Lenovo ThinkPad T410

The ThinkPad T410 is the latest revision of the popular T-series ThinkPad from Lenovo. This model brings a new line of dedicated and integrated graphics cards, the Intel Core-series processor line, and a completely redesigned chassis. We took an in-depth look at the highly anticipated T410 to see how well it stacks up against all the prior T-series ThinkPads. Does it live up to our expectations? Read on to find out.

Our Lenovo ThinkPad T410 with NVIDIA Graphics Specifications:

* Screen: 14.1-inch WXGA+ (1440 x 900) LED Backlit (Matte finish)
* Operating System: Windows 7 Professional (64bit)
* Processor: Intel Core i5-540M (2.53GHz, 3MB Cache)
* Memory: 4GB DDR3 RAM (2GB + 2GB)
* Storage: 320GB Seagate 7400.4 HDD (7200rpm)
* Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
* Wireless: Intel 6200 802.11AGN, Bluetooth, Gobi 2000 WWAN
* Graphics: NVIDIA NVS 3100M with 256MB DDR3
* Power: 94Wh 9-cell, 90W 20V AC adapter
* Dimensions: 13.13 x 9.41 x 1.09-1.26”
* Weight: 5lbs 9.3oz
* Retail Price: $1,940

Build and Design
To the naked eye very little has changed with the overall design of the ThinkPad T410 compared to past models. It still carries the black rubberized screen lid with ThinkPad logo, still offers the shiny matte-black chassis and palmrest, and still uses the strong and highly visible stainless steel screen hinges. Those are the areas where the similarities stop. The port layout has significantly changed to allow an increase in available ports and even a few new types of connections. Once opened, ThinkPad fans will notice that Lenovo finally centered the screen, so no more thick bezel on one side and a thin bezel on the other. Another change is the shift from a two-piece palmrest and keyboard bezel on older models to one-piece design that is stronger and has fewer gaps to squeak. The bottom has also changed--with a user-access panel being the biggest addition--to let users install more RAM or a wireless card without tearing apart the notebook.

Build quality is a touchy subject for anyone familiar with the ThinkPad brand and how it has changed over the years. Any change to the sacred ThinkPad is seen as negative, even if it results in a stronger notebook. The good news is that overall the redesigned chassis in the T410 still feels as strong as ever ... but the bad news is a few specific areas did lose some strength compared to past ThinkPads. The screen lid seems weaker on the left side which allows pressure applied to the lid to show through as distortion on the LCD. Only the left side of the screen cover shows this distortion but it is still more than past models. Another item is the access panel on the bottom of the notebook that is designed to let users access one of the system memory slots and an open mini-PCIe slot. This is easily the weakest part on the entire notebook ... bowing slightly when installed and flexing more than any surrounding panel. I really wish Lenovo went with a metal panel even if it slightly increased the overall weight of the notebook.

Access to internal components has improved over past models with the T410 no longer needing to have the palmrest removed to upgrade the memory. With the latest redesign Lenovo moved the RAM to the center of the notebook. One slot is accessible through the bottom of the chassis with the access panel removed and the other is underneath the keyboard. The keyboard easily comes out after you remove two screws and slide it out of position. For the average person this makes user upgrades much less complex. As always the hard drive has its own access panel which is removed with a single screw.

Screen and Speakers
The screens offered on the ThinkPad T410 have changed very little compared to ones offered on the T400. The biggest difference is all T410 models come standard with LED-backlighting. With that said we didn’t notice any decrease or increase for that matter in the quality of the displays. The WXGA+ screen on the T410 with dedicated graphics offers good color reproduction with better than average contrast. The WXGA screen on the T410 with integrated graphics also has good color reproduction and contrast but it has a slight blue tint compared to a neutral white on the WXGA+ panel. Backlight levels are stronger on the WXGA panel when both panels are set to the same brightness level. Viewing angles were similar for each notebook with most colors starting to distort and invert when tilted 15-20 degrees back. Horizontal viewing angles were better with colors staying accurate even from steep angles.

