Random Impressions: T400

[FizzleDizzle]

Here are some initial random impressions of a T400 from a hardcore CS guy. This isn't a review. Just some comments from a long time Thinkpad user. (This is my ninth or tenth.)

I have a discrete T400, 2.8GHz, WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight and Camera. 200GB 7200 RPM drive, 3GB ram running XP, Verizon WAN modem, 9 cell battery + ultrabay battery, 5300 wifi, bluetooth, and card reader.

1) Best display I've ever seen on a laptop. Incredibly bright and clear. Also, for the real hackers in the room, you can finally use it in the dark, as it gets extremely dim. Best dynamic range award for this one.

2) But I don't love the widescreen. I miss the 4:3 box. Not much I can do about it.

3) Fingerprint reader is broken on my (and seemingly everyone else's) machine. No fix yet.

4) WAN modem randomly turns itself on. Manually turning it on and off solves the problem until I power down.

5) Trackpad keeps turning itself back on. (Disabled via function F8. Yes, I know I could simply disable the device.) Same solution as in (4)

6) The keyboard is not as awful as I was led to believe. How much it moves depends on how hard you pound when you type. If you have a light touch, you may not notice it. Otherwise, you likely will. It bothers me a bit. I'm awaiting a replacement, but it's not bad enough to make me exchange it with my T60P's keyboard in the interim.

7) The ThinkLite (or whatever they call it) is useless, but I touch type and never use it anyway.

8 ) The asymmetric screen border bothered me for all of 3 seconds.

9) Build quality seems up to usual Thinkpad standards. Smoother opening and closing than previous models.

10) I love the tiny 65W power supply. Just great for travel. (This isn't standard. You'll have to order one. It comes with the 90W brick.)

11) Runs very cool. This is a welcome change. Also, it's extremely quiet.

12) Wifi works just fine on 802.11N. Speed is currently 130Mbps.

13) For Matlab users, the benchmarks are:
0.1587 0.1689 0.1419 0.2709 0.3586 0.4505

which puts it at the top of the heap. This is a nice laptop to hack on!

Ok, that's it for now. Ask any questions if you like.

[Marin85]

Thanks for the nice review! As for the Matlab benchmarks: Did you run them multiple times (as the first one-two times always give some outliers)?

Cheers and enjoy your new machine

Marin

[FizzleDizzle]

Yes, the Matlab numbers were from the third run...

[Skysurfer]

Do you think a larger 15" screen would compensate for the loss of the 4:3 aspect ratio? Or does that then create too much size and weight for your needs?

Lawrence

[FizzleDizzle]

Last I checked, the 15" only had CCFL backlighting, not LED, so that completely rules it out. Reviews for CCFL have not been good.

Regardless, 15" is simply too big for me personally. I wouldn't want to schlep it around. 14.1" is fine for my needs and I still wish it were lighter. In my view, this is the smallest machine for serious work.

I do have a desktop with two 30" Dells, so I do like screen real estate. But sometimes, you just want to hack on laptop.

[wswartzendruber]

Last I checked, the 15" only had CCFL backlighting, not LED, so that completely rules it out. Reviews for CCFL have not been good.

Regardless, 15" is simply too big for me personally. I wouldn't want to schlep it around. 14.1" is fine for my needs and I still wish it were lighter. In my view, this is the smallest machine for serious work.

I do have a desktop with two 30" Dells, so I do like screen real estate. But sometimes, you just want to hack on laptop.

You want this thing even lighter? You know that's why they hacked away half the keyboard material and made the magnesium a lot thinner, right? My T60 was heavier, but it was also the toughest ThinkPad built since the 600 series.

[FizzleDizzle]

You want this thing even lighter?

What? You want it heavier? Sure, I want it lighter. Who wouldn't? (I didn't say to turn it into a piece of junk in the process!)

[wswartzendruber]

You want this thing even lighter?

What? You want it heavier? Sure, I want it lighter. Who wouldn't? (I didn't say to turn it into a piece of junk in the process!)

The lighter it gets, the closer you're going to get to "piece of junk" status. I don't necessarily think the T400 is structurally week (still beats anything else that's non-ThinkPad), but I do see Lenovo moved a little away from the tank design.

[Marin85]

And I thought that this built-like-a-tank was one of the ThinkPad myths...

[FizzleDizzle]

The lighter it gets, the closer you're going to get to "piece of junk" status.

