Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Review

by Kevin O'Brien

The new 14-inch ThinkPad T400 is the latest Lenovo notebook based off of the Intel Montevina platform. This computer offers all new features such as hybrid graphics, LED backlit displays, and power-saving refinements that let the notebook get extraordinary battery life. With all these changes taking place, Lenovo has also managed to keep the notebook looking as classic (boring) as ever, just how ThinkPad lovers like it.

Our ThinkPad T400 specifications:

• Screen: 1440 x 900 WXGA+ LED Backlit (Matte finish)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.83GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• Memory: 2GB DDR3 RAM
• Storage: 160GB HDD (7200rpm)
• Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
• Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 w/ 256MB (hybrid switching)
• Built-in web camera
• Battery: 84Wh 9-cell and 56Wh 6-cell
• Dimensions: 13.2" x 9.4" x 1.47/1.12"
• Weight: 5.lbs 4.8oz with 6-cell, 5lbs 10.8oz with 9-cell
• Retail Price: $2,189

(view large image)

Build and Design

The design of the T400 has changed a bit. The changes are subtle to the untrained eye, but they are there. The right side is now gently sloped similar to what can be found on the older T4x series, where the sides angle inward instead of dropping off flat. First clue about this is the optical drive bezel which sports a nice beveled edge. The rubber feet have also been slightly tweaked, now feeling softer, and you get an additional springy nub. Getting past the minor case design changes, the ThinkPad is every bit as boring as all of those preceding it. We have the same paint, same rubbery texture, and we still have our ThinkPad logo.

(view large image)

Upgrade and expansion is a step harder than most notebooks, but still very simple. To gain access to all user-replaceable parts, you simply remove five screws and carefully remove the palmrest and keybard. Here you gain access to an open WWAN slot, another for Turbo Memory or UWB, two DDR3 memory slots, and your wireless card. At this stage you can also see the processor and heatsink, but a few additional items must be removed before you can lift those items out. Although this setup does seem like Lenovo is trying lock the user away from upgrading parts, they fully allow anyone to handle upgrading or adding components to their notebook without voiding the warranty. Processor swaps or messing with other advanced components might not be as kosher though. The hard drive is the only item accessible from the outside of the case (besides the battery) and is easily removed with a single screw.

(view large image)

Build quality is very similar to the previous generation T61, with all of its strengths and weaknesses. Fit and finish are great with most parts, but you still have a good amount of battery wiggle in the back, as well as the cheaper feeling plastic LCD lid. The molded plastic panels throughout the notebook feel sturdy, with only mild flex near the card slots. On our particular configuration with the SD card reader taking the place of the PC-Card slot and we get a cheap plastic blank instead of a spring loaded flap. Without the plastic blank in place the palmrest does want to bend down at that location under stress. Another odd trait I noticed was additional flex on the right side of the keyboard, where my T60 is solid as a rock, but the T400 wants to give in just a bit. It is still very strong compared to other notebooks, but not as rock solid as the older model.

What still works and what doesn't

Those who have older ThinkPad accessories from the T6x/R6x generation will be happy to know all of the older docking stations are still fully compatible with the new notebooks. I can't say for certain that the older equipment won't be replaced with newer revisions that offer different connections, but at least you won't need to upgrade.

The optical bay connections have changed from the previous generation, moving more towards a SATA style connector, rendering older drive incompatible. The power connection for use with the UltraBay battery remained the same though.

Display

The display on our review model is a 6-bit LG LED backlit panel. Lenovo's official spec sheet lists this screen as 300:1 contrast, but the LG specification is 500:1. Overall the panel is easy on the eyes with even light distribution and a wide adjustment range for the LED backlighting. The highest backlight setting is very bright, easy outshining my IPS FlexView panel by a wide margin. Colors are vibrant, although the whites do lean heavily on the cooler/blue side. Vertical angles are better than average, with a modest sweet spot before colors start to invert and wash out. Horizontal viewing range is better, with colors washing out slightly, but still staying accurate.

T60 screen (left) and T400 screen (right)
(view large image)

For those curious about sunlight readability, I ventured outside on a very bright and sunny day to snap some pictures of the T400 at max brightness. The picture makes the screen out to be just a tad dimmer than it looks in person, but it is perfectly serviceable outside. The only thing that would really prevent you from seeing the screen is reflections blinding you from just being outside on a sunny day. You should also note that max brightness chops about one hour of battery life away from the 9-cell model where it would otherwise be pushing close to 10 hours at 60% brightness.

