Thinkpads Forum

Sold my T400 few weeks ago. Still think that made a big mistake. Should have kept it. Owned it for a year, brand new. No problems or whatsoever. Traveled all around the world with it. I think that T series are one of the best laptop PC in the world.

However, looking going back to T series again. The chose is T400s or T410. I really want to get one of T400s - 2GB\LED\SP9400\120SATA have few questions about this unit.

Heating. Due to small sizes, any heating problems? Like some of the laptops have, the bottom gets hot.

Fan. Can you really hear the fan working?

These are two things that I'm scared of. My last X300 was so noisy and hot, I was so disappointed, don't want to make mistakes anymore.

The difference between the T400s and the T410s is remarkable. (See my post below on fan noise, if you're interested.) I can't speak to the T410.

As for your questions, the fan noise is not bad at all, hardly noticeable really, on my T400s--even when rendering video or with other CPU-intense tasks. (SP9400, LED, Intel SSD 160GB, 4GB RAM) Heat wise I never had an issue either, though I rarely use my laptops on my lap. After having a T410s for two weeks, I'm returning it and going back to the T400s as my main machine.

As for the T410s, with the NIVIDA graphics and Core i5 it runs so hot that it regularly crashes when doing CPU intense work. This is a well known problem. The fan tries to compensate for the heat, which creates a loud and very annoying sound. (I might even try to make an audio recording, so people can better understand just how bad it is ...) Power manager has a way to change the fan setting for less noise, but all this does is runs the fan for 10 seconds at a high RPM, then cuts it off for 5 seconds, 10 second at a high RPM, then five seconds off, which is much more annoying that consistent sound, IMO. With the on-off fan, as a friend put it, the computer sounds like its about to "take off."

Hope it helps.

I can't speak to the T4x0s, but the T410 is a great machine. I've got one with integrated graphics, and it's cool, quiet, and powerful. Battery life isn't stellar (worse than the T400) but isn't bad either (not *much* worse than the T400).

Honestly, unless size is of the utmost importance, I'd get the T410.

received my T400s today, Brand new, in sealed box type 2808C4U

Original description: SP9400(2.4GHz), 2GB RAM, 120GB 5400rpm HD, 14.1in 1440x900 LCD, Intel 4500MHD, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn wireless, WWAN upgradeable, Bluetooth, 1Gb Ethernet, UltraNav, Secure chip, Fingerprint reader, 6c Li-Ion, WinXP Pro

Non refurbished, very simple configuration, has everything I need for home laptop with 550 days of warranty.

Ended up paying $684 on ebay,

willing to add 2 more gigs of RAM, looking for cheap used 64GB SSD on Craigslist.

I've used T400 for a year and what I like about T400s is that there is NO battery sticking out from the back!!!!!!!! Much better build quality than T400!!!!!

In conclusion I want to say, the best thinkpad is "BRAND NEW,SEALED" thinkpad.

If you regularly check a site like dealnews.com you'll come across some great SSD buys right now. Since Intel released it's new drive there have been big sales on nearly all the brands ...