The onboard speakers sounded better than average for a business notebook. They were able to get loud enough to fill a small room but bass and midrange was still lacking. For the daily video conference or watching YouTube during a break they should be more than adequate for the intended market. Headphones for travel are also high on the list of must-have accessories.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The T410 has the same redesigned keyboard that we saw debut on the T400s. It has a new function key layout with keys such as the Escape and Delete buttons increased in size while also added a backlit power button and microphone mute button. Another new feature which is located in the BIOS is Lenovo allows you to swap the function and control keys through software if you happen to be one of those people that enjoy the control key being the last key in the row.

The ThinkPad keyboard is still comfortable to type on for hours without creating too much hand strain. The redesigned keyboard has a few tweaks compared to previous models; narrower spacing between keys to lessen the chance of crumbs getting in and a softer typing feel. The softer and quieter typing feedback actually caused some typing troubles since I would type lighter on the keyboard and not fully activate keys. Once you got used to the difference it wasn’t a problem but for those first mistyped passwords it was really annoying.

The touchpad is a textured Synaptics model that is very spacious to handle multi-finger gestures. The T410 supports two-finger scrolling, rotating, and zooming, as well as three-finger press and flick. In general use the touchpad is easy to use with no discernible lag and a very fast refresh rate. The acceleration speeds on both axes were equal… so drawing a fast circle didn’t result in an oval shape. The textured surface was easy to slide across in daily use even if your fingers were slightly damp. The touchpad buttons were easy to use and very comfortable to click. They offered a long throw with a soft clicking action that didn’t emit any noise when fully pressed.

Ports and Features
Port selection on the new T410 is excellent and a huge improvement over previous models. Lenovo added an additional USB port, added FireWire, added eSATA (for compatible models), and even tossed in a DisplayPort connection for digital video out without needing to use a docking station. In total this makes the ThinkPad T410 one of the most feature-rich 14” notebooks on the market, with four USB ports, VGA-out, DisplayPort-out, combo audio jack, modem, LAN, FireWire-400, optional eSATA, as well as an optional SmartCard slot. The T410 also has a SDHC-card slot and ExpressCard/34 slot for expansion.

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Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 11 K345

Key downgrade. Lenovo tinkers around on its budget ThinkPad and gives the mini a matt screen as well as a new Athlon processor. However, were taken aback in view of the 32 watt hour battery. Will the upgrade downgrade the previously very good mobility?

The first ThinkPad Edge 11 with an Intel Core i3-380UM (1.33 GHZ) struggled its way through our tests in November 2010. We were delighted about the viable application performance, the screens high resolution and the extensive communication equipment (3G). The only thing that didnt evoke enthusiasm was the glare screen.

The Edge 11 with AMD Athlon II Neo K325 (1.3 GHz) also followed in November 2010 and excelled the Intel version with a better battery life (low load). The reflective 11.6 inch display however was also a thorn in our side here.

In the meantime, Lenovo has remedied the glare type problem and offers its Edge 11 in the Intel and AMD configurations with an anti-glare screen. Besides the expensive Intel version (starts at 536 euros), the aggressively priced AMD configurations with Athlon II Neo can be found. Our test device is the Black Smooth alternative with matt black surfaces. Price: starts at 369 euros.

• Athlon II Neo K125 (1.70 GHz, 2048MB, 320GB, 658D835, glare)
• Athlon II Neo X2 K325 (1.30 GHz, 2048MB, 320GB, 658D817, glare)
• Athlon II Neo X2 K345 (1.40 GHz, 4096MB, 320GB, 665D830)
• Athlon II Neo X2 K345 (1.40 GHz, 4096MB, 320GB, 665D829, test device)

Which strengths does the new CPU have? Is there still a performance difference to the Core i3-380UM? Can the battery life of 5 hours be maintained? Will the matt screen be suitable for use out in the sun? This test update about the Edge 11 answers all these questions.

