It really annoys me about how most laptops in the last 3 years can't have upgradeable RAM. If SO-DIMMs are too big, they need to make a new standard that's smaller and has a lower footprint.
I think that's just consumer line laptops. I think most business line laptops are still upgradable like that. I do agree with you though, I miss the day when most laptops had socketed CPU''s.
I have a handful of ThinkPads (T410, T440p, X1 Carbon (original), Helix). Out of all of those computers, my favorite is definitely my T440p. I bought mine for $40 from the Goodwill computer store in Hampton, VA and put maybe $200 worth of parts into it. New screen (1080p AUO panel), new keyboard, new hard drive, Core i7-4710MQ, and a 42mm 64GB KingDian m.2 SSD. It'll definitely be the one that I keep when I sell some hardware off.
The T440p is easily my favorite ThinkPad. I got mine for $150. Upgraded to 16GB Ram and M.2 SSD. It ended up being around $300 in total with upgrades. Still better than any new $300 laptop.
It's the numeric keypad that's causing the touchpad to be off-center. This is because the touchpad is centered under the main section of the keyboard, adding the numeric keypad shifts both to the left.
I just got the w541 16 gb ram/i7/says the graphics card has 60fps but not sure how to know for sure. Got it for $200 I work at a pawn shop and had the hookup
I swapped the Touchpad on my T440 with a T450 version Touchpad and it works absolutely fine. Together with the 1080p-panel and a ram upgrade i'm really happy with it as my daily driver.
The deal on 3:03 seems a better deal than yours 3k display. You can afterwise upgrade the CPU and the display. The 1080p model has a better GPU, that part you can't upgrade.
I have a W541 with i7-4710MQ, Quadro k110M and a 9 cells battery, with the 1080p display and the backlit keyboard, it's basically the best laptop I've ever had. A great feature of this thinkpad is the expresscard port, so you could insert an SSD or even a GPU via adapter.
I recently got myself a new Laptop, previously I had a Thinkpad T410 i5 540M + Nvidia NVS3100M + 8GB RAM, keyboard went on it similar to yours in around the same area, decided it was time to upgrade, was looking at the Thinkpad W530, Thinkpad W541 and Dell Precision M6800, ended up with the Dell and it's by far the most well built laptop I've ever held or used, it's got a latch on the screen which was a must have for me, it's got more external ports than you will ever need and my particular unit is pretty much top spec except for RAM, i7 4930MX, 16GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro K5100M 8GB, 500GB SATA 3 SSD, 1TB SSHD, 128GB MSATA SSD, fingerprint scanner, 1080p matte finish touch screen, pretty much everything you'd ever need, it's really more of a portable desktop in terms of real world performance, if you're ever looking for a beast of a machine then the Precision M6800 is worth checking out
I have never gotten why people think that 15 inch class laptops are inherently unportable, sure there are the 8 lb gaming laptops but i still find 15" models to be easily portable and carry around enough other stuff that a few extra pounds of laptop isnt really noticeable
I'd agree if they were made thin. Many 15.6 inch are either gaming or cheap/thick. Even the one with ryzen 5, which theoretically is far easier to run than intel + nvidia laptops. I have this option too a few months ago. Whether to get asus a410un (15.6 inch, same spec, same design, 4GB RAM) or s410un (14inch, 8GB RAM). Decided to get the s410un because adding ram is expensive here (to prevent warranry void, i need to pay $20 just for asus to unscrew, insert ram, and putting back warranty sticker)
for me, i feel the difference. my laptop was 2.1 kg. upgraded and know mine is 1.5 kg. atm i doesn't feel any weight pulling down me when im wearing my bag. i would feel it on my old laptop. (i was 13 though when i first bought it. so... yeah)
camtheham13: I agree. I upgraded from a T410 to a T520. It fits in my laptop backpack just fine even with the extended 9 cell battery. I don't find the extra pound noticeble at all. Well worth the larger screen and higher screen resolution.
I used to have a 17" DTR Clevo P870DM laptop with a 6700K and dual 980M's, that thing was heavy as hell. I downgraded to a M6700 and installed a 3920XM and a single 980M, still performs swell enough for me
To me 14" is the cutoff for portability, 15" is just a tad too large for my preferences. That being said, I do like the T440p (with a T450 touchpad) because of how easily it can be upgraded (almost everything can be done just by removing the bottom panel) and the native support for 1080p IPS displays. Also, along with the 15" T540p and W540/W541 counterparts, it's the last ThinkPad to have upgradeable processors and the last 14" ThinkPad to have an optical drive. The only thing that holds the T440p back from being my favorite ThinkPad is the modern design (ew), and the lack of an ExpressCard slot like is present on the 15" models.
My HP Elitebook 8440p is 14" screen and it has Express card port. But the only downside of it, is the display can be upgraded from 1366x768 to 1600x900. And it is using 1st gen motherboard, CPU and GPU (but I have the Intel HD Graphics instead).
I have a Lenovo X120e I have locked 🔒 it by mistake and can't get in. Been that way for years every video I watch no one knows how to unlock it. It's frustrating.
I have a W541 myself. Its pretty much the same as yours except I have a K2100M and 32 gigs of ram. I plan on doing some serious upgrades to the processor, the storage putting 3 drives on RAID 0, and the palm rest with the color sensor and the fingerprint reader because I can benefit from the color sensor given that I'm beginning to do a lot of Photoshop work. Overall though, this system is pretty solid as it stands right now and is much faster than any laptop I've ever owned. Oh yeah, the W540 and W541 are Adobe and Avid certified!! Good choice for a laptop dude!
seems like you know what you are talking about, i have the the same one but the sd card isint working , tried to install the driver again and no luck , update the driver no luck , any idea? i did download the driver from lenovo website and nada , no trabaja , let me know if you have any idea how to fix this problem please , thanks in advance
You're not alone with the keyboard issues, my w541 had the "9, o, l and ." keys failed. It was a non backlit version and I ended up having to replace it! I had not spilled water on it or anything it just slowly broke down key by key.
I got a T540p 1080p at the end of the semester for $250 and it's rockin'. Fantastic high power project laptop that I don't have to worry too much about breaking b/c it's a thonkpad. And of course, I swapped out that trackpad as soon as I got it.
Have you tried a screen upgrade for the T430 to 1080p? You can get them for T420/T420s/T430. I've used the W541 3K fully spec'd laptop and my main concerns is that the touchpad is simply the worst one I've ever used on a laptop. Screen is meh, lots of real estate, but you have to increase the DPI to use it without going blind so you're only getting a little bit more pixel precision. The T420 has far superior build quality too. GPU and CPU are blazing fast though, no complaints there.
The T400 and R400 are basically identical to the T61 and the R61. It was essentially lenovo fully taking over the thinkpad line. I use a T61, and it's great, even today!
Hi, I have a question, I have a lenovo w540 (hd4600 + k1100m) + "ThinkPad Advanced Dock (Model # 250310U)" + gt 1030 could it work? I want to buy the DOCK GPU for gaming medium.
I'm looking for a CAD-Able Notebook, Like the W540 and Dell Precision, but they're so overpriced. My Thinkpad L430 is starting to struggle with assemblies who have more than 10 of components moving at the same time and as a student I can't afford more than $500usd in my country (Chile) for a laptop. I was thinking on a gaming laptop (They're cheaper than workstations) but the CAD community suggest to avoid them for compatibility issues. What can I do?
