Lenovo Thinkpad T400 Review Jul 15 2009

Thinkpad T400 - $850 (with discounts, if you buy through Med Business, you can get discounts)
2.24 Ghz 3mb L2 cache Core 2 Duo processor
2.0 Ghz DDR3 Ram
160 GB 5400 rpm HDD
CD-RW/DVD
14.1" LED Display 1280 x 800 (aka 720p HD, can't go up to 1080p)
Intel 4500mhd video card (mediocre, can't be used for gaming)
9 Cell battery (max brightness + Word + Firefox on youtube and hulu = 8:30 hours at 100%)

For those who use the Windows Experience as a measure
My scores are as follows
Processor (5.2)
Memory (5.9)
Graphics (4.2)
Gaming graphics (3.8)
Primary Hard Disk (5.3)
Windows Base Score (3.8, derived from lowest score)

I'll try to get back to you if you have any questions or comments on it, or if there is something you want me to show on the laptop.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Lenovo
• Thinkpad
• T400
• review
• laptop
• laptop review
• consumer
• computer review
• tech
• support
• Windows 7
• John
• student
• college
• college laptop
• student laptop
• light
• budget
• back to school

[leadorg]

P8600 is 2.4 ghz not 2.2 ghz (which is the P8400).

LED backlight LCD is not lighter or thinner, but it has over 100,000 hours of life expectancy compared to the 20,000 or so hours of the CCFL.

You can change the trackpoint sensitivity.

[crapadarappa]

@leadorg At the time of purchase, my P8600 is 2.26 ghz (verified by the Lenovo and Windows hardware system info). There are different serial models of CPUs that vary in their speed ratings.

Again at the time of purchase the optional CCFL came with a thicker display casing, as stated by Lenovo, than the LED, and less material means smaller width and weight. Lenovo could very well have come out with new casings for their CCFLs that match the LED

I hate the feel of the trackpoint not sensitivity

[yudsan]

Hi crapadarappa, I have a question.

How well would this machine work for creating digital artwork, using programs like Photoshop and Corel Painter. What kind of specs would you recommend for such usage?

Thanks!

[crapadarappa]

@yudsan I recently just installed the Adobe Master Collection CS5 on my T400. Sadly the graphics card and low memory couldn't handle After Effects CS5, Premier Pro CS5, and Encore CS5 (those three need at least 4 GB of Ram and a high end graphics card aka GPU and a 64-bit Operating System). With 2GB ram and a 2.26 Ghz CPU Adobe is not sluggish, but it's not exactly a breeze. Photoshop is exhausting to use with this set up. Gimp works much better. and Corel Painter, I'm not sure.

[infarkt11]

Nice, You rock! One of the best reviews! I'm thinking to buy T400, just waiting for the 15%-20% off deal. Do I really need to purchase extended warranty? Do they break a lot? How is your thinkpad behaving now, after 6-7 month of use?

[crapadarappa]

@infarkt11 sorry I haven't gotten back to you sooner. After 11 months of use my Thinkpad is quite reliable. I've dropped it a few times (twice on accident once on purpose) and nothing's malfunctioning. It is a slow system setup however and I regret not shelling out more money for at least a ram increase to 4GB, or waiting for the core i5/i7's to come to the market. Extended Warranty isn't really worth it as long as you keep your laptop safe.

[derekavl]

You have obviously never owned a ThinkPad before. Lenovo's previous gen, the T61 was a great notebook. However, the upgrades that were made to the T400 are some of the features that you criticized. The track pad is larger than previous versions which is a welcome upgrade. The trackpoint that you criticized is lauded by business professionals for it's functionality. Please get used to this superior machine and then review again.

[Kjilif]

LMAO !!! Based on CHina or India !!!

[kumakhozanz]

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Product Description

T400 P8600

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Notebook (TopSeller) Intel Centrino 2 Core 2 Duo P8600 2.40 GHz - 14.10

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[bladelee36]

I hate the audio in/out in the front. I love the middle red dot mouse. I think very labtop should have it. You can actually customize it to match your touch.

[crapadarappa]

@writing523 At the moment, good tech support is kind of dragons and unicorns, they probably existed in the past, but now they're just stories. I hear Toshiba has good support, but I have not personally used their tech support. For a ridiculous premium of roughly $150-500 Dell has "North American based" Support, not worth it. HP is pure hell. Sony, hit and miss. American Express has good warranties on purchases made with their signature cards, but that's not exactly support. Best Buy is ok...

[crapadarappa]

@ctrlaltdlt01 to my knowledge the T400 does not have a slot for 3G or Wi Max mobile broadband cards, but it can be installed when ordering. the T401 and T402 probably do not have a slot and are also installable cards as well.

[writing523]

Hi,

Thank you for the really helpful review. I was wondering if you know of any companies that do have good tech support? I need a business laptop and was looking at the new Lenovo 410 but I hate terrible support -- that's kind of a dealbreaker for me.

[ctrlaltdlt01]

i just got one of these computers second hand. thanks for the informative review. My question is do you have the slot for 3G sim cards and was the built-in to your laptop? My T400 has this little sim card slot underneath the battery tray but I cant detect an actual WiMax or broadband card.

[zmxaiwy]

in china about RMB 11,000