(view large image)

Comparing this screen to the older WXGA+ screen is no contest, with the newer LED backlit model being better in many ways. Whites look cleaner, colors look better, backlight is more even, and best of all is bright enough to view in sunshine. It is well worth the extra money, and you would be foolish not to get it if you are configuring the notebook yourself. Below are comparison images showing the T60 screen (left) and the T400 screen (right).

(view large image)	(view large image)
(view large image)	(view large image)

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard layout has stayed the same, with only very minor changes in the feel of the key presses. Some of this may be attributed to the differences in keyboard suppliers (NMB, ALPS, and Chicony) though, as my T60 came with the "clickier" Chicony keyboard, whereas the T400 is much quieter. The keyboard strength seems to have changed, with more flex present on the right side of the keyboard. To find the culprit of this flex, I took apart the notebook and inspected the keyboard area.

(view large image)

To my great surprise, I found Lenovo had completely redesigned the keyboard, with weight savings as the primary goal. The old design has a much stronger back-plate, which is removed on the new revision. This cuts weight by 25 percent (6oz to 4.5oz) from the old model, but at the huge disadvantage of tarnishing the long-standing ThinkPad keyboard reputation. For now I am leaning towards weight savings, instead of cost savings as the main redesign reason, but I still don't like it. Anyone who knows the ThinkPad name knows at least two things; boring business notebook and great keyboard. If you take away the keyboard and make other weight reducing or durability reducing changes to the notebook design, you will no doubt alienate many of your followers. I really hope Lenovo takes notice at this, cause I would take a brick glued to the bottom of the case before over a keyboard change such as this.

T60 keyboard (left) versus T400 keyboard (right)
(view large image)

As with older models, the liquid drains are still in place, ready to get your notebook out of harm's way if a stray coffee or soda spills all over it.

The touchpad has grown compared to the T61, expanding to the width of the lower touchpad buttons. With the ThinkPad touchpads always being the runts compared to other notebook designs, this change was very welcomed (even if they did paint scroll arrows on it). The texture is identical to the older touchpad, and sensitivity is just as good. Compared to my T60, the touchpad buttons feel much firmer, and have more support from edge to edge. On the T60's touchpad, the far left and right side tend to sag slightly, while the T400's touchpad buttons have equal support from side to side.

(view large image)

My only disappointment with the touchpad was the lack of red strips. After seeing the X300 and X200 that offered "legacy" red strips on the touchpoint buttons, I was upset to see that Lenovo didn't include that finishing touch on the T-series keyboard.

Performance

Our Lenovo ThinkPad T400 came with the Intel T9600 processor, clocking in at 2.8GHz, and jammed packed with 6MB of cache. For graphics, Lenovo included an ATI Radeon 3470 video card with 256MB of GDDR3 memory. A speedy 160 GB 7200 RPM hard drive was also included, which helped applications load without much lag. This notebook was outstanding for day to day use, and had enough power to handle most games around the office to kill some time. Half-Life 2 in native resolution (1440x900) kept above 30FPS even in heavy action scenes. Portal was another favorite that worked very well at native resolution, keeping framerates above 40FPS throughout most of the game.

For users who don't wish to have as much 3D acceleration (or power consumption) during day to day work, you can switch between the Intel X4500 integrated graphics and ATI 3470 dedicated graphics. This switch can be made on-the-fly without a reboot. Not using the dedicated graphics resulted two hours of additional battery life.

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi.

Notebook / CPU	wPrime 32M time
Lenovo T400 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)	27.410s
Lenovo T500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.8GHz)	27.471s
Lenovo T61 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2.0GHz)	42.025s
Dell Vostro 1500 (Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 @ 1.6GHz)	53.827s
HP Pavilion dv6500z (AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	40.759s
Systemax Assault Ruggedized (Core 2 Duo T7200 @2.0GHz)	41.982s
Toshiba Tecra M9 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @2.2GHz)	37.299s
HP Compaq 6910p (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	40.965s
Sony VAIO TZ (Core 2 Duo U7600 @ 1.20GHz)	76.240s
Zepto 6024W (Core 2 Duo T7300 @ 2GHz)	42.385s
Lenovo T61 (Core 2 Duo T7500 @ 2.2GHz)	37.705s
Alienware M5750 (Core 2 Duo T7600 @ 2.33GHz)	38.327s
Hewlett Packard DV6000z (Turion X2 TL-60 @ 2.0GHz)	38.720s

PCMark05 comparison results:

