The T400s is completely different than the T400. The biggest difference between the T400s and
the G550 is the weight: about four pounds vs. about six pounds. This may not be something you
are willing to pay for, but many are. The T400s is a relatively new laptop from Lenovo, and this
is by far the best price I have seen for it.

In one sense you can't really compare the T's with the G's as they are different machines, made
for completely different markets. If a G550 is the best laptop to meet your needs, and you paid
$399, then you have a great deal.

The OP has one of the thinnest and lightest 14" laptops, with a SSHD and 4GB of RAM, for
$1000. This is a fantastic deal.

10th floor: 

Thanks for posting OP. I think the best of deciding whether something is a hot deal, is to determine if this is the lowest price available for that exact item. I think this is a very good price for a T400s. Is it the lowest price for a laptop, no. But not everybody wants a cheap, shiny, glossy laptop.

11th floor: B

Now your being insulting.

A cheap, shiny, glossy laptop?

Both laptops are Lenovo.

Both laptops have a Pentium Core2 chip.

The G550 has a 15.6 LED screen, the T400 a 14.1 LED inch screen.

Both laptops come shipped with Windows 7.

The G550 has a 250G HDD,, the T400 400G HDD.

Both laptops come shipped with the 6 cell lithium battery.

So the T400 is newer, lighter and thinner.. Big whippitteee do dah.

12th floor: H

Translate:

Excuse me, but $90 for a $100 bill is NOT a hot deal.

I just purchased a $1 bill for $1. Not quite as nice, but close to a $5 bill, just $4 less.

1. There is no "close dual P2 chip" in this world.
2. You cannot compared a much lower end model to a T400s model, which is a top-of-the-line model among Lenovo product line. A lower end model is of course selling for less.
3. Whether an item is a hot deal or not depends on its sale price, and the price the same item usually goes for, but NOT the price of another product. Even if you don't think it is worth the price, it is a hot deal because at least someone can potentially profit from it.

13th floor: H

There is no Pentium Core 2 chip. "Dual core" is merely means that there are 2 cores in the CPU, and "Core 2" is the 2nd generation of the line of CPUs called "Core". A Core 2 Duo CPU is much faster than a Pentium CPU (both have two cores), even if they have the same clock, not to mention that the former is more energy efficient and has more power-saving feautres.

A screen that is bigger does not make it better. Laptops are built with different form factors because different people have different needs. While I never understand why people would want a 17" LAPtop, there is certainly a market for that, and there are people who need thin and light laptop to travel with.

T400s is designed as a thin a light 14" laptop, with s stands for small. It is not as light as a 12" or a 10", but is certainly one of the lightest among all 14". If you want a (slightly) more fair comparison, you should compare yours to a T500, which is a 15" version of the T400, while T400s is the slimmer version of T400. The T500 is significantly cheaper than the T400s, but still more expensive than your G550.

There are reasons why Lenovo has two separately product line called the Thinkpad and Ideapad. Thinkpads are higher end products. They are designed for business and are built with durability in mind. They have much better keyboard and security features, and the whole construction of the machine is just much better.

Of course, not everyone values these features, and that's why there is this Ideapad products. For people like you who can't even name a CPU correctly, and who thinks bigger number means better, there is really no reason to look at the Thinkpad line.