Thinkpads Forum

Posted: **Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:56 am**

I can only comment on two of your questions.

2. Trackpad sound when pressing it down: how bad is it actually? Can you tap on the trackpad, without pressing it down, similar to Mac?

I don think that the sound is too much. Similar to a Mac. And yes, you can tap on the trackpad without pressing it down. Personally I don't know why anyone would yuse a trackpad over the trackpoint, but I'm a long time ThinkPad user.

3. How would you rate t440s trackpad compared to Mac?

Very similar.

Posted: **Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:39 pm**

After a fun weekend of setting up and tweaking my newly-arrived T440s, here are my initial thoughts:

Hits:

--OMG this is a light machine! I'm comparing to my previous T500. My shoulder is looking forward to taking this in the bag on trips.

--Bright, bright display. On the old machine, I ran it at 2/3 brightness when on battery; for the T440s, I'm starting at 1/2 brightness when on battery and might tick it down even dimmer.

--The machine took the upgrade to Windows 8.1 without a hiccup.

--Keyboard feels sufficient, although it'll never be the "real" ThinkPad keyboard we all love.

Misses:

--Like others, I'm not happy with the TrackPoint "buttons" - they click in a cheap manner and don't have the feel of a good build quality. I'm also finding that I have to sag farther left on the left button to get it to positively engage. That may be because there's a virtual "center button" according to the TrackPoint settings in Control Panel, but I see no way to disable that "center button" and just have left and right. For a $1900 'puter you shouldn't have to deal with a 50-cent sound when you click on the TrackPoint buttons. It's just like cars - they should "thunk" in the right way when you close the car door. Same thing here. Big raspberry to Lenovo for not getting this right.

--What a mess getting the back cover off to add RAM! Eight unbelievably tiny screws, then 12 ridiculously tight plastic tabs that are nearly impossible to sneak open. Fingernail is about the best tool possible, sliding it into the very tiny space, assuming you can find a starting point. Lenovo may have allowed for the user to upgrade memory and HDD, but they sure don't make it easy.

--Apparently there is no way to have the keyboard backlight default to on/dim at startup. When you power up, the backlight will come on for a couple of seconds, then it shuts off until you get far enough into the boot process that alt+spacebar will work. The turn-on of the backlight at bootup is kind of dumb - either let users let it come on and stay on, or let users have it off permanently. The backlight would be a hit if Lenovo could just allow some better user control of it.

Generally, this was the fastest I've been able to get a ThinkPad up and running with all my partitions, data and tweaks. No doubt this was in large part because of the 500GB SSD I ordered with the beast.

Posted: **Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:18 pm**

I've had my T440s for two weeks now. It took some time, but I'm getting comfortable operating the mouse. I have disabled the touch on the trackpad and only use it for clicking the {left,middle,right} mouse buttons. It requires a hefty press to perform a click, but after much practicing I now use the left side of my right thumb to click comfortably, while using my right index finger to control the trackpoint. The clicking sound is the same as the sound of a keypress.

I have tried disabling the trackpad in the BIOS but the setting has no effect. At least under Linux, I can still operate the trackpad after disabling it in the BIOS. Instead, I have disabled touch with the synaptics driver which supports both the trackpoint and trackpad perfectly. I also used the synaptics driver to define the zones for the middle and right click.

For anyone interested, I have disabled touch by executing "synclient AreaTopEdge=5000"

Posted: **Mon Jan 06, 2014 7:18 pm**

DenverBrian wrote:... When you power up, the backlight will come on for a couple of seconds, then it shuts off until you get far enough into the boot process that alt+spacebar will work. The turn-on of the backlight at bootup is kind of dumb - ...

I suppose the reason why the backlight gets turned on for a short while is to show to the user that the backlight exists. Not all users read a user's guide.

Posted: **Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:57 am**

Ibthink wrote: And of course the same WLAN cards, WWAN cards, same Docks etc.

