T400s Real Thickness is 1.02"

[snappca]

So, I finally decided to spring for my first Thinkpad and settled on the new T400s. I went all in on this purchase going with the 2.53GHZ processor, 128GB SSD, 6GB RAM, and the mini-dock plus figuring that I'll make decent use of it for a few years.

Hear is the rub.....I rationalize the purchase after reading the specs and hearing a lot of gab about the laptop being close to the Macbook Air in thickness. It is listed everywhere as being 0.83" thick, which seems awfully impressive for such a powerful machine. But this isn't the full story according to the spec sheet found at http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf and that bothers me. Apparently the T400s is 0.83" AT ITS NARROWEST and is actually 1.02" at its THICKEST. This seems like false advertising and when I'm tossing $2500 dollars at a laptop I'm a bit frustrated that the real information is tucked away in some technical spec sheet instead of on Lenovo's T400s website. I'll have to give Apple credit, they don't list the Macbook Air as 0.16" thick (as Lenovo apparently would), they list it as 0.16" TO 0.76" with a picture displaying the 0.76" as the actual thickness.

As I haven't received my laptop yet, I'm not trying to flip a lid just because of some silly spec and I'm sure it'll be a swell laptop. However, I'd be interested in hearing someone who's actually handled one of these T400s laptops and could maybe ease my mind on this thickness topic. At 1.02" it is pretty much the thickness of my wife's white Macbook which reduces some of the impressiveness that got me into snagging this ThinkPad to begin with.

How is it that no one has mentioned the 1.02" thickness yet?

How much of this thing is actually over the 1" thickness?

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Thanks,

[ZaZ]

I'm not trying to flip a lid just because of some silly spec and I'm sure it'll be a swell laptop....

Any thoughts would be most welcome.

Manufacturers always put the best spin on things. Have you ever gotten close to the estimated battery life on a laptop? It's called marketing. Who would flip their lid over a laptop? It's just a tool. Were else are you going to find the same combination of performance, size, screen real state, etc., even if it's not quite the notebook you thought. You said it yourself, it's going to be a swell laptop.

[pianowizard]

snappca, welcome to the forum. I'm curious about one thing: Why is thickness so important to you?

[snappca]

@fredgarvin

There's marketing and then there is lying, I'd say "false advertising" is somewhere in between. I understand the concept of putting the best spin on things, but people rely on the technical specifications when comparing one item to another. You mention estimated battery life, this is something that is hard to measure accurately because there are so many variables involved. It is also a metric that everyone knows is a ballpark estimate and it can be relied upon that manufacturers will lean toward the high side, so in the end it is still a valuable specification. The physical outside dimensions of something do not vary and are easily measured.

I doubt I would have bothered to post my concerns to a forum had I purchased a $600 Y450 or if I had money bleeding out of my ears. I would guess that as the expense of something increases the expectations increase accordingly and when it becomes apparent that one side is misleading another (outside of normal marketing variance) I figure it would be best to let others know.

Who would flip their lid over a laptop? It's just a tool.

Not me....hopefully but it is a tool that I rely heavily on and I'm entering into unknown territory with the Thinkpads as I've been using my HP business laptops for several years now.

@planowizard

Thickness is one of the main selling points of the T400s....finding out that the numbers aren't exactly all there is my concern. I wouldn't expect a company to measure the thinnest point and state it as the external dimension of their product and if there was a strong taper involved where the thinnest point mattered I'd expect what Apple did which is to list both measurements.

In the end I'm really not going bonkers over anything and I look forward to getting my hands on it. I was simply curious to know what people that have had a chance to poke and prod one of these thought of the thickness. My wife's Macbook was impressive two years ago....for people to make a big deal of the size of the T400s I would hope it would be better than that.

[dr_st]

I don't understand why thickness would be the main selling point. Weight would make the difference, I agree. Smaller footprint also, but thickness? Outside of being a key factor for reducing weight, touting thickness (or actually thinness) per se is a silly gimmick.

To the defense of Lenovo I can say: that the difference between 0.83 and 1.02 is much smaller than 0.16 and 0.76, which is perhaps why they felt they can get away with the embellishment in this case. To me advertising the narrowest thickness here is not as big a lie as would be if Apple advertised their MBA as being 0.16"' thin, or as Apple does, for example, when it advertises that their laptops have DisplayPort/DVI (when all they have is a proprietary connector which can be converted to DisplayPort/DVI with a proprietary Apple adapter).

