Thinkpad T440s Review

[Mushroom1219]

I recently got a t440s for school use and it has been few month now since I uploaded my unboxing. So I guess its time for the review.  I will also talk about what has changed compare to older thinkpad.

My model: 20AQ006HUS

 

Lets start from the unboxing. Video here

The package was very clean as I mean there is no ugly logo printed like on some product, the labels was nice and clear.  Inside, things are all protected and each piece have its own place. I found a little scratch on the power brick but i manage to rub it off, so not a big problem. Also the windows 8 upgrade disk and the recovery disk wasn't labeled very clearly.(my model shipped with windows 7 pro and it is windows 8 upgradeable, that what's the disk for and at the back of the laptop there is a windows 8 pro logo not a 7 one.)  But everything was all good, nothing can complain here.

 

• Power brick

Lenovo changed their designs on the power connector. so you won't be able to use the old chargers, but there is a adapter thing you can purchase aftermarket, which convert your old circular to the new rectangular connector. In my case I got the 45w power brick, It has a two pinned wire to the wall. which is designed for americans. Here in Australia we use three pin thing on most the wall socket so a small problem for me, but you can always purchase an aftermarket one which is another 60 bucks! I guess that what you get for not buying it at your local dealers.

 

• Screen

Lenovo has finally stepped out their 900p display which is awesome. My unit has a amazing ips display, Mobiletechreview said in her video, there is a 98% in sRBG. Colour is popping very happy at the colour here because I do some photo editing on this laptop too. Just be careful if you decide to purchase t440s, cheek the model on other website and make sure it is a IPS and full hd because lenovo does have few models with the old 900 display which does have lower contrast levels and lower brightness.

Few things that is very disappointing!

There is a lot a backlight licking mostly from the bottom and side of the screen.

The screen is not bright enough in daylight. compare to my friends laptop which are not thinkpad and i also find its really hard to read when the sun is behind you. but it can handle office light no problem.

Lenovo also changed their own anti-glare thing for the display. My case I find it is leaving a lot a fingerprint and it leaves a weird pattern when I cleaning with a little pressure, something I have never seen before.

 

• Keyboard, trackpad and truck points

Im a big fan of the new keyboard that lenovo put in. something I didn't find on the older thinkpad. The key travel is very deep. much deeper than apples and pretty much all the ultrabooks I have seen and typed on. Just a little bit less compare to the t410s which my family owns. Keys at the second row and below are all at the right place. Thing above that has big change. Function keys are now switched with the Fn keys. so when you want press alt f4 you need to hold Fn key at the sametime. Good thing is there is a Fn lock function and everything will back to normal. Home, End, Insert and Delete are all not at the right place.

Backlight keyboard. Light licking very crazy, it can light up my room with all the lights off!!!

New trackpad is amazing bigger and more accurate. But if you are a truckpoint fan like me you probably will hate this. It is hard for me to explain on paper. But I found a really good video that explains it. “LINK HERE”

 

• Hardware inside

T440s come with 4th gen haswell. Means longer battery life and cooler temperature. In my daily use 8gb of RAM has no problem. But you can only upgrade to 12gb because 4gb is on board. So right now I have 4+4 and upgradeable to 4+8. Best I can explain. SSD is fast but you can't compare to two raid 0 which a lot of ultrabooks does nowadays. HD 4400 has now problem playing back full hd video, some drop frames at 4k playback. They also changed the looking for the fingerprint scanner but it just work as well as the old ones. Fan are nice and quiet when idle and light office work. Can barely hear when video playback. Of course things do get a bit crazy when pushing it hard. Much improved compare to t410s which is roaring all the time. Guess the new 15 tdp haswell helped a lot here.

 

• Case

Rollcage is very strong, like what you would find on old thinkpads. Some flax on where your hands usually rest at. But lenovo did a good job below the keyboard. I couldn't get any flexes when I'm typing which is improved over the older generations, really happy with the flex here.

Problems: I left it under sun one day, that day was hot too. The glue on the screen came off a little bit, Good thing is that glue is still sticky so I kinda get it back to what it was. Lenovo also removed the lock for the opening the screen, but it never fall open once. You can still open the screen 180 just like before, and one hand opening screen is not a problem for me.  Nothing I can comment on the dock connector because I don't own one. Over all that new designs made it a lot thinner and lighter.

 

• Battery

Two battery is really cool and I can tell you it is useless if you not gonna buy a spare battery. Software does manage it very well some thing you need to try youself. I usually put it on video playback, because it kinda sit in the middle. Here is some numbers on video playback profile. 6 hours multi use (web, word, and some video with screen on 13-15 (0-15) )  4-5 hours when streaming videos from youtube, this depend on hd or not. the cpu push harder on full hd.

 

 

 

I have to agree with lenovo, it is a great business laptop. If you ask me does it feels like notebook or ultrabook. i say it set more on ultrabook side. Its not thin enough but it is really light. Haven’t ran into any problems with it yet and I hope it will never happen, and I guess that is what makes people love thinkpad. It works, you never need to worry about it.

