, it may be a laptop I have had in a bag for a while, maybe there is power outage, maybe I just need to test a bunch of old batteries.
With the battery indicator, the LED will periodically blink three times if the battery is damaged, maybe I'm using a half broken laptop for testing, as a broken battery can potentially burn the charging circuits.

4. Wireless yes, on the T4x series, it blinks when there is network activity, on later models, it's on when wireless is on, off when it's off, no activity indication, sadly.

[wantathinkpad]

1. As a computer technician, the one who keeps the computers running, and fixes the problems that will arise along the way, I'm very aware of the usefulness of those indicator lights.

2. Nothing to add, the HDD indicator is essential.

Just two points.
1. Good to hear that you are coming from a technician perspective. Online that is rarely indicated. I rarely heard that "I am the tech" at this company and this was nice." I always thought it would help you guys. With that said what do technicians do with laptops that don't or did not have indicator lights?....

2. Funny, I really wanted an answer to number # 2. When you are aware it is hanging what do you do? Wait? How long do you wait? I remember my T43 would hang but eventually I would hold down power and restart, what is or could be my other option on my current laptop?

[Adda]

Just two points.
1. Good to hear that you are coming from a technician perspective. Online that is rarely indicated. I rarely heard that "I am the tech" at this company and this was nice." I always thought it would help you guys. With that said what do technicians do with laptops that don't or did not have indicator lights?....

2. Funny, I really wanted an answer to number # 2. When you are aware it is hanging what do you do? Wait? How long do you wait? I remember my T43 would hang but eventually I would hold down power and restart, what is or could be my other option on my current laptop?

1. I haven't encountered a laptop without indicator lights yet, but there are plenty of technicians on this forum, I was not the first to complain about the lack of LEDs but those who do, made me aware that they got removed.
I have lost a lot of interest in Lenovo products lately, the more I read up on it, the more disappointed I become, I always check out the maintenance manual of new products though.

2. I must have misunderstood you before.
When a computer is doing something, it could be anything, but doesn't seem to get anywhere, I use the indicator lights, and general behavior of the system, to determine what might be going on.
The system might still be response even though some app is acting up, if it freezes up completely, the only way I can see if anything is going on, is by looking at the HDD indicator.
Over the years I have learned to see patterns in that LEDs behavior, I can't say exactly when I decide to force a reboot, it depends.
Sometimes it's just a matter of running out of patience, sometimes the HDD LED seems to light up in ways that tells me the system isn't doing what it's supposed to.

[wantathinkpad]

1. I haven't encountered a laptop without indicator lights yet, but there are plenty of technicians on this forum, I was not the first to complain about the lack of LEDs but those who do, made me aware that they got removed.
I have lost a lot of interest in Lenovo products lately, the more I read up on it, the more disappointed I become, I always check out the maintenance manual of new products though.

2. I must have misunderstood you before.
When a computer is doing something, it could be anything, but doesn't seem to get anywhere, I use the indicator lights, and general behavior of the system, to determine what might be going on.
The system might still be response even though some app is acting up, if it freezes up completely, the only way I can see if anything is going on, is by looking at the HDD indicator.
Over the years I have learned to see patterns in that LEDs behavior, I can't say exactly when I decide to force a reboot, it depends.
Sometimes it's just a matter of running out of patience, sometimes the HDD LED seems to light up in ways that tells me the system isn't doing what it's supposed to.

Thanks for the reply.