I was informed that the T43x and T44x do not share the same Docks.

the screen of my R50e with massive Clamshell is not very stiff at all, because it is made out of plastic.

Why are you comparing an R-series here!? The R-series were the budget line.
Besides, my R51 and my currently running R61 both have very strong lids. The R30 on the other hand was a bit of a flop IMO.

These advantages are still present with the T440s (they now use a rubber lip).

What about the other Thinkpads? Certainly doesn't exist on the T440p!

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Besides, the T440s would be thicker if it would come with Clamshell.

A couple mm thicker maybe - OMG!

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Thats true. But this is a must have today. TrackPoint users are a very small minority, in contrast, everyone knows how to use a TouchPad.

Part of the point was the ever-increasing size of the Touchpad - I too feel this is over-kill on a business machine! I hate the touchpad on my T440p compared to the setup on my T400!

Because the new hinge system on the T440s works very well

Maybe so on the T440s - but on the T440p I beg to differ. Give me some proper latches any day.

In the end, I guess it depends how one defines the word "ThinkPad". For me, the T440s is still very much a ThinkPad, it represents everything I like about ThinkPads.

In that case I can only assume that you don't like most things that made the Thinkpad legendary in times past.

Posted: **Tue Jan 28, 2014 7:28 am**

No, I am not happy because the T440s is new, but because it is better, better than for example the T420, the T430u, the L520, the R60 .... The T430u was new, and in the first moment I liked it very much, but after some time using it, I quickly decided to sell it as it had many flaws and was not worthy to carry the T-Series designation.

Hilarious! Why are you comparing the T440s to those machines!? How about comparing it to the T430s, T420s ... etc!? In comparison to the T430s it's not better in several ways. (I cannot be bothered to repeat myself: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=112934)

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Whats not ok is senseless hating of things that people never even touched or tried.

... or not comparing machines fairly with one another ... !?

It is like many people who said the Chiclet keyboards are crap in typing feel, until they actually tried one and saw that they are wrong (of course, they still have the layout to complain about).

While the Chiclet keyboard may not be as bad as was expected it is STILL not as good as what it replaced. - Just ain't! Additionally the notches on the underside of the keys themselves are very frail and ov much lower quality than the keys they replaced. You also cannot blame people for hating the chiclet keyboard before having tried it when the vast majority of chiclet keyboard were absolute sh*t to use.

Edges are not part of Lenovos "Classic" ThinkPad lineup

There is definitely such a thing as an IBM Classic Thinkpad lineup - but a Lenovo Classic Thinkpad lineup!? ... hmmm

Why? Because they like the new design? Because they does not share your opinion? Maybe the real ones to blame are the users who really act like childs. The ones who join into threads by users of new ThinkPads and say "reads like advertisment" if someone says something good about the new design.

No, it's more like this.
IBM focused on business/enterprise - strictly. Because of this it's userbase where comprised of a high percentage of business/enterprise individuals. These individuals cared more about a host of things that individuals outside of that usecase cared nothing for.
Lenovo focus on mass-marketing to the average consumer (EDGE), small businesses which can't afford much (L and S) and even make dumbed-down versions of their premuim T and X series to appeal to ... well who the heck knows!? The result is that now there are MANY more users of the Thinkpad who are not business/enterprise oriented and who can't give two hoots about the things that made the Thinkpad a legendary busines machine!
Lenovo also follows the typical Chinese model of "innovation" - 1. If it does not make more profit than the previous one (through cost-cutting) then it's not innovative. 2. Mimic others.

So more and more Lenovo can point to it's userbase and claim that the majority of it's users are very happy with the latest models - but this is not becasue the features are getting better, and the quality is on the rise etc ... but becasue the userbase has been completely altered to include hords of non-to-semi-tech-savvy people .. and/or people who are not looking for a business/enterprise machine.

No, at least not in my opinion. What ThinkPads differentiate from other Notebooks (for me!):
- Great Build quality with high quality materials used, good reliability
....

