Thinkpads Forum

I am thinking of buying a T400, which will be an upgrade from my T60. Is this a good idea on my part ? Furthermore, any issues with these T400 ? What should I look for ? The Type is 7417-CTO. Thanks for your help.

Hi Alofano

I have a T400 7417-CTO and what I've experienced personally was a swiss-cheese keyboard. I called Lenovo and complained about it and they shipped me a much more solid backplate-type keyboard. IIRC it's from the T6x series Thinkpads which is an NMB that people gush and wax poetic about. It is remarkably more solid and non-flex as the keyboard that had originally shipped with the T400. The keyboard was very easy to install and was done in less than five minutes by myself! Customer service was polite and pretty much just gave me what I asked for lol Search for "T400 keyboard flex" and I'm sure you'll find the FRU for the good keyboard!

Another thing you might want to look into is whether or not you are getting a T400 with LED and WXGA+ (1440X900) resolution screen. I used to think the higher res would make things just too small but have since gotten used to it and do not want an XGA or an WXGA for that matter in the future! My screen type is the LG-Phillips LED WXGA+ type. It is very bright and works well for my purposes.

My T400 has the Intel X4500MHD integrated graphics and works well with Windows 7. Not sure if you are looking for discrete graphics or integrated-only. I can tell you a nice thing about the integrated graphics is that the laptop stays C O O L

Since then I have upgraded to an SSD (for OS) and use flash cards for storage and music. I do have an 500gb external drive so my music, anime, movies, and television shows have a garage to park themselves in

I'd like to think I'm gentle but I cram my T400 in a messenger back with thick school books and lug that around. I am aware that the T400 has an roll cage to protect the innards so I feel that is a big plus and peace of mind! I feel that my T400 is going to be sticking through thick-and-thin with me...provided I treat it decently

I had a 2764 that shipped with a swiss-cheese Chicony. It kinda sucked especially in the WASD region, so I called and they shipped me a solid-backed ALPS. It was definitely flex-free except in the most extreme of cases, but I didn't quite like the key-action on the ALPS. Ultimately swapped the ALPS for the semi-swiss-cheese NMB from my dad's T60 which kinda flexed, so I padded the underside with a few pieces of strategically placed Kleenex and slightly bent the keyboard to be concave down (the retaining screw is in the middle, so imagine a bit). I don't think bending the keyboard is good for it, so YMMV. It's made it virtually unnoticeable unless you were purposely trying to push down on it.

The 7417 appears to be only a WXGA panel (1280x800) which IMHO is a bit low especially as it is widescreen. Then again, because it is a CTO, it means you can customize the features somewhat, which makes it difficult to comment on most of the laptop.

I purchased a 7417-CTO a few months ago from the Lenovo Outlet. One interesting thing about it is that there is extra keyboard support in the left and center. There is an extra metal plate there that doesn't even show up in the hardware maintenance manual. I have the swiss cheese Chicony keyboard and it is absolutely fine with this added support. I'm saying this coming from a 14" widescreen T61 with the solid backplate NMB.

I also have the WXGA+ (1440x900) LCD and would second the recommendations for the higher resolution.

There is an odd issue with Windows 7 and the Intel X4500MHD integrated graphics. If you enable the virtualization technology in the BIOS, and have multiple non-matching RAM sticks, the screen becomes corrupt and pixelated. My T400 had one 2GB stick and one 1GB stick. Removing the 1GB stick, or replacing the 1GB with a 2GB (or replacing the 2GB with a 1GB, etc), completely fixes the issue. I see the same issue on a T500 with integrated graphics as well. This didn't happen with Vista, which a lot of T400's had pre-installed.

I had the Nov 09 revision with the added bracing too, but the swiss-cheese chicony would flex in the WASD era significantly. My chassis also deforms a bit on the right palmrest (i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrerGDrMYlE) but it's not noticeable in regular usage. Nevertheless, it is an awesome laptop; mine has seen more wear and tear than it should and is still running superbly (minus a dead mic and FPR).

Mine also flexes significantly without padding over the UltraBay. Dunno why.

I think I will keep my T60. Thanks for the feedback.