Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-01 18:51:46

Hello,

I really need a new laptop, the current one, a Dell from about 2004, isn't cutting it. I have been looking around and really like the Thinkpad T400s. What I wanted to know is if anyone has one and is running Arch on it. It is newer and therefore hard to find any Linux info on it. The only thing I would be worried about is the Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics. Do those work now? I was looking around the forum and there is quite a bit of posts regarding them and I would rather not spend $1600 if it is only going to work half as well as it should.

If anyone has any comments regarding Thinkpads or just a recommendation on laptops, feel free to post.

Thanks,

-Ghosty

BTW, heres a link from the Thinkpad site:

http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont … EBB87059AC

Square · 2009-07-01 19:11:50

Intel X4500MHD works excellent here. 1300+FPS in glxgears with a Dual Core Pentium T4200 (2Ghz).
I don't have a thinkpad, however. It's a Dell

If you're interested, you can get the same lappy I have with better specs than that Thinkpad from Dell for much, much less.

Check this link http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ … 76-1260291-

Last edited by Square (2009-07-01 19:15:32)

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-01 19:36:29

My only complaint with the Dells is that the new ones I have seen do not hold up well to travel, and I always felt like they were a little 'delayed", meaning, that DDR3 ram is the new standard and hardly any Dells use it.

The Dell model I was looking at was this:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ … studio-14z

Once again though, it is still using DDR2 and once I max that model with 5GB of shared ram and the better monitor it is already at nearly $1600...as well as, most other models use ATI graphics. The one that is perfect is this:

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ … dio-xps-16

But it too, uses ATI graphics...what to do, what to do.

Thanks.

-Ghosty

toad · 2009-07-01 19:40:04

My mate's got a T400 - three months old or so - and is well pleased. He's on Kubuntu and apparently everything is working. Personally I've had Toshiba, IBM, Dell and Asus laptops and I wouldn't go for anything else than IBM anymore. My first was a T600 and I then moved up a notch to a T41.

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-01 20:04:21

Thanks for all the replies already, and although the Dells are better deals, I think I will stick with the Thinkpad. The next question is about Linux and SSDs. Is the upgrade worth it? I was actually thinking about getting the basic hard drive with Windows, removing it, and then installing an SSD with Arch and saving the old hard drive in case I need to sell the laptop.

Any SSD recommendations?

Once again, thanks.

-Ghosty

loudtiger · 2009-07-02 18:01:15

i would not recommend any non latitude dells, especially coming from a thinkpad. not even in the same universe in terms of build quality and reliability.

i wish the new t400s had discrete video. maybe by the time i upgrade, it will : )

how about the new corsair/samsung SSDs? they're cheaper than the intels, offer more space, and aren't that much slower.

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-02 18:05:26

loudtiger wrote:

i wish the new t400s had discrete video. maybe by the time i upgrade, it will : )
.

That is my only complaint. With the price, you think they would have at least a basic card. Maybe it is a heat issue? BTW, it comes with a 5400rpm hd, is that a heat issue? Would it kill the thing to have a 7200rpm in it?

Last edited by toasty_ghosty (2009-07-02 18:23:43)

loudtiger · 2009-07-02 20:13:00

unfortunately, it uses a 1.8" drive. i don't think there are any of those that are 7200rpm. looks like another tradeoff with the new, slimmer design.

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-03 00:49:16

And even worse, most Thinkpads either come with the Intel integrated graphics or ATI cards...

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-03 00:50:06

Double post...

Last edited by toasty_ghosty (2009-07-03 00:51:08)

leeyee · 2009-07-03 01:44:33

Hey, I have a T400 running Archlinux. It has X4500MHD integrated card and ATI3470 discrete. I am currently using X4500MHD without xorg.conf with KMS enabled, it works fine both 2D and 3D acceleration. However, ATI discrete card has some notorious problems with property fglrx driver such as black screen when logout. while with open source drivers radeon or radeonhd it lacks 3D acceleration and power management. But stick with X4500MHD help me prevent these annoys, and I am just waiting for kernel 2.6.32 and newer ATI DRI drivers(which may has R6xx/R7xx support soon) to see if I could switch back to ATI discrete in the future.

