Lenovo Thinkpad T440 M 2 Ssd

Laptop Mag Verdict

An impressively powerful thin-and-light business notebook that offers supreme comfort and a sleeker blueprint than its predecessors.

Pros

+
Blazing fast performance
+
Good keyboard
+
Authentic touchpad
+
Sleeker blueprint
+
Fast kick fourth dimension

Cons

-
Mediocre video playback
-
Poor sound quality
-
Lesser gets warm

Editor'south Note: During the review procedure, we were able to examination 2 different configurations of the Lenovo ThinkPad T410, one with Intel integrated graphics and another with a more expensive, more than powerful Nvidia NVS 3100M discrete graphics card. Unless otherwise noted, all test results apply to the configuration with integrated graphics.

Lenovo's ThinkPad T Series has long been known as the gold standard for business notebooks. The T410 is the latest fourteen.i-inch member of this family and, with its Core i5 CPU and sleek new pattern, this car ($1269 as configured)elevates the line to new levels of performance.

Pattern

Terminal yr, Lenovo slimmed down and jazzed upwards the traditional ThinkPad T Serial design when information technology released the slimmer ThinkPad T400s. At present some of the most bonny elements of the T400s have made their way unto the T410, including the more angular shape of the sides, and the new keyboard / LCD light layout. This new look is more than evolutionary than revolutionary, but it makes the organisation look much more than modern and attractive.

The materials used in the T410'south chassis get in more durable and stylish at the same time. The chassis features a lid made from ABS plastic and a potent carbon-cobweb reinforced plastic bottom. An internal gyre cage helps protect the notebook from harm.

The T410 measures in at 13.i x 9.4 x 1.3 inches, weighs 5.2 pounds with its standard vi-cell battery (the 9-jail cell extended battery volition add 0.4 pounds), and is near equivalent in size and weight to the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 and the HP EliteBook 8440w. However, when nosotros held the original ThinkPadT400 and and so the new T410 in our easily, the T410 felt more compact and easier to carry. Mayhap the plastic bottom and more tapered edges gave us that impression.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Click to enlargeThe T410 sports the same keyboard that nosotros fell in love with on the T400s. It feature the potent tactile feel which made Lenovo famous, along with new, enlarged Esc and Del keys. Using the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor, we were able to achieve our usual score of 80 words per minute. Still, we found ourselves making more errors than usual, and, as a result, nosotros longed for the even more than responsive and well-spaced isle keys of the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge thirteen.

Similar most ThinkPads, the T410 features both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a touchpad. We are big fans of the TrackPoint because it's highly accurate and allows yous to navigate the desktop without lifting your fingers from the abode row. However, if y'all prefer touchpads, you'll appreciate the extremely accurate, textured surface on the touchpad. Information technology also supports multi-touch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom and ii finger scroll. Unlike some touchpads nosotros've used, zooming in and out is shine and accurate.

Heat

Throughout our testing, the T410 remained very cool to the touch. Nevertheless, after playing 15 minutes of Hulu video, it got just a petty warmer, measuring 103 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom. We measured a more temperate 96 degrees Fahrenheit on the touchpad, and a absurd 93 between the Yard and H keys.

Brandish and Sound

Click to enlargeThe ThinkPad T410's xiv.1-inch LED backlit screen is available in 2 resolutions, 1280 10 800 and 1440 x 900. Nosotros had the opportunity to test both screens and each offered precipitous, bright images with excellent viewing angles, even at a full 90 degree angles to the right or left.

While withal images and games looked adept on the T410, video playback was another story. We tested the detached and integrated models in both screen resolutions. Playback was polish but dark areas were filled with obvious visual noise and pixilation. The problem occurred in every video we tried, from a 720p episode of <i>Fringe</i> streaming on Fox.com to a DVD of Night City to a 1080p file we downloaded from Microsoft's WMV HD Content Showcase.

The audio emanating from the T410's speakers was also poor. While only a little tinny, the maximum volume was so low that it was hard to hear.

Ports and Webcam

Click to overstateThere'southward no shortage of ports on the T410. The right side of the chassis contains an ExpressCard/34 slot equally well as an eSATA, a powered USB, a FireWire400 port, an audio in/out port, and a Kensington lock slot.The left side firm VGA, Ethernet, and Brandish ports, a Smart Menu reader, and three more than USB ports, pushing the total tally to 4 USB ports. The front lip houses a 5-in-1 card reader for transferring files from cameras and other devices.