Notebook	PCMark05 Score
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3)	6,589 PCMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	N/A
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	7,050 PCMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	5,689 PCMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB)	4,839 PCMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	3,585 PCMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,925 PCMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,377 PCMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	4,591 PCMarks
Lenovo ThinkPad X61 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	4,153 PCMarks
Lenovo 3000 V200 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	3,987 PCMarks
Lenovo T60 Widescreen (2.0GHz Intel T7200, ATI X1400 128MB)	4,189 PCMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	4,234 PCMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	3,637 PCMarks

3DMark06 comparison results:

Notebook	3DMark06 Score
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3470 256MB GDDR3)	2,575 3DMarks
Lenovo T400 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	809 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, ATI Radeon 3650 256MB GDDR3)	4,371 3DMarks
Lenovo T500 (2.80GHz Intel T9600, Intel X4500)	809 3DMarks
Lenovo T61 Standard Screen (2.0GHz Intel T7300, NVIDIA NVS 140M 256MB)	1,441 3DMarks
Dell Vostro 1500 (1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5470, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS)	1,269 3DMarks
Dell Inspiron 1420 (2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,329 3DMarks
Sony VAIO FZ (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, Intel X3100)	532 3DMarks
Dell XPS M1330 (2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7300, NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS 128MB)	1,408 3DMarks
Samsung Q70 (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7300 and nVidia 8400M G GPU)	1,069 3DMarks
Asus F3sv-A1 (Core 2 Duo T7300 2.0GHz, Nvidia 8600M GS 256MB)	2,344 3DMarks
Alienware Area 51 m5550 (2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce Go 7600 256MB	2,183 3DMarks
Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Xi 1526 (1.66 Core Duo, nVidia 7600Go 256 MB)	2,144 3DMarks
Samsung X60plus (2.0GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, ATI X1700 256MB)	1,831 3DMarks
Asus A6J (1.83GHz Core Duo, ATI X1600 128MB)	1,819 3DMarks
HP dv6000t (2.16 GHz Intel T7400, NVIDA GeForce Go 7400)	827 3DMarks
Sony VAIO SZ-110B in Speed Mode (Using Nvidia GeForce Go 7400)	794 3DMarks

As an added bonus, we also tested the T400 with the new PCMark Vantage benchmark, and the T400 with ATI Radeon 3470 enabled returned a score of 4,374.

HDTune storage drive performance test:

(view large image)

Speakers and Audio

Audio performance is one category the Lenovo T400 did not excel in, which is pretty common for business oriented notebooks. Bass and midrange were lacking and they weren't even able to get to loud volume levels. For watching the occasional video or listening to a webcast they would be fine, but headphones come highly recommended.

Battery Life

I don't think I have ever used the word "insane" to describe battery life before and there is no doubt that the 14" T400 falls into that category. To get 10 hours of battery life from a notebook this size, most people think you would need a huge battery attached to the bottom of the case, another battery taking the place of the optical drive, and a big battery sticking out the back. With the T400 you can reach 9 hours and 41 minutes with the wireless enabled, screen backlight at 60%, and the laptop in integrated graphics mode using only the 84Wh 9-cell battery. In this situation the notebook is only consuming roughly 8.5 watts of power. In dedicated graphics mode under the same settings battery life falls by exactly 2 hours down to 7 hours and 41 minutes, and power draw increases to 10.5 watts. The 6-cell battery managed 6 hours and 4 hours and 28 minutes respectively.

(view large image)

I don't really know how long your average work or school day is, but 10 hours of juice is more than enough to get me through my day.

For those thinking about gaming with the T400 on battery power, you should have no problem with the 9-cell battery. Playing Portal with all GPU and CPU at peak performance levels the notebook estimate 3 hours of battery life remaining. While it is a big drop from nearly 10 hours under normal circumstances, you have more than enough time to play around through a few classes or meetings if needed.

6-cell battery (view large image)

9-cell battery (view large image)

Frequent travelers will enjoy the T400 as a movie playing notebook on flights or just trying to pass time wherever. When watching XVID encoded movies off the hard drive the 9-cell had an estimated 6 hours and 45 minutes of battery life, drawing 13 watts of power. Plenty of time to cover two full length movies. For those who must still use optical media for movies, you lose more than an hour of battery life with the optical drive needing to spin throughout the video.

Ports and Features

Port selection rates average on the T400, with 3 USB ports and no digital video output. You do have VGA, but it is not the best option if you want to hook the notebook up to an HDTV. As mentioned about in the Build and Design section, the T400 with the SD-Card reader option nixes one the PC-Card slot. For those thinking about using legacy external cards, you may want to reconsider that option.

