Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

T400/T410/T420 and T500/T510/T520 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
Paragraphogram
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:43 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#1 Post by Paragraphogram » Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:52 am

I want to know what the purpose of the light in the top bezel is. My theories so far are that it's an early form of keyboard backlight for the dark or it's a light for reading papers in the dark... The light isn't very bright though...

dr_st
Admin
Admin
Posts: 9692
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 6:20 am
Location: Israel

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#2 Post by dr_st » Wed Jun 13, 2018 3:55 am

Welcome to the nineties. :)

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkLight

And welcome to the forum too! :D
Thinkpad 25 (20K7), T490 (20N3), Yoga 14 (20FY), T430s (IPS FHD + Classic Keyboard), X220 4291-4BG
X61 7673-V2V, T60 2007-QPG, T42 2373-F7G, X32 (IPS Screen), A31p w/ Ultrabay Numpad

Paragraphogram
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 2:43 am
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#3 Post by Paragraphogram » Wed Jun 13, 2018 4:43 am

Huh, interesting, thanks for the info :D

w0qj
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1187
Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2004 9:53 pm
Location: Hong Kong

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#4 Post by w0qj » Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:43 am

We actually prefer the ThinkLight !

ThinkLight can illuminate a piece of paper that is beside your computer,
allowing you to work in otherwise compete darkness.
Actually tried to do office work in such situations, and it works!

The illuminated keys cannot do this.
Daily Driver: (X1E3) X1 Extreme 3rd Gen | mobile broadband (WWAN)
Current Thinkpads: X1E3 | X1E1 | X1C10 | X1C9 | X1C4 | X1C3 | X230
Retired Thinkpads: X250 | T410 | T42 | 560 (circa 1996)

TonyJZX
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 729
Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#5 Post by TonyJZX » Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:41 am

To be fair, sometimes the light is so dim it barely lights up the kbd.

But otherwise its darn useful... eg. i use it to see small objects in a conferenece room etc.

I'm pretty sure Lenovo is determined to erase this on future models.

As far as I know, only the HP Elite tried to replicate the light on only their 1st gen models coming onto 10yrs ago and they used a physical switch so it looks like the pop up headlights on a 1980s sports car.

jdrou
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 670
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:15 pm
Location: Madison Heights, MI

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#6 Post by jdrou » Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:47 pm

TonyJZX wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:41 am
To be fair, sometimes the light is so dim it barely lights up the kbd.
It was sort of ahead of its time; we've got brighter LEDs available now.

I've been saying for years that pretty much anything that has a battery should have an LED light of some sort, given the battery is generally the largest & heaviest part of most lights.
Current Thinkpads:
X31, X40, X61T, X61, X201, X220 (i7 IPS), W520 (FHD), T440p (FHD),
T480 (QHD)
Dells: Latitude C840, Precision M70, Precision M4400, M6400 (WUXGA), M6600, M6700, 7730, XPS 13
Daily driver: MS Surface Pro 7 (i7)

TPFanatic
Senior ThinkPadder
Senior ThinkPadder
Posts: 2214
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:29 pm
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#7 Post by TPFanatic » Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:36 pm

Thinkpad X200 and newer Thinkpads had a revised Thinklight outlet shape that improves the breadth of the light.

Art
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:37 am
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#8 Post by Art » Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:00 am

# echo 255 > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness

# echo 0 > /sys/class/leds/tpacpi\:\:thinklight/brightness
It appears to support 256 brightness levels, where 255 isn’t bright enough. How cute :D

kiterunner
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:18 am
Location: Denpasar, Bali Indonesia

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#9 Post by kiterunner » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:30 am

w0qj wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 1:43 am
We actually prefer the ThinkLight !

ThinkLight can illuminate a piece of paper that is beside your computer,
allowing you to work in otherwise compete darkness.
Actually tried to do office work in such situations, and it works!

The illuminated keys cannot do this.
Vote for THIS :)

MikalE
ThinkPadder
ThinkPadder
Posts: 1451
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:51 pm
Location: Marissa, Illinois

Re: What is the purpose of the light in the top bezel of the ThinkPad T400?

#10 Post by MikalE » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:31 am

It's actually an IR/visible light emitter so they can track you from orbit.
A31p P-IV 2Ghz, 2MB, 2653-R6U
T500 T9600 2055-BE9
T510 i5 4384-DV7
T510 i7 4349-A64
T520 i7QM 4242-4UU Highly Modified
T16 i7 1260P 21BV000SUS

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T400/T410/T420 and T500/T510/T520 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 104 guests