My T400s

[smidgley]

I've had my T400s for about 12 hours now and have a few impressions that I can share.

It's a lot closer to an X300 series than a T400 in every way, from weight and feel to construction. I wish I still had an X300 here to compare side by side but my impression is that they aren't a lot different in size or weight. The base is very rigid, the screen not so much.

The LCD is very bright. I haven't calibrated it yet to know just how the color rendition is going to be but I think it's going to be good. Very good (but not Flexview) viewing angles, no light leakage.

The keyboard feels great, no flex at all. I didn't even think about the resized Esc and Delete keys until I used them but since I'm no touch typist, it won't be a big deal to me.

The touchpad is huge, bigger than that of a T500 and probably twice the size of an X300. It has a very odd textured surface that I wasn't sure I was going to like but I've gotten used to it.

It's very quiet overall with almost no vibration until the optical drive spins up. The DVD drive I have is loud and shakes quite a bit. Looking in the optical drive bay, I see contacts for a bay battery. The drive itself is the same as the T400-500 series.

Performance is good, probably a bit faster than my x200 though the X200 has a slower (2.26GHz vs. 2.53GHz) CPU but a faster hard drive. I opted for the 120GB, 5400RPM spinning platter drive, with an eye for an SSD down the road.

That's it for now, I'll see if I can get some photos of the 400s next to a regular T400 and the X200 in the next few days.

[bebzif]

That's it for now, I'll see if I can get some photos of the 400s next to a regular T400 and the X200 in the next few days.

Yes, pleeeease :)

[ZaZ]

Sweet machine. I can't wait for pics too.

[yak]

Wait, so it's using the standard Tx00 UltraBay Slim Serial drives? When I read about the upcoming T400s release I was under the impression that it had a fixed optical drive.

[Dead1nside]

I've read, from official sources if my memory doesn't fail me, that it is compatible with the Ultrabay Slim Serial, but the bezel is different. It has to be removable because they were talking about the prospect of increasing battery life with a bay battery.

[Tony Chan]

The base is very rigid, the screen not so much.

Can you explain more on this ?

[zggy247]

Congratulations on your new purchase. Would you please tell us if it came with a 1.3MP camera or a 2MP camera. All advertisements that I've seen or reviews that I have read say 2MP, however Lenovo's website shows it as a 1.3MP version. I also ordered one, 14 more days!

[smidgley]

I was going to say that the drives are exactly the same between the T400s and the T400-500 series but I looked closely and they are different. It's not as much different as a T4x with the beveled bezel is to a T6x with a flat bezel but they are different.

The T400s bezel is at the top in this photo

The mechanism for removing the optical drive is very different: the spring-loaded catch has been moved to the bottom of the laptop, as has the part that actually removes the drive, which now pushes the drive out rather than pulling, as you can see here.

[smidgley]

Can you explain more on this ?

If you were to hold the screen by the two top corners, it can easily be twisted a half-inch or so in either direction, much more than a T400. This doesn't result in the screen moving around during use, the hinges are tight with no slop.

[smidgley]

Congratulations on your new purchase. Would you please tell us if it came with a 1.3MP camera or a 2MP camera. All advertisements that I've seen or reviews that I have read say 2MP, however Lenovo's website shows it as a 1.3MP version. I also ordered one, 14 more days!

I'm trying to figure this one out. I can't find anywhere in system properties that says what the megapixel count is and none of the system diagnostics I've downloaded even tell me a model number. I'll keep at it, though.

[twister6]

The mechanism for removing the optical drive is very different: the spring-loaded catch has been moved to the bottom of the laptop, as has the part that actually removes the drive, which now pushes the drive out rather than pulling, as you can see here.

I guess that explains why ultra-bay adapter for T400 is not compatible for T400s. When I placed my order for T400s, sales guy at Lenovo first told me to order ultra-bay adapter II. I had to change it later to version III since it’s specifically designed for T400s. Since I'm getting 128GB SSD, I will also get 320GB WD Scorpio black as a second hdd for storage placed into ultra-bay.

[smidgley]

I just tried my Ultrabay hard drive adapter for the T400/500 series and while it will fit, the drive isn't recognized. The optical drives from the T400/500 will work, though. It looks like the black plastic tab that sticks out from the back of the drive hits a switch inside of the bay and if the tab isn't there, it won't even sense a drive in the bay.

[twister6]

Thanks for confirmation!

How about the battery life?

[smidgley]

Battery life is averaging a little better than 5 hours.

[twister6]

Battery life is averaging a little better than 5 hours.

Awesome! What OS are you running and have you done any custom power profile or BIOS tweaking? Someone at NBR forum posted they can't get more than 3hr even with custom tweaks, while everybody else who reviewed T400s getting 5hr.

[smidgley]

I was running Vista yesterday, Windows 7 today and who knows what tomorrow may bring?

About all I do in the Power Manager is set the CPU to adaptive and set the fan for balanced. I usually set the screen brightness at about 1/3 (of full brightness) when running on batteries but the T400s LCD is bright enough to set it at the lowest it will go.

