Lenovo intros well-connected 0.83-inch thick ThinkPad T400s
By Darren Murph 
posted June 23rd 2009 12:01AM
posted June 23rd 2009 12:01AM
The Best of Both Worlds: Lenovo Combines Thin and Light With Powerful Performance in Latest ThinkPad Laptop
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – June 23, 2009: Lenovo today announced the ThinkPad T400s laptop, created to give business users a thin and light yet powerful, feature-packed PC.
Lenovo's designers sweat every detail, and the new laptop includes a series of significant enhancements invented to make the laptop more intuitive and easier to use, leading to an improved overall computing experience.
Designed for Thin and Light
Inspired by Lenovo's thinnest and lightest full-function laptop, the featherweight ThinkPad X300, Lenovo engineered its latest laptop, the ThinkPad T400s, to be super-slim at just 0.83 inches thin1 and ultra-light starting under four pounds2. The laptop achieves its skinny frame thanks to the thin 14.1-inch LED screen, solid state drive storage and the second generation Top Cover Roll Cage, which Lenovo first introduced in the ThinkPad X300 laptop. The roll cage's monocoque carbon reinforced fiber, also used in bicycle frames and airplanes, helps keep the laptop extremely light yet surprisingly sturdy. With this design the laptop weighs nearly 20 percent less than its ThinkPad T400 predecessor, also making it much thinner and lighter than the Dell E6400 and HP 6930P laptops.
"We've created products like our ThinkPad T400s laptop to bring thin and light computing to mainstream corporate users," said Peter Hortensius, senior vice president, ThinkPad, Lenovo. "We've applied thoughtful design in balancing the need for greater portability with strong performance and usability."
Loaded for Performance
The ThinkPad T Series is comprised of Lenovo's most powerful and performance-heavy laptops. The ThinkPad T400s laptop allows users to enjoy the best of both worlds – thin and light mobility without sacrificing the powerful performance they need.
The laptop comes with:
• Choices of Intel® 2.53 GHz Core™2Duo processors (standard voltage) and graphics
• Choices of solid state drive storage up to 128 GB or 250 GB hard drive storage
• 9.5 mm slim DVD burner or Blu-Ray player
• Ethernet, WiFi and optional WiMAX3, WWAN,3 Bluetooth and ultrawideband connectivity
• 34mm Express Card slot or 5-in-1 multimedia card reader
• Support for Lenovo's ConstantConnect and Protect technology that allows users to maximize integration of their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop
• Nearly six hours of battery life
• Supports up to two monitors via a Display Port and VGA connector
• Meets the Energy Star 5.0 criteria for energy efficiency
• Built-in USB/eSATA port
Lenovo is also introducing three new options for ThinkPad T400s laptop users who want to expand their work space by connecting to other peripherals such as mice and keyboards, printers and monitors. The ThinkPad Port Replicator Series 3, ThinkPad Mini-Dock Series 3 and ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus 3 feature new slim and sleek footprints, provide one-step "rip and go" docking and include a range of multi-monitor support while meeting a variety of needs including support for USB, Display Port and eSATA.
Design Matters
Users spend a lot of time on their keyboards, and a comfortable, easy to use keyboard plays a big role in their overall satisfaction with their PC. Knowing this, Lenovo spends a lot of time perfecting the design of its keyboard. Lenovo found the average user hits the Delete and the Escape key 700 times each a week. To help improve the typing experience, Lenovo made these buttons larger. With many people eating lunch at their desks, Lenovo tightened up the spaces between the keys to help avoid crumbs that would otherwise fall below the keyboard. Improvements were also made to the touchpad in order to help keep the laptop thin. The new touchpad lays flush with the palm rest and has a new, textured feel that allows users to feel the touchpad's location without looking down. And with multitouch technology on the touchpad, users can easily scroll, pinch and zoom through documents. Lenovo designer, David Hill, discusses many of these improvements in a video on his blog.
Because more people are using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for communicating at the office, at home or on the road, Lenovo optimized its latest laptop to make VOIP calls simple. There are three main ingredients for a high quality VOIP experience – the quality of the video, the quality of the audio and the quality of the network connection. For a great VOIP experience, Lenovo equipped the laptop with a two megapixel camera for better quality images and to help in low lighting conditions. Lenovo also pumped up the speaker volume more than two times greater than audio levels on the ThinkPad T400 laptop and added a convenient toggle switch at the top of the keyboard to increase and decrease volume. A similar feature can be found on the steering wheel of sports cars. Finally, Lenovo's range of connectivity options give uses flexibility in how they want to connect online.
The constant clicking of keys can be distracting when on a conference call, so Lenovo added dual digital microphones. This helps reduce ambient noise and improve speaker clarity. So users know whether they are on or off mute, Lenovo added separate speaker and mute buttons with LED lights to indicate which button is on. For an even faster VOIP experience, users can activate VOIP applications using the HotKey combination of the Function and F6 keys.
For even more convenience, Lenovo added the ability to power on the laptop with just the swipe of a finger on the fingerprint reader. And an always-on USB port keeps MP3 players, cameras and other peripherals charged when the laptop is in standby or hibernate mode.
Pricing and Availability4
The ThinkPad T400s laptop is available beginning immediately through Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com. Models start at approximately $1,599. The ThinkPad Port Replicator Series 3, Mini Dock Series 3 and Mini Dock Plus Series 3 will be available immediately and start at $149, $199 and $229, respectively.