Thing to note in comparing the Thinkpad to laptops from other manufacturers is - Just becasue the Thinkpad is still better than most or all others does not necessarily mean that the Thinkpad is actually getting better when measured against itself - because it's much more likely that the other laptops are declining in quality!

Posted: **Tue Jan 28, 2014 8:01 am**

cb474 wrote: This is part of the problem with many of Lenovo's choices. They seem to be about looks, rather than functionality. Assuming you're right, to get rid of the LEDs just because they do not match a new more streamlined (and let's be honest, MacBook copycat) design is putting form completely over function. Not only is that dumb. It goes against the ThinkPad brand, which was always about function over form and at its best function and form conjoined. I think this is a marketing mistake. In the short run, Lenovo it getting lots of sales by making the ThinkPad more and more like other notebooks, but in the long run, once there is no difference, there will also be no reason ThinkPads couldn't just disappear in the face of whoever figures out how to do the same thing cheaper. I don't know any marketing principle by which undermining one's own brand identity and product differentiation is considered a good business decision.

Absolutely agree!!

systemBuilder wrote: no thinklight
no touchpad buttons
no mute / up / down volume
no pair of batteries including a 9-cell
no ips display
not a thinkpad.

Absolutely agree!

sjahanmi wrote:I love my T440s. Its reliable, fast, and everything you could want in a laptop

This sums it up! This is the way that the Thinkpad userbase is heading ... what it should say is "everything you could want in a THINKPAD".
With more and more people coming from el-cheap'o laptops to the Thinkpad we will see the quality of the Thinkpad continue to drop - simply because less is expected!

Posted: **Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:02 am**

I've received my T440s yesterday. It came as replacement for a failed T420s that according to Lenovo Europe, was beyond repair.
Since they sent an extra 4GB RAM to match the configuration of the replaced unit, and I had to fit my SSD, the unit had to be opened.
As all others have pointed out, that is not fun. I understand that Lenovo eliminated independent access to internal devices because of the anti-tamper feature, however that is a major trouble for DIY users and repair shops. Lenovo could still have made a bottom cover with openings for users not requiring anti-tamper.

Here is how you can open the bottom cover without damage:
If possible at all, use a plastic cellphone opener tool:

If you use a metal flat screwdriver, you will almost certainly cause some marring and/or break a latch. I did not had the plastic tool and broke "only" two latches with minor marring, while working with very limited use of my right hand because of an accident.

This is the technique I found to be most effective.
Start with the two latches under the battery. Pry just enough so you can see latch opened, and fit in a piece of paperboard to keep it. Move to the side latches.
The key concept is to not try to locate exactly and hard push in the latch, especially when using a metal screwdriver. Just push and pry gently in the area where the latch is, the shop manual is accurate enough for locating them. As soon there is enough space, fit a piece of cardboard and move to the next latch. Do not insist against any single latch, move to the next and you will find that eventually all will give in.
Then, even with all the latches crack opened, the cover will not come out yet, you will have to lift it gently on all sides to remove it.

The unit booted with the T420s SDD and once loaded WiFi drivers drivers from USB I was good to go with system update. Certainly many things are different from older TPs and something will not ever be as before. However I kind of like it and I'm already productive with it.

[Added 4/17]
I've got an FHD display today, the AU unit. It came very cheap on Aliexpress, and shipped quick and cheap.
Again the manual is not clear about this procedure. This is how I recommend to do it.
Use a credit card with s sharpened edge to lift the light plastic frame only where the four screws are, that is on the log side about two cm from the corner. Remove the screws Leave a piece of paper of paper in between cover frame and bezel,, because it tends to stick back.
Using the same tool push again one the edge of the screen, but this time you will have to go under the actual plastic bezel. As you lift a little, the latches will give in. These are small and very well made, as you list the the bezel all around, you will be able to remove it easily.
Flip the display and remove the sticker that holds the cable connector in place. You will have to start on the long side and work slowly, as a strong adhesive is used there. When the plastic sticker is lifted, you can pull out the cable and replace the display. The sticker/holder should have enough glue left, or use some new one.
To fit the bezel, start with the long side by the hinges. Keep it 45 degrees and slide it back and down. If you don't do this the latches on that side will not go in place. You will have to close the display to check on that.
If these are OK, place the screws back in, press the bezel to snap in all around, and your new display is ready to go!

