My Lenovo t450s experience (review)

[chubbyfatazn]

Their site FAQ states if you refuse shipping you can get charged a 15% restocking fee. I just want to confirm its canceled so I can order the newer model y50 or look at another laptop. For the price I can get it directly through my discount, I can't just go and pick one up at beat buy because its about $2-300 more and not the same specs.

Whoops, guess something changed or I was wrong. Sorry about that.

 

[WeirdG]

Just an FYI regarding the shipping times. I ordered my CTO T450S on April 1st, and received it last night (April 8th).

The screen has a little bit of bleeding at the bottom, but I think I can live with it. I hate how nowadays, everyone's playing the panel lottery game, trying to find the "perfect" panel. Manufacturers can't release products with flawless screens, regardless of how much money you spend.

BTW, the model number of the display is B140HAN01.3, which means it's AUO. After hearing all of the horror stories regarding the LG screens, I'm happy I received an AUO one.

 

[sze5003]

The PayPal credit charge dropped off and its been dropped for over a week now. But my order has still not been canceled yet. According to reps it will ship on the 14th. Its been delayed for over 3 weeks now and I've been wanting to just order the newer model anyway.

 

[Hulk]

Just an FYI regarding the shipping times. I ordered my CTO T450S on April 1st, and received it last night (April 8th).

The screen has a little bit of bleeding at the bottom, but I think I can live with it. I hate how nowadays, everyone's playing the panel lottery game, trying to find the "perfect" panel. Manufacturers can't release products with flawless screens, regardless of how much money you spend.

BTW, the model number of the display is B140HAN01.3, which means it's AUO. After hearing all of the horror stories regarding the LG screens, I'm happy I received an AUO one.

Where do you find the model number of the screen? I'm very happy with mine so I'm curious as to what I got.

 

[Hulk]

Does anybody know of a wireless bluetooth mouse that will work with the bluetooth built into the t450s and not require the receiver? I tried two different Logitech wireless mice with my desktop systems and they only work with the Logitech receivers. The little receive in the USB port isn't a huge deal but I'd rather not have to deal with it.

 

[sze5003]

Does anybody know of a wireless bluetooth mouse that will work with the bluetooth built into the t450s and not require the receiver? I tried two different Logitech wireless mice with my desktop systems and they only work with the Logitech receivers. The little receive in the USB port isn't a huge deal but I'd rather not have to deal with it.

Microsoft Bluetooth mouse 5000 seems to work. Also turn off the setting to turn power off to Bluetooth to save power under the power save settings. The lenovo Bluetooth mouse is also recommended.

 

[Hulk]

Thanks I will check them out.

 

[WeirdG]

Where do you find the model number of the screen? I'm very happy with mine so I'm curious as to what I got.

Download and run this.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/Everest-Home-Edition.shtml

Under Display Properties, if the Manufacturer is the same as the one shown in my screenshot, then you have an AUO. If not, then it might be an LG. Just Google it.

 

[Hulk]

I have the LG display.
Field Value
Manufacturer LP140WF3-SPD1

But from what I'm reading this is a different screen from the LG one in the t440s. I have absolutely no issues with it.

 

[WeirdG]

I have the LG display.
Field Value
Manufacturer LP140WF3-SPD1

But from what I'm reading this is a different screen from the LG one in the t440s. I have absolutely no issues with it.

Yup... the new LG screens sound like they're quite a bit better, based on what I've read. I might have to RMA my T450S. The bottom left side of it has a lot of bleeding going on.

 

[sze5003]

What's the 15 inch IPS version of the model you got Hulk? I know they have E and L versions of think pads too.

I'm tired of waiting for them to cancel my y50 order and I need to buy something in the up coming weeks. I want the bigger screen for development and I also would like it to be not too thick which I think is the point of the t440s.

I'm just surprised they offer the i7 4720 on the y50 but not on their business model laptops. I'll most likely run Ubuntu anyway and upgrade my own parts in the future.

 

[Hulk]

I don't know about the 15" IPS model. You know how it is with these things you don't really know until you get it in your hands and I have the 14".

Speaking of that before I ordered I called Lenovo sales to verify the 14" Full HD display upgrade was definitely IPS as the site seemed to suggest. She checked and said no I can't confirm that. Then checked with a supervisor who also couldn't confirm. In the end I just trusted the reviews that it was IPS and went ahead and ordered. Amazing they don't know their own products.

 

[sze5003]

Yea I was wondering if there was a model equivalent of what you had in size but with a 15 inch screen. The think pads we have at work are big and ugly.

 

[sze5003]

Well they finally shipped my Y50 on 4/15..almost a month after I ordered it and then called two weeks ago to cancel.

Credit card was not billed but I'm debating sending it back and going with the i7 4720 and 16gb ram model. The model I ordered has an i7 4710 and 8gb ram. But I'm unsure if I should just keep it.

Is the i5 in the t450s strong enough for vm's and development?

 

[Hulk]

Well they finally shipped my Y50 on 4/15..almost a month after I ordered it and then called two weeks ago to cancel.

Credit card was not billed but I'm debating sending it back and going with the i7 4720 and 16gb ram model. The model I ordered has an i7 4710 and 8gb ram. But I'm unsure if I should just keep it.

Is the i5 in the t450s strong enough for vm's and development?

I can't speak directly to your question but I can tell you that the most compute intensive application I use is probably Sony Vegas Pro 12. It's not all CPU as Vegas does make pretty good use of the integrated GPU, mainly for preview. The bottom line is that editing on the t450s with the 5200u CPU is pretty darn good. Not as fast as my 4770k desktop system of course but very, very good. I'm very happy with it. If I have to to a long render I'll either do it on the desktop or let it go overnight.

