Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Nathan — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:42:50 GMT

Regarding 10/20 Update:

This refers to the 9-cell battery, not the 4-cell, right? Thanks for the write-up!

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:46:23 GMT

Correct. I only have a 9cell. I do not have the 4cell.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

David — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:08:31 GMT

Hi, thanks for the review. Job well done, but there's one thing I'd like to ask you about.

Could you please do me (and possibly a few others) a favor and try to go a bit further about the difference between the screens on T61p (1680x1050, likely the same as on T500) and T400 (LED 1440x900)?

As far as I've read other forums and posts, there should be three main differences:

-T400 should have higher brightness (250nits vs. cca 200nits on T61p) and higher allowed range for setting it (i.e. "dark" is darker and "bright" is brighter)

-T61p should have better viewing angles and should display colors better (could be however affected by color profile setting)

-T400 might have a misdesigned fit for the Thinklight, where the light from LED is reflected by the screen bezel directly into users eyes (specially painful at night, where Thinklight is supposed to light only the keyboard)

Could you please confirm those? At least by personal impression, or (if you'll find some time) by side-by-side photos? If you'll need some testing pictures, some can be found on http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Thanks in advance,

David

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:34:37 GMT

I have no tools to measure brightness, color and viewing angles. You need to look for the pros at Toms Hardware, Notebook Review, etc. for those types of measurements. I am short on time getting ready to head to the PDC on the west coast followed by another trip. In other words, October and most of November is history for me already.

The keyboard light works well on my T400. If you tilt the LED panel back beyond a 90 degree angle from your eyes, you can see the light and makes it feel like it’s shining in your eyes. Mine is not reflecting off the screen bezel.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

I assume that both these machines are very quiet running? — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:44:11 GMT

Hi Keith,

Thank you for the thorough review. One of my peeves is noise. Are these ThinkPad models quiet running machines? My current TP is an R40, so if it is as quiet as that or more, I will be thrilled.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:29:14 GMT

The T400 and W500 I tested were very quiet except under a significant load like encoding a long HD video project. Under those conditions, the fan does increase to cool the machine.

Under normal conditions they seem near silent. Not as silent as a MacBook Pro, but pretty darn close.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Bob — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:52:37 GMT

Keith,

My T400 offered only with the 6 or 9 cell. I took the 6 cell battery. Is this one flush to the case? If not, I will try to get a 4 cell. ALSO, I will add memory - I could not find where the DIMM slots are located in the manual. Is this memory upgrade for the T400 straightforward, as with most laptops? Many thanks.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:39:01 GMT

Bob,

See http://forums.lenovo.com/lnv/board/message?board.id=T_Series_Thinkpads&thread.id=13811 for all of the information on the batteries.

I did not look inside the T400 for the SIM slots. Most likely they are under the palm rest like the rest of the ThinkPads I've used. You should be able to download the product manual from the Lenovo.com website and check.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

DL — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:52:04 GMT

I've been looking (cautiously) at the T400 and I'm curious if you could comment on your perceptions (even if unscientific) about how the T400 LED screen compares to recent macbook and macbook pro screens? The macbook is a good reference point for me since we already have one in the house and I'm accustomed to it. Overall, I'm really impressed with the one year old macbook screen and would like to find something comparable for my next purchase.

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:03:38 GMT

DL,

Are you talking about the new MacBook's with the glossy screen or the generation before the latest round?

I have the MacBook Pro 15.4" with the matte finish backlit screen. The screen itself is extremely nice. Bright, clear, etc. However, I don't like the fact the native resolution is 1440x900. I would prefer 1680x1050.

The new glossy screens are supposed to be superior to the MacBook Pro screen I have. My first reaction in the store was horror. I didn't like all of the reflections from the gloss. I would need to use one for about a week in various settings to see if that is really just a knee jerk reaction or not. Lots of folks love them.

As for the T400 screen, it's a very nice screen. 1440x900 on the 14.1" screen is the appropriate native resolution in my opinion. The only fault I could find with the screen is the lack of more granular dimming controls. I would like the dimming shortcut key sequence to reduce or increase the brightness on smaller intervals. That would allow a more finely tuned confort level. My T61p has the proper controls but it was changed in the T400, X301 and W500. I'll be testing the W700 soon. Hopefully... :)

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Bill — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 02:12:50 GMT

Thanks for the review.

Struggling with the T400 keyboard. Can I swap in one from a T41? If so, instructions?

Struggling with switchable graphics and external monitors but maybe I'll eventually get the hang of it.

Pleasant surprise with number crunching. Large Excel 2003/VBA application runs in ~5 minutes with T61/Win XP. Runs in ~4 minutes with T400/XP and ~1 minute with T400/Vista 32. RAM's similar. Maybe its the Turbo drive?

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Stef — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:10:15 GMT

Hello Keith,

1) Do you think that the T400 would have the same good perfomance with a Vista Business 64 bit?

I'd like to install Vista 64, do you think that having 4gb would be enough?

re: Lenovo ThinkPad T400 - mini review

Keith Combs — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:19:55 GMT

Any x64 version of Vista will work nicely. 4GB of RAM is more than enough for most people. In fact, it's probably more than most people will ever need or use.

Today a x86 32bit OS with 3GB of memory is sufficient for more people.