Posted: **Mon Apr 21, 2014 1:34 pm**

Finally ordered my long overdue replacement for the trusty T500 (2082). I'm receiving a T440s w/ the Core i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 16GB mSATA, 802.11ac, etc. It's coming with a Win7 Pro downgrade.

Looking forward to receiving it.

Posted: **Wed May 21, 2014 2:26 pm**

I ordered the WWAN card and the install was very smooth. I did not buy a sim card for the internet, though.

I agree one should only open this notebook with a plastic opening tool. I broke most (if not all) of the latches during multiple disassembling sessions. Without a plastic tool I wonder how one could not break them.

The non-backlight keyboard is a bit lighter than the one with backlight, maybe around 30-60 gram? I do not know, but there is a difference when you hold them in both hands.

The display is using some very mild form of pwm flicker, it's definitely a huge improvement from my T520 FHD backlight which flickered more.

After some months, it is still a wonderful companion and how could I upgrade from it? The Macbooks have totally different keyboards, the Airs don't even have Pos1, Home and other keys very important for programming. The surface pro 3 display is flickering so much you can even notice it on most youtube videos. The T440s feels great, doesnt scratch although it is abused on a daily basis.

I am thinking about getting a second battery (6 cell), currently I only use a three cell battery (in combination with the three cell build-in battery).

Posted: **Wed May 21, 2014 3:10 pm**

I definitely agree on the need for plastic pry tools to open the case. I ended up primarily using my thumbnails (I have pretty hard nails) to get my T440S open to add 8GB of RAM. It took me a good 30 minutes of careful prying to get the case opened. I did end up scratching up the case a little bit because I had initially started with a very slim flathead screwdriver (which I quickly abandoned).

I love my T440S! I've been pleased that the Core i5 has done well under load. That was my biggest concern when I bought mine.

I managed to snag an open box from PC Connection (4GB RAM, 500GB 7200 HDD, 16GB mSATA SSD). Surprisingly, I managed to buy this open box 440S with a pro docking station and 3 yr ADP on-site warranty uplift for less than the T530s (w/ pro dock and warranty uplift) that I was deploying to the rest of my users.

Posted: **Fri May 23, 2014 2:30 pm**

Thanks for the impressions. I'm hoping to get one soon too (to finally upgrade my T410s).

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:08 pm**

I am on the verge of finally upgrading from my T60 to T440s, but I have some questions and would be grateful for any replies...

Operating System
If I choose to pay extra for downgrade to Windows 7, will I have the option to upgrade to upgrade to Windows 8/.1 at a later stage for free, by doing it myself? I'm assuming so, because the option states "Windows 7 Professional 64 preinstalled through downgrade rights in Windows 8 Pro 64"...

Screen
14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN vs. T440s 14.0 HD+ WWAN - I'm assuming the latter is better?

Fingerprint Reader w/NFC
What can you use NFC for on an everyday basis? What are its transfer speeds like?

Micro Hard Drive

No NGFF SSD
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Double

I do not understand this at all. If I choose 'double' does it come with 2 16gb drives, or rather with ONE drive, but TWO slots? Furthermore, I don't understand how the OS could fit on a 16gig drive, as Microsoft state that the requirements for Win 7 are "16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)", so assuming I want 64-bit installed, 16g is not going to be enough...?

System Expansion Slot - Smart Card Reader
The Smart Card Reader is basically a phone sim card reader? Not an SD card etc reader? If I opt NOT to have it, will it just remain 'filled' , but I will still be able to add an Express Card Slot, 4-in-1 Card Reader, Smart Card Reader, Lenovo USB Modem, or 54mm ExpressCard Smart Card Reader by simply removing the flap? I could only see an option to purchase a Smart Card Reader but none of the others... Am I missing something?