Specifications Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 11 (665D830) :

• Processor : AMD Athlon II Neo K345 1.4 GHz
• Mainboard : AMD M785
• Memory : 4096 MB, PC3-10600 (667 MHz)
• Graphics adapter : ATI Radeon HD 4225 - 256 MB, Core: 382 MHz, Memory: 400 MHz, 8.753.0.0
• Display : 11.6 inch 16:9, 1366x768 pixel, LP116WH1-TLP1, glossy: no
• Harddisk : WDC WD3200BEVT, 320GB 5400rpm
• Soundcard : ATI RS690 HDMI @ ATI SB800
• Connections : 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA, 1 HDMI, 1 Kensington Lock, Audio Connections: combined headphone/microphone jack, Card Reader: 4in1 cardreader,
• Networking : Realtek RTL8168D/8111D Family PCI-E GBE NIC (10/100/1000MBit), Thinkpad 1x1 11b/g/n Wireless LAN PCI Express Half Mini Card Adapter (bgn), 2.1 + EDR Bluetooth
• Optical drive
• Size : height x width x depth (in mm): 30 x 284 x 211
• Weight : 1.353 kg Power Supply: 0.244 kg
• Battery : 32 Wh Lithium-Ion, 11.1V 2800mAh
• Price : 399 Euro
• Operating System : FreeDos
• Additional features : Webcam: 0.3MP 640x480, none, 12 Months Warranty.

Case
The handy case doesnt try to attract attention with fragility. The weight of 1353 grams is average for 11.6 inchers. For example, the Aspire One 722 weighs 1400 grams, and a Vaio YB1S1E/S has a weight of 1431 grams. The angular case with rounded edges is bulky to hold and we clearly sense that we are dealing with a serious work device.

Alike the 13.3 incher, the i-dot in both ThinkPad logos light up with a small red LED (permanent on / altering standby). Our model "Black Smooth" refers to the haptically non-slip but nevertheless smooth surfaces of wrist-rest and lid. To call them velvety would be exaggerated. Its more like light rubber that is mixed in the paint. This provides grip and prevents fingerprints to the largest extent.

There is a small handle on the displays silver band to open the laptop. If you try to take hold of the lid in the center, you could accidentally pull up the touchpad keys as well. They close flush with the display lid and base unit. It seems as if the display is to be pulled up here because the gap between the moveable touchpad keys and the base unit are larger here than between the display lid and base unit.

The plastic case bids very good pressure stability and the base units and displays torsional stiffness is excellent for this price range. The display bezel that yields when pressure is applied is a small flaw. The battery fits tight in the case. However, it leaves a gap above the keyboard when its removed.

The hinges are identical with the 13.3 inchers. The small metal hinges are mounted tightly on the case. They have a firm hold on the lid and it doesnt teeter. The wide opening angle of 180 degrees is perfect for such a small device. It allows you to see whats on the screen in tight spatial conditions. Both hands are needed for opening or increasing the opening angle due to the base units low weight.

There is no transportation fastener (latch). Small objects could penetrate and damage the screen since the lid opens a few centimeters. While these latches have disappeared in consumer notebooks, many business laptops still have one.

Performance
Our test device its the new Edge 11 AMD standard configuration on the market. The Athlon II Neo X2 K345 (1.40 GHz, Champlain) replaces the somewhat lower clocked K325 (1.3 GHz, Geneva) from the same type. Apart from the clock rate, there is no difference between the CPUs. The level 2 cache is still small with 256 KB and the TDP of 12 watts is still suitable for subnotebooks (45 nm structure width).

The incorporated GPU, AMD Radeon HD 4225 (up to 256 MB shared memory) is maintained and has the same clock rates as in the K325-Edge (core clock: 382 MHz, memory clock: 2775 MHz). The system is accompanied by a 4096 MB DDR3 memory and a slow rotating 320 GB hard disk from Western Digital.