[smidgley]

I got a chance this afternoon to take a few quick photos of the T400s and a couple of other ThinkPads for comparison. They are at http://scm-computers.com/T400s.html

[yak]

Thanks for the photos, interesting.

I noticed that the LCD cable is not visible on the T400s. Is it somehow hidden or they managed to route everything through the hinges?

[smidgley]

All of the wiring that goes in to the LCD housing is routed through the hinges, some on either side.

[zenit]

Few questions about the screen:

At max brightness do the colors look washed out? Are reds true, or are the orangish?

How is the vertical viewing angle? When working on something with dark background do you notice shifts with minimum eye to screen angle deviations? Does the shade of dark background stay uniform from top to bottom of the screen? The LED panel on vanilla T400 completely fails at these 3 factors.

How is the contrast ratio on the screen? Do blacks stay truly black or do they gray out a bit when using the screen at max illumination?

How is the screen compared to regular T400? Which model of the panel are you comparing it to?


Really would like to know these factors before I consider ordering one of these.

[smidgley]

LCD quality has become such an emotionally charged (not to mention subjective) issue that all I'm going to be able to say about the LCD in my T400s is that it seems fine to me. I've seen better, I've seen a lot worse.

If you don't like the LED LCD in a T400, I wouldn't be in a rush to buy a T400s, they have the same part number, which isn't to say that it is going to be the same part.

[twister6]

Have you figured out if webcam is 2MP or 1.3MP? Lenovo config website still lists 1.3MP, strange...

[dr_st]

Tabook says 2.0MP, I'd believe that before anything else.

[amg]

I do not see the current configuration of 2801 for T400s in the tabook that says 2.0MP , so this could really be a 1.3MP cam.

[eamonbriggs08]

I received my T400s yesterday, and it is one slick machine. For the most part, I couldn't be happier.

I just have one concern. I purchased a 128 GB SSD, thinking it would give me more than enough space. I only needed to make minor sacrifices to avoid filling the 40 GB hard drive on my T41 over the last 4 years.

However, when my T400s arrived with Windows Vista Business pre-installed, 45 GB of space was already gone (55 GB after upgrading to Windows 7 RC). Does anyone have any advice on how to cut down on this bulk? I'm just baffled as to how I could have nearly half my hard drive gone without installing a single program or saving a single file?!

[twister6]

That is very strange. I received my T400s yesterday, exactly the same config as yours except I opted for 4GB of DDR3; also not sure if you got integrated webcam and 5-1 media reader? BTW, I confirmed - this is 2MP camera!!! Max resolution is 1600x1200

Anyway, I got XPP downgrade. The only thing that I changed was to uninstall MS Office and McAfee trial versions which was minor anyway. So out of 128GB I have 110GB free now. I did get backup and restore DVDR along with my laptop, so I'm pretty sure they didn't put system restore in some hidden partition. Maybe that's what you have that's taking extra room?

[lophiomys]

thanks @smidgley for nice photos and for reporting your experiences.
I do admire your coolness regarding LCD quality, in relation to the price
of a T400s I'd expect a 130dpi Flexview-like screen. Especially as I do
currently use IPS LCDs and wouldn't want to go backwards. For me it
is not an emotionally loaded topic, but an every day issues for my eyes.

In general I'm very happy about the direction Lenovo is taking with
the X300 and the T400s. For my absolute happiness a Thinkpad should
have an optional classic keyboard without Windows Keys, a Flexview-like LCD,
and the classic 4:3 form factor (or for my sake a wide screen with Pivot
mechanism).

Hoping for the best.

[eamonbriggs08]

Probably a unique problem, but my colon/semi-colon key does not work. Lenovo Support is promptly sending me a replacement keyboard, so it is no big deal, but just thought I'd share on the off-chance that anyone else might have the same defect.

[tranle]

A question for people that already have their T400s with the preinstalled os.
When you press the volume button (up/down) or back light buttons, does it display on screen the level change?

I am asking that because on my old T41 it does display the level change, but on my T400s it does not.
And both the machines I put Win7 so I don't know if I am not missing a driver on my T400s or that the feature is just not available to begin with.

[twister6]

thanks @smidgley for nice photos and for reporting your experiences.
I do admire your coolness regarding LCD quality, in relation to the price
of a T400s I'd expect a 130dpi Flexview-like screen. Especially as I do
currently use IPS LCDs and wouldn't want to go backwards. For me it
is not an emotionally loaded topic, but an every day issues for my eyes.

Sorry, but display will be a real disappointment for those coming off IPS/FlexView. Since I still have T42 and continue using T60, I constantly doing A/B and the contrast of T400s is a let down (too bright, and even when you turn it down - dark colors are not as sharp/defined). I'm sure "zenit" can chime in on that since we already discussed this on NBR

Other than that, T400s is a dream machine. I can’t really think of any other negative. 1.8" hdd limitation no longer an issue once you throw in 2nd hdd into ultra-bay adapter (using ws scorpio black, 320gb 7200rpm). Display is just so called “new standard”. It’s not really a choice or an option since this is a direction where all other laptop manufactures moving toward. I think the only solution is to quit cold turkey and just use T400s exclusively without daily reminders of IPS screen from T4x/T6x series