I recently replaced my T440p/nVidia/i7-4700/16gb/RAM for a W540/K2100/i74800/32gb/RAM/FrankenPad Trackpad transplant. A few things I like better about the W540? 32gb/RAM, and it came with a 1080p display. Also, the nVidia K2100m video chipset, is a pretty decent gaming chipset. I wouldn't waste my time with the K1100m graphics. I paid $370 + $183 on upgrades. Excellent machine, for a total of $553.
I find that the HP Elitebook 8570W is an excellent laptop for the same purposes as the Thinkpad W541. Ivy Bridge CPU up to i7-3840QM (good power efficiency due to process shrink), up to 32GB(4x8) RAM, upgradeable MXM-A GPU up to Quadro K2000M (GPU&WiFi card BIOS whitelist limited). There's sentimental value for being part of the final generation of workstation Elitebooks as well. Also, there have been reports of the Quadro M2000M with Dell Precision vBIOS somehow passing the whitelist check, but only working on 8570Ws with a DreamColor display???
Hey, nice video. How far did you take your last t430? I have one and I’m thinking about doing the same upgrade you did and get the w541. I use it for music production. Do you think there’s a chance to put a 6 core processor in the w541? Thanks.
LOL people thought the portability of that laptop was bad, try carrying around an Alienware 17r4 xD Thats what Im using as my main Windows device and let me tell you, 10 pounds is not light for a laptop xD Amazing build quality for, its to die for
I’m considering getting a W541 with a dock so the discrete graphics card can render on an external monitor so I can use it as a portable ‘round the house desktop’, but after seeing your core 2 duo upgrade I’m wondering is a used i7 4770 dell optiplex and an upgraded core 2 duo Thinkpad would be a better and cheaper combo Why do you not recommend a W541 as a daily driver? Thanks for your clear videos 👍🏻
Hey, love your vids. What's your take on the Zbook 15? I checked it out it's a powerful little machine with a dedicated GPU and the ten key number pad which I like. I was just wondering why Lenovo instead of to that or another comparable laptop.
You need ram, a lots of it. My suggestion is to get a computer with upgradeable ram and get 32 gigs of it (overkill but you may need it) Gen 4 quad core processor is not significantly different from gen 7, it's ok
Hello, I can get an X1 carbon for $300 USD from a friend. I would use it as a lightweight daily driver. Is this a good deal? Or should I just go with another PC?
Not true I got an x1 carbon and put Linux onit it fly's and is supper powerful I can do some light editing to but when I had windows on it it was slow and buggy
Since I didn't find anything about this question, I'll post it here: Are THinkPads picky when it comes to RAM or can I pretty much use whatever I want?
You must use SO-DIMM RAM, desktop RAM won't work. That's pretty much it. Do some research about your preferred ThinkPad model and look for what kind of RAM it accepts, for example DDR3/DDR3L/DDR4, 1333 MHz or 1866 MHz, etc.
If it's the right DDR, then yeah it works. My W520 has a huge mess of all different DDR3 some 4GB some 2GB some DDR3L some 1333Mhz some 1066Mhz, yet it still works great !
You should have looked at a m4800, you can get a 4k screen and u can upgrade the gpu (only up to like a 965) ive been using mine for ~5 months. Its a tank tho, and i picked mine up for 300 and prob put ~ 70 in it
as a cooling person I'm still a big TPFanControl guy when it comes to thinkpad thermal management. dunno if the W541 supports that. that being said, I'm still on my T500. it's still hanging in there, and I'm almost sure it's one of the few surviving switchable-graphics T500s out there in the wild. I'll be honest when I say I haven't been looking at thinkpads much, or any laptop for that matter. trackpoint usage is meh for me except for the occasions when it's necessary, and most thinkpads newer than the Tx10/Xx01 line all come with the dreaded clickpad I wish never existed. touchpads should have two separate buttons below the mousing surface like $deity and man intended. anything else stunts productivity. it's been hard to find any laptop now that meets my now-unusual nitpicks, and there have only been some from say, HP or the like that have really caught my eye. the only others that meet everything are budget netbook-class machines for education or low-cost purposes (a-la Ideapad 100S, 110S) etc. and even that's not doing good because I've now had two batteries within the course of a year suddenly puff up in my 100S, breaking the standoffs on the underside.
It sure does, I mentioned in the video that I am using TP fan control. I have gotten used to using the trackpoint so I only ever use the buttons mounted above the trackpad. I could see how it could be hard to get used to the typical trackpoint hand position though. I have never been a huge fan of the Idea Pad line, I have played around with a few in-store and they all feel super cheap to me.
I managed to snag a W540 off of ebay for $290. With upgrades my total spent is about $420. Specs: -i7-4810mq -32gb ram -3k screen -1tb M500 sata SSD -3 button touchpad
I actually bought another W540, so I have 2 of them now. Both have nearly the same specs. Upgrades and all, both together were around $1000. The only difference between the two are, one is 3k, one is a 1080p IPS display. I prefer the 3k, so that's my "DD". The new one, in addition to 3k, has the i7-4900mq processor, and the factory "ClunkPad" (which I like). My other one has the FrankenPad upgrade, essentially, making it a W541. I don't like it for a couple of reasons. The middle button will make contact with the display while closed, even with the lightest pressure. Possibly scratching your display. I put two, rubber "sticky feet" on the top of my display bezel, to keep it from making contact when closed, and in the case.. I also don't like the flakiness of the T450 touch pad. I use a mouse 99.9% of the time anyways. Rest of the specs are the same: nVidia K2100m 32gb PC3-14900 ram 2x1tb Samsung EVO 860, SSD's 480gb MyDigital "Superboot2" M.2 NGFF drive Backlit keyboard. The second one is a backup to my "DD". I also have four, T440p's, 3 with nVidia. One is a dual core i7-4600m, the others are Quad Core, i7-4700mq/4800mq, one is an i5-4300m (This one isn't nVidia). All but the i5, are specked out. Fantastic STILL, in 2019!
Why you'd buy an old Thinkpad from 6 years ago vs. a refurbished entry level Thinkpad P51 or P52 for not much more money on Lenovo's website is beyond me.
The trackpad is still centered to the keyboard home row were it belongs. Ergonomic studies have shown that the trackpad should be directly below and in line with the space bar and home row. On laptops without a numpad to the right it's centered directly below the space bar as well, it's just that the space bar (along with the rest of the "Home Row" typing keys) is offset to the left to make room for the numpad. If you placed the trackpad in the center of the base of the laptop it would be offset to the right making it difficult to reach the buttons when you use the Track Point and awkward to use in general. Also, it has nothing to do with the 30 series vs 40 series (that only relates to the generation of the processor architecture). It depends on which keyboard you have. A T440, or T540 (and later) still has the keyboard centered in the base as they don't have the numpad keys so the home row is centered to the base. The problem is that too many people are thrown off by the LOOK of the trackpad offset to the left and properly centered below the home row and space bar. Once they try to use one of the few laptops where they didn't align the trackpad with home row they find out how awkward it is to use once they start typing. It's the people who essentially spend the majority of their time surfing the web and primarily click on links and rarely type who find it a little awkward for it to be offset to the left under the space bar where it belongs since they have no idea what the Home Row is or what you use if for.
