Just ordered T400

[asiafish]

2767-13U from Tiger Direct for $999. Its not quite an exact match for what I wanted, but the price was too good to pass up. I wanted the LED backlight, which this one doesn't have, and also prefer ether the cardbus or smartcard reader to the 7-in-one, which I will never use.

Extras that it has that I wouldn't not have ordered on a CTO are 2GB Turbo Memory, Verizon WWAN and Fingerprint Reader.

Still, even with all of the discounts at Lenovo.com, I would only have bought a T8400 with absolute minimum specs and no options to get a the high-res screen and discreet graphics for under $1000, and Lenovo.com isn't currently offering the LED backlight on the WXGA+ T400.

Hope the CCFL won't be too bad.

[jtp51]

I read an article http://gamers-underground.com/forum/tec ... reens.html on this topic.

While it is new, I'm happy with the CCFL - I am a programmer, I generally have white text on a black background, so it's just extra for me.

I have ordered my T400 as well:

7417CT CONFIGURED SYSTEM

• 42X6335 SBB INT.CORE2DUOPROCP8400
  42V8012 VBB MS WIN VISTA HOME BASIC
  44C1269 SBB GEN WIN VIS HOBAS 32 US E
  42X6317 SBB 14.1 WXGA +TFT
  42X6313 SBB INT.GRAPH.MEDIAACCELX4500
  42X6306 VBB 2GBPC3-8500 1067MHZ1DIMM
  42X6355 SBB KYB US ENGLISH
  42X6322 SBB ULTRNAV(TRACKP+TOUCHPAD)
  42X6348 SBB 160GB HDD/5400RPM
  42X6344 SBB CD-RW/DVDCOM24X24X248XUSL
  42X6312 VBB EXPR.CARDSLOTXN7-1M.CARDR.
  42X6324 SBB INT.WIFILINK5100
  42X6328 SBB INTG.WIR.WIDENET UPGRAD.
  42V9338 SBB 6 CELL LI-ION BATERRY
  41W1787 SBB CPK NORTH AMERICA
  42X6388 SBB LPACK US ENGLISH

[asiafish]

Sounds like a nice machine.

I wanted discreet graphics for moderate gaming and the 9 cell for long flights. LED backlight would have been ideal for the battery life, but I would be stuck with 1280X800 and have spent more money for lower spec to get it.

[archer6]

@ asiafish & jtp51

I can assure you two that you will not be disappointed in the CCFL displays at all.

I have a brand new T500 / W500 / and T400, all ordered new within the last three months from Lenovo. I have placed the three of them side by side along with my exemplary 15.0" IPS T60p and find them all very nice. Much better than one would expect having read all the complaints posted on the forum. I am very picky and do not hesitate to speak the truth about my observations and evaluations. Quite frankly even I'm surprised at how nice these are when closely scrutinized. Could they be better? Of course what couldn't in this rapidly evolving world of technology? Bottom line, they do the job quite well.

Cheers...

[asiafish]

Good to know. My concern with the CCFL isn't so much about brightness and color, but battery life. I really want to max it out for my 14-hour flight to Korea later this summer. I got the 9 cell and will add the bay battery, which will probably let it run longer than I can stand to look at it.

[archer6]

Battery life is something that I'm least knowledgeable on, as frankly I don't pay that much attention to it. While I do use mine on battery power each day, as I'm out of the office, traveling and visiting clients, I only notice if there is a noticeable lack of run time as compared to my other ThinkPads. My gut feeling is that the T400 in particular, is one of my ThinkPads with the longest battery life. Sorry for the lack of specifics.....

[asiafish]

No biggie. Reviews on the major magazines all claim 25% better battery life than T61, but they are all reviewing LED backlit models. So I'm just not sure how big a difference the Montevina chipset makes, and how much is from the LED backlight.

Not a problem anyway, as the T61 had excellent battery life as well, so even without improvement a 9 cell T400 with ultrabay battery will be quite long lasting.

[archer6]

So I'm just not sure how big a difference the Montevina chipset makes, and how much is from the LED backlight.

I _do_ know this. I have one T400 with the LED backlight and one T400 of the same resolution without, and I have compared the battery life side by side one Saturday at home. There is no noticeable difference in the two. Yes I know it's hard to believe after all the hype about LED energy savings but it's true. Here's a link that tends to support this.

http://gamers-underground.com/forum/tec ... reens.html

[Dead1nside]

With a T400 (P8400 2.26Ghz, 4-cell battery) and battery stretch on with wireless and half screen-brightness I could easily get 4.5hrs. That's without an LED screen as well. Technology's come along in efficiency since T41p and T61 even.

[asiafish]

You got that kind of life with a 4 cell? Wow, can't wait to see what it does with the 9 cell I bought. I assume that was with graphics switched to integrated?

[jtp51]

asiafish: does the ultra bay battery make the ThinkPad too warm to hold your lap? I thought about purchasing one later, but 70% of the time, I'm holding the ThinkPad.

[jtp51]

@archer6: You are correct, the CCFL makes the T400 wonderful to work on.

[archer6]

@ jtp51

Glad to hear you like the CCFL !