In the end I leave some suggestions. If you a thinkpad user and looking for a new one. The trackpoint problem is something you really need to think again, at least try one before you buy it.

If you are a thin and light user and you want it have features that thinkpad got like the mil test and fingerprint reader….. Have a look at the x1 carbon if you don't mind the trackpoint and the weird keyboard on the x1.  Or the old x1 carbon, with the nice keyboard and truck points that actually works as long as you don't mind the 3rd gen intel and it doesn't have spill-resistant keyboard. which “always on” cnet killed one.

 

[Glenwing]

Thanks for the review. Can you tell me, does the laptop prioritize using the internal battery or the battery pack first, and is there an option to change its behavior between the two?

[Mushroom1219]

It draw the external first. You can see it in the power manager driver. I dont think you can compleate change the way it draws power. But you can set when to switch at what ever percent.

[Glenwing]

It draw the external first. You can see it in the power manager driver. I dont think you can compleate change the way it draws power. But you can set when to switch at what ever percent.

Ah, that's nice. Thanks

[kungpaogao]

Can you please change the font color to "Automatic"? (Night mode yaaaaaa)

[WinNut]

Nice review. This might push me to review my T420.

[RichardsD]

Solid review, I still like Lenovo, expensive, but glad to see the build quality has not decreased on their Thinkpad series.  I have a Lenovo, but not a Thinkpad, and for my next laptop I definitely plan to get a Thinkpad.

[Ace Lean]

Nice review. This might push me to review my T420.

 

I too own the T420... Its a piece of shit but it has a decent keyboard and it can play Team Fortress and Skyrim on medium... Sooooo Im okay with it.

[Ace Lean]

Solid review, I still like Lenovo, expensive, but glad to see the build quality has not decreased on their Thinkpad series.  I have a Lenovo, but not a Thinkpad, and for my next laptop I definitely plan to get a Thinkpad.

 

I wouldnt recommend buying a Thinkpad, there are so many better laptops out there... Unless you want to buy a y50 or even the Yoga series.

[RichardsD]

I wouldnt recommend buying a Thinkpad, there are so many better laptops out there... Unless you want to buy a y50 or even the Yoga series.

 

Oh, really?  What do you recommend for high battery life, decent performance?

[Ace Lean]

Oh, really?  What do you recommend for high battery life, decent performance?

 

the Macbook Air is your best bet on battery life! Like a solid 12 hours!

[RichardsD]

the Macbook Air is your best bet on battery life! Like a solid 12 hours!

 

True, but I don't want to pay $1000 for a Mac based system with the specs of my Microwave.

 

Are there any other high performance, Windows business laptops with good build quality these days?

[Ace Lean]

True, but I don't want to pay $1000 for a Mac based system with the specs of my Microwave.

 

Are there any other high performance, Windows business laptops with good build quality these days?

 

Apple computers are very different from Pc's, They come with fantastic build quality and they do in fact come with an SSD built in along with 4th gen haswell processors. That was an ignorant statement my friend.

[RichardsD]

Apple computers are very different from Pc's, They come with fantastic build quality and they do in fact come with an SSD built in along with 4th gen haswell processors. That was an ignorant statement my friend.

 

Perhaps that was a bit cynical, but I feel the point stands.  

 

Yes, they have very good build quality.  But for me, the price jump from the i3, 128gb non-replaceable flash memory is just too great.  I understand why they are so expensive, but to me I cannot pay $1000 for a dual core i3 with 128gb of non-replaceable storage.  

[Gung Pow Chicken]

I'm going to jump in this thread and just say that thinkpad's are the best laptop's in existence. I've been using a T420 for work for 3 years now and an x220T at home for a few years. I've since upgraded to a T540 and a W540, both are beast machines.

 

THINKPAD MASTER RACE FTW!!!!

[Circs]

If anyone wants some big time testimony I've got ~200 of these on my network and they've been great. The round to square plug switch is a bit of a nuisance when handing out loaners because getting them back is next to impossible, but aside from that they've been very solid.

[alicskysareblue]

I wouldnt recommend buying a Thinkpad, there are so many better laptops out there... Unless you want to buy a y50 or even the Yoga series.

ever owned a thinkpad or even used one ?

 

they are meant for productivity not for entertainment, if you want that get something else because those two areas are lacking.

 

instead what they do have, is excellent build quality and excellent keyboard experience. also because they are meant for business they have a docking connecter, which is VERY nice for  users who are on the go but want a  lot of ports and a desktop experience. 

 

 

True, but I don't want to pay $1000 for a Mac based system with the specs of my Microwave.

 

Are there any other high performance, Windows business laptops with good build quality these days?

good alternatives, are the hp probook or elite book (they are very easy to maintain and have not tried to clone apple)  dell latitudes, Toshiba portege  or the fujitisu  lifebook line, asus has also come out with their new asus PRO series of laptops.