Between the W530 and W540 the keyboard layout did drastically change with the addition of a numpad (I know the T series did not have this, though that line also went through the same general design change). That's what I was referring to in the video. I agree with you, ergonomically I think the offset trackpad is fine because it is still relatively centered to the keyboard / space bar. It's funny, even today you will still find people complaining about the addition of a numpad on the 15" models (I actually like the addition of the numpad).
With my HP Elitebook 8440p trackpad and keyboard layout is similar to what you were saying in your first paragraph. But the numbpad is on the keyboard itself so hence for the function key. Which you have to get old driver that was made specifically for Windows 7. And I kind of hated that they didn't update it to the current Windows 10 OS. Same with the trackpad. Sometimes it just takes off to the top left and or top right which it infuriates me. Also my HP has touch par above the keyboard and the software is mainly made for Windows 7. So it is impossible to remap the touch keys (at least for me) to be in line with the Windows 10. Also the screen brightness on my laptop shouldn't be so low that it is nearly impossible to see outside. But with the poor battery optimization for it. Could've just went with a 9 cell (bulky) battery instead of the 6 cell (low profile) battery. So all in all, it is a good laptop when it works like it supposed to. Just got to use high quality thermal paste. And swap the motherboard just for getting dedicated GPU.
I like your videos, keep it up bud. I rock the i5 and i7 model of the T430 myself with both 768p and 900p screens. Really regret upgrading to a glossy screen but it was so much better than the previous.
I recently bought a T540p, arguably a better buy for anyone who doesn't need more than 16 GB of RAM. My 1080p model with 8 GB of RAM cost for $166 shipped. So far I've upgraded it with an i7-4712MQ ($80), 512 GB SanDisk SSD ($90), 1080p LG high-gamut IPS panel ($40), T450 trackpad assembly ($23), and a new LiteOn keyboard ($34). Soon I'd like to upgrade it with 16 GB of 2133MHz DDR3L RAM and a 9-cell battery. My goal has been to put together a laptop capable of handling Adobe Lightroom well. I too broke the keyboard while disassembling mine. A couple keys popped off and I destroyed the fragile clips to secure them. These laptops have a very unusual way of securing the keyboard, with screws hidden below a sliding layer. I wasn't too upset since the keyboard had an unpleasant feel. It was the backlit Chicony keyboard. I "upgraded" to a non-backlit LiteOn keyboard (FRU 04Y2426), which has a much higher quality feel all around. I am really happy with the machine so far.
meanwhile in 2024 I picked up a w541 with the i7 4910mq 32gb of ram the dedicated nvidia gpu for $200. still a great computer imo. even if it's not top of the line like it was back when it came out.
Picked up the 4810MQ 8GB model for 130$. It had a very tiny problem with the screen, which is why it's a bit cheaper than yours. Other than this nearly forgettable issue, the laptop is a 10/10.
Because it comes with a weak 6300 "U" processor. The 4thGen Quad Core, is much more powerful. The W541, can be upgraded to 32gb/RAM. With the X1Carbon, you're stuck with whatever soldered ram came with the machine. Also, all W540/W541 ThinkPads, come with a dedicated GPU.
I just bought a W540 4810MQ K2100M 16GB 500GB SSD for £395. Gonna Replace the Screen with a 4K IPS panel, replace the trackpad with one that has physical buttons then replace the palmrest with one that has the fpr and colour sensors ^^
I don't think that a laptop with water on it is a clever and innovative idea. I know the keyboard is supposed to channel it down and out through openings in the bottom, but as far as I know, with recent models in the P series they will get wet inside if you do what is shown in the opening sequence. I would not encourage people to try that if your goal is to be helpful.
Point is, they don't. Hell you want to see an even more extreme version of him splashing water on his laptop, go watch his "how to basic" thinkpad video where he practically hosed down the damn thing
I dumped an entire, LARGE cup of hot coffee on my W540 keyboard. It still worked, and it drained the liquid out the bottom, and did not get the inside components wet. However, I DID end up replacing the keyboard.
I carried around for almost a year, a L430, for work as a traveling technology repair tech. When I got it, the original slim battery was bad, so I had talked my boss at the time to get me the EXTENDED battery. As a result, it won't fit into tech tool bag. Now, I carry around an E440. Still... These are both bulky systems for day-to-day use and I wished my company would phase out to a T470 or T480 OR the HP 840 G4/G5 or maybe the Dell 7480 or 7490. My personally owned laptop is a Yoga 720 15 with the i5-7300HK and 1060 2gig. Even my Yoga, being as slim as it is, IMO, is too large and heavy to carry around (takes 2 hands to carry it comfortably). I am looking for something Windows related to augment my Yoga when I don't need it (maybe something like a cheap Windows Tablet, a Refurb Surface 3/4, or a Surface Go). My thing is that I appreciate ThinkPads for what they are and the power they bring that Dell or HP doesn't. I appreciate the build quality Lenovo brings that nobody can really match. That said, I no longer want to carry that weight around. You can drop and dent a Lenovo and it will keep on going. Try that with a Dell or HP and you'll risk breaking it.
+ Rio I agree older Dells are well built. The e5430 was a nice laptop that I supported for a while. You could drop it off a desk and it'd survive (mostly due to it's bulk. Them come the 7440 or 5440 (the company I support went with the 7 series from here on) and the 7440 constantly came to me cracked or broken. Now in their lives, the 7440 has bad batteries, chips, dents, bad SSDs etc. The 7450 and up moved to a better plastic and less case damage but still, the 7450, 60 and 70 has battery issues now for me and my users. The 7480, I have had 1x SSD issue in less than a year. Overall, I have seen most of my Dells with case damage (scuffs or chips or cracks). The Thinkpads other than E series are not made of plastic so less likely to damage. That said, if I was given a Dell to use or I got a steal of a deal on a 7480/90 or 5480/90, I'd keep it and use it.
@@matthewjbauer1990 yeah, they've definitely gotten worse. The older elitebooks arent bad either. Laptops as a whole have gotten worse since Ivy Bridge though.
My laptop has a n3060 cpu. I often wonder to whom that cpu is targeted at because it can't handle games or even web browsing as it is SUPER slow. A 2007 AMD turion tl-58 is way faster.
In my opinion, a CPU like that one is targeted at people who surf low-power websites and do Microsoft Office style work. Maybe viewing pictures might be a stretch depending upon how much RAM is backing the CPU. I think that a CPU like that might be able to handle connecting to a remote virtual machine (or Citrix desktops farm) in a corporate environment, but corporations would never typically go below an i3 on their computers.
That's what i do daily on it. Although i use google drive and other google products. I guess it's for those who can wait 10s for google drive icons to load (not a slow internet). It's fine to type on once it has loaded. Also youtube and media streaming is fine if nothing else is open. I realized it would have been better to buy a used business laptop after i got it. They are the same price but they have i5 processors in them.
Those CPU's are usually put in Chromebooks. My Chromebooks have a Celeron N2840 with 4 GB of ram (Dell Cb 11 Candy). Doesn't run windows that well at all, but maybe it is because I tried it on a slow 32 GB Flash Drive...
