Can any 540 owners who use 540 a lot but has no need for the number pad share his/her experience with 540 keyboard?

Hello folks,

I am struggling with buying a W530 or T540/W540.

Because of the number pad on 540 machines, the mouse stick and touch pad of the keyboard are skewed to the left side quite a bit. On 530 machines, they are almost centered.

I have a T530 now and use it almost 14 hours each day. I am a software programmer and I have no need for the number pad on the 540 keyboard.

I can IMAGINE that to use the 540, I have to move my body/face to the left side of a computer. Have that body position for 14 hours a day? I am not sure whether it will cause too much uncomfort or a health issue.

Can any 540 owners who uses it a lot daily but has no need for the number pad share his/her experience on this?

Best.

 

14 hours in front of a laptop is purely unhealthy. Get an external monitor and a good keyboard. I have a W530 (is T530's screen better?) and screen is just crap, after working 6 months in front of it switched to a dual external monitor, not sure how was I able to work before that...

Sorry, not really what you're asking.

 

Let me add another post in the same vein...

If you have a T530 and like it, just grab a W530 and call it a day. Forget about the *40 series altogether, especially for the fact that W540 seems to be the buggiest of the entire generation.

There's no reason to get a *40 series 15.6" unit unless you *really* want that Panasonic 3K IPS LCD.

My $0.02 only...

 

ajkula66 and oct, thanks so much for your input!!!

Regards.

 

I have the T540P and switch between it, a Thinkpad with a centered keyboard and an External Keyboard and don't even notice the off-centered nature of the T540P one bit. I don't use the Number Pad at all.

What I do notice is how horrible the lack of physical trackpoint buttons are. I notice that every single time I use it. I have a unregistered clicks and mis-clicks and it's enough to drive you crazy, especially as you are moving the cursor between text and rows and select text blocks, it's pretty bad.

The display however (the 3k display) makes suffering through the horrible trackpoint experience bearable. If it wasn't for the display I would be using the W530 without hesitation.

With all of that said, wait until the W550S that is supposed to come out soon where they'll bring back the physical trackpoint buttons and offer the 3k display, that will be when you want to upgrade.

I know for myself, I can't wait...

 

Kevroc, thanks for your information! After read the posts from other two people and yours, I did further online research. I will likely stay away from 540.

Thanks, again!!!

 

I have a w540 from a month now (i7-4900 k1100 32gb ram, 9cell, 3k)
I really cannot understand all the bash it got in the forums, I do NOT experience any over-temp (after 45-1h with 8 threads at 100% @ 3.2ghz) I got maximum of 71-75°
Keyboard is simply fantastic I did notice any need to be "sideways" with the body to accommodate the numberpad (which I do not use often but I find it really nice for fast calculations)
Screen, as said above, is simply fantastic
The Clickpad per se (no trackpoint user here) it's awesome and very precise and smooth, had no problems

Keep in mind I use only Linux on it, and I have done a repaste with an Arctic Cooling mx-4, after that I have a maximum of 71-75° and in general (browsing texting and so on) its below 42° and completely fanless

So whats all the problems with the w540? (apart from trackpoint buttons that affects all the *40 series, and it's strictly personal to who use the TP)

Thanks!

 

I tried a W540 for few months.
Off center keyboard was a big reason that I returned this machine. If you are only using one keyboard you might be able to get used to the awful ergonomics (amazing coming from a thinkpad line...), but if you use multiple computers there is just no way. At least I couldn't adjust, and not only my typing speed reduced but also it felt uncomfortable.
14 hours its a lot to stay bent.

 

What was the temp before repasting? Also, repasting voids the warranty, do you think it should be a norm process for a such a machine? It seems that lately buying a thinkpad is a lottery game...
Btw, May I ask what linux distro are you using and how is the 3K screen looking on it?

Thanks.

 

Before repasting it was about 90° and was really high effectively, but It shouldn't void the warranty? I did not see any warranty seal in the process! Right now I'm compiling a big project, after 30min the machine is on 71°.
When at home I put it on a microsoft laptop cooling stand (whit a small vent) and it even reaches 68-69° compiling
So I really cannot complain

I'm using xUbuntu 14.04, personally I'm really glad with the resolution but YMMV, I like the real estate of the standard configuration but 99% of the people will find fonts too small!
But under the aspect settings, setting fonts to 125dpi will be enouth for many

Still many programs do not scale well (they are tiny) but FOR ME it's none but better ahah

Maybe in linux Unity or Gnome3 will be better for hDpi scaling!

 

There are no warranty seals on ThinkPads. Never were.

Theoretically speaking, re-pasting does void the warranty. Whether they would call you on it if you were to send the machine for service is a whole another matter.

 

Thanks.

 

Mmmh Ok didn't know that, this is simply a thing I do on regular basis when purchasing a notebook cause I know how bad is the thermal paste OEM use...

But still I don't think they will call me on that (and hope I never have to call them for warranty ahah)