A good used T400s - is it worth having?

Hi there - I've been out of the laptop market for quite awhile, so need to ask for some advice.
My old (bought new) R60i just had it's screen backlight die. I'll get it fixed, but I need something faster anyway. I can't stand the cheap insubstantial build of other brands, that's mainly why I'm a Lenovo fan.

I have my eye on a one-owner T400s (not the 'multi-touch' version as far as I know, but I couldn't care less) 2.4GHz 4MB RAM 128GB SSD, optional SATA bay battery, for $350.
Is this a good machine at that price, for general use? I'm not expecting high-speed video or gaming capability, but portability and internet speed are important.

What's the general impression of the T400s, looking back? How much would you pay for one now in good shape?

Thanks VERY much for any feedback. I have to look at this soon.

Dave 8>)

 

I would just say that speed for most uses is much more likely related to the hard drive than the CPU. A new hard drive or SSD may speed things up more than a newer machine with a faster CPU. My R60e is the fastest machine own, though it's the oldest, because it's got a SSD and runs Linux.

 

the T400s does suffer from cracking palmrest and cracking LCD frame problem. I babied mine T400s and it still got these problem.

Personally i would just give it a pass and get a T400 or something instead. But at 350 dollars it is pretty cheap.

 

The GPU in the T400s is too weak. Don't buy it.

 

It's too weak for gaming, but it's ok for office use or HD movies/clips.

 

I found it was too weak for office use, too. The T410s on the other hand was really nice.

 

i would skip the T400s as well. T400 is sturdier.

 

The T400s video card isn't too weak for office use, you can watch FHD movie with it. It is just that the cracking of the plastics in the T400s and T410s is a nuisance.

Also, with the T4x0s machine you have an expresscards slot for eGPU setup.

 

I be very surprised if a T400s would struggle to handle office tasks, my T61 which is older than the T400s can do Office work, Photoshop and HD Movies pretty easily. But as Lead_Org said it's the plastics on the T400s machines that would be the main worry.

 

I had a T400s for 3 weeks and could not wait to get rid of it. The T410s was a complete breath of fresh air.

And FYI, my T410s was an Optimus i7. So no, I am not comparing apples to apples.

--------
Sent from a second generation Samsung Series 9.

 

I didn't have the palmrest cracking issue with the T410s, I think that issue was for the earlier ones, but I can definitely tell you for certain without the LCD rollcage it feels less durable than my Z61t/T60/T61's.

 

I want to thank all of you people very much for the feedback. I thought I'd clicked 'notify' when I posted, but I guess I forgot to or I would have noticed all the responses and been back sooner.

Well, I was a bit hasty I'll admit, and I did buy the T400s, mainly because of the low price and the claimed condition. The good thing is that have 7 days to evaluate it.

What should I look for, then?

The truth is I'm already thinking I should have looked for a good used T61 instead, as I don't need or appreciate the fancy ultra-slim styling as much as I do something that's built to last. (I was also aware of the slow integrated video being a weak point, and could have done better there too, perhaps, with a well optioned T61.)

Also, I didn't realise about the 1.8" drive capacity until too late. Had I known this, it would have stopped me as 2.5" HDDs are just fine by me and always reliable. I bought a 7200rpm Hitachi that I could have used in a T61, but not in the T400s.

So I will have a good look at it, but may well send it back unless it somehow grows on me.

The thing that concerns me most is the lightweight nature of it, and comments about plastic parts cracking. This is not why I buy a Lenovo(IBM).

Thanks again for the feedback - keep it coming if you can. It's very much appreciated!

cheers
Dave

 

An updated palmrest FRU was released for the T400s/T410s which should fix the cracking problem.

Also, the T60 and Z60/Z61 did not have a lid "rollcage".

 

I'd suggest thinking about how much abuse your past notebooks went through, I've owned two PowerBook G4s and they were very prone to denting--most damage I ever done was a few lid/case scratches. Many of us who are road warriors use our Thinkpads in arctic/desert conditions, suffered a few drops, sandwiched between text books, knocked around in our stuffed bags and subjected to DHS rough handling. I do believe Lenovo made the T400s/410s/420s geared towards upper management type employees who won't stress a notebook as much.

For a thin notebook I wouldn't bother using a platter HDD, SSD prices have dropped enough to be worthwhile. T400s has a faster Intel IGP(4500) vs the base T61(GMA X3100), a heck of a lot snappier for Vista/7 and supports HD playback. Vista is painful on my Intel IGP widescreen T61

A well optioned T61 is a crapshot, you don't want one with the nVidia GPU as both the T61/T61p were impacted by the fail prone period of nVidia and finding a late 2008 machine is very hard to find. I paid $279 for a refurb T61 in Jan on NewEgg, lucked out mine had a replaced motherboard which resolved the fail prone Quadro 140M but originally I was hoping to get a spare Intel IGP T61 for Linux duty.
The rollcage of the T61 is one reason I love mine, when I bought my widescreen T61 in late 2007 a few weeks later a classmate knocked it off a cafe table while we were studying and it broke his toe... Thinkpad didn't even have a scratch on it

 

Thanks for the responses, especially the further info on the T61.