Got W540. K2200. 18GB ram, tn full hd :(. Upgraded to IPS full hd, Backlit keyboard and two 256 SSD's. Total cost ~850€. Had for solid year of studies (autoCAD, Tekla, Rewit, Scia...). What I have to say is that it's baaaad :( I'm not a lazy or weak, but as I have to carry it everythere my sholders and back starts to hurt after lunch. But the worst part is : the drivers and K22000 is so old, that newer fersions of CAD doesn't support this card and programs start to lag or don't work like SCIA on K2200 and I'm forced to run SCIA on intels video card. Nontheless, keyboard is fantastik and I'll wouldn't trade it to anything else :D. Considering all the negatives, Thinkpad is still in my heart and it feels. like Alfa romeo :D Feels fantastic, but has some problems. P. S. : screen broke (too many dead vertical pixel stripes to use) so does anyone know a good replacement? (30pins IPS FHD)
B156HAN01.1, a drop in replacement, excellent color. Did this to one of the few w540s I have before giving it to my mom. Makes a world of difference compared to the horrid TN panel they put in the 540/541 especially compared to the unbelievably good TN pane the w530 ships with.
I have a W541 & it has the same specs as yours. I bought two extra 9 cell batteries. So far I love my machine. I did get a much better deal than you though.
Minecraft FPS was out of frame LOL. Yeah the Quadro line is thier pro of GPUS for doing actual work and NOT gaming. For example CAD, 3d modeling via Blender and the like. For example the NVS 4200m in the Thinkpad T420 is on par with the geforce 520m on the gaming side of things so I bet this is a lowend Geforce card for gaming as well. If you want higher FPS/better graphics turn down the res to 720p instead of 1080p
In my experience, changing resolution did nothing for performance, but it did when I connected an eGPU. Changing texture settings did nothing, but it did with the eGPU. Laptop graphics and desktop graphics are a bit different.
The NVS 3100M is about 10% faster than a HD5450. Very decent! I have a half T410 that I hook up to the television for gaming, the 3100M is very good! Grand Theft Auto IV at 1280x720 Medium settings gets a good 45fps. GTA V at 1280x720 """Normal""" settings with shadows on Smoothest ran at 50fps :)
Montisaquadeis tricks: overclock gpu with msi afterburner ( max first setting, 700 MHz second) you should get 10 FPS extra. Disable fullscreen enhancements by right clicking on the game file -> properties. I had choppy FPS before changing this setting. Use it on chrome too to get better performance. Change to High performance power settings. Some people get better performance with intel XTU but it didn’t change anything for me.
Daily laptop is a Acer 15'' i5 from 2016, Play laptop is a Dell 15'' Inspiron i3 with linux and just picked up a POS Windows 10 tablet for $40 just to see how $40 feels like. comes with Atom quad core and 1GB of ram. Boi I am rofl with 1GB of ram LOL.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
The intro B-roll ends at 1:40 if you want to skip it.
AA Computers and Technology are you single?
Love the footage of Exuma!
are you going to do a review of the T400
Tommy boy1585 nah he’s cool enough he prob has a girlfriend
Can you send me your tp fan control config file? That you're using for the w541.
It really annoys me about how most laptops in the last 3 years can't have upgradeable RAM. If SO-DIMMs are too big, they need to make a new standard that's smaller and has a lower footprint.
I think that's just consumer line laptops. I think most business line laptops are still upgradable like that. I do agree with you though, I miss the day when most laptops had socketed CPU''s.
i hate soldred anything. I sticking to laptop that fully upgradable like cpu,ram,hd ect
im on a dell m6500
ironically, I opened up a new hp laptop and found empty ram slots on the motherboard, and no access panel on the outside of the machine
@@DragonProtector I am on HP Elitebook 8440p.
I have a handful of ThinkPads (T410, T440p, X1 Carbon (original), Helix). Out of all of those computers, my favorite is definitely my T440p. I bought mine for $40 from the Goodwill computer store in Hampton, VA and put maybe $200 worth of parts into it. New screen (1080p AUO panel), new keyboard, new hard drive, Core i7-4710MQ, and a 42mm 64GB KingDian m.2 SSD. It'll definitely be the one that I keep when I sell some hardware off.
That's a great deal! My goodwill down here in Virginia Beach is wayyyy over priced. I might have to check out the one in Hampton.
Nice collection!
Have you opted for the second battery?
Have you made sure that the laptops has rubber feet?
The T440p is easily my favorite ThinkPad. I got mine for $150. Upgraded to 16GB Ram and M.2 SSD. It ended up being around $300 in total with upgrades. Still better than any new $300 laptop.
@NYCfactor I agree!
I'm watching this video on a W541 and it's great.
I agree i find his complaints laughable mien is rock solid and great and still going strong
@@jimlascola hows the gaming performance
It's the numeric keypad that's causing the touchpad to be off-center. This is because the touchpad is centered under the main section of the keyboard, adding the numeric keypad shifts both to the left.
I just got the w541 16 gb ram/i7/says the graphics card has 60fps but not sure how to know for sure. Got it for $200 I work at a pawn shop and had the hookup
I swapped the Touchpad on my T440 with a T450 version Touchpad and it works absolutely fine.
Together with the 1080p-panel and a ram upgrade i'm really happy with it as my daily driver.
The deal on 3:03 seems a better deal than yours 3k display. You can afterwise upgrade the CPU and the display. The 1080p model has a better GPU, that part you can't upgrade.
I have a W541 with i7-4710MQ, Quadro k110M and a 9 cells battery, with the 1080p display and the backlit keyboard, it's basically the best laptop I've ever had.
A great feature of this thinkpad is the expresscard port, so you could insert an SSD or even a GPU via adapter.
I got this laptop after watching your video and it kept haunting me. So far I'm loving it. upgraded the hard drive to SSD
New setup and hair style looked pretty gooood∼
I recently got myself a new Laptop, previously I had a Thinkpad T410 i5 540M + Nvidia NVS3100M + 8GB RAM, keyboard went on it similar to yours in around the same area, decided it was time to upgrade, was looking at the Thinkpad W530, Thinkpad W541 and Dell Precision M6800, ended up with the Dell and it's by far the most well built laptop I've ever held or used, it's got a latch on the screen which was a must have for me, it's got more external ports than you will ever need and my particular unit is pretty much top spec except for RAM, i7 4930MX, 16GB RAM, Nvidia Quadro K5100M 8GB, 500GB SATA 3 SSD, 1TB SSHD, 128GB MSATA SSD, fingerprint scanner, 1080p matte finish touch screen, pretty much everything you'd ever need, it's really more of a portable desktop in terms of real world performance, if you're ever looking for a beast of a machine then the Precision M6800 is worth checking out
I have never gotten why people think that 15 inch class laptops are inherently unportable, sure there are the 8 lb gaming laptops but i still find 15" models to be easily portable and carry around enough other stuff that a few extra pounds of laptop isnt really noticeable
I'd agree if they were made thin. Many 15.6 inch are either gaming or cheap/thick. Even the one with ryzen 5, which theoretically is far easier to run than intel + nvidia laptops.
