My T400s

[balapavan]

Just ordered my T400s. Very excited, coz I have een waiting for a better system than T400 (looks wise, keyboard wise). I hope I made the right choice. Below are the specs. Current estimated ship date is September 14th.

Intel Core2 Duo processor SP9400 (2.40GHz, 6MB L2, 1066MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Business 6412
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight
Intel GMA 4500MHD
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad) with Fingerprint Reader
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm - Low Halogen
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer
Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5 6 cell Li-Ion Battery
Intel WiFi Link 530010
Integrated Wireless Wide Area Network upgradable
2801: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller
Upgrades 1YR & 3YR Onsite or Depot Base Warranty Mobiles to 3YR Battery Warranty

Total came to about $1501, after the 5% coupon on the Amex daily wish site.

Would appreciate any comments on the price.
Thanks!
Bala

[ZaZ]

Congrats on the machine. If you like what you got and are happy with what you paid for it, who cares what someone else thinks? At some point the T400s will sell for less, but figuring when is the tough part. You might have been able to save yourself a few bucks by waiting a few weeks or months, but then you'd deny yourself the use of the machine now, which does have value.

[tbar2112]

Congratulations. I have owned my T400s for about a month now, and I am happy with it, except one issue with the Ultranav middle button which needs heavy pressure to activate/keep the scrolling function. That might be an issue with mine only though. I'd be happy to hear your report on that when you get yours.

I went for the 2808 model with an SSD disk, I have already extended it with a 500GB 7200 harddrive in the Ultrabay Slim.

[Paul88]

First, congratulations for the new laptop. I will buy one but don't know when!!
Second, the price is good, don't worry about it. Just enjoys...

[balapavan]

Thank you guys! I received it on September 11th and I think I like it.
It has a high end feel to it, real light and the keyboard didnt disappoint.
Keyboard:
Ofcourse, I am a bit nostalgic for my T23 keyboard, the best I ever used. Then when I got my T60, I had to request a new keyboard and switch to the NMB one, and been very happy with it. While the keyboard on T400s isnt upto the standards of T23/T43, it is better than T400s, out of the box. So, I am happy.
Screen:
This thing is BRIGHT! lowering the boirghtness helps a bit, but still. my eyes hurt, but I think I'll be tweaking it to a comfortable level and see.

I have upgraded the OS to Win7 64 ultimate and it is running smoothly. I upgraded using my retail copy, and hence lost all thinkvantage software and the blue thinkvantage button doesnt work anymore. This is a MAJOR screwup for me, but I have a part in it, and take responsibility. I didnt make recovery disks before upgrading and lenovo wants $45 to ship them. I have kept the service partition intact, so I dont understand why I can't have the thinkvantage software installed. But thats a problem I created.
The laptop has a larger footprint to it, the palmrest, reminding me of the old T43 15 inches. I never liked them. I have always only liked 14 inch laptops. It takes some adjustment esthetically if you are like me.

Biggest screw up until now has been about Warranty. I purchased the 55Y2645 part number which said "Upgrades1YR&3YR Onsite or Depot Base Warranty Mobiles to 3YR Battery Warranty" under warranty services 3 yrs and I verified here http://www.thinkpads.com/2009/05/20/len ... arranties/. I thought I was getting 3yr depot + 3 yr battery. But, its only 1 yr base + 3 yr battery warranty, which is priced higher than a 3 yr depot warranty.
I notice that they changed the text of it today(!) to "Any Mobile Base + 3Yr Battery Warranty" which imo explains what you are getting, a little better.
Sorry for a lengthy whining, just wanted to share the whole experience.

[nomoreno]

I thought you could go to Lenovo's website and search for ThinkAdvantage installation for Win 7, along with other Lenovo applications for Win 7. Have you tried? How much space left after you instill Win 7? What else did you lose after doing the Win 7 installation?

[fanqimeng]

Hi there, I have a question. Do you know what made of you 250G hard drive is? And is it fast?

I am strugling between X200s and T400s now. And my main concern is that T400s is going to be slower because of a 5400rpm 1.8 inch hard drive.

Thank you.

[reforminded]

You can get almost all the thinkvantage stuff back from the lenovo support website, but in reality you don't really need it. Win 7 handles wireless very well so you don't need access connections. Win 7 has a built in system image utility, so if you make a recovery partiion on your harddrive you can easily setup a backup image - meaning you no longer need rescue and recovery. The only things I would advise reinstalling are System update (fills in any missing drivers easily and keeps you abreast to what lenovo is offering) and the hotkey utility (makes the volume controlls work and brings back the on-screen display for volume/brightness). Everything else is just redundant because Windows 7 does it just as well or better. On another note, isn't win 7 freaking awesome on these machines? Really makes them shine as the high end computers that they are.