Lenovo ThinkPad T430 Review: The Best Just Got Worse Discussion

The ThinkPad T-series is Lenovo's bread and butter business notebook. This 14-inch T430 is a refreshed version of the popular T420. Read on to find out what we like and dislike about this laptop.

Read the full content of this Article: Lenovo ThinkPad T430 Review: The Best Just Got Worse

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Reviews like this remind me why I am switching to apple.

 

Of course, joer80, most ThinkPad users would say Apple keyboards are even worse than the latest ThinkPad keyboards. Personally, the only thing I don't like about the new ThinkPad keyboards is that the Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys should be close together.

I also feel like 1600x900 should be the default/standard resolution and a 1920x1080 screen should be an upgrade, but I know the decision to use 1366x768 for the base model was because many businesses don't want to pay that little bit extra for a higher resolution panel.

I know, it's stupid, but it shouldn't surprise any of us that many large businesses would rather pay less for employees' PCs than spend more and give them a better tool for work.

 

Nice reverse psychology. But I do agree. I don't know the exact numbers, but surely a 1600 screen isn't that much more than a 1366 screen, is it?

 

900p also need a better cable iirc? 40LVDS or something.

Btw what version wprime NBR uses?

 

I was considering a T430 and this is the exact reason why I didn't go with one. To your point, many companies I am working with are moving away from traditional desktops and are buying laptops for employees and outfitting them with docking stations and higher resolution screens. This means they really aren't fussed about high resolution on the laptop display itself. It only makes a difference for road warriors like myself who only rarely get access to an external screen and who need the real estate for higher end applications.

Regarding the keyboard, it seems that those issues will be extremely annoying for anyone upgrading from an existing Lenovo, but probably not an issue for those who have never owned one before. Think of it like Office 2007.

 

Nice review Charles. Having experienced seeing this T430 with the 1366 x 768 screen myself I agree it is pretty awful. The 1600 x 900 resolution upgrade is a must, there's also a good chance the viewing angles and overall quality are better. You might argue that color accuracy doesn't matter for things such as spreadsheets for business users, but even then a higher resolution screen allows you to see more rows/columns and thus be more productive. I know the ThinkPad W530 1600 x 900 screen is way better than what this T430 screen offers.

I'm not as down on the keyboard changes. I think it looks cleaner and still feels the same. I somewhat miss the forward and back keys that used to be near the cursor arrows but no biggie. The Blue Enter button is also sad to see go.

 

If you are going to spend £1000+ on a laptop, then it should come with a good screen no excuses. Lenovo are only increasing their margins that is all. This is after all a premium laptop which should come with premium parts. For example the sony SA has a fantastic 900p screen.

 

I don't know that I care for the mini display port though. I would assume an appropriate adapter wouldn't be hard to find, but it just adds one more layer of accessories needed which I don't like. Why not just go with hdmi out and be done with it?

 

I am disappointed with the keyboard layout. But to be truthful, I have not used it yet so I can't really comment on how it affects my usage. I do find myself using the printscr button quite often and unfortunately it is one of the keys that got eliminated.

They also should have an option for a higher resolution screen (higher than 900p). Apple leads in this department and I don't think lenovo realizes how many sales they're going to lose from this.

 

Unless you are hooking up to a consumer HDTV, HDMI is an even more useless port than mDP. Full sized DP (like on the T420) would have been best imho.

 

I would say all of their corporate orders would beg to differ.

 

I like the keyboard. The screen, on the other hand, is inexcusable.

 

OK They ruined the best keyboard in the business. I'm not even crazy about the chiclet style keyboard, but the layout is a disaster. It looks really nice and clean and you can tell that's all they were thinking about. I have a T410 and I use those two back and forward keys all the time, and also the nice little group of keys in the top right that they also jettisoned. What were they thinking? Seriously I would probably buy a T420 for the Sandy Bridge upgrade but I would rather keep using my older system just to keep the REAL ThinkPad keyboard. than use this T430. All Lenovo needed to do was take a T420 put a high rez screen in it and an Ivy Bridge plus whatever they did on the battery upgrade and USB3.0. This mini DP sucks too I use my full size DP all the time. They really ruined what could have been the best ThinkPad ever. At least you can order it with higher resolution but you're stuck with the keyboard lay out.

 

As a T520 (i7 1600x900) happy owner don't see any issues with the T430 keyboard layout, in fact I would prefer it to the t520's (never use the back / forward keys). On the other hand, the 1366x768 screen is a murder, 1600x900 is a must, be 14'' or 15''.