Wireless

ThinkPad Wireless 2 x 2 BGN with Bluetooth
Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AC with Bluetooth 4.0
Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260AN with Bluetooth 4.0

As I understand it, AC is more advanced than AN, but AN is more expensive. Am I missing something?

Huge thanks in advance for any / all answers

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:20 pm**

Answers to some questions follow:

pvdrewerken wrote:I am on the verge of finally upgrading from my T60 to T440s, but I have some questions and would be grateful for any replies...

Operating System
If I choose to pay extra for downgrade to Windows 7, will I have the option to upgrade to upgrade to Windows 8/.1 at a later stage for free, by doing it myself? I'm assuming so, because the option states "Windows 7 Professional 64 preinstalled through downgrade rights in Windows 8 Pro 64"...

If you order with a downgrade to Win7 Pro, the system comes with Win7 Pro pre-installed (including the Recovery Partition). You'll have to make your own recovery media for the Win7 Pro installation through the included application.

Win 8/8.1 Pro comes on DVDs. If/when you install Win 8/8.1, it will create a Win 8 recovery partition on the HDD and then perform the installation from there.

Micro Hard Drive
No NGFF SSD
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Double
I do not understand this at all. If I choose 'double' does it come with 2 16gb drives, or rather with ONE drive, but TWO slots? Furthermore, I don't understand how the OS could fit on a 16gig drive, as Microsoft state that the requirements for Win 7 are "16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)", so assuming I want 64-bit installed, 16g is not going to be enough...?

I can't answer your question about the single vs. double. But, I can tell you that by default the 16GB SSD storage is used for the Lenovo CacheExpress feature. It is similar to Seagate's hybrid Momentus XT 2.5" SSD/HDDs. The SSD portion is only used to improve performance over a standard HDD. Consider it as getting some of the speed benefits of an SSD plus the storage capacity of the configured HDD vs. the price of an SSD at the capacity of the configured HDD. (Hope that makes sense.)

Hope this helps with some of your questions.

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:35 pm**

Thanks for your reply.

jskang wrote:Answers to some questions follow:

pvdrewerken wrote:I am on the verge of finally upgrading from my T60 to T440s, but I have some questions and would be grateful for any replies...

Operating System
Win 8/8.1 Pro comes on DVDs. If/when you install Win 8/8.1, it will create a Win 8 recovery partition on the HDD and then perform the installation from there..

So I thought... but then even if I choose Windows 7 (via downgrade), the next gives me "Windows 8 Professional 64 Recovery Media EMEA WE (EN FR GR IT NL) MUI"

Micro Hard Drive
No NGFF SSD
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Double
I do not understand this at all. If I choose 'double' does it come with 2 16gb drives, or rather with ONE drive, but TWO slots? Furthermore, I don't understand how the OS could fit on a 16gig drive, as Microsoft state that the requirements for Win 7 are "16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)", so assuming I want 64-bit installed, 16g is not going to be enough...?

I can't answer your question about the single vs. double. But, I can tell you that by default the 16GB SSD storage is used for the Lenovo CacheExpress feature. It is similar to Seagate's hybrid Momentus XT 2.5" SSD/HDDs. The SSD portion is only used to improve performance over a standard HDD. Consider it as getting some of the speed benefits of an SSD plus the storage capacity of the configured HDD vs. the price of an SSD at the capacity of the configured HDD. (Hope that makes sense.)

Hope this helps with some of your questions.[/quote]

I sort of understand. But do they not install the OS onto that SSD? Or is just used as somewhere to store files that you want super-fast access to? I am unfamiliar with this, but assuming it is essentially cache, and nothing more, does that mean that it's not possible to physically write any data permanently onto it, thereby, negating its usefulness? I'd imagined that SSD storing the entire Win7 OS, but I guess I've been wrong about that.