As far as an ultrabay battery is concerned, the only caution I have on that, is based on my experience. Since they are so thin and small, the lifespan is quite short. They run very cool, no heat is noticeable , not even warm. They are great while they last as the added run time is handy. But for the price, the return on investment is very low. I used a few of them on various models then finally gave up as it was just too expensive to justify.

Cheers...

[asiafish]

No heat issues whatsoever, but then whenever I am using the bay battery I also am using integrated graphics.

They don't last anywhere near as many charge cycles as a regular battery, but then, it is the kind of accessory that isn't usually left in the laptop but rather taken out of the desk drawer for special occasions.

Most of the time my T400 is sitting plugged in on the desk as my MacBook Pro is my daily machine that goes to local courts. OS X's instant sleep and wake is just so much better than the same function in any version of Windows (including 7) that the Mac wins here.

I bought the T400 for overnight travel, seminars and other times where extended battery life is more important than instant sleep and wake. The MacBook Pro (15") is also just a little bit too large to comfortably use on an airplane while the T400 fits quite nicely. For short trips I'll take it with just the 9 cell, which will get me through waiting at the airport, a moderate flight and still have plenty of juice if I have a layover or a hearing before recharging. In my hotel room I plug in, switch to discreet graphics and play Fallout 3, Crysis or Mass Effect.

Next week I'm going to a 3 day conference on immigration law. Every day I'll be going from room to room for one hour lectures, probably a solid 7 hours note taking with some internet use in between. Those three days will be 9 cell and bay battery.

After the conference, the bay battery goes back to the desk drawer until December when I take that 14 hour flight to Korea, then back to the desk drawer again until the next special occasion.

[jtp51]

Good to know.

I believe I'll save my money and purchase an extra 9 cell battery in the future.

[asiafish]

A better investment for most use. I like the bay battery/9 cell combination because at the end of a long day, I just plug in the laptop and when I wake up the next morning everything is fully charged. Its jus the convenience.

[jtp51]

Here is mine btw....

[archer6]

It's a beauty!

The only laptop better than a ThinkPad is a _New_ ThinkPad...ha...ha...ha....

Cheers...

[asiafish]

Yeah. New is great, though since I took the stickers off, is it still new?

I do have a complaint though, and that is that without the system update utility, these things (at least the switchable graphics models) are way to complex to clean install.

I just spent two days wiping and reinstalling Vista Business 64 trying to get everything to work, but every time the switchable graphics would lock in Integrated and the menu wouldn't be on power manager.

I finally got it working (don't ask me how, no clue), but device manager still shows two items, PCI Serial Port and PCI Simple Communications Controller has not being configured even though I've installed everything on the Lenovo page except for some unwanted ThinkVantage apps (access connections mainly). All hardware works, so I have no clue what those last two items are.

This really takes something away from the joy of a new machine.

[archer6]

<snip>I do have a complaint though, and that is that without the system update utility, these things (at least the switchable graphics models) are way to complex to clean install.


This really takes something away from the joy of a new machine.

I agree, with each of your points. What I've began doing that works well is to use the custom choice in Rescue & Recovery. This wipes the drive and reloads the OS, along with the R&R partition without any of the bloatware that is typically comprised of trialware and other apps I have no use for. You are presented with options of what you want reloaded before it begins. Once underway it remains fully automated and goes very quickly. Less than an 90minutes in my experience. That saves me from having to download so many files, drivers etc one by one from Lenovo's site.
.
Cheers...

[asiafish]

I agree, with each of your points. What I've began doing that works well is to use the custom choice in Rescue & Recovery. This wipes the drive and reloads the OS, along with the R&R partition without any of the bloatware that is typically comprised of trialware and other apps I have no use for. You are presented with options of what you want reloaded before it begins. Once underway it remains fully automated and goes very quickly. Less than an 90minutes in my experience. That saves me from having to download so many files, drivers etc one by one from Lenovo's site.
.
Cheers...

Thats assuming you are using the originally supplied OS. My T400 came with 32 bit Vista and I wanted to move to 64 Bit. That meant clean install, and thus the problem of not being able to get everything working. I have a set of 32 bit recovery disks so getting 32 bit Vista working is no problem at all.

Now if someone could send me some 64 bit Vista business recovery disks I'd be totally happy. Sadly, Lenovo is unwilling to do so, even if I pay for them.

[archer6]

Thats assuming you are using the originally supplied OS. My T400 came with 32 bit Vista and I wanted to move to 64 Bit. That meant clean install, and thus the problem of not being able to get everything working. I have a set of 32 bit recovery disks so getting 32 bit Vista working is no problem at all.

Now if someone could send me some 64 bit Vista business recovery disks I'd be totally happy. Sadly, Lenovo is unwilling to do so, even if I pay for them.

True, a complete clean install is truly a challenge now that Lenovo has dropped their single update utility.

I also think that Lenovo is being very shortsighted in their refusal to sell a set of recovery disks, and a license, to those who are willing to pay for it. An example is when Windows 7 is finally released in it's retail version, it would be great to call up Lenovo and purchase the OS from them. Then one would get all the Lenovo drivers and ThinkVantage utilities, just the same as on new ThinkPads that will come with Win 7 pre-installed. Unless I'm missing something, it certainly seems to me this would be an additional income stream for them. The same as any other parts or accessory sale.

Cheers...