Lenovo ThinkPad T400s hands-on and impressions
By Nilay Patel 
posted Jun 23rd 2009 11:00AM
posted Jun 23rd 2009 11:00AM
Other nice tweaks include a revised keyboard layout with larger escape and delete keys and tighter spacing, louder speakers and a mute button to make VOIP calls easier, a powered USB port for device charging on the road, and our favorite, a new texturized multitouch trackpad that's one of the best we've ever used. Seriously. In contrast to the hyper-smooth glass pads found on the MacBook Pro, the T400s's pad is covered in tiny nubs, which feel amazing under your fingers and make gestures like pinch-to-zoom feel more precise, even if they actually contribute nothing. It's pretty great -- we wish all trackpads were like this.
The only real problem we see with the T400s is the price tag. Starting sticker is $1,599, meaning size and weight have to be your foremost priorities if you're picking this guy over the straight T400, which opens at $750 and arrives almost fully kitted out for $1,500. On paper it's a no-brainer, but side by side the clean lines and trimmed-down looks of the T400s make it a much harder decision. We just wish we could get one with a real graphics card.
I will stick with my T400 with integrated WIMAX!
Offered in any color, as long as it's Black
Henry Ford would be proud of Lenovo
That's what she said!
some things never change...
And then some other things should never changed much. Thinkpad line is one of them.
BTW, engadget's take on Thinkpad is that its all for business? Wow! Very insightful coming from a technology site!
ThinkPads are the best! I'm glad they exist, even the pricey ones
Remap the FN and CTRL key and it's a very nice laptop.
I agree. I've had a Thinkpad for almost two years now and I've NEVER gotten used to the Fn placement.
The Fn key placement is awesome because it's easy to find for stuff like turning on the ThinkLight (you just press on opposite corners of the keyboard) and I never had any problems with the Ctrl key placement on my T61.
@Lando Calrissian, your brain is obviously not wired to believe the bottom left is always the ctrl key. lol.
Plus pinky on ctrl + shift commands are easier. Just an opinion and looking online shows a lot of people switch them.
yeah, that's the *only* thing I don't like about my t61p. Drives me crazy to this day, and now I'm always in a weird muscle memory limbo when I switch to my desktop computer at home which has the correct layout. At least let people override the key in software, on the t61p's its handled directly by the BIOS and you can't even change it in software... sigh.
I've never had much problem with the placement of the keys
You all must be just stupid....
Why can't they make a 14.1" machine with a high res screen? I used to have a Dell Latitude back in like 2002 that had a 14.1" 1600x1200 screen, it was AWESOME. 1440x900 sucks balls.
Also, why can't we get away from "WSXGA+" and all that BS and just say "1440x900"
Lenovo surely make the ugliest laptops in the world?
After using thinkpads at work the past few years, I've completely come around on the looks. I love the industrial design... beats macbooks and dells any day of the week as far as I'm concerned.
@AlexsApples
Lenovos aren't ugly laptops. They have a Porsche-like elegance.
@aeth, perfectly said.
Higher res screens need better graphics performance. This is especially true now that pretty much every OS comes with compositing on by default. I think that is one reason older laptops have higher res; for example, the Thinkpad R50 with a 15 inch screen had 2048 x 1536 resolution.
Also 14 inch wide is smaller than 14 inch standard, so the same res would make things smaller on a wide screen.
1600x1200 is 4:3
I'm guessing this notebook has a 16:10 screen.
Compositing isn't the real story.
It's the fact that OSes STILL aren't resolution independent, so high DPI screens end up just having smaller text, rather than the same size text at higher quality. Myself, I like that, but for the most part, high DPI screens flopped in the market. (The cost didn't help, either. IIRC, the QXGA panel was a $1400 option on the R50p. Of course, the market is flooded with NOS (that's New Old Stock, not Nitrous Oxide Systems,) panels - you can get a new one for $115, and a refurbished one for $59, now. Toss that into a T60p, and you've got yourself a quite decent system - and mine will end up under $500 by the time I've got the stock LCD sold.)
For that matter, they flopped even in Japan, where a very high DPI screen makes sense for normal use, to display Kanji. (That panel was first marketed in 2002 in a NEC machine.)
Please post something about the screens. Lenovo Thinkpads have some of the worst TN panels produced today. I love the quality of Thinkpads, but their screens are atrocious.
uh no they dont. i own a T400 and the screen is great.
I had a bad dream last night that my ThinkPad had developed a glossy screen and chicklet keyboard, but fortunately everything was still okay when I woke up.