The CPU benchmarks barely measure the change from K325 to K345 and are therefore actually irrelevant for the consumer. The K325 (0.7 points) and the K345 (0.8) are very close in Cinebench R11.5 CPU 64 bit. Wprime 1024 shows that the difference is almost negligible (fewer seconds is faster): K325 (1884s) and K345 (1742s). Another test, Cinebench R10, confirms this: K325 (2518 points) and K345 (2787). Thus, the difference is around 10-12%.

The Intel alternative runs overall faster through these tests. The i3-380UM (2x1.33GHz) manages 1.1 points (R11.5), 1329 seconds (Wprime) and 4266 points (R10) in the synthetic CPU benchmarks. The speed advantage with i3 thus equals 24 to 41%. It is primarily Hyper Threading (calculating on four threads on two cores) that brings advantages in multi-tasking.

The PCMark Vantage test adds up the overall performance and rates the interplay of CPU, Radeon graphics, RAM and HDD. The graphics performance plays an inferior role, but the hard disks speed has a high impact. The Edge achieves a total score of 2409 points. Thus, the Edge clearly surpasses a Lenovo X100e with older hardware (Athlon Neo MV-40, HD3200, 1387 points). The K325 Edge is on a par with 2486 points. The Edges Intel version can set itself apart clearly from this with 3619 points.

Potential buyers ought to consider the following should the ThinkPad Edge E125 (11 inch) or X120e with the Fusion APU, E-350 "Brazos", be launched onto the German market: Fusion will speed up certain applications with the faster Radeon HD 6310 (compared to HD 4225), but the overall application performance could be lower. For example, the HP Pavilion dm1-3180eg with this APU only accomplishes 2277 points in PCMark Vantage. First the brand new PCMark 7 gives the HD 6310 a bit more credit like the Lenovo ThinkPad X120e shows: 1101 points versus 1003 points of our Edge 11 K345.

The Edge reaches 980 points in 3DMark2006. Thus, the Radeon HD 4225 is clearly inferior to a HD 6310 (3588, Acer Aspire 5253) of future Edge laptops with Fusion APU E-350. Even the HD netbooks with the C-50 APU partly have more 3D power: Aspire One 521 (1046 3DMarks06), Asus Eee PC 1015PN (1155), Asus Eee PC 1015B (1411) and Aspire One 722 (1460). 3DMark 11 and Unigine Heaven couldnt be executed due to the lack of DirectX 11.

The installed HD 4225 only manages 2.85 points in Cinebench R11.5s OpenGL test. All previous Fusion notebooks were clearly in the lead with 7.5 points (E-350) and 5.0 points (C-50) here.

Lenovo no longer relies on Hitachi but on Western Digital for the mass memory. However, the capacity of 320 GB stays the same. The HDTune rates of the 5400 rpm HDD turn out fairly low, as expected. The average in sequential read is 70 MB/s. CrystalDiskMark uses a different routine and determines a more comprehensive picture about the through puts during the read/write of small and large data packages (92 MB/s).

The low figures in read and write performance of random 4K blocks is striking (0.48 / 1.0 MB/s). This slowness is however typical for rotating HDDs because the write/read heads have to first be placed in position mechanically every time. This takes a lot of time and can only be remedied by an SSD.

Gaming: No issue for the Edge 11

There are better entry level cores than the HD 4225 for gaming, which we prove with a random test with Left4Dead. Zombie hunting runs even slower on the Edge 11 than on the 13.3 inch Edge with a higher clocked K685. Its only smooth in the utmost minimum resolution of 640x480 pixels (low details). This results in a just still smooth game play of 29 fps (34 fps, Edge 13 K685). The frames cave-in in high details with 1024x768: 12 fps (13 fps, Edge 13 K685).

Short: The Edge 11 K345 isnt suitable for gaming. If youd like to add "a bit" more 3D to your work life, you should take a look at the upcoming Edge devices with a Fusion E-350 (11.6 inch: Lenovo ThinkPad X120e / X121e, Edge E125).
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