Thinkpads Forum

I just received a new T440p. While I liked my T420 and only use it while traveling, I am quite tired of the poor viewing angles on my T420. I got stuck in a cramped seat on a recent flight and was completely unable to read my screen with the seat in front of me reclined.

First impressions - The screen (1920 x 1080) has somewhat better viewing angles than the T420 but nothing remotely like an IPS display. The system is a bit lighter than the T420 and has slightly better battery life (T420 has an SSD, T440p has a spinning drive).

Dislikes. Windows 8.1 - yuck. I played with it for a few hours and grew frustrated with not being able to find many simple functions. Goodbye. Back to Windows 7 Pro. Installed with no troubles after figuring out that I needed to reformat disk and disable secure boot. The case does not have a Thinkpad feel with rounded edges, speakers along side the keyboard etc. The keyboard is not a real Thinkpad keyboard, but could be tolerable.

However, the dealbreaker for me is the touchpad. Like many of you, I like the pointing stick and the upper buttons. The new larger touchpad might be good for people who like that, but it is totally unusable with the pointing stick. I frequently have to hit the left button more than once and the right button requires some serious finger contortions. I may have to return this machine - I simply cannot stand the touchpad/pointing stick combination. It might be usable with a mouse, but I work a lot on airplanes and the mouse is not a viable option.

Caveat emptor.

Bruce

The 1080p LCD on your T440p is an IPS LCD, so you should be getting good angles.

I'd agree the new stick setup leaves something to be desired, though I haven't used it myself and will reserves judgment until I do.

The trackpoint "buttons" are awful. I often have to click repeatedly to get them to register and often get a middle-click when I want to left-click and vice-versa.

I wish that it were true. I get decent viewing angles but nothing like that on many true IPS displays I have (e.g., NEC 2090 UXi). The image is noticeably degraded beyond ~45 degrees in any direction. It is my understanding that these are AHVA displays made by AU Optronics. Don't get me wrong - this display is vastly better than the one in my T420, but it is not IPS as far as I can tell.

The stick/button combination is unusable for me. Perhaps if the trackpad had touch sensors for the buttons, rather than tilting the entire panel when you click, it might work better. I am not going to be able to use this without a mouse for very long.

Bruce

ZaZ wrote:The 1080p LCD on your T440p is an IPS LCD, so you should be getting good angles.

I'd agree the new stick setup leaves something to be desired, though I haven't used it myself and will reserves judgment until I do.

All 1920x1080 displays in T440s and T440p are either IPS or AHVA (which is very similar to IPS). The IPS ones are made by LG, the AHVA display is made by AUO. The LG IPS screen is much worse compared to the AUO AHVA screen in terms of veiwing angles, so the chances are high that your T440p has the IPS screen, not the AHVA display.

Bruce,

Are you planning on keeping the machine or sending it back?

bblumberg wrote:The image is noticeably degraded beyond ~45 degrees in any direction.

What's the screen's brightness setting? Even for IPS screens, viewing angles usually get worse at low brightness.

bblumberg wrote:The stick/button combination is unusable for me. Perhaps if the trackpad had touch sensors for the buttons, rather than tilting the entire panel when you click, it might work better. I am not going to be able to use this without a mouse for very long.

These buttonless touchpads are awful. My Sony Pro13 has one and once in a while, a click would not register. The buttonless touchpad is one of the worst trends in laptop design. I am not surprised that Sony opted for this type of touchpad because they always like stylish designs (kind of like Apple). But Lenovo using it on Thinkpads is just madness.

ajkula66 wrote:Bruce,

Are you planning on keeping the machine or sending it back?

Hi George,

Sorry to be slow. I decided to keep it and use a mouse rather since I do like the screen. I will probably stick with my T420 for travel, though since the mouse is not so usable on airplanes.

best,

Bruce

pianowizard wrote:

bblumberg wrote:The image is noticeably degraded beyond ~45 degrees in any direction.

What's the screen's brightness setting? Even for IPS screens, viewing angles usually get worse at low brightness.

bblumberg wrote:The stick/button combination is unusable for me. Perhaps if the trackpad had touch sensors for the buttons, rather than tilting the entire panel when you click, it might work better. I am not going to be able to use this without a mouse for very long.

These buttonless touchpads are awful. My Sony Pro13 has one and once in a while, a click would not register. The buttonless touchpad is one of the worst trends in laptop design. I am not surprised that Sony opted for this type of touchpad because they always like stylish designs (kind of like Apple). But Lenovo using it on Thinkpads is just madness.

I agree about the buttonless touchpads, although they are much better when you use the touch pad rather than the trackpoint. For the latter, they are worse than useless...

The Mac version of the buttonless touchpad is much less offensive, although I am no Apple fan.

With respect to the screen, I just set up my T440p next to a NEC2090uXI and my old T400, expecting to be able to take a good picture to illustrate my point. Instead, I found that the T440p screen is close to equaling the NEC in viewing angles and that the T400 has good horizontal angles but terrible vertical angles. What is noticeable about the T440 screen is that as soon as you move off the optimal straight on view, the apparent brightness diminishes somewhat (~10%), but this does not get worse as the angle increases. So I stand corrected.

Bruce