So, yes, all manufacturers embellish here and there. Lenovo are definitely not saints among them. Bottom line is, as you said - T400s seems a kicka$$ machine. Enjoy it!

[snappca]

I don't understand why thickness would be the main selling point. Weight would make the difference, I agree. Smaller footprint also, but thickness? Outside of being a key factor for reducing weight, touting thickness (or actually thinness) per se is a silly gimmick.

I hear ya, but I was simply stating that it IS a main selling point, not arguing whether it SHOULD be. Every review touts the thinness of the laptop right around the same time as they start talking about the decent performance. I am definitely looking forward to the 14" size and 4lb weight as compared with my HP NW9440's 17" screen at 1.3" and 7.5lbs without the extended battery hanging off the bottom (which I always left on).

Hopefully everyone doesn't take me the wrong way....I understand that the thickness difference is not the end of the world but I don't think I'm going overboard in my voicing frustration at the misinformation. I DID want to hear what others thought about the thickness and it seems like no one else is too bothered by it.

T400s seems a kicka$$ machine. Enjoy it!

I sure am looking forward to it....and I'll bet I will. I can't wait to see how the 128GB SSD and 6GB of RAM work with Kubuntu!

[twister6]

@snappca: There is another point you are missing. "s" stands for slimmer version of T400. According to Tabook, T400 is 1.1" - 1.3" while T400s is 0.83" - 1.02". I also placed an order for T400s which should arrive in a couple of days (FULLY loaded like yours, except with 4GB of ddr3), and among other advantages the thickness difference between T400 and T400s helped me make up my mind. Some people cross shop different brands and compare those specs; others try to decide which model of one particular brand suites them the best. In this case 0.83" is a valid spec number since its relative to every other Lenovo model where they use thinnest dimension for comparison.

[curious]

I really don't understand why consumers feel the need to defend the dishonest practices of a vender. If Lenovo ads stated the thickness of the T400s as .83" when in reality the laptop's maximum thickness is 1.02", then, sorry, but those ads made a false statement. You don't state the height of an object as the height of its lowest projection. That would be like saying that the height of an elephant is the height of its 5-inch toenail.

And, yes, while it may not be the only selling point, the thickness of a laptop is definitely a major selling point...

[starholmre]

Thickness may not be that important to all users, I agree.

But if you're shelling out $2500 of personal income for a new notebook, I think the consumer has every right to question the product s/he is receiving. To most people that's a lot of money.

Now if you get that notebook for free, from your company fleet or as a holiday gift, it's a different story. Live with that extra .2 inches!

[yak]

I got just one question. Where is the 1.02" thickness measured? The rear feet maybe? Check out this sideways T400s photo (top):
http://www.newtechnology.co.in/wp-conte ... 400s-2.jpg

[tranle]

For me the 1.02" is at the front around where the front rubber feet are, not including the feet.
So if you leave a T400s flat on a table and measure at the back from the table surface to the top of the close lid, you have 1.25".

[Jeff Wheeler]

I'm pretty disappointed about this as well. The size played a large part in my purchase decision, and I expected it to be noticably thinner than my previous MBP, advertised at 0.95" thick. Unfortunately, I have yet to find any comparison in which the MBP is thicker; compraing any end of the MBP to any end of the T400s reveals that the MBP is always thinner, and by an easily visible margin.

[phr]

Has anyone actually measured the thickness with a ruler? If 1.02" includes the feet sticking out, I wouldn't count that. Anyway I think I'd calculate the average thickness.

[Jeff Wheeler]

I wasn't claiming a specific thickness, but rather that it's clearly thicker than the MBP, which is cited to be 0.95" thick, even with both on a surface that avoids the feet (I compared when both were on a flat railing, so the feet didn't hit).

I have to imagine that Apple doesn't cheat themselves out of more than a tenth of an inch, though.

[tranle]

Has anyone actually measured the thickness with a ruler? If 1.02" includes the feet sticking out, I wouldn't count that. Anyway I think I'd calculate the average thickness.

Yes my measurement was done with a ruler (cheap metal ruler) so it could be +-5% error.