Three issues with a ThinkPad T400

Reviews of laptops often focus on measurable things. But, defensive computing is more comprehensive. I recently dealt with a new Lenovo ThinkPad T400 (specifically, a 7417-CTO model) and what follows are some observations and experiences that you probably won't find in reviews of the T400.

I came to the machine as a knee jerk reaction. Someone wanted to buy a new laptop - now. Right now. What to recommend?

Off the top of my head, I suggested going with the cheapest T series ThinkPad. I've owned a lot of model T ThinkPads and they have all been well made. You can do worse.

Currently, the T400 is the bottom of the line in the T series and pricing starts at $739 at Lenovo.com. To me, the extra $30 for Windows XP Professional rather than Windows 7 is well spent money, but that's an argument for another day.

The laptop in question was manufactured in December 2009 and has a standard ThinkPad feel. The last new laptop that I spent significant time with sold for about $350 at a major retailer and the difference in build quality is drastic.

Yet, Lenovo skimped on a couple things.

Unlike previous ThinkPads, this one didn't come with any extra red eraserheads (the mouse pointing stub between the G, H and B keys).

Those of us accustomed to pushing the red knob  around all day, wear them out over time. No one wants to be bothered tracking down replacement eraserheads somewhere down the line. Considering they probably cost pennies, I feel that an extra one should always be included in the box.

Speaking of the box, the battery was not wrapped at all.

This can be serious. Lithium-ion batteries can ignite when banged around. For this reason, the TSA does not allow loose lithium batteries in checked luggage. Yet, this T400 went halfway around the world with a loose battery.

Lenovo made two mistakes in preparing the battery for shipment.

First, they wrapped it in a bubble wrap bag that was not sealed shut.  Somewhere, during the machine's trek halfway around the world, the battery slipped out of the bag. Tape costs even less than the eraserheads.

The first mistake was made worse by the fact that the battery is in a compartment with nothing between it and the outer cardboard box.

And, there is a lot of room in the compartment for the battery to move around. As you can see in the picture below, which shows the battery on the right in the compartment it shipped in, probably a dozen of the batteries could fit in the compartment, giving it lots of room to do what Lithium-ion batteries should never do, be banged around.

The battery would be significantly better protected with a piece of scotch tape sealing the bubble wrap and a crumpled page from a newspaper wrapped around it. A few pennies that should not have been crimped.

On the software side, a Lenovo plugin for Internet Explorer caused it to hang.

Out of the box, IE7 worked fine. But then I started updating software: Windows patches (the machine shipped with XP SP3), new software installed, other software removed, some services disabled.

At some point (I don't know exactly when because I use Firefox) Internet Explorer breaks. Specifically, it won't start up. After double clicking on the desktop icon, it starts to run but hangs before displaying the home page. The last thing it does is display "Connecting..."

I've been down this road before. Just about a year ago, I warned ThinkPad users to beware of Internet Explorer hang problems. Initially this happened to me on a new R series ThinkPad around November 2008, then on a new T500 in January 2009.

As before, the problem was obviously with a plugin, because when run without any add-ons, IE was fine. Thus, the solution was also the same, disable the Lenovo IE plugins.

This time I opted to use Microsoft's free Autoruns program. The Internet Explorer tab (full size) showed two Lenovo plugins, a Password Manager Browser Helper Object (tvtpwm_ie_com.dll) and the Lenovo ThinkVantage Toolbox ATL Toolbar (atlpcdtoolbar544936.dll). I prevented each from running automatically, re-booted and all was well.

The battery issue is perhaps the most troubling. Even moreso, because I've been down that road with Lenovo before too.

Update: January 23, 2010

Below is a label from the outside of the box showing the danger posed by Lithium ion batteries if they are not well protected while in transit.