Considering T440S

I'm considering purchasing a T440S, but have been put off by the many bad reviews of the LG FHD screen.

Is there anything inherently wrong with the default HD+ screen? I know it's inferior to a higher-resolution IPS display, but am wondering if this is a "safe" option that will give me a 1600 X 900 TN display just as good as any other on the market. Does it suffer from any issues like dimness in certain areas, screen door effect, backlight bleeding, etc ... ? I will be starting graduate school and can't bother with any returns or screen replacements.

 

Panels are totally random. Sometimes Lenovo has questionable ones. I took a T440s out of the box recently to find three "smudges" of bad pixels in large spots on the screen. The 15 after that, no problem.

 

Then don't consider a T440s or any ThinkPad for that fact. Unless you order a FHD model *and* receive one with AUO screen, you'll be staring at a piece of junk screen-wise.

And if you think I'm kidding, think again.

 

Go with the T440s with the touchscreen option. You will be guaranteed a perfect screen. The TN panel suck more than the worst LG IPS panel.

 

And why would that be? The touchscreen models can also be equipped with the LG screen.

 

That is not what anyone has posted so far. Everyone with the touchscreen has received the AUO panel.

 

Having worked in a shop that sold multiple T440s with touchscreens I can assure you, they are also equipped with LG screens.

 

Are they CTO model or mass produced? I think that can make a difference. I haven't seen a commenter say they had a LG version on their T440s.

 

They are mass produced models. There is only one T440s model (non-touch) that offers a AUO screen with 100% certainty: ThinkPad T440s 20ARS2QF00 - ok1.de - Shop für Lehre und Forschung
It's a Haswell refresh model that only came out a few months ago.

Hardly anyone has a T440s touch (they sell very badly), and the glossy screen (it's almost completely glossy) surely adds to improving the picture quality, so it seems unlikely that anyone would complain.

Just because no one has commented about the T440s touch having a LG, doesn't necessarily have to mean that it doesn't come equipped with said LG.

 

i wouldn't go with the T440s HD+ LCD, it has the same picture quality as the T420s and T430s HD+ screen, which is very bad.

 

Hi 600X & lead_org,

I'm planning to buy the T440s from the Lenovo UK store, but the only screen options are "HD+ WWAN" and "FHD with Multi Touch With WWAN".

So, which screen option should I choose? Since 600X you said the touch screen is not good and lead_org doesn't recommend HD+.

Thanks

 

The FHD screen.

I have the LG screen in my T440s, and its really not that bad. The AUO screen is better - but not worlds better than the LG screen.

 

If you use the cheapest starting point for T440s with i7 processor, I get a selection between:

14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN

T440s 14.0 HD+ WWAN

Where IPS is 1.23 pound cheaper!

 

Actually, the touchscreen model of the T440s is better IMO. The glass adds structural stability to the lid and looks very nice. The displays are the same as on the normal T440s. Personally, I would always prefer the T440s touch to the non-touch. And like lead_org said, stay away from the HD+ displays, they really suck.

 

Thanks Feeder and 600X.

I don't have any need for the touchscreen at this moment, so will go with the "14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN" at this moment.

Do I need the "14.0" FHD IPS With WWAN

Do I need the "16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single" option as I'm buying a 512GB SSD for the notebook?

Does anyone know of a Lenovo store\retailer in London where I can have a play around with this notebook?

 

16 gigs M2 is a cache for platter hdd, this is not an option when you get the 512 gigs ssd from lenovo. but get the smartcard reader option, as it gives you another free M2 slot.

 

Is there much difference between i5-4300U and i5-4600U? £200 difference

 

Passmark results seem to suggest up to a 15% difference in processing speed, but that's really only for anything that will max out the CPU. For general use like web browsing or watching videos you won't notice any difference at all. Did you have any specific uses in mind?
(I assume you mean the i7-4600U? I couldn't find said i5 model)

 

Sorry, I meant i7-4600U.

