Lenovo ThinkPad T440S Review: Best in Business

Lenovo looks to improve the already impressive T series with the Lenovo ThinkPad T440s. Keep reading to find out what makes this notebook the best in its class.

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Thanks for the review. It's not clear in the article, was the posted battery gotten with the 3-cell or 6-cell?

 

Interesting. I have heard or read the weight was 3.4, 3.5 even 3.6 pounds. But this article say it is 3.8 pounds without extended battery. Another small difference I hear the screen was 300 nits but this review says it is 290 nits. So how much does it weight and how bright is the screen actually?

 

He reviewed the multitouch model which is a bit heavier. The brightness spec is 300nit, it never actually measures that high.

Non-MultiTouch:
3-cell + 3-cell: 3.5 lb (1.59kg);
3-cell + 6-cell: 3.9 lb (1.77kg)

MultiTouch:
3-cell + 3-cell: 3.9 lb (1.76kg)
3-cell + 6-cell: from 4.3 lb (1.94kg)

 

Hey sorry about that, the test is with the 3-cell battery. Honestly the 3-cell should be enough for most users, especially considering how the added girth of the 6-cell causes the notebook to sit at an awkward angle.

 

True. Lenovo just makes it so tempting though, by pricing the 6-cell at only a $5 upgrade. Highly considering this and the FHD-equipped X240 (when it arrives) as my next Thinkpad, although I don't strictly need one...

 

I bought the 6 cell because it was only $5 more. And I could use it in school. I would rather get the small one later than the other way around.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

Lenovo from t400 is not so durable as old txx series. Every day I am repairing them especialy t430 - mainboards it is a crap.

 

I can get a retina macbook pro with:

- lighter
- more compact
- better screen
- bigger HD (512MB)
- better HD (pcie not sata)
- wireless ac
- somewhat faster cpu
- WAY faster graphics (iris vs 4400)
- WAY better battery life

for 1800. What on EARTH is up with the pricing here? I am astonished that anyone could possibly recommend this. Bootcamp the MBP with windows 7/8 and you've got two 256 gig machines in one.

I don't like the MBP look and feel as much as the lenovo (I hate showy things) but in this case there's just no way I can justify avoiding the mac.

Lenovo fails again to really compete!

EDIT: I missed that the lenovo comes with wireless AC. My bad!

 

Because retina in windows sucks and you can't get any real work done. All things are blurrish or tiny. I know hat im speaking about because i sold my 15" retina to get the t440s. The Macbook was just a nice mailing machine. I need something to develop on microcontrollers and to do some layout things.

 

If I'm not mistaken, all new laptops with Intel Wi-Fi (7260) can offer 802.11ac with maximum speed 867 Mbps for 5G, but Apple is using Broadcom and offers up to 1300 Mbps. I don't know, what happened to Intel Wi-Fi division, but they started to ruin drivers and now even hardware.

By the way, 6cell battery look very ugly on T440s and at least for me almost double the thickness visually.

 

I've been thinking the same thing. However, there are some things to bear in mind:
1) Its not just lenovo. Top of the range Asus, Samsung and Dell machines are no cheaper.
2) The T440s can be equiped with descrete graphics
3) The T440s is much tougher
4) The T440s is remarkably maintainable and upgradable: you can even exchange the battery without removing the lid, on the MBP not even Apple can replace the battery - its soldered in.,

Like you, I'd really rather avoid Apple if possible, but via the apple education store I can pick up a 13" retina MBP w/ 256 SSD for 1074, way cheaper than the Lenovo (or equivalent Samsung, Dell or Asus machines). Who'd have thought it would come to this: Apple is the cheapest alternative.

 

Can you please share the link? I see MBP 13" with 256 SSD for 1399 dollars ( MacBook Pro - Buy MacBook Pro with Retina display - Apple Store for Education (U.S.))

 

That is an interesting point.

1. Do you think that is because of the particulars of the retina screen or would any hi-res screen look "bad" in windows?
2. Also, which windows were you using. I'm not sure it matters, but maybe win7 had scaling issues that 8 did (or could) take care of.
3. is there a way to run in windows at "half" resolution, so that each pixel is just used 4 times. the retina is 2560x1600, so if you set to 1280x800 maybe that would work. Though that would be pretty lame. Really all I want windows for now is gaming. For work (IT) windows vs OSX makes little difference to me.

This does bring up one other thing the MBP has that lenovo and other windows OEMs refuse to get right: 16:10 aspect ratio screen vs 16:9.

I've put off buying a MBPr for 6 months because I heard about the 440s. And now it comes out and is materially worse in many many categories that really do matter. It's just so frustrating to see what I consider the top PC OEM doing such a bad job competing.

Good points, but for me, personally, those features (other than the discrete graphics, which is--incredibly--not available in the US) do not add up to the missing/worse features that I listed. I do love the form-factor and sturdiness of the thinkpads, which is why I hate hate hate to purchase mac. But come on Lenovo, this is simply not acceptable.

And yes, please provide link to that MBP deal!!

 

Nice review! Too bad Lenovo stopped included dedicated GPUs for the T4xx series. If it wasn't for the fact that I needed CAD work in my studies (well...and I'm broke after my last project ), I'd definitely consider this over the bulkier W series.

 

Interesting that the familiar chiclet style keyboard would not be familiar to long time ThinkPadders. I've heard the integrated trackpoint buttons are clicky, which I personally disliked. I wouldn't spend my money without at least trying it first.

 

hmf, I still remember times when ThinkPads were "Best in Business".
I wouldn't use these words to describe current generation of ThinkPads..

Back in the day, they were well thought-out, innovative.

Now the only innovations I see are: removing status lights, removing one key row from keyboard, making function keys secondary, removing touch-pad/track-point buttons and removing dedicated sound and wireless control buttons (yes, yes we've got touch-screen - isn't that nice).

"Best in Business" I would rather call IdeaPad Yoga Convertible (the one, that has keyboard-locking mechanism) - at least some novelty..

P.S. David Hill disappeared somewhere

 

I'd personally be pretty ticked off if I bought a notebook with only a 512MB drive....

But anyway, the build quality of the rMBP won't match up to a Thinkpad/Latitude/Elitebook, and the aftersales support with AppleCare is sorely lacking (seriously, no NBD or accidental for a $1800 laptop?). Anyway, I don't see why the difference between PCIe and SATA would really matter to people.

Anyway, back on topic, I'm pretty disappointed as well with some of the features that Lenovo has removed from the Thinkpad lineup as well. Though perhaps the feature I miss the most was the back/forward keys that the --20 generation had near the arrow keys; those were pretty awesome to have and now that they are gone, in addition to all the other changes made, I'm not sure that I'd personally buy another (new) Thinkpad. Dell's offerings seem to be having battery/charger issues left and right (at least in my experience with friends' XPS/Latitude laptops), so I guess that leaves HP with being the only OEM offering decent business-class laptops anymore (haven't used any of Fujitsu's offerings, so I can't judge them).

 

No, David Hill is still very much involved in Thinkpad design. A lot of the changes we're seeing are part of the modernizing drive, to refresh Thinkpads to still be business-focused but with a sleeker aesthetic. Not saying I agree with many of the omissions, but overall, I still do like the T440s quite a bit.

 

You're describing the Thinkpad Yoga. All of the Ideapad Yogas have keys that you can depress while it's in tablet mode (the keyboard is disabled but the keys still move).