Exploring Lenovo Thinkpad T400's switchable graphics

While most people know about switchable graphics on the Lenovo Thinkpad T400, most do not know about how the software works, or how it visually looks.

First of all, the switchable graphics is a switchable option in the BIOS, where you can either opt for discrete (ATI HD3470) or integrated (Intel X4500). This setting is more for Windows XP and other operating system which cannot switch graphics card on-the-fly yet.

Next, for switchable graphics to work, Vista SP1 must be used (either x86 or x64). RTM will not work. You must then install a proprietary driver (a mutant of ATI and Intel drivers AFAIK) to enable the feature, and must also install the Lenovo Power Manager (to have the UI to switch).

You simply left-click on the Power Gauge that comes with Power Manager (not the Vista one) to get access to the relevant menu (shown on right) and switch to energy saving (Intel X4500) and high performance (ATI HD3470). Right-clicking does not bring up the same menu, it brings up different ways to show the battery life left.

The difference between integrated graphics only vs switchable one can be illustrated by the following device manager screenshot, and perhaps also the mutant driver details.

GASP... AMD and Intel together!?!







Lastly, I would like to introduce the more differentiated features of the mobile graphics control panels.

For the Intel one, it is basically the same as any other version, except that it now comes with ClearVideo playback enhancements.

For the ATI one, it is also basically the same, but with the mobility "PowerPlay" setting. And for fun I have also attached the information screen.

Lenovo Thinkpad T400 Drivers & Installation Guide

Vista Clean Install Guide

1. Enter BIOS by pressing F1 during ThinkVantage bootup screen

• Set HDD to SATA/AHCI mode (Recommended)
  
• Enable Virtualization (If you want it)

2. Backup anything you want

• Burn recovery disks
• Backup drivers & applications (SWTools Directory)
• Backup Lenovo / IBM wallpapers

• Backup your activated copy of Windows using Orev's Activation Backup and Restore

3. Put a copy of the ethernet / wireless LAN driver and the activation file to a USB drive

4. Boot to Vista installation DVD (From Anytime Upgrade disc, retail disc, MSDN or any other source)

• Install the version of Vista your computer comes with (if you have backed-up the activation, simply select the corresponding version and don't enter a key yet)
  
• For the partitions, you might want to totally eradicate the recovery partition and set it up to what you like it to be
• Finish the installation after completing some other steps
  

5. First run of Windows

• Restore the activation if you had backed-up the activation
• Install Windows Vista SP1 (Required, it is required for the switchable graphics system to work and it also provide improved performance)

6. Install remaining drivers (note: You can install ThinkVantage System Update and automate most of such tasks)

• Intel Chipset Driver
  
• Intel Turbo Memory (systems with Turbo Memory) / Intel Matrix Storage (systems without Turbo Memory [Note: The two drivers are almost the same, in fact you can even run the turbo memory installation and get the matrix storage manager]
  
• ACPI Power Management driver
  
• System Interface driver
  
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
• Intel Wifi 5100AGN / 5300AGN driver / Thinkpad WLAN
  
• Intel Gigabit network adapter driver
  
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
• Switchable Graphics driver / Graphics driver
  
• Authentec Fingerprint software & driver
  
• Broadcom Bluetooth driver (Must turn on wireless switch and be detectable)
• Conexant Audio driver
  
• Conexant Modem driver
  
• Hotkey driver
  
• Intel AMT driver (for the Simple PCI Communications device)
  
• Ricoh 7-in-1 Card Reader driver
  
• Smartcard Reader driver
  
• Sonix Integrated Camera driver (you might be better of using the default windows software instead since the camera driver leaks a lot of handles)
• Synaptics UltraNav & Touchpad driver (for the special mouse functions, side scrolling, etc)
• Thinkpad Display (Just some ICC profiles and a name for your display)
  

7. Install ThinkVantage software (those in bold are highly recommended)

• Access Connections
  
• Access Help
  
• Active Protection System (Protects HDD from shock, highly recommended)
• Client Security Solution
  
• Easy Eject
  
• Help Center
  
• Keyboard Customizer
  
• Message Center
  
• Power Manager (Required for switchable graphics, highly recommended)
  
• Presentation Director
• Productivity Center
  
• System Update
  
• UltraNav utility

8. Install other patches

• Registry patches to enable some power-saving options
• Update your BIOS
  
• Patch to include custom functionality in Windows Mobilility Center
  

9. Install Rescue and Recovery

• Useful for some people

For more information, you might want to refer to the guide from NotebookReview.

Lenovo Thinkpad T400 Shipping Box & Internal Photos

(1) The shipping box


(2) Shipping box dimensions (3) Details

Following the photos of the exterior of the Lenovo Thinkpad T400 is shots from the internal of the T400.

(4) System board (5) 2GBx2 Samsung modules


(6) System board with portions highlighted, mine doesn't come with turbomemory or WWAN but it does provide 3 antenna connectors even with my Intel 5100AGN!