That being said, if your apps require a quad then get a quad because for some tasks there is no substitute. I'm more concerned with real-time performance things that I can set in motion (like rendering) and walk away from the computer or do it in the background don't bother me.

EDIT - I meant to write that I CAN'T speak directly to your question! Big difference. Sorry.

 

[sze5003]

I can speak directly to your question but I can tell you that the most compute intensive application I use is probably Sony Vegas Pro 12. It's not all CPU as Vegas does make pretty good use of the integrated GPU, mainly for preview. The bottom line is that editing on the t450s with the 5200u CPU is pretty darn good. Not as fast as my 4770k desktop system of course but very, very good. I'm very happy with it. If I have to to a long render I'll either do it on the desktop or let it go overnight.

That being said, if your apps require a quad then get a quad because for some tasks there is no substitute. I'm more concerned with real-time performance things that I can set in motion (like rendering) and walk away from the computer or do it in the background don't bother me.

I do web/java, android sometimes so I think I would be better off with a quad especially if I will be running emulators or VM's. I'm just undecided between keeping the laptop that is coming which has a i7 4710 vs the upgraded base model with a 4720.

 

[Hulk]

I finally decided on the SSD for my t450s. I went with the BX100 500GB based on overall performance and power usage. I got it from Tiger Direct for $190 less $10 from a coupon I had.

 

[Hulk]

I do web/java, android sometimes so I think I would be better off with a quad especially if I will be running emulators or VM's. I'm just undecided between keeping the laptop that is coming which has a i7 4710 vs the upgraded base model with a 4720.

The difference between the 4710 and 4720 is only 100MHz. I can't imagine you'd notice the difference.

 

[sze5003]

The difference between the 4710 and 4720 is only 100MHz. I can't imagine you'd notice the difference.

True, i may just keep the one that's coming. I'll probably get a similar ssd down the road or pick up a 1tb if they can be had at a decent price. I also plan on throwing 16gb of ram in there. I think the laptop comes with 2 4gb sticks if I'm not mistaken. I'd really like the t450s but they don't have an equivalent model with the specs I need.

 

[Hulk]

Looks like the t450s has a 15W thermal envelope and I think it'll be a long time before we see a quad at 15W. Broadwell could probably do it at 28W, maybe a little lower if the clocks were low enough. But I think we'll need 10nm or lower to crack 20W with quads.

 

[sze5003]

What they need to do is make a 550s since that's pretty much the 15inch version but thicker. Possibly do away later with the U versions of the processors. I sure hope yours does not have any technical issues as their customer service is bad or so I've heard. But I've also heard thinkpad lines are better.

Although all the thinkpads have a similar design the t450s is as sleek as you are gonna get if you want a thinkpad. I sort of still wish they were owned by IBM.

 

[celamb89]

Just pulled the trigger on a t450s with 500GB HDD + 16GB M2 + 3rd M2 slot... My goal was to put install a 128GB MyDigitalSSD in the 3rd M2 slot as boot drive... I need a dual boot system so was going to partition the M2 boot drive to load windows in one partition and linux in the other... the 500GB HDD will serve as a storage device...

Has anyone setup anything similar? Tried googling around but mostly found single OS partition setup in the M2 SSD... Im wondering about performance and BIOS/FW issues that might come up...

 

[Hulk]

I tried booting from the m.2 and while I got it working after about 15 minutes of use the computer would always lock up. I think I read here or somewhere that you have to turn on or off (not sure which) legacy boot to stop that issue. I pulled the m.2 and just put in a Crucial BX100 500GB which has been working perfectly.

 

[celamb89]

Thanks Hulk! Well thats a bummer... But not an issue, so 3rd M2 slot whats it doing there? Just for extra cache or storage? I guess I could setup the dual boot in the regular Hard drive slot (be it HDD or SSD) and use the 3rd M2 slot for extra storage..

I would like to have a storage thats shared between the parititons.. So if I put a 250GB SSD partitioned as dual boot (linux and windows) and then put a storage SSD in the 3rd M2 slot I could share the storage..

not the cheapest but dont want to have issues and end up spending more money

 

[Hulk]

It's been over a month now that I've had my t450s and I thought I'd provide an update.

Overall I'm very, very happy. Once I got the Crucial BX100 500GB installed performance has been excellent. I have no problem opening typically laggy apps such as Coreldraw, Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements 13 and the like. They open in less than 5 seconds. Overall "snappiness" isn't like my 4770k of course but it's very close.

I've learned my around Windows 8.1 and made some customization adjustments to the trackpad so I'm getting along with it much better. I also picked up a MS Sculpt mouse which I love. It connects to the t450s via bluetooth so no don't hanging out the side of the laptop.

Battery life for my typical usage, Chrome, Word, Excel, maybe some Photoshop Elements, Sony Vegas Pro, and Microsoft Web Expression 4 is around 4 to 5 hours and depending on how bright I keep the screeen and I keep it bright normally.

The one strange thing I've noticed is that the external battery, which is used first will drain all the way down to 5% or less before the internal battery takes over. Seems like it should switch over around 25% as Li Ion batteries will have a much longer lifespan if they are not deeply discharged. But then I guess Lenovo wouldn't be able to sell as many replacement batteries. I suppose the upside of this is that the internal battery should last quite a while since I rarely "get into it."