Actually, I have to agree. I got a 15" T61 about a year and a half ago with the 1680x1050 screen. I love the resolution of it, but it sucks. The backlight is horribly uneven, and most of the time it never evens out even after a few hours of use. I'm probably going to get it replaced because I can't stand to use the thing anymore.
My T42 had a dark screen with uneven backlighting, but my x200's LED screen is great. Make sure to go for the LED option.
@LondonConsultant
This comment made me lol! I have a macbook pro and I still think this is hilarious the way you described it XD so true.
No graphics card takes it from lust to an instant no-sale.
Even business users need graphics cards for some things.
Uh, it's not like it has *no* video card, it just doesn't have a whiz-bang one... even the GMA950 isn't *that* bad for almost all non-3D tasks.
agreed i can't see why they didn't add an ati graphics card as they do in all of there other notebook. even the mac book air has a graphics card (Nvidia) and it's thinner than this think pad. the graphics card is the only thing keeping me from buying this.
Nate,
My point is that even some business users need graphics cards. 3D tasks are not limited to games. I wouldn't be able to work without a discrete graphics card.
Most the Thinkpads have a model for Integrated and Non-Integrated graphics.
@jay jay
The Macbook Air doesn't have a graphics card. It still uses integrated, just a better performing integrated solution.
Designing this, I'm sure Lenovo only has business users in mind. By business, I mean office-workers. People who don't need any sort of advanced graphics power. If people want a multimedia Lenovo, there's always the Ideapad line.
I love Thinkpads. Their design withstands the test of time, and they are reliable. Really, that is all I need in a notebook. Granted, I have a flashy HP now, but it's good to reminisce...
I had issues with my Lenovo screens as well (dead pixels and dark spots)... Most recently my "new" T500 Lenovo screen got noticeably darker in less than 5 months.
Most laptop screens get darker over time.
@aeth It seems as though ThinkPad screens seem to darken much faster. Mine is noticeably darker after a year and a half, although it's very close to just not being usable anymore. I can almost see the left backlight flicker anymore, it's horribly uneven as I said above. I'm not satisfied with the screen and never have been.
Totally agree. Its good that mine was still under warranty and they swapped it.. Although it was a painful one month of phone calls and shipping...
I was wondering if anyone else has noticed that Lenovo's plastic is not as the old IBM's plastic.. not as sturdy..? Whenever I squeeze mine on the side it gives a little and it feels like it is going to break.
Does the T400s give on the side?
"tiny nubs, which feel amazing under your fingers"
I don't know why I think this line is funny?
It's funny because the entire sentence is made up of funny words...save for "which" and "your".
+1 - It sounds quite funny.
I'm probably just weird then.
Damn I just read this article and they claim the trackpad is better than Apples.
OMG SOMEBODY TRUMPED AN APPLE DESIGN
STOP THE PRESSES
I didnt mean it as a fanboy statement, just that Ive always been envious of the Apple trackpads, mainly because of their size.
If Lenovos managed to best or equal an Apple trackpad than I'm impressed.
Having used the unibody MBP for the past few months, I have to say the trackpad is simply the worst piece of hardware on that machine, glossy screen included. It's good for two things: size, and the two finger scroll. Everything else you have to do with it is not pleasant, especially the "the-entire-pad-is-a-button" piece of crap feature. This machine is unusable without an external mouse.
/rant.
I think the MBP trackpad is darn good. We have both MBPs and T400s in our office. In general I find myself preferring the MBP as there's no "clicking" involved. If you enable the tap clicking option, you will never have to "press" on the trackpad area ever again. Tap clicking is also absolutely silent, which is great when you're working in close quarters.
Will there a discrete graphics version as well?
no, if you need discrete graphics you can buy the T400.
the T400s is a thinner, sleaker version of the T400 so it wont support a discrete option; the thing has to stay Thinkpad cool and quiet.
Nate, are you seriously telling me you LIKE text that is 0.12" tall when in 12 point font? Or do you use an operating system that is resolution independent?
For business users that don't have better than 20/20 vision, 120+ DPI is very straining to do productive work like word processing, technical reviews, or anything else that requires reading.
1440x900 is already pushing it at 120dpi (WIndows XP only allows for 96/120 dpi, and does a poor job at it, it just changes _some_ fonts, not all, and makes max/min/close buttons larger)
I know gnome on Linux and Solaris do a good job of scaling the UI to a manageable scale if you set the proper dpi, but since these laptops are sold with Vista, I'm willing to bet the majority of users are running Windows on them.