The webcam offers strong solid images, even in depression calorie-free. When using the photographic camera in our dimly lit living room, images were sharp and clear. The video while conducting a call on Skype was very smoothen.

Performance

With its ii.53-GHz Intel Cadre i5-540M, the ThinkPad T410 produced some of the all-time performance scores we'd e'er seen. On PCMark Vantage, a constructed benchmark that measures overall organization speed, the notebook scored a whopping six,937, which is more than double the sparse-and-light notebook category average of 3,467 and over ane,000 points higher than the ThinkPad T400s (5,893) which has a ii.53-GHz Cadre two Duo SP9600CPU. The score was so high that it about matched the HP EliteBook 8440w (6,975), a mobile workstation that features a higher-stop 2.66-GHz Intel Cadre i7-620M.

The 320GB 7,200-rpm difficult bulldoze booted Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) in a speedy 45 seconds. A lot of this progress is due to the work Lenovo has done with its Enhanced Experience program to meliorate Windows 7 kicking times.

The bulldoze as well completed the LAPTOP Transfer Test, in which nosotros copy four.97 GB of mixed media, in a speedy 2 minutes and 55 seconds for a rate of 29.1 MBps. That is7.6 MBpshigher than the category average of21.5 MBps and most double the score of the original T400 (sixteen.5). The ThinkPad T400s nosotros reviewed last yr returned a rate of 66.0 MBps, but that notebook featured a solid-state drive.

Using HandBrake, the T410 transcoded an 114MB MP4 video to AVI format in a quick 3 minutes and 38 seconds, abouttwice as fast equally the category boilerplate of 7 minutes and6 seconds and merely 20 seconds slower than the EliteBook 8440w. When nosotros used Oxelon Media Converter, a program that uses multiple threads, the T410 finished transcoding in only 52 seconds, just7 secondsslower than the 45 second time offered by the Core i7-wielding EliteBook 8440w.

Graphics

With either Intel integrated graphics or the Nvidia NVS 3100M discrete chip, we were able to navigate smoothly around the globe in Google Earth, surf the Web with ease, view photos, and watch smooth (though a little noisy) high def video.

On 3DMark06, a criterion that measures overall graphics prowess, the integrated graphics T410 scored ane,374,over 200 pointsbelow the category average of 1,584. Withal, the model with discrete graphics returned a strong 3,698, which was higher than both the HP EliteBook 8440w (3,687) and the original T400 on its high performance setting (2,557).

With either graphics solution, you can play Globe of Warcraft on the ThinkPad T410. With integrated graphics, nosotros managed a serviceable frame rate of 27 frames per 2d at 1024 x 768 resolution, which increased to a whopping lx frames per 2d with discrete graphics. Nonetheless, when nosotros configured the game to utilise each panel'due south native resolution (1280 x 800 for the integrated and 1440 x 900 for the discrete), the frame rate on the integrated graphics T410 dropped to an unplayable 8 frames per second while the discrete graphics T410 got a reasonable 28 frames per second.

On the discrete graphics ThinkPad T410 nosotros were even able to play the graphics-intensive game Far Cry 2. At 1024 ten 768 resolution, we got 45 frames per second, but but ix frames per second on the integrated T410. The discrete frame charge per unit was far higher up the category average of21 fps and virtually equal to the performance offered by the HP EliteBook 8440w (46 fps). At native resolution (1440 x 900 or 1280 x 800), Far Cry ii wasn't playable on either the discrete or the integrated graphics T410s, returning weak frame rates of xi and four fps respectively.

Battery Life and Wi-Fi

The ThinkPad T410 is available with a standard 6-cell battery or an extended 9-cell unit. Using the LAPTOP Bombardment Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi, nosotros found that the integrated graphics T410 lasted 3 hours and 53 minutes with the half dozen-cell battery and 6:02 with the 9-prison cell. Because discrete graphics utilize more power, nosotros weren't surprised to see that the discrete graphics T410 lasted only 3:09 with the vi-cell bombardment and 4:56 with the 9-jail cell. Both nine-jail cell times were higher than the category boilerplate of 4:37, but even the 6:02 time fell a few minutes short of the original T400 on its lower power setting (6:26) and the HP EliteBook 8440w (half-dozen:36), both of which also had ix-prison cell batteries. That's the price you pay for Core i5 functioning.