One feature that has been on ThinkPads almost forever is the ThinkLight, which is a small white LED located above the screen that illuminates the keyboard. On every other model we have reviewed that has this light, it works as intended and gives a little light on the keys. On the T400 the shroud in front of the LED isn't big enough, and the end result is a light blinding you. Your night vision is taken away and in the end it is a useful feature turned worthless by lack of proper design. Not exactly sure how it made it past quality control, but unless you have the screen tilted forward to an extreme degree you end up as blind as a bat.

Front: Firewire, Wireless On/Off, Headphone/Mic

(view large image)

Rear: Kensington lock slot, AC Power

(view large image)

Left: VGA, Modem, LAN, two USB, Expresscard/54, SD-Card Reader

(view large image)

Right: Optical drive, one USB

(view large image)

Heat and Noise

The cooling system seemed greatly improved over the prior generations, letting the notebook run whisper quiet and very cool to the touch under most circumstances. I say most, since gaming did seem to make it run on the high side. When not gaming, one thing really working towards the system temperatures advantage was the very lower power consumption. Consuming almost half the power of the previous generation really helped reduce overall temperatures.

Heat under normal conditions (listed in degrees Fahrenheit):

(view large image)

(view large image)

Conclusion

The Lenovo ThinkPad T400 proved to be an exceptional 14" business notebook, giving almost unheard-of battery performance under modest running conditions. Nearly 10 hours of runtime with the extended battery easily puts this notebook into the all-day computing category. System performance with the Intel T9400 processor and ATI 3470 graphics was great, handling everything we threw at it, even some video games. The T400 is not without its flaws though, having a decent amount of keyboard flex and a keyboard light that blinds you. Even with its flaws, with a starting price under $1,000 this notebook easily outperforms any other computer in its category.

Pros

• 10 hours of battery life with the 9-cell battery!
• Very bright LED backlit LCD
• Under normal conditions is very cool and quiet
• Hybrid graphics that let you switch between great 3D performance or great battery life

Cons

• Keyboard flex in a ThinkPad ... the end of an era.
• Keyboard light that blinds you instead of just illuminating the keyboard

 

Great Review, as ever. Nothing can make me regret ordering that notebook now.

 

It seems to me, like the text was copied from the previous review of T500... But nice comparison of LCD´s. T60 is equiped with S-IPS? Because viewing angles looks great in comparison with T400.

 

Solid review, Kevin. Glad I ordered one....now I can't wait for it to ship!

 

fine laptop . fne review. one quick question off the top: the retail price from the specs the reviewer listed says $2,100 something, but the clickable lenovo box right above for the t400 say $987 or thereabouts. what gives?

can I get a t400 that is like the one reviewed for under a grand, $922, actually - I just looked again at the box I mentioned at the top.

 

The legendary Thinkpad keyboard has gone, moving the screen resolution from 4:3 to 16:10 leads to less internal space and therefore the 6-cell battery is sticking out, the GPU is weaker than the T500, and of course less pixel on the screen.
After all, I think the Lenovo is really going to the wrong direction. Although on the bright side, I can save some $$$ since I don't see any reason to upgrade from my T61p.

 

I giggle at the thought of the battery life with a 25W procesor (instead of the beefy 2.83Ghz 35W processor) and a SSD instead of the 7200RPM drive.

 

wow this makes me really want one now.

 

Thanks for this review. That display looks very nice.

Does the front to back dimension include the battery sticking out of the back?

What is the weight with the 6 cell battery?

Any reason for no PCMark05 result using the X4500?

What is the resolution of the webcam? Is the quality OK?

John

 

Anything above 3/4 cell batteries have always stuck out of the 14" and smaller ThinkPads. Video cards have also been different between models, with the T60 it was X1300 or X1400 between the 14 and 15" versions.

 

With wi-fi enabled, that means at minimal settings it would last even longer, probably close to 11 hours.......
I'm really curious to see how the E6400 will do.

 

I'm almost all set to get an E6400. Now, you've made life more difficult for me. You're so cruel!

Seriously, though, great review! Thanks!

But, I'm still back to square 1, T400 or E6400.

Now, I wish an E6400 NBR review is on the works...

 

Any idea what the battery life would be w/ a 4 cell?

The blinding light is ironic given the commercial lenovo played in the Olympics, with a competitor laptop zapping everything.

