Just bought a T410s... Bad idea?

I just bought a T410s thinking it was my dream machine. My T61 had fan problems that led to overheating issues and, thus, I needed to find a replacement. Lenovo's free upgrade to a touchscreen put me over the edge, and I recently purchased the new laptop and am waiting for its arrival.

However, after doing some investigation, I'm beginning to regret my decision. The T410s still seems like a great machine, but with all this talk of the new T420s and and Sandy Bridge, I've been hit with a strong case of buyer's remorse. With my new laptop, I intend to use it for a very long time as I am usually not one to frequently keep up to date with new products (which is partially the reason I was initially so excited with this purchase).

From what I've read, the T420s will have much better battery life, will be lighter, have USB 3.0 and an Nvidia NVS 4200m chip which supposedly runs at twice the speed of the 3200m in my T410s. (Source: T420S? can't wait for it? when?! - Lenovo Community) I realize "the grass seems greener" but if even half these upgrades are what they're talked up to be, it seems like a magnanimous upgrade from the "new" laptop I just purchased.

Are these things that should concern me? When is this massive upgrade of the T420s expected to come out? Is it realistic that my 3 main gripes about the T410s (the battery life, the gpu, and USB 2.0 only) be fixed when the newest model comes out? And if it does, what would be the best way for me to go about trading my recent purchase in for an upgrade (ebay my old, and then buy a new)?

(And seriously, is the Nvidia 4200m really supposed to be twice as fast as what's in the T410s?)

 

I guess I will ask the following questions to myself if I were you.

1. Is T410s battery time is not enough for me?
2. Do I need more GPU power than watching 1080p movies?
3. Do I have an apparatus that can bottleneck USB2.0?

 

I can't comment on how much of an improvement the T420s would have, but there are a couple times to consider regarding cancelling your T410s order.

1) Do you need the laptop now? The T420s probably won't be available until late March/early April so the question is if you can wait 2+ months.
2) Does your budget allow for this? When the T420s are released, it will most likely be full price.

If the answers are no, and yes, I would highly consider waiting for the T420s.

 

I second what eRiN3 said and what evilid said about battery life.

If you can wait and think you could afford to pay full price for T420s when its available and intend to keep it for long time then wait for it.
I wouldnt want to be stuck with USB 2.0 and SATA 3Gbit and 1.8" HDD for the next 3-5 years if I were you

 

Well now you're not helping

But do you guys know how much, roughly, these new T420s will be?

 

Well, for myself USB 2 or 3 is the same. I almost never transfer big files, and for what I need even USB 2.0 is more than enough.

What I basically need from the new laptop is a better battery, since I do travel a lot that's what I need the most. Not the best GPU, nor USB3.0, not even HD resolution, just a powerfull laptop (T410s is a very strong machine) that will last as long as possible (this is were T410s is not so good). I plan to also use the bay battary instead of the DVD (never use DVDs anymore) in order to stay up as much as possible. I got used to 8 hrs of baterry life in my MBP so if I get another laptop I need something close or better.

If you stay connected more than on the battery than T410s is more than GREAT. I can barely stop myself buying it .. altough I am more than covered for the next 2-3 months, while waiting for T420s.

 

Those things only have value if you'd use them. If so then cancel your order and wait it out. From a performance perspective unless you're pushing the CPU, SB won't offer you much.

 

The T420s is more of a dream than your current "dream machine." Nobody knows exactly what the T420s is and how it performs! There are no hard numbers for you to compare to. Regarding the refreshed products based on Sandy Bridge, all I heard is "better," "faster," "cooler," "longer," "bigger," "smaller," "nicer," whatever... Pure speculations. There was roughly the same brouhaha around roughly the same time last year regarding Core i this and Core i that, and then Optimus this and Optimus that.

I have one reservation about the T410s, and that is battery life, but it's just me in my line of work. You did your due diligence before making your decision. I suggest you sit back, stay away from this forum and similar ones, get on with precious life, and your T410s will eventually arrive. It is a very nice tool, light and cool. It is not the one "dream machine" that solves all your problems.

Best wishes.

 

If you are inside the return period window, don't mind paying a re-stocking fee and shipping, return it. That ends up being a pretty expensive evaluation.

Or sell it.

Or keep it and enjoy it.

 

Processing power may not be of interest to most users, but a potentially much better screen (with the great availability of 16:9 screens), mPCIe SSD and much better battery life (relatively bad in current i3/5/7 chipsets, and much better in SB according to Anandtech) are things of great value to most.

 

We all like to delude our selves... thinking that Lenovo is always juuuust around the corner and is about to drop a nice quality screen on is.

It's not going to happen. You are going to get a just as bad or perhaps marginally better screen than the other T's, only it will be 16:9. Why does "awesome screen" always fall in to the list of things we expect on the next TP.

Similarly the mPCIe SSD has gone from one line rumor to fact within this forum alone.

Buy your machine when you need it. You probably will pay full price for a 420s when it does make it to market. And hopefully this year's release will be smoother than the last. They didn't have sufficient quantities of product in to reliably sell until nearly summer last year...

The two main differences you may see in day to day usage is better battery life/more efficient power savings, and perhaps the increased speed of USB3 (IF it's included) if you really max out 2.0 currently.

Other than that theyre just marginal upgrades that you won't see unless you are pushing the envelope of your system. Considering how you were functioning fine on a T61, I doubt that's the case, so enjoy your purchase.

I saw that free multi-touch upgrade as well... good value. Just so you know it does increase the thickness of the lid, but BARELY.