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Follow us on TwitterWay back in March when I published my review of Lenovo’s refreshed ThinkPad T410, I doted on its Swiss-Army-Knife-esque features & capabilities, while dumping on some backward steps taken with usability. One of these backward steps is the release mechanism for the Ultrabay.
The previous Ultrabay design had a small switch that you would slide, ejecting a pull tab that allowed you to quickly and easily yank the drive. See the extensive photoshoot from my Droid below for an illustration.
The new design functions similarly, but places both of the buttons/switches/whatever-you-want-to-call-it on the bottom of the system. Reader Navck created the video below demonstrating what he sees as a non-issue with the new design.
Big thanks to Navck for making this video! We all know Lenovo had their reasons for modifying the Ultrabay eject mechanism, but I still feel that it was a step backwards in usability. It is certainly not a deal breaker, and I didn’t even heavily stress it in my T410 review. I did stress it in my T410 Upgrading article, as the focus was on swapping components in the T410 and this was certainly a regression from the T400 and prior models.
Reader Doug points out the remaining major concern with this new design: can you reach this latch release if the system is docked? That is a great question, but unfortunately I have neither a T410 or one of the new docks. I can put in a question to Lenovo, but I would love to see our community chime in and maybe have some photos or videos to share. Does anyone have a T400s, T410, T510 or W510 and a dock?
What do you think?
So, dear reader, what is your take on this? Is it a big deal to you? If the new design prevents swapping while docked, is that a deal breaker for you? Vote in the poll below and hit the comments
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Even though the design isn’t totally flawed, I still don’t like it. I feel the new way has potential of unlocking the ultrabay by accident. Of course, the old way had a potential of breaking the plastic piece but at least I knew what I doing was intentional.
My Thinkpad T60 battery lock simply doesn’t ‘lock.’ At least the battery never fell off my laptop.
I certainly don’t like it, and if I cant do it while docked I will avoid those models. Either way it’s not a big deal for me right now, cause I’m hooked on the ultraportables right now.
I probably wouldn’t have a problem with the latch if my fingernails were as long as the guys in the video. The bottomline is that it is not that it makes the computer unusable, it simply makes it more difficult to do something that should be easy. Lenovo should know by now that their Thinkpad consumer base primarily consists of people that have had Thinkpads for years and hate change; especially at the expense of function.
I’d vote, but there’s no option for: “You’re writing about this instead of the L Series??”
Yeah I got sidetracked today, but I did tell you almost everything you need to know about the L Series nearly 2 weeks ago: http://www.thinkpads.com/2010/04/08/meet-the-new-lenovo-thinkpad-l412-l512-aka-the-old-sl410-sl510/
You don’t need long nails to latch it, I just clipped my right hand’s nails and I can still pop the Ultrabay. You just need to have your middle finger tip slot into the sliding piece while your index holds the spring loaded piece in place.
I really don’t like that you have to turn over the machine on its head – very inconvinient.
Old Ultrabay: better.
It is just inconceivable that Lenovo would take something that works just fine and screw it up. I have had and regularly used an UltraBay going all the way back to a T23. In that time I have never had ANY issues with it coming out by itself or accidentally. Therefore I don’t see what the justification for changing this other than, “Hey lets piss off our loyal Thinkpad customers and drive them to another brand….”
It seems a lot of loud mouthed people who are incapable of providing their own solution are speaking:
I own a T43, the Ultrabay pull tab has been accidentally released several times before and has been almost crushed because of people pushing heavier objects around the desk. This design has virtually no chance of having small objects releasing it because of the recessed switch and relatively high spring tension for the size of the first switch. I would of preferred Lenovo to provide some hold open device once the first slider was pushed open.
Otherwise, Alphakilo420 on the forums would be happy to trade his newly obtained T30 for your new Thinkpads. Absolutely nil keyboard flex, comes in “tallscreen” and has an old Ultrabay release mechanism.
And as much as I love my T43, the T410 is improved in design in many ways, including ease of service to overall durability. Now I can’t get 4:3 back but 16:10 is still by far better than 16:9.
By the way, I didn’t have to turn the T410 upside down to release the Ultrabay, so please, go watch the video and try for yourself.
Navck,
It seems that your taking this issue VERY personally. Did you design this horrible feature yourself?? I don’t think that anyone is being “loud mouthed” I think they are just expressing their opinion and experience. Is that wrong?
I think the point that the reader Doug was making was if an individual would have to undock a T410 to release the Ultrabay. I don’t think your video addresses that point, and unless someone has any other information that seems to be still an open question.
I’m one of the very few people who understands a little too much into engineering and every little comment made by people that rely on “old world” style thinking (“Thicker paint is inherently better”, “metals always better than plastics even composites”, “pure titanium is super strong”) annoys me. SSDs, “plastic lid”, “can’t do this”, “flexing chassis and keyboard.” I happen to love my T410 and watch people make claims about nonexistent flaws on it.
I also prefer older style latch. Never had any troubles with it.
This is another reason why I stick with older generation. Of course I hope that the next generation will be far better than this what they offer now.
Related issue: Ultrabay for HDD doesn’t fill out the slot, so when I grab the machine on the right side (to put it into my backpack, for example), the case flexes. Doesn’t make a durable impression. Shame on you Lenovo.
Maybe flex does give some more protection but I find plastics too flexy and to thin …
[...] thinkpads.com home /**/ Ultrabay Design Poll Resultsby John Hobbes , posted 05/3/10 8:07 PMA few weeks back I posted a discussion on the new Ultrabay design featured in Lenovo’s ThinkPad T400s and [...]
I don’t want to be a pedant, but the new design is a little more sensible than the old one. Either way, it’s still not very good. A switch that you have to lift the laptop to access? Not good. It makes swapping while docked a pain. But a complicated switch-tab-pull combo move? Not good either. What’s more, the switch on the old one was only slightly less inaccessible, what with being angled DOWNWARDS and all. There should be an easier solution, like those used for the ExpressCard/PCMCIA slots.