 

On any other notebook I'd not have mentioned the keyboard layout issues; I only mentioned it because Lenovo had it better and then they switched. I think the T430's new chiclet style keyboard actually feels more solid than the older traditional keyboard.

All the 14" 1366x768 and 15.6" 1366x768 screens I've tested have been identical. Poor color reproduction (dull colors), mediocre contrast (Command Prompt window doesn't look black enough), and terrible viewing angles. It's almost like everyone is buying the cheapest screens from the same place ... hmm.

 

I think I want this laptop, instead of getting a used t420 off of ebay. that battery life has me on the fence, so so bad. I wonder if the 6 cell battery will get 7-8 hours of battery???

 

Why is there no detail on the heat of the unit?

 

Charles does his reviews with a little different style than the admins. Plus I know for a fact that they have a heat sensor and a photometer sensor, because they usually include temps and brightness/contrast on the screens.
But Charles did say;

It works for me.

 

I'm curious how the 1600x900 screen compares to the 1366x768 in screen quality. If it's comparable than I won't even consider a T430 anymore.
I am used to my T42's Flexview after all these years (I have turned into a screen snob).

 

PrtSc did not get eliminated. Its on the lower right side of the keyboard in between Alt and Ctrl.

 

Yes the Print Screen key is still there (thanks for inserting the pic ^) ... I'd have called Lenovo out miles away if they got rid of it (or any other manufacturer).

 

This "real Thinkpad" nonsense has just grown tired. Was my 600 not a "real Thinkpad"? It didn't have the page forward/back buttons, and the enter key was black... When they came up with the page forward/back buttons, people had the exact same complaint. Besides, is it that hard to hit the "alt" key while hitting the arrows? Many claim it's preferable since you won't accidentally lose data you've entered on the screen while navigating w/the arrow keys.

 

Many, if not all new Thinkpad generations have seen smaller and/or bigger changes. Some due to innovation, some due to changes to ergonomic requirements, some due to shifting industry standards (also influenced by the competition) etc etc and some, true, due to cost control requirements (both internal Lenovo and external customer requirements).

My general view on IBM's/Lenovo's product evolution (and I have been selling Thinkpads since 1993) is that sometimes they got it (slightly) wrong, but most of the time they got it right the first time, inspired the competition to blatantly copy features/design choices, and then managed to improve on those already excellent features.

True, most hardcore notebook users always want to have a notebook with the best keyboard, the best screen, the highest resolution, the most ram, the fastest CPU etc, bit the fact of the matter is that a base design has to be made in such a way that a company such as Lenovo can cater for their customers wishes in the broadest sense possible. This makes that what for someone may be a point of criticism, ends up being blessing

(example people hating the back/forward buttons that have disappeared. I know of people cursing Lenovo each time they accidentally hit the backward button instead of tne arrow key below)

That is why while I partially agree with the T430 review, I find that the wording of the title is a little too strong and that the review should contain a little more nuance. Thinkpads are expensive indeed, but it's considered an investment into years of problem-free computing. You can consider the screen resolution too low compared to the price you pay, but there is always the possibility to order a versin with a higher resolution screen. Same goes for regular versus SSD drives. Aside from that, remember that prices also are influenced by developments in the component territory. Remember, the step from Core2Duo to Core-i also lead to a price increase that can hardly be blamed on the notebook manufacturer.

In my view the Thinpkad T430 offers a great notebook experience with a great spread of configuration possibilities at a reasonable price. That balance of quality, versatility, support, configuration options and yes, price, easily makes it the best mainstream corporate 14" standard notebook. In that sense I truly find that I the think the title of the review actually should have been "The Best Just Got Better"

 

Also as a note; for many (all?) of the eliminated keys, Lenovo has built-in an unmarked Fn key combo to clone the functions. The combinations that I know of are:
Fn+B = Break
Fn+C = ScrLk
Fn+I = Insert
Fn+P = Pause
Fn+S = SysRq

 

It would have been nice for them to mark those keys... Oh well.

Also. Alt + Right/Left is Fwd/Back on any computer I think.

 

Quick take after a few days of working. I still love the machine, and even the keyboard on itself feels like an improvement. But indeed, there is definitely a negative sidecomment on the new keyboard layout where some keys have moved around, some have disappeared and some fn-combinations also have disappeared. Perhaps not crucial, but definitely something that needs getting used to. My typing speed however has increased by some 15% though, and the new island-style keyboard design definitely feels as a good mix between form and function. I simply love the backlit keys, especially in night flights and a darkened cabin. For me (I went from T420s to T430s) it really feels like an overall improved design.