I'm thinking of buying this notebook because of weight & battery life (= minus charger's weight ). I want to be running VMWare for my SharePoint development (Visual Studio, SharePoint Designer, SQL Server etc)

I currently have a W520 which have served me well for almost 3 years. But my current contract is work from home only and I'm combining work with pleasure by walking around London and Shopping Malls. So, I currently carrying my W520 + Charging in backpack for hours.

I'm looking for lightness, good screen size, avoid charging the whole day so I wouldn't carry charger and also power (CPU, SSD & RAM) to do my development.

Any advance on which notebook to those?

 

I think the T440s is a good pick. It's very light and yet well built, and the 14" screen with ultra-thin bezels is probably the best screen size you can get without resorting to a larger machine. Since the T440s has a hot-swappable battery, you can always exchange it if you run out of juice or simply get the extended life battery straight away. It will make the machine heavier and bulkier, but at 12h of real usage time you won't be needing the charger.

 

I would agree with 600x. The T440s has a great screen size for such a small body. You would want to grab an extra battery if you plan to use this laptop for more than 6 hours. Add two SSD and you can RAID 0 this machine. Install an 8GB RAM stick and you have 12GB of RAM which is plenty.

 

How do I configure Raid 0 on the T440s? There is no RAID option during configuration on Lenovo UK site. Do I need 2 same SSD?

 

You would have to purchase the SSD on your own. There is one 2.5in bay and two M.2 slot which can take a 42mm M.2 SSD. That is three SSD you can RAID 0. You don't have to purchase the same SSD. You can use a Samsung 850 Pro and two MyDigitalSSD 128GB M.2

 

What Model\Make of M.2 SSD that is compatible\Fit T440p? I'm thinking of buy 2 X 256GB M.2 SSDs.

I read somewhere that the M.2 should be 42mm depth. Is it true?

 

Not too many of them out there at the moment...you may want to wait.

Yes, and that's the very reason for my previous statement...

 

I'm currently planning to order with 128 GB SSD installed (and replace with a larger Samsung Evo), because that's the only way to get the smartcard reader pre-installed. If I do it that way, will I still have two additional open M.2 slots? Or was your comment in reference to the HDD + 16 GB caching drive configurating?

Edit: I figured it out by google image searching "T440s M2" and following links. The Smartcard reader replaces the under-battery M.2 slots. The WWAN slot next to the WIFI card is still open and available for use with a 42mm NGFF SSD, however. So it's one instead of three with the smart card reader.

 

You can get the smartcard reader by selecting the SSD, selecting the smartcard reader, and unselecting the SSD. This way, you wouldn't have to be overcharged for a SSD.

 

To get the 2 additional M.2 slots, you need to select the 500/1TB HDD, then select the "16GB M.2 Solid State Drive Single". That's the only way to get the 2 additional M.2 slots

 

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong or looking at a different site, but there are currently two different configuration pages on the Lenovo US site, "T440s Ultrabook" and "T440s Ultrabook with Solid State Drive", selecting one precludes the ability to select the other. On the "with Solid State Drive" page, there is no HDD option, thus SSD cannot be deselected. Also, the Smartcard reader option does not exist pm the "T440s Ultrabook" (HDD) page. Thus, as it stands, it appears that it comes down to just two options:

1x M2 plus Smartcard reader (and 128+ GB SSD) option

or

3x M2 plus HDD (1x M2 being 16GB SSD, no Smartcard reader) option


Please advise if I've missed something.

 

Yes, that's correct.

 

If I'm purchasing Samsung 1TB 850 PRO SSD, why do I need the the M.2 slots as 1TB is more than enough for storage and it's very fast.

Why do I need the performance of RAID 0 on M.2 slot when the 850 PRO will be more than fast enough for my needs?

 

I think RAID 0 with SSDs is pointless - I'm not bottlenecking my 840 Evo (in my t440s) even without RAID, save for things like cloning VMs or deleting snapshots (which is almost entirely dependent on the SSD/HDD). And with RAID 0, you introduce another failure point, and potentially cause issues with TRIM. No thanks.