Thing is, I actually take very good care of equipment, just don't want inherently breakage-prone gear. Maybe for the money ($360) the T400s is OK(?) It has Win7 Pro, upgraded to 64-bit, if that makes any difference, and comes with the 32-bit disks as well. I'll have it soon to look over.

Besides a T61, what other used Lenovo might I look at for that sort of money? What's the gold standard for practical general-use, bullet-proof reliable, and 'fast-enough'?

As far as my old and currently sick R61i, I know it's probably too slow to worry about - but am I crazy to want to follow up with, say a T61, that can use some of the same parts (auxiliary drive bay module, same HDs, etc.)?

thanks again
Dave

 

The T61 makes a great additional machine for not so much money these days. I recently bought one in a battered and broken state a few days ago but since I had some spare parts lying around so I decided to make a project out of it.

Spoiler

Before:



After:



Before:



After:



Before:



After:



This was the unit stripped during fixing and testing:

I decided to use certain parts from a redundant R400 so it's effectively a T61/R400 Hybrid which I decided to call it the "ThinkPad TR461". It's currently running on Windows XP because I already have another T61 that runs on Windows 7 already. It's a interesting project assuming you have the spares/donor unit already on hand.

 

Job well done! I'm doing something similar but it's going to be for a T60p that I managed to get on eBay UK - all it's needing is a replacement lid, new rubber feet for the bottom of the case and a HDD cover as well.

I assume from the initial pic that it was NHX IT Brokers Ltd @ eBay that you purchased it from?

 

Good spot, indeed it was from them. I was just randomly browsing and felt sorry for the thing when I saw the listing so I bought it and that was that really.

 

I easily recognise that horrible white table and corner from the pics that they upload onto eBay! lol I've tried buying from them a few times but the bidding wars for their laptops is just insane, especially for what your getting.

 

The T400s arrived this morning (Sat.) Ultrabay battery included, not yet tested. Machine fires up, nice bright screen, internet connection good. etc etc.

First impressions:

a/ Not as thin nor quite as light as I imagined it would be, given all the hype, but no big deal.

b/ Condition certainly not bad, but not as clean as I'd hoped for.

c/ The biggest disappointment and probably the deal-breaker - the HDD is just that, a Toshiba 120BG 5400rpm 1.8" HDD - not an SSD.

Here's the title of the ad, that lead me to believe it had a 128GB SSD:

Lenovo Thinkpad 400s, Intel Core Duo 2.4Ghz, 128 GB HD, 4 GB RAM, extra battery

Down the page, in the specs, it does say 'Hard Drive Capacity 120GB', however I chose to believe the 128GB in the ad title, and assumed wrongly. I should have questioned the seller.

So I guess this kinda takes the excitement, and some (a lot?) of the potential value, out of the purchase.

As I don't regard 'thin and light' as an absolute requirement, might I have been better off with a less svelt machine that took 2.5" HDDs(?)

Well, I think it's is returnable in any case, misunderstanding or not. So I'm thinking that's what I will do - return it and try for a slightly cleaner less fancy machine that takes regular 2.5" HDDs.

Or, should I keep it - does the potential to run an SSD in the near future (or any other features of this model) make this still a good deal for the $360 I paid?

Any feedback?

thanks!
Dave

 

A good used T410s with SSD typically starts around $650 USD on eBay. If you add a good 1.8" 128GB SSD to your T400s, you'll still be below that.

 

But that's comparing it to a T410s, surely not a fair comparison(?)

BTW, I just spotted a hairline crack in the left palm rest 8>/

Dave

 

See if you can return it.
Next time don't be too impulsive. If you do keep it, there are 1.8" SSDs around but your choices will be limited and the price may vary.

 

You're right, it was definitely an impulsive buy; usually I look around quite a bit.
Not that this is a bad laptop, but if I kept it I guess I'd always have that nagging feeling that I could have done better... 8>/

What should I look for, in the R61 (or similar, but improved) line?

thanks
Dave

 

It depends on your budget and size you prefer. The R61 is an older model and probably slower than your T400s. Depending on your budget, I'd probably look into a T400 or T410 if you want the 14" size. For 15" format, the T500 or T510 comes into mind. If you could spend a bit more and could afford to wait until the next refresh. That way you might be able to get a T420/T520 for a bit less at the outlets. Are you in the US or EU?

 

Hi Quanger - Thanks for your replies. I'm in CA. Fleebay is afloat with R61s, most unspecified as to which video card, and condition from photos would be a real crapshoot. I could waste weeks looking and end up worse off than if I'd just kept this T400s.

I'm happy with the 14" display, it's a good compromise. I would have preferred a 2.5" HD slot, who wouldn't, but a decent size 1.8" SSD should be affordable soon enough.
Given the T400s is a bird in the hand, I'm not taking it for granted that my next crapshoot (be it R/T61, R400, etc) would be more successful. There's one hairline crack in the palmrest, big deal - no guarantee the next used laptop won't have far worse.