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building exceptionally engineered personal computers. Lenovo's business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group's acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.
1At thinnest point.
2With 6 cell battery.
3WWAN/WiMAX Service Providers: Requires separate agreement with select third party service provider, and is subject to credit approval and applicable service agreement/terms, rate plan and coverage maps of the provider. Service is available in select metropolitan markets, not available in all areas. Service provider, not Lenovo, is solely responsible for service. Lenovo customers may be contacted after purchase to activate service. Special credit and tenure restrictions and additional charges may apply to international roaming. A network connection, third-party software, additional hardware, and/or subscription to a third-party service may be required for certain solutions/applications. Additional restrictions apply.
4Prices do not include tax or shipping and are subject to change without notice and is tied to specific terms and conditions. Reseller prices may vary. Price does not include all advertised features. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice
@zzyzx
thanks. i thought it was designed somewhere but it's even better designed in the good ol usa... does that also imply the o-phone was designed here?
Remove your head from your design behind and think for a second, please.
You are NOT going to get a mass-market device sold in a mass-market fashion with a Dvorak or other keyboard. Period. It's not happening. It is not anywhere near remotely approaching cost-effective to do so, given how many people haven't even heard of the layout, let alone use it on a daily basis. Moved keys might happen, but if the rate of seeing them in the wild are any indication I doubt it. But then you go on to say that pointing devices are useless because you'll have a mouse. I thought you were worried about efficiency - I guess you were just being difficult for the sake of it! Most people like using the touchpad with a laptop if they don't want to drop a mouse in, and the glories of Trackpoints for efficiency with touch-typers have been extolled for years. Also, Windows only being a deal-breaker? I thought a Linux user could easily install it on their own. Besides, as we've already learned, all that bloatware that comes with a laptop also serves to drop the price, so if it DID come with Linux you all would be whining about it costing more!
If Apple had invented colemak and made it standard, they could have pulled it off. Dvorak? Meh. I DID pay more for my Ubuntu Dell than the equivalent Windows model, and I don't mind. What I mind is how Dell support treats their Ubuntu customers and how their service technicians choose parts to replace by what must be some game of darts. Cost doesn't bother me. Incompetence bothers me, wherever I see it, and I notice it most when I see the way people design computers.
WTF, no audio out with DisplayPort? That is almost a deal breaker. I hope that it is a firmware limitation and not a hardware one. The 1.8" drive is a bummer too, I will have to wait until SSD prices drop even more before I hope to get this computer. I guess I'll be waiting for the C2D successor and DP audio out before I bite. And some money too, can't forget that.
Lenovo's upgrade from 120GB HDD to 128GB SSD is under $200 (granted, I'm looking at education pricing). How cheap do you want it to be?
I am still trying to "digest" the release myself, but the current T-series models have audio-out through the DisplayPort (was highlighted somewhere on Lenovo.com when I checked a couple of hours ago), so I would assume they would carry it over. Not to carry it over would seem senseless...
It's not that expensive if you go through the education or epp/cpp page. I bought mine fully specced up for about $1500 and that includes BT, more RAM, the 5300 WiFi module, media card reader and 128gigs of solid sweetness.
The T400s works out to be a great deal if you compare it with other lightweight notebooks like the MBA.
Actually, one of the things I like about the T400s is that the standard 2GB RAM come in one stick. Upgrading RAM and HDD look extremely easy for this thing. Skip to 1:50 mark of NBR's video review to see what I mean.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid23187984001?bctid=27139454001
ThinkPad > MacBook Pro
where's the promised thinkpad netbook?
Would you honestly buy a netbook that costs about $1k?
I don't know of a Thinkpad netbook, but Lenovo has apparently put quite a bit of effort into the Ideapad S12 that is supposed to be released later this year. NVIDIA ION platform, dual-core Atom, HDMI out, etc... supposed to be going for around $500. There was an article here on the news, and it seems promising.
Thinkpads are Thinkpads for several reasons:
The no-nonsense design
Good battery life
GREAT keyboard.
I don't think there's a netbook in the world, Lenovo or otherwise, that could ever deserve to be Thinkpad branded. That's why Lenovo have Ideapads.
Delete and esc are the most frequently used keys? There is no way that is possible, I would imagine it is the space bar or something.. But I rarely use my esc and delete keys...
So you'd make a bigger space bar?
If you use your PC for data entry, then they are used quite often. The TAB key too.
This thing is a beaut. The only thing that's brutal is the SSD-only option (COSTLY!). I love the matte LCD though. Wish they had a CULV OPTION. (Why not give options?!)
Err.. in case you didn't notice, a cheaper HDD option is available. The 64GB SSD is only about 30 bucks more than the HDD.
Now thats what I call a "pro" laptop.
There's one more thing they need to fix, and I'll finally buy a thinkpad. Switch the CTRL and FN buttons on the left!
Amen on the CTRL FN switch , at least they have given us that larger ESC and Del key.
What is going on with that trackpad though , it looks perforated ? A lot larger than the on on this here T61P too.
Could be a winner.
Trackpad has to be "weird" somehow to differentiate it from the palmrest. The two are basically flush.
Son of a bitch, I just got one of these like a month ago.