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 4:47 pm**

pvdrewerken wrote:Thanks for your reply.

I sort of understand. But do they not install the OS onto that SSD? Or is just used as somewhere to store files that you want super-fast access to? I am unfamiliar with this, but assuming it is essentially cache, and nothing more, does that mean that it's not possible to physically write any data permanently onto it, thereby, negating its usefulness? I'd imagined that SSD storing the entire Win7 OS, but I guess I've been wrong about that.

In a nutshell, the OS is not run from the SSD. There's some additional discussion of this feature at http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-Ed ... d-p/736751. Someone links to Condusiv's (the OEM for this feature) web page that discusses the feature. Someone from Condusiv chimes in during the conversation with the following comment:

Our ExpressCache technology absolutely improves boot-time - but I'd like to point out that it offers many additional benefits as well - such as improvement application performance.

ExpressCache is software that leverages the speed of a small SSD as a caching device, coupled with a computer's existing HHD to enable the performance of a pure SSD system at the fraction of the cost.

If you really wanted to, you could install the OS to that 16GB mSSD. But, you would have to do it with a retail copy install of Windows. You wouldn't be able to use the recovery/restore licenses of Windows that come with the system since they default to installing everything on the HDD and use the mSSD for the ExpressCache feature.

You could probably fit the base Win7 install into 16GB but you would be cutting it really close. You'd have to reconfigure the paging file and hibernation file to another partition. You would also have to hand-install all of your applications into another partition. Maybe if you replaced that mSSD with a 32GB or 64GB one. But, again, you would no longer be able to use included Lenovo recovery. The OS install and all applications would have to be done by hand. I think it would be more trouble than it's worth.

Also, keep in mind that 120GB SSDs can be had for under $100 these days. 240GBs for $120 or so on sale.

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:01 pm**

pvdrewerken wrote:Screen
14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN vs. T440s 14.0 HD+ WWAN - I'm assuming the latter is better?

The FHD IPS screen is better of course.

pvdrewerken wrote:Micro Hard Drive
No NGFF SSD
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single
16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Double
I do not understand this at all. If I choose 'double' does it come with 2 16gb drives, or rather with ONE drive, but TWO slots? Furthermore, I don't understand how the OS could fit on a 16gig drive, as Microsoft state that the requirements for Win 7 are "16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)", so assuming I want 64-bit installed, 16g is not going to be enough...?

As mentioned before, these small SSDs won´t be used as boot SSDs - they are used for Caching. You can replace them with other 42mm M.2 drives with more capacity (for example, MyDigitalSSD).

pvdrewerken wrote:System Expansion Slot - Smart Card Reader
The Smart Card Reader is basically a phone sim card reader? Not an SD card etc reader? If I opt NOT to have it, will it just remain 'filled' , but I will still be able to add an Express Card Slot, 4-in-1 Card Reader, Smart Card Reader, Lenovo USB Modem, or 54mm ExpressCard Smart Card Reader by simply removing the flap? I could only see an option to purchase a Smart Card Reader but none of the others... Am I missing something?

The Smart-Card reader is not a Sim Card Slot or an SD-card slot. These slots are used for security authentification in large companies or gonvernment organizations. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_card

Posted: **Mon Jun 09, 2014 5:26 pm**

pvdrewerken wrote:14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN vs. T440s 14.0 HD+ WWAN - I'm assuming the latter is better?

FHD = 1920x1080
HD+ = 1600x900
IPS = a panel type that has wider viewing angles, better color reproduction, and higher contrast than the so-called TN type. I am fairly certain the HD+ option uses TN.

But don't believe the hype that resolution is always the higher the better. As resolution goes up, things get smaller. Windows and many programs allow you to scale, but scaling doesn't always work well. Thus, many of us recommend users to stick with the default scaling setting, and choose the screen resolution that you like most. While I personally think 14.0" 1920x1080 is optimal, I have come across many folks who find it too high. Even 15.6" 1920x1080 isn't for everyone.