Other parts of T400 all work fine here except the fingerprinter reader which in my case is 08ff:2810 AuthenTec.

In a word, welcome to Thinkpad!

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-03 02:14:31

Thanks.

I was looking at the T400 originally when the T400s came out. Besides some differences, such as the size of things, hard drives etc, due to the actual physical size of the laptop it self, there isn't much difference between the T400 and the S model. Makes me much more comfortable to buy this thing knowing it works for you!

BTW, without a xorg.conf? Is that now supported?

kyouens · 2009-07-03 03:13:04

I've got a T500 running Arch 64 bit. I've run linux on a bunch of machines over the years, and this one's worked out great for me. Configuration was fairly straightforward (for Arch . . .) and everything now works with the exception of the fingerprint reader. I have the one with switchable graphics, and I'm running the Intel chip now since I get better battery life, not to mention avoiding the disastrous ATI Linux driver situation. Accordingly, 3D is slow (but works). When I had Ubuntu installed, everything worked pretty much flawlessly, but it felt too bloated for my tastes so I switched. It was either Gentoo or Arch and I've had my fill of the former over the years.

And BTW, I run without an X config file. Hal is good. I can't say that I miss wasting time screwing with my graphics settings.

Last edited by kyouens (2009-07-03 03:14:44)

leeyee · 2009-07-03 04:40:41

Remember refer to http://www.thinkwiki.org/ if you get any configuration problems or want support information.

The T400 wiki page on wiki.archlinux is a little mess since T400 has many variants with different hardware.

toasty_ghosty · 2009-07-03 05:44:15

Thanks leeyee,

I had found that before but couldn't really find what I was looking for due to it being a bit outdated/messy. Once I get this thing I'll have to write a howto to bring that page up to date a bit more.

-Ghosty

Dethredic · 2009-07-20 04:25:04

I debated between the t400 and the e6400, and ended up with the dell. The thinkpad was just too ugly (and the fn key is in the wrong spot).

The dell was simple to set up in linux, even for a noob like me.

cauchy · 2009-08-23 20:53:14

I have a T400s and run Archlinux on it. It was no problem to install. Just make sure you install the wireless-tools. I have had some trouble connecting via ethernet first, but no problems using the wireless card.

Best regards,

Thomas

ffjia · 2009-08-26 07:40:59

What about the battery life? cauchy

How long it will last?

cauchy · 2009-08-26 17:28:32

Battery life will vary between 3.5 and 4 hours with wifi on and display brightness set to 40%. I optimized a little bit with powertop without achieving huge savings. Power comsumption is between 10 and 12 Watt. Unfortunately that is not very long compared to Windows.

After all I recommend the T400s for running Archlinux.

The only thing I am somewhat surprised about is that Lenovo claims on their website that the T400s is 0.83 inch thick, whereas it is actually about 1 inch thick.

Best regards,

Thomas

tkdfighter · 2009-08-26 22:59:42

http://www.neptun.ethz.ch/software/pc/lenovo_linux_EN
They sold T400's at my university through this program. That's the supoort page.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-01 18:51:46

Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#2 2009-07-01 19:11:50

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#3 2009-07-01 19:36:29

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#4 2009-07-01 19:40:04

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#5 2009-07-01 20:04:21

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#6 2009-07-02 18:01:15

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#7 2009-07-02 18:05:26

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#8 2009-07-02 20:13:00

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#9 2009-07-03 00:49:16

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#10 2009-07-03 00:50:06

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#11 2009-07-03 01:44:33

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#12 2009-07-03 02:14:31

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#13 2009-07-03 03:13:04

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#14 2009-07-03 04:40:41

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#15 2009-07-03 05:44:15

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#16 2009-07-20 04:25:04

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#17 2009-08-23 20:53:14

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#18 2009-08-26 07:40:59

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#19 2009-08-26 17:28:32

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

#20 2009-08-26 22:59:42

Re: Thinkpad T400s - Anyone have one?

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