I have this option too a few months ago. Whether to get asus a410un (15.6 inch, same spec, same design, 4GB RAM) or s410un (14inch, 8GB RAM). Decided to get the s410un because adding ram is expensive here (to prevent warranry void, i need to pay $20 just for asus to unscrew, insert ram, and putting back warranty sticker)
@@エズカイレズ even the heavy ones really aren't that bad
for me, i feel the difference. my laptop was 2.1 kg. upgraded and know mine is 1.5 kg. atm i doesn't feel any weight pulling down me when im wearing my bag. i would feel it on my old laptop. (i was 13 though when i first bought it. so... yeah)
camtheham13: I agree. I upgraded from a T410 to a T520. It fits in my laptop backpack just fine even with the extended 9 cell battery. I don't find the extra pound noticeble at all. Well worth the larger screen and higher screen resolution.
I used to have a 17" DTR Clevo P870DM laptop with a 6700K and dual 980M's, that thing was heavy as hell. I downgraded to a M6700 and installed a 3920XM and a single 980M, still performs swell enough for me
To me 14" is the cutoff for portability, 15" is just a tad too large for my preferences. That being said, I do like the T440p (with a T450 touchpad) because of how easily it can be upgraded (almost everything can be done just by removing the bottom panel) and the native support for 1080p IPS displays. Also, along with the 15" T540p and W540/W541 counterparts, it's the last ThinkPad to have upgradeable processors and the last 14" ThinkPad to have an optical drive. The only thing that holds the T440p back from being my favorite ThinkPad is the modern design (ew), and the lack of an ExpressCard slot like is present on the 15" models.
My HP Elitebook 8440p is 14" screen and it has Express card port. But the only downside of it, is the display can be upgraded from 1366x768 to 1600x900. And it is using 1st gen motherboard, CPU and GPU (but I have the Intel HD Graphics instead).
You commute 100 miles a day??
Some days a little more and some days a little less depending on if I have work and class on the same day.
i commute 60 km a day for class ...everyday !!!
what other laptops of tthis price range and this era with good GPU could u recommend then ? I am asking for exact model
thx
You should make a video on repairing the keyboard.
Thinkpad keyboard repair is already everywhere on the internet
I got the same laptop three weeks ago and I love it. I've never had a think pad before but it will not be my last.
I have around 50 thinkpads. They're addictive.
u said dell precision in the same price range is good but what models are good
you can buy converter for the round to the square charger. Now they are all USB C.
I have a Lenovo X120e I have locked 🔒 it by mistake and can't get in. Been that way for years every video I watch no one knows how to unlock it. It's frustrating.
I have a W541 myself. Its pretty much the same as yours except I have a K2100M and 32 gigs of ram. I plan on doing some serious upgrades to the processor, the storage putting 3 drives on RAID 0, and the palm rest with the color sensor and the fingerprint reader because I can benefit from the color sensor given that I'm beginning to do a lot of Photoshop work. Overall though, this system is pretty solid as it stands right now and is much faster than any laptop I've ever owned. Oh yeah, the W540 and W541 are Adobe and Avid certified!! Good choice for a laptop dude!
How do you put 3 drives? The normal 2.5" bay and the optic drive sure, but the third one? A M.2 one?
@@luclu7_ Regular drive bay, Optical drive bay, and the W540/W541, both have an M.2 NGFF slot for a SSD.
seems like you know what you are talking about, i have the the same one but the sd card isint working , tried to install the driver again and no luck , update the driver no luck , any idea? i did download the driver from lenovo website and nada , no trabaja , let me know if you have any idea how to fix this problem please , thanks in advance
You're not alone with the keyboard issues, my w541 had the "9, o, l and ." keys failed. It was a non backlit version and I ended up having to replace it! I had not spilled water on it or anything it just slowly broke down key by key.
I have this issue with my X250! Does replacing it will fix it?
It will!
Is the 1080p version screen color is accurate?
Minecraft is more CPU intensive so that's why it ran so well, so try shaders or other graphically intensive mods such as better foliage
If I get the 1080p can I later upgrade the screen ?
How upgradble is it
I got a T540p 1080p at the end of the semester for $250 and it's rockin'. Fantastic high power project laptop that I don't have to worry too much about breaking b/c it's a thonkpad. And of course, I swapped out that trackpad as soon as I got it.
Have you tried a screen upgrade for the T430 to 1080p? You can get them for T420/T420s/T430. I've used the W541 3K fully spec'd laptop and my main concerns is that the touchpad is simply the worst one I've ever used on a laptop. Screen is meh, lots of real estate, but you have to increase the DPI to use it without going blind so you're only getting a little bit more pixel precision. The T420 has far superior build quality too. GPU and CPU are blazing fast though, no complaints there.
Older ThinkPad had weakness in trackpad and screen, but their track point is great
Prefer the classic keyboard of W520. The screen resolution tops at 1080p.
i had w540 and after 2 months of use keyboard just broke like yours.
What about the Thinkpad T400/R400. They both support up to 8GB of DDR3. They would both make a great school laptop.
I had one. It was great, but I sold it. Core 2 Duo is a bit weak for modern tasks. But it works...
@@TheRailroad99 The i5 520m is good but it isn't good enough when you are having thermal issues.
The T400 and R400 are basically identical to the T61 and the R61.
It was essentially lenovo fully taking over the thinkpad line.
I use a T61, and it's great, even today!
Nothing wrong, even in 2019 with a T400. Add an SSD, and 8gb/RAM, and you're GTG for general computing.
@@televisionandcheese I believe the T61 uses DDR2 ram, as where the T400/R400, use DDR3.
Put 32gb of ram in it but in only detects 16gb. I don't know it it is a windows 11 or a lenovo issue. CPU-z detects the whole 32gb though.
Hi, I have a question, I have a lenovo w540 (hd4600 + k1100m) + "ThinkPad Advanced Dock (Model # 250310U)" + gt 1030 could it work? I want to buy the DOCK GPU for gaming medium.
I'm looking for a CAD-Able Notebook, Like the W540 and Dell Precision, but they're so overpriced. My Thinkpad L430 is starting to struggle with assemblies who have more than 10 of components moving at the same time and as a student I can't afford more than $500usd in my country (Chile) for a laptop. I was thinking on a gaming laptop (They're cheaper than workstations) but the CAD community suggest to avoid them for compatibility issues. What can I do?
do you have vision problems?
I recently replaced my T440p/nVidia/i7-4700/16gb/RAM for a W540/K2100/i74800/32gb/RAM/FrankenPad Trackpad transplant. A few things I like better about the W540? 32gb/RAM, and it came with a 1080p display. Also, the nVidia K2100m video chipset, is a pretty decent gaming chipset. I wouldn't waste my time with the K1100m graphics. I paid $370 + $183 on upgrades. Excellent machine, for a total of $553.
Recently bought a W540 but cannot seem to remove the keyboard as is shown in all the guides, did you have any tips that helped you remove yours?
hi, thanks for the video ... please may you tell me if you can use it to editing 1080 FHD video whit Premiere ? Many thanks ... cheers
you should run linux as a main
Not everything runs in it. While linux point is total control but their compatibility and ease of use loses to windows in some area.