Nonsense. I suggest you keep up with the supply chain industries a little better. Composite plastics, improved battery and display technology, and SSD storage should reduce the weight of this class of laptop to less than two pounds within a few years. And they will be far, far more durable, including relatively indestructible displays made without glass.

[Tony Chan]

Back on the subject: I've just received my T400 today. I've placed my order on Sept 22, and the laptop shipped out of China in 3 days!!

I have a integrated P8400, LG WXGA+ w/LED BL and Camera. 80gb 5400 HD, 1 stick of 2Gb running Vista ( no XP option when ordering, which I really hate ), Bluetooth and Intel 5300.

I've a T60 14" sxga+ with upgraded T7200 cpu and Hitachi 7k320 160Hd. My incentive to upgrade is LED screen, latest wireless N, better battery time with the new cpu/chipset, and potential upgrade to 8gb in future.

1. I agree that the LCD is great. Don't know if that's the best LCD but definitely a pleasure to use, both in bright daylight or in really dark room ( in bed besides my wife after she sleep and all lights turns off ). Color seems to be so much better and because of the wide range of brightness I can use it in pretty much anywhere.

2. Totally agree with not liking widescreen. I personally think 14" 1400x1050 is best size for my overall usage. I guess I will eventually get use to it.

3. I don't like fingerprint reader so I didn't order it.

4. No build-in WAN on mine.

5. As with all of my Thinkpad, I plan on disable it from BIOS because I only use Trackpoint.

6. The keyboard actually turns out to be way better than what I thought it will be, as I've read so many threads of how bad it is. Again, I agree with your assessment and you will only notice it if you pay attention to it. Most importantly, it stilll "feels" like a typical Thinkpad keyboard. I don't think I will swap in a T60 keyboard anytime soon.

7. Thinklight does not "blind" me and works very similar to my T60. I do hope it shines a bit more to the function key row but I'm REALLY picky here now.

8. Asymmetric screen doesn't border me one bit.

9. Build quality is similar to my T60. T400 feels lighter than my T60 when lifting them up one after another ( but T400 feels more solid ). The top coating is slightly different from my T60 and the new coating will probably be more resistant against long term wear and tear. Even with the slowest processor and a low 5400 hard drive, the laptop feels a lot quicker than my T60. It runs extremely cool and a lot more quiet than my T60 ( which is pretty quiet already ). I can hear the fan of my T60 goes on ( although not bothering me ) in a quiet room, but I really can't tell whether T400's fan is on or not until I put my nose next to the vent so I can smell a bit warm air and the smell of new machine. It's really this good.

9. I can't get my wifi to go pass 54mbps speed but I guess it's more about setup or it just doesn't like to work with my 3 yrs old linksys 54gx router.

Overall I really like it. It would be perfect if it comes with a 4:3 sxga+ form factor but I guess I just have to get over it. My only regret is not ordering the 4 cell for everyday use + 9 cell for the few long trips that requires off the grid computing. I find that the 6 cell sticks out and it bothers me. But I get close to 6 hrs real life time on 1 charge and that's not bad by any standard.

Let me know if you want to know anything else.

[bill bolton]

9. I can't get my wifi to go pass 54mbps speed but I guess it's more about setup or it just doIf yoiu hesn't like to work with my 3 yrs old linksys 54gx router.

I you have a router that tops out at 802.11g 54Mbps WiFi speeds, like the Linksys 54G series routers, all the T400 will do on WiFi will do is 54Mpbs!

You need to get a 802.11n dual band router if you want to achieve ~270Mbps WiFi speed!

Cheers,

Bill B.

[FizzleDizzle]

Hi Tony, I thought I'd add a few more comments!

1. For a matte finish screen, I've never seen its equal. I can't stand glossy Apple-type displays because of the glare, and this easily matches (and surpasses) my wife's Mac Book for brightness and color accuracy in a side-by-side comparison. Who ever thought that would be said about a Thinkpad?!! My T60P display appears washed out and very bluish in comparison. Next to each other, the T60 looks terrible. And as you mentioned, the dimmest setting is definitely "wife-friendly." I no longer illuminate the bedroom if I work at night.

2. The widescreen is continuing to bother me. One of the great features of the 4:3 is that I could have four emacs buffers open at once. (Yes, I kick it ole skool with editors.) Simply doesn't work on the wide screen. Programming and writing need vertical screen real estate, not horizontal. This is going to be tough to get used to. Perhaps reducing the font size will help.