Reply fail... Sorry
I don't get the "business users" stuff all the time. I'm no businessman, but I game on my T61p all the time. They're just built great and look better than everything else since they're all black, like electronics should be. You can keep your Dells and Macbooks. I just wish they would make a true 10" Thinkpad netbook with the same materials.
You're right.
Also, insert generic "wish I could edit comments" comment here; I meant to say "PRESS".
I would hate for the trackpad on a Lenovo to be huge like Apple's.
I just got a loaded T400 (30% off!) to replay my XPSM1330.
The screen is not as bright because it is not LED but it's OK.
Reason I went for the T400 was because my relationship with the local Dell repair guy was on the rocks.
Yeah the T400 has been on sale recently. I guess it was because these were about to be released. $535.58! (Slickdeals) for a well equipped Lenovo w/ LED backlight, I couldn't resist. :)
Haha.
Seriously though. I took a chance on Dell last year, coming from a T41. The m1330 has had three major faults in 18 months and the warranty is up at the end of 2009. 90% chance I'll go back to the good old T-series.
The screen isn't as bright because Lenovo doesn't use glass screens like some other crappy manufactures.
I am typing this on a T500 and see that the 400 is pretty similar.
I would personally not buy this laptop and prefer HPs; I have it because my company issued me one.
Some pet peeves:
1. I feel that the keyboard is not practical to use. Fn and Ctrl key positions are swapped and the arrow keys are too small.
I dislike the soft keyboard and how the keys are tapered and raised which give it a floppy feel, as opposed to the tight and flat keys my HP notebooks have had.
2. Display is not as good as others out there.
3. There is no HDMI port. Granted, they're following another standard but monitors don't come with cables for that standard. So, you have to buy one for below $50. The graphics driver for my external Samsung Syncmaster monitor blue-screens sometimes.
4. I do not like the super-slick track-pad at all...it's too slippery for me. It may be a little different in the T400 (not sure).
5. The USB port placement will not work for some external hard-drives that need 2 ports. The ports are vertical and, in my case, the HDD cables need more room at the base (=|= is taller than =) and I can only use my HDD with my laptop at the edge of the table.
6. I felt the price for the T500 was higher than comparable HPs and Dells, and the build quality might beat a Dell but is not as good as an HP.
The only thing I like about it is the matte black finish.
Hope that helps...
I actually like sober, durable Thinkpads... If they could only come with an OS that's tough as nails too, instead of the crash-o-matic, we'll get it right eventually you know what...
i love thinkpads
Now if only they made an X200 with ION, or some hybrid graphics solutions, and....
i would never buy anything but a thinkpad in my life.
not that i would anyways.
Really no dedicated graphics? You just lost a customer.
If lenovo would just stick a real graphics card in these things they would dominate the market. I've had two T30's (one linux) and a T60p and I will keep going back, but I cant do integrated graphics :( :(
Sadly, I think you're underestimating the people who like flashy shiny notebooks. There are a lot of them out there. I wish they could just realize that their nice colorful notebook is going to look dated just a couple months down the road when the next model is released while the Thinkpad will remain as timeless as ever.
I was going to buy my second Acer Aspire One, but instead I just bought a refurb IBM T43 and love it. For the same price refurb, this beats a netbook. I love the trackpoint. I love the solid feel of the computer since I usually am lying back in my recliner with it on my lap. A few months ago I bought a sony Vaio to do video and audio editing. It is simply a very uncomfortable computer to use.
I am now a huge Thinkpad fan!
They only use 1.8 inch hard drives. Which is bad.
The trackpad does not match up to the MacBook Pro's.
"joe23521 @ Jun 23rd 2009 11:42AM
Having used the unibody MBP for the past few months, I have to say the trackpad is simply the worst piece of hardware on that machine, glossy screen included. It's good for two things: size, and the two finger scroll. Everything else you have to do with it is not pleasant, especially the "the-entire-pad-is-a-button" piece of crap feature. This machine is unusable without an external mouse."
Not to anyone I know and my company has thousands of them. The Unibody MBP's had trackpad issues at first but a firmware update fixed that.
/rant.
Change the ungodly switch of Fn & Ctrl keys and I'm sold... the sole reason I got rid of my t60 within a week after the purchase was I found that I can no longer copy, paste, cut, save, undo, redo, select-all, duck, use my foobar global hotkyes & about 80 other things effectively... grrr I'm exasperated to think of it even now!!
Weird buzzing noise is coming out of the computer (probably internal power supply) like on the early macbook pros. Anyone else having this problem?
T400s is strong laptop, good machine..!