The ThinkPad T410'south 802.11b/g/n wireless menu managed reasonable transfer rates of twenty.three and xviii.6 Mbps from distances of 15 and 50 feet from the router. The first score was very shut to the category averages of 20.8 Mbpswhile the 50-foot score exceeded the category boilerplate of 16.9 Mbps.

Greenness

The ThinkPad T410 took 1 hr and 35 minutes to attain the fourscore-percent marker while charging and iii:sixteen to get to 100 per centum. During that time, it used an average of 36.6 watts. Its LAPTOP Battery Efficiency rating of 30.8 is a niggling worse than the category average of 26.1. EPEAT has given the T410 a gilded rating.

Configuration Options

Click to enlargeSince Lenovo lets you lot configure the T410 online, you can choose from a variety of options to suit your needs. For the CPU, you can get either a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M, 2.53-GHz Intel Cadre i5-540M, or ii.66-GHz Intel Core i7-620M. When it comes to storage, yous can opt fora 128GB SSD, or hard drives ranging in size from 250GB to 500GB in both 5,400 rpm and 7,200 rpm speeds.

As nosotros mentioned previously, you can get the T410 with either Intel GMAHD integrated or Nvidia NVS 3100M discrete graphics. The system supports upwards to 8GB of RAM too.

At that place are also options when information technology comes to screen resolution and battery capacity. We highly recommend springing for the 1440x900 screen ($thirty) and the 9-cell battery ($fifty) for longer battery life.

For $1,269, our integrated graphics review config featured a two.53-GHz Intel Core i5-540M CPU, 320GB vii,200-rpm hard drive, 4GB of RAM, Intel GMAHD graphics, a 1280 x 800 resolution screen, and a 6-cell battery. For $1,485, y'all become Nvidia NVS 3100M graphics, a 1440 x 900 screen, and a nine-jail cell battery.

Software

The ThinkPad T410 comes with a standard suite of Lenovo ThinkVantage utilities, including Power Manager iii, Airbag Protection for hard drive shock protection, and theAccess Connections 5 Internet connection managing director. The most useful of these programs might be Lenovo's Password Vault, which stores and encrypts all of your usernames and passwords. In improver, the notebook comes with Corel DVD MovieFactory vii, a basic video editing program, and Ulead Burn.Now 4.five SE, a DVD burning application.

Security Features

In improver to its software, the T410 offers plenty of enterprise-level security features, including an optional fingerprint reader ($20) and Smart Card ($10). The fingerprint reader is peculiarly convenient as it stays powered on even when the system is off and users can turn on the calculator and log into Windows with just a swipe.

Warranty

The ThinkPad T410 comes standard with a 1-year warranty on parts and labor and 24/seven cost-free phone support. To run across how Lenovo did in our tech support showdown, click here.

Similar all ThinkPads, the T410'south warranty can be upgraded to two or three years. Small businesses with limited IT budgets tin also purchase boosted services such as priority support and accidental impairment protection.

Verdict

The ThinkPad T410 continues the ThinkPad T Series's long tradition of providing workstation level performance in a portable package. If you desire a lighter business organization notebook, you might want to consider the slimmer but more expensive T400s. However, if you're looking for a top performing 14-inch business organisation with a comfortable keyboard and a dash of fashion, the T410 is a not bad choice. We wish the speakers and video playback were ameliorate, but overall this is one of our favorite business organization notebooks.

ThinkPad T410 Specs

Brand	Lenovo
CPU	2.53-GHz Intel Core i5-540M
Bill of fare Slots	5-1 menu reader, Smart Card, ExpressCard/34
Company Website	world wide web.lenovo.com
Display Size	xiv.1
Graphics Card	Intel GMA HD
Hard Bulldoze Size	320GB
Difficult Drive Speed	vii,200rpm
Hard Drive Type	SATA Difficult Drive
Native Resolution	1440x900
Operating System	Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
Optical Drive	DVD-RW
Optical Drive Speed	8X
Ports (excluding USB)	Audio-out, eSATA, Audio-in, VGA, Kensington Lock, Firewire 400, Ethernet, DisplayPort
RAM	4GB
RAM Upgradable to	8GB
Size	13.1 10 nine.4 ten 1.iii inches
USB Ports	4
Video Memory	Shared
Warranty/Back up	One-year/24/7 price-complimentary phone
Weight	v.2 pounds
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/north

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The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly cavalcade is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Bombardment Test. He holds a primary's degree in English language from NYU.