So what's the worst can happen if I keep this T400s? Get a Slim Ultrabay to stick my Hitachi 7200rpm HDD in and later a 128Gig SSD.

With those upgrades, I'm wondering if this might be about as much computer as I'm liable to find for the money.

Kind of playing devil's advocate with myself I guess 8>)

What's the scoop currently on an affordable 128GB 1.8" SSD?

thanks
Dave

 

This is driving me nuts! Typing in poor light I inadvertently hit the keys that enlarge/magnify the page. I never use this feature, and of course didn't see which keys I hit, and I can't find which ones make it go back!
I see a blue 'magnifier' image on the space bar, but pressing it along with the Fn key nothing happens. Please help, this is driving me nuts!

(And while I'm at it, ditto for the stupid 'social networking' pop-up bar at the bottom on this site!! Is there some way to turn it off?)

I think I feel better now 8>)

thanks
Dave 8>)

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the hairline crack. My T500 also has a tiny hairline crack above the mic jack. I reinforced it with epoxy and it hasn't gotten any worse.

I would keep the T400s, it's still a decent machine. In terms of SSD, you are a bit limited with 1.8" drives. Pulling up newegg.ca's menu for 1.8" SSD, it seems like the kingston 64gb drive seems worth it. It is a bit smaller but you will have a platter in the ultrabay anyways.

I have a pretty beefed up T500 which I plan to keep for at least another 2years before upgrading. Not many people hang onto their laptops for 5years.

 

hold down Fn and then press the space bar.

 

For that issue below the forum you can choose the forum layout style, choose NotebookReview Style or vBulletin Style and the social bar will disappear.

 

As far as resale value goes, does having a 1.8" slot look like being a liability? Say, if I keep this for now but decide to sell it in 6 months.

Don't think I've seen a T400s fan club or owner's thread! This worries me 8>/

thanks
Dave

 

That's what I did, and nothing happens!

Yet something accidentally magnified the page... 8>0

(Win7 has a 'Magnifier', but this made the whole page resolution 'bigger'.)

Dave

 

Single CF to 1.8" SSD adaptor card

Looking at my SSD-less T400s and wondering if these work, as just I realised I have some spare high-end 64GB CF cards sitting around doing nothing.

I imagine there might be some limitations with such an adaptor. Anybody tried this?

 

Try Ctrl + 0 if we are taking about a web browser.

 

It *is* in a browser - Google Chrome - but Ctrl + 0 doesn't seem to do anything either.
BTW, my g/f's Toshiba Space bar/Fn doesn't work either 8>/

thanks

Dave

 

I am negotiating with the seller about a return and refund. I mentioned the palm rest being cracked, and the lack of a SSD (it has a 1.8" 5400rpm HDD.)

(Was I correct to think that all T400s came with a SSD? If optioned with a 1.8" HDD, speed would surely not have been much to write home about.)

I'm now looking for a used T400, into which I can stick my 7200rpm Hitachi.

What would be the things to watch out for in getting a used T400?

Dave

 

No, you are not correct.

 

OK, it certainly wouldn't be the first time(!)

But I am surprised in such an expensive potentially fast laptop that someone would choose a 1.8" HDD instead of a SSD.

 

The lowest-priced T400s variants had a conventional HDD and not an SSD.

Not really much. There haven't been too many issues with the Tx00 generation in terms of consistent premature failures.

If you are really sensitive to keyboard flex, it might be worth noting that Lenovo switched the keyboard backing a while after initial release in August 2008 (back to the solid T61 design) and then switched back to the perforated keyboards but with additional bracing later in Q2ish 2009. There's not too much difference between the three, though, to be honest.

Other than that, just the standards: if you want resolution, make sure you go for a WXGA+ LED-backlit display. If you want the best colors and viewing angles, the rarer high-nit WXGA panel for the T400 was very nice.

 

You must have hit a key combination that screwed up you display resolution. Right click desktop, select Screen resolution and fix it.

 

You can find that adaptor on ebay, but it's a bad idea. CF is just CF, nothing comparable to SSD.

 

Thanks for the info. For the record, the keyboard on this T400s is one of the best things about it - precise, and solid as a rock. I hope my next pick is as good.
BTW, is there some kind of specs comparison chart for the recent models? And, how do you check in the system for whether you have a WXGA+, or whatever? I couldn't see it.

Dave

 

Just curious, for instance, how would you rate this T400 in terms of options?

ThinkPad T400 (2767-Y27)
T9400(2.53GHz), 2GB RAM, 160GB 7200rpm HD, 14.1in 1440x900 LCD,
256MB ATI Radeon HD3470, CDRW/DVDRW, Intel 802.11agn, WWAN option, Bluetooth, Modem, 1Gb Ether, UltraNav,
Sec Chip, FPR, Camera, 6c Li-Ion, Win7 Pro 32bit

thanks
Dave

 

Try FN + Spacebar.

 

Please don't make threads about the same topic, thanks.

 

I don't know what's going on here - posts to three different threads I started are all ending up in this one thread(!)
How can this happen? 8>/

Maybe just end this thread, moderator(?) and I'll start a fresh one?

thanks
Dave