3. Your points on the surface finish are exactly right. The coating has rubbed off most of my old thinkpads. The T400 coating seems more robust, but only time will tell. And the machine feels very solid. No creaking or squeaking and the tolerances seem very tight (outside of the ultrabay -- see below).

4. After continued use, the keyboard really isn't bad. Even in its current state, it's better than anything else on the market. My wife commented that it's louder, which I noticed too, but not obnoxiously so. And that may disappear with time.

5. The 9-cell battery is a beast and it's bizarrely shaped. It curves upwards (!) instead of laying flat. I'll likely order a 4-cell but I do like working unplugged in coffee shops and libraries on occasion, so I don't know how much use it will get.

6. I should have mentioned that the battery rattle is gone! But the ultrabay devices are a bit awkward -- you really have to shove them in there. No big deal but worth noting.

In all, I'm really pleased with this machine. As far as I'm concerned, the widescreen is the major problem, but there are no other options at the moment. I expect I'll get used to it.

[Tony Chan]

Bill : Thanks for the heads-up. My router can do mimo so I hope my new Intel N adapter would take advantage of it as mimo is part of the N-draft. No big deal, I'll just look for deals to get a new router.

FizzleDizzle : I also notice that my 6 cell Sanyo fits really tight and no rattle what so ever. I thought I was just lucky but may be they have fix the rattle problem finally with T400?? Also, "no creaking or squeaking" is really the best way to explain why I feel T400 is more solid than my T60.

Also, the Advanced Ultrabay battery from my T60 did not fit into T400, which is too bad. I'm sure the Ultrabay II version will do just fine.

I really don't like Vista so I might find a set of XP recovery disk ( if there's such thing ), or do a fresh install using the Hitachi 7K320 from my T60.

[Tony Chan]

Bill, what is the make and model of your router?

[edcard]

I ordered a loaded T400 a few days ago, and based on the above posts I expect to like it a lot, with the exception of the wide screen which I hope I will get used to.

I've owned several ThinkPads, going back to a TP700 which I bought in '91 or '92. I've liked all of them, but my favorite is my four-year old TP42p, which is the one I currently use and the one the T400 will replace.

I was on the fence between an X200 or the T400. A couple of coworkers use X61 TPs and are very happy with them, but in the end I decided to go for higher performance and sacrifice portability.

The T400 will practically be my only computer and I will haul it from home to the office every day, as well as on the occasional trip, about once a month. I will have the Advanced Dock at the office and the Mini-Dock at home. This is the way I currently use my TP42p. I rarely will use it on my lap, as I have an X60 for that purpose.

Which brings me to my question. Have you (Tony, Fizzle or anybody else) hooked up a 4:3 external monitor to your laptop and, if so, did run into any annoyances? The reason I ask is because when I first got my TP42p, I had a 17" LCD 1024x768 monitor in one location and a 20" 1600x1200 in the other, and due to the different resolutions I had to rearrange icons and/or switch font size when I was going from home to work or viceversa. In the end I got a second 20" monitor and all was fine (the laptop's diaply is also 1600x1200).

Anyways, I hope to be able to use my two 20" LCDs with the new T400, but I'd like to hear from anybody who has first hand experience. There isn't a whole lot of difference between 1680×1050 and 1600x1200, and I sure would hate having to switch font sizes all the time.

[FizzleDizzle]

Tony, yeah, none of the old ultrabay devices from the T60s work on the T400. There is a piece of plastic poking out near the internal connector that makes this point very clear.

I ordered the new ultrabay DVD burner and battery. At first, I thought they sent the wrong model battery, as it didn't register and felt wobbly, but a solid push got it into the machine. Everything is now working just fine, and DVDs are burning at almost 8x speed.

[FizzleDizzle]

Edcard, if I had to chose a single, portable machine to work on, it would be a T400. So, I think you selected well.

I do use 8-core Dell linux workstations with 32GB of ram for heavy number crunching, but I could always log in to those remotely. (Of course it doesn't hurt to have two in my office but when push comes to shove, I prefer the "intimacy" of a laptop.)

[Tony Chan]

... but a solid push got it into the machine.

Oh.. ok. I'll try to do just that tonight and see if it works. I was afraid to break something so I was very gentle.