I find that the HP Elitebook 8570W is an excellent laptop for the same purposes as the Thinkpad W541. Ivy Bridge CPU up to i7-3840QM (good power efficiency due to process shrink), up to 32GB(4x8) RAM, upgradeable MXM-A GPU up to Quadro K2000M (GPU&WiFi card BIOS whitelist limited). There's sentimental value for being part of the final generation of workstation Elitebooks as well. Also, there have been reports of the Quadro M2000M with Dell Precision vBIOS somehow passing the whitelist check, but only working on 8570Ws with a DreamColor display???
Hey, nice video. How far did you take your last t430? I have one and I’m thinking about doing the same upgrade you did and get the w541. I use it for music production. Do you think there’s a chance to put a 6 core processor in the w541? Thanks.
LOL people thought the portability of that laptop was bad, try carrying around an Alienware 17r4 xD Thats what Im using as my main Windows device and let me tell you, 10 pounds is not light for a laptop xD Amazing build quality for, its to die for
It's aright, in the end of the day you have a strong back lol
I’m considering getting a W541 with a dock so the discrete graphics card can render on an external monitor so I can use it as a portable ‘round the house desktop’, but after seeing your core 2 duo upgrade I’m wondering is a used i7 4770 dell optiplex and an upgraded core 2 duo Thinkpad would be a better and cheaper combo
Why do you not recommend a W541 as a daily driver?
Thanks for your clear videos 👍🏻
get the p70 instead
One more reason they should bring back 16:10 ratio laptop screens, because you'd get the same screen real estate as this with a 14" 16:10. (roughly)
Hey, love your vids. What's your take on the Zbook 15? I checked it out it's a powerful little machine with a dedicated GPU and the ten key number pad which I like. I was just wondering why Lenovo instead of to that or another comparable laptop.
Hi, would this be suitable for a main workstation?
The most I have open at a time is visual studio, a VM and Firefox.
You need ram, a lots of it.
My suggestion is to get a computer with upgradeable ram and get 32 gigs of it (overkill but you may need it)
Gen 4 quad core processor is not significantly different from gen 7, it's ok
Hi, all I have a Lenovo t440p with i7 4600m . May I replace processor for i7 4810MQ thank you for answer
Yes u can people say it has one of the easiest cpu replacements on all the thinkpad generations
Make sure you clean it out well, and use good thermal paste. The T440p, is the easiest computer ever built, for doing upgrades.
Hello,
I can get an X1 carbon for $300 USD from a friend. I would use it as a lightweight daily driver. Is this a good deal? Or should I just go with another PC?
They are really nice, but a lot of X1 Carbon-Notebooks have problems with the Motherboards, especialy the early ones.
Not true I got an x1 carbon and put Linux onit it fly's and is supper powerful I can do some light editing to but when I had windows on it it was slow and buggy
What about t430s
Is T450 with i5 5300U, 4 gigabytes of ram, 500 gigabytes of old school HDD for about 270ish USD a good deal?
Yes it's a good deal. In Pakistan the price is 250$.
Since I didn't find anything about this question, I'll post it here:
Are THinkPads picky when it comes to RAM or can I pretty much use whatever I want?
You must use SO-DIMM RAM, desktop RAM won't work. That's pretty much it. Do some research about your preferred ThinkPad model and look for what kind of RAM it accepts, for example DDR3/DDR3L/DDR4, 1333 MHz or 1866 MHz, etc.
If it's the right DDR, then yeah it works.
My W520 has a huge mess of all different DDR3 some 4GB some 2GB some DDR3L some 1333Mhz some 1066Mhz, yet it still works great !
My ThinkPad refuse a stick of ram but that's it. It can run others fine.
@@invalidsudo Some will also use both PC3L ram, AND PC3 ram. Lower voltage "U" processors, require the lower voltage PC3L memory.
Cutting around 1mm from my e6410's keyboard connector fixed every problem that it had. Maybe you should try the same
There's 1 minute 40 seconds at the start I'll never get back. ;) Otherwise nice video. ;)
Thanks for the comment, was able to skip most of it
I figured people would enjoy the B-roll of the system. I am thinking I should have cut it shorter, maybe ~1 min next time.
I like the new production values, keep it coming!
How was it broken?!
Fragile I guess?
You should have looked at a m4800, you can get a 4k screen and u can upgrade the gpu (only up to like a 965) ive been using mine for ~5 months. Its a tank tho, and i picked mine up for 300 and prob put ~ 70 in it
had the same problem with my t410 and all i had to do was t install a windows usb keyboard enhanced performance and the problem got away
can we get some x series love pls 🥺
r/thinkpad. Lot's of x love there.
as a cooling person I'm still a big TPFanControl guy when it comes to thinkpad thermal management. dunno if the W541 supports that. that being said, I'm still on my T500. it's still hanging in there, and I'm almost sure it's one of the few surviving switchable-graphics T500s out there in the wild.
I'll be honest when I say I haven't been looking at thinkpads much, or any laptop for that matter. trackpoint usage is meh for me except for the occasions when it's necessary, and most thinkpads newer than the Tx10/Xx01 line all come with the dreaded clickpad I wish never existed. touchpads should have two separate buttons below the mousing surface like $deity and man intended. anything else stunts productivity. it's been hard to find any laptop now that meets my now-unusual nitpicks, and there have only been some from say, HP or the like that have really caught my eye. the only others that meet everything are budget netbook-class machines for education or low-cost purposes (a-la Ideapad 100S, 110S) etc. and even that's not doing good because I've now had two batteries within the course of a year suddenly puff up in my 100S, breaking the standoffs on the underside.
It sure does, I mentioned in the video that I am using TP fan control. I have gotten used to using the trackpoint so I only ever use the buttons mounted above the trackpad. I could see how it could be hard to get used to the typical trackpoint hand position though. I have never been a huge fan of the Idea Pad line, I have played around with a few in-store and they all feel super cheap to me.
I have tried to use a notebook fan control for my HP Elitebook 8440p. But I couldn't be sure if it actually works or not.
Are you on aggressive side or conservative side? Can you share your settings?
I have a T500 w/8gb/RAM, and ATI Radeon 3650 Mobility graphics. Fun laptop that still runs everything adequately.
does your t430 heat with the quadcore? i am think about upgrading too
I put the same quad-core in mine and have had zero thermal issues. Doesn't really feel like it gets much hotter than the original i5 I had in there.
I never really had any issues with thermals. I think the 3612qm has the lowest TDP (35w) out of all the quad-core options
I have i5 520m it is a dual core which it overheats like it was being grilled.
That’s because it’s a first gen chip. The first generation i5/i7s ran pretty hot. 2nd and 3rd gen processors ran a lot better.
@@SebisRandomTech Yeah, too bad that Intel gave up of trying to improve it and it's temp.
I managed to snag a W540 off of ebay for $290. With upgrades my total spent is about $420.
Specs:
-i7-4810mq
-32gb ram
-3k screen
-1tb M500 sata SSD
-3 button touchpad
Great Video!! I just got my first Thinkpad T440p because of this video Thanks!
I wonder why you never made a follow-up video on W541. Was it really a good buy and most importantly if it was a good machine at all.
I actually bought another W540, so I have 2 of them now. Both have nearly the same specs. Upgrades and all, both together were around $1000.