 

Our institution recently acquired the T430 for testing, although our model has the HD+ (1600x900 resolution) screen and the 1GB 5400M graphics card.

The only concern I have so far with this model is heat output when the discrete card is active. Using SpeedFan I was registering consistent temperatures of 95C on the GPU, and the internal Temp1 was fluctuating between 85-90C. This causes the left side of the touchpad bezel to become noticeably warm to the touch, and the area of the bottom case directly below this uncomfortably hot.

It's not quite the lap scorcher that the X100e was, but it's much warmer than the T420 ran in similar situations, and that configuration also had a 1GB NVIDIA card (4200M). The only good news is that the Intel HD 4000 is strong enough that it is only when doing Premiere video rendering / playing intensive video games that this heat exhaust becomes evident.

I adjusted to the new keyboard layout quite quickly, although I find the removal of the blue FN and Enter key coloring baffling.

 

What do you guys think about the 1600x900 screen on the T430s?

 

Since you've owned both the 420s and 430s, maybe you can help me. What's the difference between the regular T430 and the T430s? I know that it's lighter and slimmer, but when priced out the two are the exact same price. I've been looking at both of these for college and wondering which would be better and maybe an alternative that you would suggest.

 

The only difference besides the casing is that the T430s has a crappier graphics card, but there's only a 10% performance difference. It should give a very slightly longer battery life if you use the GPU, but either one will have a longer life if you disable the GPU entirely and just use the Intel while traveling. They have different speakers too, but I have no idea which is better.

 

Is that between the 4000 and the 5200m or the 5200m and the 5400m?

Also, interesting you would mention the speakers; I wonder if one is indeed better than the other.

 

During the review, What was the power consumption in watts? Mine has same configurations as yours but im only getting about 8 hours on the power gauge with about 10 watts consumption i lso set brightness to 7

 

The new layout is terrible. Home and End not near PgUp and PgDn? That zany PrtScr where the Menu key should be? How did anyone at Lenovo think this was a good idea? They should have done some testing with real users.

 

Hi, I am thinking of buying a laptop and mostly I will buy a thinkpad. I am confused between T430/T430s. Which one is better? Which one has better battery life for the same cell? How much does T430 weigh for 6-cell battery? It would be great if someone could provide me answers for this. Thanks in advance.

 

Better depends on your goal. The T430s is lighter, but the T430 gets longer battery life because it uses higher capacity batteries. The T430 weight 4.7 pounds with the six-cell.

 

With 6 cell its 4.7 lbs? I just now read the review here where its mentioned that 9 cell has 4.7lbs. What abt X230? Could you please reply to my thread over here?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/what-notebook-should-i-buy/682064-need-help-finding-good-portable-laptop-college-confused-about-many-options.html

 

T430 comes with 1600 x 900 option - so resolution shouldn't be in cons.
If you chose 1366 x 768 - it's only your fault.
I believe this review is misinforming.

 

So far I've been happy with this machine, but not Lenovo.

A few weeks ago, the backlit keyboard went bad, and I called them up for a warranty replacement. After several canceled and incorrect orders, they finally got a unit from their Canada plant to send to me. The only problem was that the unit sent was the non-backlit version, so the quest continues. Incidentally, I have to say that the non-backlit version of the keyboard seems to have a slightly better feel to it. The texture is better, and it's just a little bit more snappy. The matte finish also matches the body of the laptop a little better. If you can live with just the overhead ThinkLight, it's definitely the way to go. Cheaper too. I would give up my fight with Lenovo if I hadn't given them $40 for the backlit option in the first place.

Other than that, the laptop itself is a very nice machine. It has been a pleasure to use, and can handle basically anything that I throw at it. I got the core i7 option, and upgraded to 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD aftermarket.

One thing I don't think the review mentioned: opening this laptop is very easy to do. Only four screws and prying the keyboard keep you from the processor. This is important for when dust starts building up in the fans. On my previous laptop, cleaning the fan out was a tedious, several hour process that involved keeping dozens of different sized screws in color coded baggies, and using thermal paste to re-seat the processor. The same job can be done with the T430 in literally five minutes. Cleaning out dust in the fans is essential for the longevity of laptops.