 

The front to back does not include the battery. 6 cell adds about .75, 9 cell adds about 1.5.

The t400 by itself weighs 4lbs 9.0oz. I will doublecheck the weight of it with the 6 cell installed later.

PCMark05 will not produce a result running in the power saving hybrid mode on the T400. It worked on the T500, but I am guessing it is just a software glitch since it is a fairly new setup.

Webcam is 1.3MP, quality is good enough for conversation that you want to see a friendly face, but not so good for capturing a lot of detail. I tried it out with Skype with decent results, but it wasnt the best camera.

 

I don't think the new T-series deserve the Editor's Choice tag (I suspect the award is given out by virtue of it being a Thinkpad which isn't fair at all). There aren't that many features that its closest rivals don't have and poor design decisions have been made again! (keyboard, asymmetrical screen placement, no backlit keyboard, poor case finishing, battery jutting out). The T400 just doesn't feel that special and Lenovo needs to do a lot more if it were to make it a benchmark once again.

 

Nice review. Of course, I am biased because I have always been a big fan of Thinkpad, and I already placed order on T400 last week.

I am curious if they re-designed ThinkLight, because the one on my T61 does not seem to make me blind (it is too dim actually).

The only bummer is probablly the keyboard, but since most people have said that under normal typing condition, you should not notice the flex. I think I can live with that. Historically, Thinkpad Keyboard tends to have Fn key at the lower left hand corner, which to me is very annoying when I actually want to press the Ctrl key. On average, 7 out of 10 times, I actually thought I pressed Ctrl + C, when I actually pressed Fn + C. For a person with keyboarding experience, this takes quite a bit to get used to.

 

The only down side is the keyboard and thinkpad light. But from the few people who *Have* the T400/T500's say typing is just the same from the old T60/61. And if it bothers you that bad, buy a T60/T61 keyboard on ebay and put it in your new T400. The new Battery life is fantastic. Show any 14inch that can come close to the T400 in battery life, performance, and costs.

 

The T500, X200, and X300 dont have that problem. The shroud overhang isn't big enough on the T400.

 

Samsung used to have the Fn key in the corner seat but, since most reviewers complained about this layout, the new Samsung range has Ctrl in the corner. Who, besides Lenovo, still has Fn in the corner?

John

 

I still pissed they added the Windows key

 

Nice review. I'm really amazed by how long the battery lasts, it's something really unbelievable. I'd be interested to know how much the 4-cell would last, I hope it will be something similar to the current 14.1" T61 on a 6-cell.

 

There's an error in the review...At the beginning of the paragraph, it says T500 instead of T400...

 

Great review, Kevin! If this model was available a year ago [when my main decision was between the D630 (amazing battery life) and T61 (adequate)], this would've won hands down with no hesitation. The graphics are amazing, battery life is exceptional, DDR3 RAM dominates, and all around specifications are the latest and greatest. Best 14.1" on the market, no doubt. Editor's Choice well chosen.

Any chance we could get a pic of that nice beveled edge on the optical drive bezel? I can't tell what you're talking about by looking at the side shots.

 

I would pull the trigger if they would ever get a video driver to switch graphics card on the fly with XP!!

Anybody know if this will ever happen?

Either way 4.5 hrs on dedicated with 6 cell is awesome

 

I'm surprised!? Editors choice ... for what ?! Cheap plastic (long ago Lenovo said good bye to magnesium alloy top cover - dont get me with that mag-frame which suppose to be 'better') , flexi-keyboard , 6-cell battery sitcking OUT ?! Sh##ty screen (i mean resolution and aspect ratio) just to bring LCD price down? It is not reliable solution for IT profs. at all. HP6930p and Dell E6400 are more trustworthy for me , they wont break into pieces... They have time till 2008 (they drop it earlier for reason) to use IBM logo but probably there was assumption to not decrease quality or 'let IBM logo go' and be able to cut costs. Be realistic people.

 

I must be the only one who's re-programmed the right-ALT key on my T43 as the Windows key

 

Rubbing alcohol can fix that!

 

Please take your bias fanboy attitude out of this thread. The T400 is a solid design. More importantly I can get one with solid specs for just over 1000$. I am looking forward to see the reviews on HP's and Dell's new workstation class notebooks.

Not sure what you are looking at, but WXGA+ is the largest screen you see on any 14inch notebook.

 

Haha You just make me laugh. I'm using IBM Thinkpad. I'm just sad where things are going with this brand - as it was my fauvorite. You should buy used X31 Thinpad and check what I mean by quality (quality that was delivered .. 8 YEARS ago but cannot be today ... ROTFL).