The only difference between the two are, one is 3k, one is a 1080p IPS display. I prefer the 3k, so that's my "DD". The new one, in addition to 3k, has the i7-4900mq processor, and the factory "ClunkPad" (which I like). My other one has the FrankenPad upgrade, essentially, making it a W541. I don't like it for a couple of reasons. The middle button will make contact with the display while closed, even with the lightest pressure. Possibly scratching your display. I put two, rubber "sticky feet" on the top of my display bezel, to keep it from making contact when closed, and in the case.. I also don't like the flakiness of the T450 touch pad. I use a mouse 99.9% of the time anyways.
Rest of the specs are the same:
nVidia K2100m
32gb PC3-14900 ram
2x1tb Samsung EVO 860, SSD's
480gb MyDigital "Superboot2" M.2 NGFF drive
Backlit keyboard.
The second one is a backup to my "DD".
I also have four, T440p's, 3 with nVidia. One is a dual core i7-4600m, the others are Quad Core, i7-4700mq/4800mq, one is an i5-4300m (This one isn't nVidia).
All but the i5, are specked out. Fantastic STILL, in 2019!
Why you'd buy an old Thinkpad from 6 years ago vs. a refurbished entry level Thinkpad P51 or P52 for not much more money on Lenovo's website is beyond me.
The trackpad is still centered to the keyboard home row were it belongs. Ergonomic studies have shown that the trackpad should be directly below and in line with the space bar and home row. On laptops without a numpad to the right it's centered directly below the space bar as well, it's just that the space bar (along with the rest of the "Home Row" typing keys) is offset to the left to make room for the numpad. If you placed the trackpad in the center of the base of the laptop it would be offset to the right making it difficult to reach the buttons when you use the Track Point and awkward to use in general.
Also, it has nothing to do with the 30 series vs 40 series (that only relates to the generation of the processor architecture). It depends on which keyboard you have. A T440, or T540 (and later) still has the keyboard centered in the base as they don't have the numpad keys so the home row is centered to the base.
The problem is that too many people are thrown off by the LOOK of the trackpad offset to the left and properly centered below the home row and space bar. Once they try to use one of the few laptops where they didn't align the trackpad with home row they find out how awkward it is to use once they start typing. It's the people who essentially spend the majority of their time surfing the web and primarily click on links and rarely type who find it a little awkward for it to be offset to the left under the space bar where it belongs since they have no idea what the Home Row is or what you use if for.
Between the W530 and W540 the keyboard layout did drastically change with the addition of a numpad (I know the T series did not have this, though that line also went through the same general design change). That's what I was referring to in the video. I agree with you, ergonomically I think the offset trackpad is fine because it is still relatively centered to the keyboard / space bar. It's funny, even today you will still find people complaining about the addition of a numpad on the 15" models (I actually like the addition of the numpad).
I prefer a numpad as well as much of what I do revolves around number entry.
With my HP Elitebook 8440p trackpad and keyboard layout is similar to what you were saying in your first paragraph. But the numbpad is on the keyboard itself so hence for the function key. Which you have to get old driver that was made specifically for Windows 7. And I kind of hated that they didn't update it to the current Windows 10 OS. Same with the trackpad. Sometimes it just takes off to the top left and or top right which it infuriates me. Also my HP has touch par above the keyboard and the software is mainly made for Windows 7. So it is impossible to remap the touch keys (at least for me) to be in line with the Windows 10. Also the screen brightness on my laptop shouldn't be so low that it is nearly impossible to see outside. But with the poor battery optimization for it. Could've just went with a 9 cell (bulky) battery instead of the 6 cell (low profile) battery.
So all in all, it is a good laptop when it works like it supposed to. Just got to use high quality thermal paste. And swap the motherboard just for getting dedicated GPU.
Intro shouldn't be 1:40 unless you are making a b-roll intro video.
Thinkpads are like the Honda/Toyota of PC Laptops they are So Well built, reliable, and they JUST WORK when you want/need them to!
I was able to get one on amazon with the 1080p display with 32gb of ram and it is awesome
I like your videos, keep it up bud. I rock the i5 and i7 model of the T430 myself with both 768p and 900p screens. Really regret upgrading to a glossy screen but it was so much better than the previous.
Why Thinkpad?
I just hate how he says eiver of togever. Why do you say it like that?
I recently bought a T540p, arguably a better buy for anyone who doesn't need more than 16 GB of RAM. My 1080p model with 8 GB of RAM cost for $166 shipped. So far I've upgraded it with an i7-4712MQ ($80), 512 GB SanDisk SSD ($90), 1080p LG high-gamut IPS panel ($40), T450 trackpad assembly ($23), and a new LiteOn keyboard ($34). Soon I'd like to upgrade it with 16 GB of 2133MHz DDR3L RAM and a 9-cell battery. My goal has been to put together a laptop capable of handling Adobe Lightroom well.
I too broke the keyboard while disassembling mine. A couple keys popped off and I destroyed the fragile clips to secure them. These laptops have a very unusual way of securing the keyboard, with screws hidden below a sliding layer. I wasn't too upset since the keyboard had an unpleasant feel. It was the backlit Chicony keyboard. I "upgraded" to a non-backlit LiteOn keyboard (FRU 04Y2426), which has a much higher quality feel all around. I am really happy with the machine so far.
I'd just go for the PC3-12800 ram. It's cheaper, and you're NOT going to notice any difference in speed.
meanwhile in 2024 I picked up a w541 with the i7 4910mq 32gb of ram the dedicated nvidia gpu for $200. still a great computer imo. even if it's not top of the line like it was back when it came out.
Picked up the 4810MQ 8GB model for 130$. It had a very tiny problem with the screen, which is why it's a bit cheaper than yours. Other than this nearly forgettable issue, the laptop is a 10/10.
oh my I don't understand why you need 3k on such a small screen....
ecause it's fantastic! No more eye strain.
How come you do not use a X1 carbon or something like that
Because it comes with a weak 6300 "U" processor. The 4thGen Quad Core, is much more powerful. The W541, can be upgraded to 32gb/RAM. With the X1Carbon, you're stuck with whatever soldered ram came with the machine. Also, all W540/W541 ThinkPads, come with a dedicated GPU.
I just bought a W540 4810MQ K2100M 16GB 500GB SSD for £395. Gonna Replace the Screen with a 4K IPS panel, replace the trackpad with one that has physical buttons then replace the palmrest with one that has the fpr and colour sensors ^^
NO WAY, I literally got a w541 3k display version 2wk ago, added 12gb ram and running awesome. Despite the heat problem 🤣🤣🤣
Ceramic covered ram in the W540, definitely improves the thermals.
I don't think that a laptop with water on it is a clever and innovative idea. I know the keyboard is supposed to channel it down and out through openings in the bottom, but as far as I know, with recent models in the P series they will get wet inside if you do what is shown in the opening sequence. I would not encourage people to try that if your goal is to be helpful.
Point is, they don't. Hell you want to see an even more extreme version of him splashing water on his laptop, go watch his "how to basic" thinkpad video where he practically hosed down the damn thing
@@9inchpp Can you explain what you mean by "they don't" please? I'm afraid I don't follow.
