BEFORE MY ORDER...look it over, pretty please?

ANYTHING you would change about this (i want to order tonight or tomorrow) Lenovo T400 i customized:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W1
Genuine Windows Vista Home Basic12
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
1 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (1 DIMM)8
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
80 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo 24X/24X/24X/8X Max, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
No Bluetooth
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN)10
Integrated Mobile Broadband upgradable
6 cell Li-Ion Battery60
2764: 1 Year Depot Warranty - TopSeller7

Questions: should i get a 9 cell battery? its 70 bucks more. Should i do the wimax card? Switchable graphics would let me have the quiet of integrated with the power of discreet (albeit weak discreet) graphics, right? Any downsides? I can DEFINITELY upgrade the Windows 7 and i can DEFINITELY upgrade the RAM and HDD, right? Any noise concerns i should be worried about with this?

i SHOULD go for the 6 cell over the 4 though, right? i asked about the RAM because it says 1gb 1DIMM...it seems like it only has 1 DIMM.

I opted with lenovo instead of dell, i hear they are good computers. I heard this is a quiet model too.

how is lenovo customer support? what would i do if anything was wrong with it?

 

You may find a DVD burner useful...

 

I don't know about support(mines hasn't broken)

as for battery... how long are you needing your computer when it is not connected? I have the 9cell on my T500 and it gets ~6hours on balanced.

as for RAM look a the price of DDR3 memory. lately it has been cheaper to buy the memory from lenovo over somewhere else like newegg.

 

Exactly how I bought my configuration (just added RAM myself) minus I got the DVD Burner.

I love my machine...I get about 4.5-5 hours of battery life on the thing. Only get the 9 cell if you need it to last a really long time.

 

jease, i did not even notice that, thanks for pointing the dvd burner (or lack of it) out.

and 4gb of ram is $70 at newegg...its like $200+ at lenovo!

are there any weird noise issues with this? like a high pitched whine? do the switchable graphics actually work as advertised? low noise when on internal? only thing i want thats not available is a backlit keyboard.

thanks guys!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=136142&highlight=high+pitch that makes me unhappy...i cant have that!

is the screen matte or glossy? i like glossy.

 

Have yet you hear a high pitch noise on mine, I've had it since September. Same with switchable graphics, switches everytime I ask it to and considerable difference in power use. On integrated at an idle state the machine draws 7-9w's and on discreet 14-16ws

so /shrug

 

how old are you?

for older people its harder to hear...its like that mosquito ringtone old folks cant hear

 

Unfortunately for you, it's going to be matte.

 

I'm 23, not sure what effect that will have...

 

My T60p broke down on me. I called customer support and waited maybe 2 minutes to talk to someone. They asked a couple questions and told me they would overnight me a box to send it in to them for repair. My symptoms were LCD was not working plus the keyboard and biometric reader were unresponsive. They had it for 2 days and refurbished the whole laptop, only the bottom casing was recognizable. They basically replaced 80% of the laptop in 2 days and sent it back to me. Now my warranty ends in March and I will definitely extend it before then. Good Luck!...oh and my T60p is by far the best laptop I've ever owned and I've owned at least 12 different kinds since Pentium 1.

 

jease, nice. this is with just regular warranty?

 

My last experience is similar as Mandrake,
it's super fast!!!

Let me talk about other brand,

I owned a mini 9, after 2 month, the screen appear a fuzzy area in the middle of the screen. I have to wait and talk and explain very hard to get the box that they ship to me overnight.
then , , the return shipping is ground , and no pick up service, you have to go to local store and drop it in. (even you ask replacement of your harddrive from lenovo, you also can call to pick up the defective part)

Ok, that's fine. It took about 4 days, then they ship it back to me with overnight.
wttttttfff....they didn't repaire it.
Ok, I turely believe that guy has some problem with his eye, and I call dell again, waste my time with them, then they sent me other box.
I remember they received it on 16th ,Dec.

I received my laptop on Jan 5....No more dell cosunmer laptop

 

I have ordered T500 with similar Configuration, I just chose to go with 2gb 1 dimm, and 9 cell battery.

My thought: I will wait few months longer and either buy 1 dimm of 4gb ddr3 or 2gb ddr3 if needed, and the prices would be lower.

I chose 9 cell so I have more battery life since I be taking it to college with me. I rather carry a little heavier battery than the power cord.

I chose 80gb HD, because I am gonna replace it with the 320gb one I have in my current laptop.

Be sure to use a coupon: http://www.savings.com/m-ThinkPad-ThinkCentre-coupons.html o

 

My Points:
1.) Please tell us what you are going to use the machine for.
2.) I would consider getting the internal Bluetooth and DVDRW if you think you might need it. I got Bluetooth thinking I would never use it and I was wrong. I am using it with a Bluetooth mouse and it is great.
3.) Installing a harddrive and RAM is very easy to do on your own.
4.) The size of battery you want depends on how much battery time you want.
5.) I have a T61p and I never hear any whinning that others have mentioned. Maybe I can't hear it or it just doesn't bother me.
6.) The Thinkpad is a nice machine. I am very happy with mine. It is real solid and I just plain love it.
7.) It is a very silient machine overall, even when the fans come on.

 

Don't get WiMax unless it is in your area now (e.g. you live in Baltimore), or you expect it in the near future. The 5100 should also be fine (I am satisfied with it), as it is comparable to the 5300 except it has 1 less antenna.

If you frequently use the laptop on battery (e.g. taking notes in classes/meetings, on a train/plane, etc.), I would recommend the 9 cell. This will give you better battery life, and should make it possible for you to get by without carrying an AC adapter on most days.

If you intend to run a 64-bit OS, it might be worth it to get a 2GB single DIMM from Lenovo. This way you only need to buy a single 2GB DDR3 module to reach 4GB (instead of a pair and discarding the 1GB module). However, the value of this depends on Lenovo's current pricing plans. If you only plan on using a 32-bit OS, just get 1GB from Lenovo and upgrade it to 3GB yourself (this is about the best you'll get on a 32-bit OS).

Vista Home Basic is not a very good OS. I would recommend Home Premium or Business. However, if you plan on running Windows 7 on this machine, just get the cheapest option available.

Both the RAM and hard drive are easy to upgrade (you have two DDR3 slots, and one 2.5" 9.5mm SATA bay). Additionally, you can buy an adapter to run a second hard drive in place of the optical drive.

There is no real downside to switchable graphics other than cost. Additionally, the switching only works in Vista (and possibly Windows 7). If you use XP or Linux, you have to switch it in BIOS before booting.

Bluetooth is worth considering, as is the AT&T WWAN. Both can be useful, and it is much cheaper/easier to get them now than to try and add them later.

I would recommend the 3 year depot warranty if you intend to keep it that long. I have always been very satisfied with IBM/Lenovo's service. I used my T40 for 5 years and had two issues with it. My DVD/CD-RW stopped reading DVDs, they overnight me a replacement, I swapped it in, and dropped the defective unit into the prepaid box to send it back. I also suffered from the GPU soldering issue on the T4x (this is no longer an issue) about halfway through my third year of ownership. They overnighted me a box. I put the laptop in the box and dropped it off at a UPS store (prepaid). After about a week I received the laptop back with a new Mobo/GPU, as well as a replacement to a cracked palmrest (didn't even ask them to fix this). It served me fine for another 2.5 years before I upgraded to an x200.

 

Yes, it was the standard warranty with the 2623-DDU. I didn't do any special upgrades.