Posted: **Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:52 pm**

The IPS option is actually cheaper on the UK site...

I am now trying to figure the difference between between SSD and 1TB 5400 rpm. Cannot decide on which to get...

Is the speed difference THAT much?

Posted: **Mon Jun 16, 2014 8:00 am**

Think of how desktop HDDs are faster than CDs. That should give you a wild idea about HDD and SSD comparison.

Posted: **Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:06 am**

pvdrewerken wrote:The IPS option is actually cheaper on the UK site...

I am now trying to figure the difference between between SSD and 1TB 5400 rpm. Cannot decide on which to get...

Is the speed difference THAT much?

The speed difference between an SSD and a 5400 RPM HDD is definitely noticeable.

The perceived system performance difference between an SSD and a 5400 RPM HDD paired with one of the m.SATA SSDs into a hybrid drive configuration may be less apparent.

Posted: **Wed Dec 10, 2014 2:28 pm**

pvdrewerken wrote:Is the speed difference THAT much?

The two are so far apart in terms of performance I'm struggling to think of a good comparison.

It's like asking whether a jet is THAT much faster than walking...

The big win for SSDs is that they tend to do well under heavy concurrent loads. In terms of sequential transfer speeds (e.g. copying a big file while not doing anything else) conventional hard drives aren't horrible... but under heavy multi-threaded workloads (e.g. a bunch of different processes all hitting disk at the same time) there's no comparison. SSDs perform several orders of magnitude better.

Also, I can drop an SSD onto a hard floor from 20 feet in the air and my data will almost certainly be intact. Conventional drive? Not so much... That's kinda important in a laptop.

Oh, and they're more power efficient too.

Basically there is one reason to get a new laptop with a conventional drive: because it's usually cheaper to put an SSD in there that you've ordered for yourself than it is to get it pre-configured.

Posted: **Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:00 am**

Case in point. The Crucial 512 GB SSD can be found online for under $200. Lenovo charges $450 for the upgrade from a 128GB SSD that is itself worth about $75. So you are essentially paying $525 for an item that you can get yourself get under $200. Get the as-configured and add your own.

Posted: **Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:14 pm**

At last, I was able to replace my T440s' TN LCD panel with the AUO IPS panel.

I orderder the panel from an UK ebay seller. I contacted the seller first and asked for confirmation that they have the exact B140HAN01.2 model, because many people reported that sellers may send a different model if they don't have it on their stock. After I got the confirmation, I placed an order, paid 97 USD (inc. shipping) and the panel was delivered 4 days later. This is the seller and the panel I purchased:

AUO 14" FHD IPS B140HAN01.2

I also bought an iPhone fixing kit locally; it cost me about 5 USD. The kit includes two plastic pryers which helped alot while removing the 1st and 2nd LCD bezel.

The panel replacement process is very simple, it took approx. 15 minutes to exchange the panels. I had to use double-sided adhesive tape to reinstall the 1st LCD bezel sheet, 'cause some of the adhesive sheet on the bezel was deformed during removal.

There is a brief guide with detailed pictures on Thinkpadmint blog: Replacing the display on the T440s

There are also lots of usefull videos on Lenovo's website (on the Video section): Lenovo Videos

I've also installed a calibrated display profile from NotebookCheck website: ICC File (X-Rite i1Pro 2) for B140HAN01.2

The difference between the HD+ TN panel and the FHD IPS panel is incredible. With a 100 USD budget and a 15 minutes of DIY process, you will have a superb bright display, very wide viewing angles and high color accuracy. It's a shame for Lenovo that they offer IPS panels as an option, it should be included as the standart panel even in the basic configuration.

I'm now one more step closer to the perfect modern-era ThinkPad; T450 clickpad with physical buttons is on the way

Posted: **Thu Feb 12, 2015 12:31 pm**

Impressive! I'd be tempted to do this if my 440s wasn't my primary work machine (and owned by the company).

Thinkpads Forum

T440s First Impressions

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Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions

Re: T440s First Impressions