I dumped an entire, LARGE cup of hot coffee on my W540 keyboard. It still worked, and it drained the liquid out the bottom, and did not get the inside components wet. However, I DID end up replacing the keyboard.
You should of gotten the more expensive oled version
I hate those no physical button touchpads
Getting a w540 with 16gb ram and the 3K screen from a refurb site for 500 bucks
I carried around for almost a year, a L430, for work as a traveling technology repair tech. When I got it, the original slim battery was bad, so I had talked my boss at the time to get me the EXTENDED battery. As a result, it won't fit into tech tool bag. Now, I carry around an E440. Still... These are both bulky systems for day-to-day use and I wished my company would phase out to a T470 or T480 OR the HP 840 G4/G5 or maybe the Dell 7480 or 7490. My personally owned laptop is a Yoga 720 15 with the i5-7300HK and 1060 2gig. Even my Yoga, being as slim as it is, IMO, is too large and heavy to carry around (takes 2 hands to carry it comfortably). I am looking for something Windows related to augment my Yoga when I don't need it (maybe something like a cheap Windows Tablet, a Refurb Surface 3/4, or a Surface Go).
My thing is that I appreciate ThinkPads for what they are and the power they bring that Dell or HP doesn't. I appreciate the build quality Lenovo brings that nobody can really match. That said, I no longer want to carry that weight around. You can drop and dent a Lenovo and it will keep on going. Try that with a Dell or HP and you'll risk breaking it.
The older Latitude and Precision laptops are well built.
+ Rio I agree older Dells are well built. The e5430 was a nice laptop that I supported for a while. You could drop it off a desk and it'd survive (mostly due to it's bulk. Them come the 7440 or 5440 (the company I support went with the 7 series from here on) and the 7440 constantly came to me cracked or broken. Now in their lives, the 7440 has bad batteries, chips, dents, bad SSDs etc. The 7450 and up moved to a better plastic and less case damage but still, the 7450, 60 and 70 has battery issues now for me and my users. The 7480, I have had 1x SSD issue in less than a year. Overall, I have seen most of my Dells with case damage (scuffs or chips or cracks). The Thinkpads other than E series are not made of plastic so less likely to damage. That said, if I was given a Dell to use or I got a steal of a deal on a 7480/90 or 5480/90, I'd keep it and use it.
@@matthewjbauer1990 yeah, they've definitely gotten worse. The older elitebooks arent bad either. Laptops as a whole have gotten worse since Ivy Bridge though.
I recently went from an T430 to W520.
I recently switched from my T420 to a T540p for pretty much the same reason
I watched this video 5 minutes after I woke up lol
@RacerX Reloaded lol
Lmaoooo same wtf
My laptop has a n3060 cpu. I often wonder to whom that cpu is targeted at because it can't handle games or even web browsing as it is SUPER slow. A 2007 AMD turion tl-58 is way faster.
In my opinion, a CPU like that one is targeted at people who surf low-power websites and do Microsoft Office style work. Maybe viewing pictures might be a stretch depending upon how much RAM is backing the CPU. I think that a CPU like that might be able to handle connecting to a remote virtual machine (or Citrix desktops farm) in a corporate environment, but corporations would never typically go below an i3 on their computers.
That's what i do daily on it. Although i use google drive and other google products. I guess it's for those who can wait 10s for google drive icons to load (not a slow internet). It's fine to type on once it has loaded. Also youtube and media streaming is fine if nothing else is open. I realized it would have been better to buy a used business laptop after i got it. They are the same price but they have i5 processors in them.
@@matthewjbauer1990 I have i5 520m on my HP Elitebook 8440p. But it overheats like crazy.
Those CPU's are usually put in Chromebooks. My Chromebooks have a Celeron N2840 with 4 GB of ram (Dell Cb 11 Candy). Doesn't run windows that well at all, but maybe it is because I tried it on a slow 32 GB Flash Drive...
@@XsaviXander only lean win7 is able to run off a flash drive. Win 10 is storage bandwidth hog
School = College???
Yup!
*sees that he broke it already*
How?
*sees **1:25*
oooh
Beautiful review
7:10 Ugh, that dreadful PWM backlight. Look how badly the screen flickers.
LOL, I have the 4810mq in my t440p
I love Thinkpads...
Got W540. K2200. 18GB ram, tn full hd :(. Upgraded to IPS full hd, Backlit keyboard and two 256 SSD's. Total cost ~850€. Had for solid year of studies (autoCAD, Tekla, Rewit, Scia...).
What I have to say is that it's baaaad :( I'm not a lazy or weak, but as I have to carry it everythere my sholders and back starts to hurt after lunch. But the worst part is : the drivers and K22000 is so old, that newer fersions of CAD doesn't support this card and programs start to lag or don't work like SCIA on K2200 and I'm forced to run SCIA on intels video card.
Nontheless, keyboard is fantastik and I'll wouldn't trade it to anything else :D. Considering all the negatives, Thinkpad is still in my heart and it feels. like Alfa romeo :D Feels fantastic, but has some problems.
P. S. : screen broke (too many dead vertical pixel stripes to use) so does anyone know a good replacement? (30pins IPS FHD)
B156HAN01.1, a drop in replacement, excellent color. Did this to one of the few w540s I have before giving it to my mom. Makes a world of difference compared to the horrid TN panel they put in the 540/541 especially compared to the unbelievably good TN pane the w530 ships with.
I have a W541 & it has the same specs as yours. I bought two extra 9 cell batteries. So far I love my machine. I did get a much better deal than you though.
all 4th series lenovo computers are known for defective keyboards.
Minecraft FPS was out of frame LOL. Yeah the Quadro line is thier pro of GPUS for doing actual work and NOT gaming. For example CAD, 3d modeling via Blender and the like. For example the NVS 4200m in the Thinkpad T420 is on par with the geforce 520m on the gaming side of things so I bet this is a lowend Geforce card for gaming as well. If you want higher FPS/better graphics turn down the res to 720p instead of 1080p
What is the performance for the NVS 3100m at gaming?
In my experience, changing resolution did nothing for performance, but it did when I connected an eGPU. Changing texture settings did nothing, but it did with the eGPU. Laptop graphics and desktop graphics are a bit different.
The NVS 3100M is about 10% faster than a HD5450.
Very decent!
I have a half T410 that I hook up to the television for gaming, the 3100M is very good! Grand Theft Auto IV at 1280x720 Medium settings gets a good 45fps.
GTA V at 1280x720 """Normal""" settings with shadows on Smoothest ran at 50fps :)
@@televisionandcheese Nice! Although my HP Elitebook 8440p does have a motherboard that includes that GPU (but I actually have Intel motherboard).
Montisaquadeis tricks: overclock gpu with msi afterburner ( max first setting, 700 MHz second) you should get 10 FPS extra. Disable fullscreen enhancements by right clicking on the game file -> properties. I had choppy FPS before changing this setting. Use it on chrome too to get better performance. Change to High performance power settings. Some people get better performance with intel XTU but it didn’t change anything for me.
Daily laptop is a Acer 15'' i5 from 2016, Play laptop is a Dell 15'' Inspiron i3 with linux and just picked up a POS Windows 10 tablet for $40 just to see how $40 feels like. comes with Atom quad core and 1GB of ram. Boi I am rofl with 1GB of ram LOL.