 

The quality of Thinkpads has improved since the IBM>Lenovo transition. What is the point of attacking something you've never had your hands on or have probably never experienced first hand. Perhaps you should just hold on to your vintage laptop indefinitely...

 

and I currently still own a X30. So do not preach to me about the past.

 

and I own X22, and I say that newer Thinkpads like T61 is just as sturdy if not better.

My co-workers have T61P, and they love the quality in these machines.

 

Am I the only one bothered by the lack of a digital video port? I'm very surprised anyone would offer a new design notebook without this feature. Also, no eSATA.

The hybrid graphics is a nice feature though.

 

Great Review Kevin and I can't wait till my T400 ships.

 

What the heck, 2nd time I have fixed that same part today.

 

DVI is exposed through the use of a docking station. That's what I'm going to do: desktop monitor with high quality viewing angles for work.

 

I have a T43 sitting on my desk with a cracked PATA connector because the chassis had so much flex. Searching around ThinkPad enthusiast forums you will notice planar board cracking to be quite common on older models, especially with video cards. Overall the entire case had WAY too much flex. The mag-frame is very good for preventing this.

The magnesium screen cover had to go. With more wireless devices packed into notebooks, did you really think even Lenovo was going to stick with external antennas indefinitely? Hello X61 with floppy pullout antenna?! The top is now stronger than before and dent free (like Saturn cars, lol).

Show me a 14" or smaller thinkpad that has a flush mount battery. You WONT find it. Only the 15" and larger models have flush fitting 6 cell batteries.

If you hate widescreen so much, I hear duct tape works wonders for screen borders to bring back that trusty 4:3 format

 

Am I the only one who is super bummed out by the keyboard change? Believe it or not, this may be what keeps me from ordering a newer model T-series. Does anyone know where an NMB keyboard can be found? Ebay, perhaps?

 

Yes. Get the lenovo part number and look it up on ebay.

 

Thanks for the review.

I assume that a 4-cell battery will last for c.a. 4h?
Would you mind testing an UltraBay 3-cell Battery next time? I think, many people are interested whether its actual performance improves with these new, more power-efficient, Lenovo laptops?

 

Neither of your argument is true.

My 14" 4:3 T61p has a 6-cell that is not sticking out. In fact any 14" Thinkpad with the 4:3 screen can have a 6-cell without sticking out. However on those 14" 16:10 screens, the vertical side is shorter and that's why on those wide screen 14" ones, you can only get a 4 cells if you don't like battery sticking out.

Plus I also had a 14" 4:3 T60 with the X1400 video card. (the one in my sig.), remember they can even throw in the Nvidia Quadro 570M into the 14" 4:3 T61p.

 

Not sure if this question really belongs here, but since I was looking at the T400 site, I thought I'd try here first. On the Canadian site, the processor choices are as follows:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor P8600 (2.40GHz 1066MHz 3MBL2) 25W [$0.00]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9400 (2.53GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2) [$0.00]
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2) [$0.00]

I think these are all part of the new Intel processors, but other than the obvious difference (i.e. size of L2 cache and speed of processor), do these have different power consumption? I see that the two "P" processors are specifically listed as 25W. Does that mean the 2 "T" processors, even though they are part of the same "new family" of Intel processors, have a higher wattage in terms of power usage?

Also, do others find the same problem with the keyboard light as noted in the NBR review (i.e. shines into the eyes of the laptop uses, as opposed to shining on the keyboard)? There are 25% sales going on for the T400, so am seriously tempted to make the plunge.

Thanks for your help!

 

Excellent review Kevin. :yes:
Needless to say, I'm impressed by the battery life on that.

 

I'm with ya here. No displayport, mini dvi or hdmi is a pretty bad decision. I can live without eSATA. Even if it did have eSATA, the more intelligent and faster USB 3.0 is around the corner (2009), so it would have been obsoleted anyway.

 

great review kevin, thanks alot. Makes me feel comfortable with my purchase

 

Yes you are correct. All P models are 25 watt and the T's are like the old 45nm Core 2's and consume 35 watts.

 

Thanks, Vengance. I appreciate the help.

 

I just ordered one with P8600 and SSD.

(But then I cheaped out and ordered integrated graphics. I saved more than $70!!)

 

Why? the 3470 could come in handy down the line.

 

Keyboard flex in a ThinkPad ... the end of an era

I miss IBM