Thanks

[FizzleDizzle]

Hi Tony,

I'm afraid there may be a misunderstanding! The old T60 ultrabay devices will not work on the T400, period!! You will break something if you try to force them.

I was talking about the new ultrabay II devices specifically made for the T400. My ultrabay II battery wasn't working until I gently forced it in there. Then all was fine.

[dr_st]

Which brings me to my question. Have you (Tony, Fizzle or anybody else) hooked up a 4:3 external monitor to your laptop and, if so, did run into any annoyances? The reason I ask is because when I first got my TP42p, I had a 17" LCD 1024x768 monitor in one location and a 20" 1600x1200 in the other, and due to the different resolutions I had to rearrange icons and/or switch font size when I was going from home to work or viceversa. In the end I got a second 20" monitor and all was fine (the laptop's diaply is also 1600x1200).

I frequently change the working environment on my laptops. I have 14" and 15" Thinkpads, both SXGA+, and sometimes I work with the laptop LCD directly, sometimes I hook them up to 20" LCDs (one wide WSXGA+, one standard UXGA), and the work laptop gets hooked to a pair of 19" SXGA LCDs at work.

All this means that the resolution changes all the time. Sometimes the laptop picks it up right, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it switches to weird things before it finally adjusts, and sometimes I have to set it manually. I have Presentation Director schemes for all my modes, so I just hit Fn+F7, select the proper mode, and it's done.

Of course, the icons moving is a mess, so I use the Desktop Restore Utility, which is small, light, very convenient, and works like a charm:
http://www.midiox.com/index.htm?http:// ... /jsoft.htm

Adjusting font sizes would be a pain, so I just never do it. I learned to live both with the small fonts on a 14" SXGA+ and with the large fonts on 19" SXGA.

[bill bolton]

Bill, what is the make and model of your router?

I'm using a Linksys WRT-600N. This works very well with Intel 4965AGN cards at 270 Mbps link speeds.

The WRT-600N has now been discontinued, and the current LinkSys 802.11n dual band router is the WRT-610N.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[edcard]

Fizzle, if you can do number crunching on your T400 I'm sure I'll be thrilled with mine. I basically use MS Office software, some Mathcad and water modeling programs, and once in a while some CAD and graphics programs.

Haven't used MATLAB much, but I have recently started to play with GNU Octave, are you familiar with it?

[edcard]

Thanks dr_st! That's the kind of info I was looking for.

[Tony Chan]

Ok Fizzle, no hard pushing then. Thanks for the heads-up.

Thanks Bill for the model number. I'll look for one when they are on sale.

[FizzleDizzle]

Hi edcard,

Sure, I've used octave but only casually. I use Matlab on a daily basis. As far as I know, octave doesn't have a standard built-in benchmark command, although there have always been some standard ones floating around, developed by 3rd parties. Octave is generally much slower than Matlab, but it should work just fine on a T400!

[Shelby Griggs]

Another new T400 here, arrived yesterday to replace a 3 year old T43. The viewing angle is not as good on the T400, especially vertically, but if you haven't been spoiled with a Flexview for 3 years, you would hardly notice. Very bright (LED screen) although it does seem to be brighter at the bottom. Can't find any bad pixels.

The keyboard is NOT a T43 keyboard, seems a little "cheaper" than what I would expect of a Thinkpad, more like the IdeaPad Y 510 I also have. Not bad, they "might" be some flex as opposed to the T43, but not anything to worry about in normal typing in my opinion.

I do notice that when the cover is latched there is some sloppiness, my old T43 seems tighter when closed, otherwise I haven't any complaints, well except it is a wide screen

I ordered on 26-Sep, estimated ship date was 10-Oct, and actual ship date was 06-Oct and it arrived on 08-Oct, Hong Kong to Korea to Anchorage to LA to my doorstep in Oregon in 2 days, just simply amazing.

SHG

[FizzleDizzle]

Shelby, my T400 has exactly the same "play" when closed as my T60P. There is some movement when it's latched, but not a whole lot. By and large, the T400 feels sturdier to me and better assembled.

[wswartzendruber]

Shelby, my T400 has exactly the same "play" when closed as my T60P. There is some movement when it's latched, but not a whole lot. By and large, the T400 feels sturdier to me and better assembled.

Magnesium does wonders. It eludes me as to why the Yamato engineers didn't use it earlier.