Help! I sent my T540p back today.
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 4:29 pm
Okay, I'm using an ancient T60p, the last year they made IPS screens. I got a T61p when they came out, but the screen was crap, so I've been waiting until IPS came back. It came back, and I ordered a T540p.
My assessment: can't use the trackpoint when the buttons are integrated into the trackpad. Tried, just can't do it. One of the problems I haven't seen discussed before: if you look at a TP with mechanical buttons, you'll see that the buttons start *very* close to the center, only about 5mm lateral to the center of the trackpoint's red dot. With the buttons within the trackpad, that middle-ish area activates the middle button. So I have to reach farther to the side to get to the button areas in the trackpad. Then, even when I reach enough, I usually have to hit it three times to get the click to register. Just impossible. I'm a power user, and I need buttons that go lightning fast and with accuracy. And the trackpoint seems to be squirrelly, too.
Then, the screen. Beautiful, but the resolution is too high. Try using Adobe Photoshop. Impossible. Decreasing the screen resolution overall to be able to use Photoshop makes it far worse than running native resolution on a lower-resolution display. This unit isn't ready for prime time.
And it was sooooo sloooow. Much less responsive than my T60p!! Is that something with Windows 8 vs my XP? I hope it was a problem with my particular unit. In fact, my unit was so slow it wouldn't even launch an app, I sent it back, they replaced the HDD *and* the system board, and then it worked, but again, much much slower than my T60p running XP SP2.
So I determined that I can't use Lenovo's current hardware with the buttons integrated into the track pad.
I tried a Z-book from HP. That unit has a 1900 x 1080 IPS screen. Beautiful. And a trackpoint. And real mouse buttons. But the trackpoint was definitely less responsive and controllable than my T60p. And the left and right mouse buttons were much farther out to the side than in the pre-540 TP's. And if you clicked just on the very inside of the mouse button, because you had to reach for it, it wouldn't respond -- you had the hit the button close to its center. Couldn't use it.
The keyboard on the Z-book was like the keyboard on the MacBookPro: a smaller vertical movement of the keys, and thus less "feel" than on the TP's. The vertical travel on the T540p was much better, similar to, but not as good as, on the T60p. So I guess I'd say that the new Lenovo keyboards are ok enough, no huge degradation, but the buttons in the trackpad are a disaster. I didn't use the new TP keyboard enough to see whether the re-arrangement of the keys would be a big problem for me, though. I guess I assumed that I could get used to something like that.
So, now what do I do? I really need to get rid of this lovely T60p. It's had a million programs installed, I get the occasional freeze-up, I need an OS beyond XP for a couple things I want to do, and I really want USB 3.0 ports, which this unit doesn't have.
I think I need to get a W530, which can run Win 8.1, and it has USB 3.0, and it has mechanical mouse buttons, and much faster processor and memory than my T60p. I just don't know if I'll barf looking at the W530's display compared to the T60p, though.
I really tried. I ordered and had delivered the T540p and the Z-book, figuring I'd return them if they were just not acceptable, and they were not. Anyone think I can live with a W530?
Thanks.
My assessment: can't use the trackpoint when the buttons are integrated into the trackpad. Tried, just can't do it. One of the problems I haven't seen discussed before: if you look at a TP with mechanical buttons, you'll see that the buttons start *very* close to the center, only about 5mm lateral to the center of the trackpoint's red dot. With the buttons within the trackpad, that middle-ish area activates the middle button. So I have to reach farther to the side to get to the button areas in the trackpad. Then, even when I reach enough, I usually have to hit it three times to get the click to register. Just impossible. I'm a power user, and I need buttons that go lightning fast and with accuracy. And the trackpoint seems to be squirrelly, too.
Then, the screen. Beautiful, but the resolution is too high. Try using Adobe Photoshop. Impossible. Decreasing the screen resolution overall to be able to use Photoshop makes it far worse than running native resolution on a lower-resolution display. This unit isn't ready for prime time.
And it was sooooo sloooow. Much less responsive than my T60p!! Is that something with Windows 8 vs my XP? I hope it was a problem with my particular unit. In fact, my unit was so slow it wouldn't even launch an app, I sent it back, they replaced the HDD *and* the system board, and then it worked, but again, much much slower than my T60p running XP SP2.
So I determined that I can't use Lenovo's current hardware with the buttons integrated into the track pad.
I tried a Z-book from HP. That unit has a 1900 x 1080 IPS screen. Beautiful. And a trackpoint. And real mouse buttons. But the trackpoint was definitely less responsive and controllable than my T60p. And the left and right mouse buttons were much farther out to the side than in the pre-540 TP's. And if you clicked just on the very inside of the mouse button, because you had to reach for it, it wouldn't respond -- you had the hit the button close to its center. Couldn't use it.
The keyboard on the Z-book was like the keyboard on the MacBookPro: a smaller vertical movement of the keys, and thus less "feel" than on the TP's. The vertical travel on the T540p was much better, similar to, but not as good as, on the T60p. So I guess I'd say that the new Lenovo keyboards are ok enough, no huge degradation, but the buttons in the trackpad are a disaster. I didn't use the new TP keyboard enough to see whether the re-arrangement of the keys would be a big problem for me, though. I guess I assumed that I could get used to something like that.
So, now what do I do? I really need to get rid of this lovely T60p. It's had a million programs installed, I get the occasional freeze-up, I need an OS beyond XP for a couple things I want to do, and I really want USB 3.0 ports, which this unit doesn't have.
I think I need to get a W530, which can run Win 8.1, and it has USB 3.0, and it has mechanical mouse buttons, and much faster processor and memory than my T60p. I just don't know if I'll barf looking at the W530's display compared to the T60p, though.
I really tried. I ordered and had delivered the T540p and the Z-book, figuring I'd return them if they were just not acceptable, and they were not. Anyone think I can live with a W530?
Thanks.