Lenovo T420 vs Edge E420S

Lenovo Edge E420S with AMD 6630M vs Lenovo T420 with NVS4200M

Which would you do and why?

 

I'd probably pick the T series machine. Conventional wisdom says that they are a bit more robust that the Edge and other Lenovo machines.

 

Actually Im going Edge 420S and heres why:

Hopefully they will have a matte screen option like last year and they will have the AMD 6630M CPU

Also the TPM was holding me up but the more I thought about it, if I want security Im better off with other methods.

Edge 420S is what I am getting when the AMD 6630M comes out and if a matte display is available.

So I finally finalized my decision.

 

If you want robustness you are better are with the T series, however if you want to play the latest game in high setting the edge would give the T series run for its money.

 

If you're not gaming heavily, I'd recommend the T420 hands down. And definitely get the 1600x900 upgrade, as well as an i5 processor and 4GB of RAM.

 

I don't have to spend more money for features I will not be using. Edge fits the right pricepoint and feature set.

 

I suspect that you'd make use of the increased reliability, durability, and improved build quality of the T series... but good luck with the Edge all the same.

 

Thinkpad E420s is just starting to come in stock and the AMD GPU option and other configurables shouldn't be too long.

If the Thinkpad T series was best for everyone, they wouldn't make a whole host of options.

 

Edge is not a real ThinkPad. It is targeted towards people on a budget. People who buy real ThinkPads want a durable, reliable machine and don't mind paying extra.

 

I hope that Lenovo will offer the discrete model soon, it would suck if after all the wait Lenovo decide not to offer that option.

 

what was the point of asking for our opinion when youve already settled on the edge?

seems like the thread is done and should be locked.

 

"Edge is not a real ThinkPad. It is targeted towards people on a budget. People who buy real ThinkPads want a durable, reliable machine and don't mind paying extra."

Now there is a mouthful. The Thinkpad Edge E420S is as real of a Thinkpad as any and I look forward to owning one.

All of the differences in the units are all known and public information. In fact anyone can go to the store and compare the two and decide and I am not running down the list one by one.

Last years Thinkpad Edge 14" was rated very well overall. The biggest complaint was the weight and thickness which was addressed in the E420s series. With the revised GPU, reduced weight and thickness, and I hope a Matte screen option like last years which came in glossy or matte, I will be using and enjoying this notebook for a very long time indeed.

Lenovo's support is second to none for Windows 7 notebooks.

I admit I was considering other makes but narrowed it down to this one specifically. Budget has absolutely nothing to do with why I like this one and I do not consider it a "Budget" notebook.

Lenovo does have "budget oriented models" in other models than Thinkpad.

 

Why can't there be a t420 with a 6630m gpu! That would be the best of both worlds... really!

 

Because company need to create imperfect product to differentiate their products, which sucks for the consumer.

 

agreed the gpu options for the t420 are pretty terrible.

I would grab one without a second thought if the gpu was better, and not nvidia, since I still need linux

 

This is where lenovo fails miserably. If they had nice GPUs they could steal market from other companies offering gaming capable laptops. Instead they put those useless quadro chips in there.

 

Quoted from Wiki:

The design was a radical departure compared to the traditional black boxy ThinkPad design, with glossy surfaces, rounded corners, and silver trim. They were also offered in red, a first for the traditionally black ThinkPads. Like the SL, this was targeted towards small businesses and consumers, and lack the roll cage, Ultrabay, lid latch, and ThinkLight of traditional ThinkPads. This also introduced an island-style keyboard with a significantly different layout.

The Edge is just like the new Latitudes. Completely against all business design. What makes a ThinkPad is all the features, the design. The only thing the Edge incorporates is the trackpoint. Chicklet keyboard, different color trim (personally I think it looks it was designed by a teenager for a teenager), smooth edges, it's just not a ThinkPad. I'd rather pick up an older T410 over the Edge. But seems like OP has made up his mind so thread locked?

 

Thinkpad edge has the Thinklight. I love how people quote information without actually reading it to support their own arguments.

And I quote from Lenovo themselves on the Edge 420S:

"Small details make a big difference. The E420s offers convenient features to make your work easier: a 720p HD webcam and keystroke noise suppression software for the ultimate VoIP experience; multiple connectivity options; InstantResume for minimal downtime after sleep mode; wireless display technology; an integrated ThinkLight for usage in low light; a sleek, slot-loading DVD drive; HDMI 1.4 for external display of high-def content; DirectX® 11 for powerful, realistic video rendering in discrete graphics mode; and Dolby® Home Theater® 4 for premium sound."

Anyways I am just waiting for E420s to hit the stores, and for the online ordering of the E420S on the Lenovo website with the AMD GPU and the core i7 CPU.

Lenovo is good stuff. I like the design of the keyboard and the user interface devices on this unit and everything else.

 

the problem is not the professional gpus, the problem is that I use linux for work.

the other problem is that they equip this notebook with such a poor quality gpu that even my 2 year old one can blow it out of the water, mind you mine is a 4670m, not something extremely high end.

Off course this isnt the workstation line, so the gpu shouldnt be something astounding that would me force to buy one when its out, this is a something line, a jack of all trades. But to equip the w520 with only nvidia options and no firepro this is going too far. I actually havent seen a firepro chip in a business notebook that was released this year from any manufacturers, I guess that having lost apple, nvidia had to make some tough calls around the block.

the other common problem is that the screens are terrible, not that the considered models are any better (well the vaio S screen should be better, but with lower res, but so far we have mixed feelings, being the complainers some folks that have the vaio Z, top of the line screens)

 

What's wrong with NVIDIA and Linux and the new ThinkPads?

 

@OP, are you okay? What is the point of you making this frivolous posts, when you have already made up your mind in the first place?

Are you posting this, so that you could criticize others? If you don't like other people's opinion then why ask for it?

 

Such comment doesn't dignify a response.

This was never about me. It was about what users would do and why.

And in doing such, forum members tried to take it into a direction of an argument which was false and also posted false information to try to substantiate claims without any fact checking or verification.

Just shows that these forums don't have people with serious credibility in the industry or true experts which would have been found at places like the CES Las Vegas and other hangouts where the experts and industry leaders show off their products.

Was about asking users for real reasons why they would do one or the other.

 

This is an exaggeration. It would be a rare individual that is an expert on every make and model Lenovo. They would certainly have to be an employee with access to all of the machines.

I don't comment on threads for machines I have no experience with, but that doesn't mean I am not an expert on others.

 

1. Not even the people whom work with these products are experts in every part of these systems. Have a read of official product blogs and reviews by experts, and see how many mistakes you can pick up.

Also there are heaps of so called experts making minor mistakes in CES when discussing their own products (and usually there are lot of marketing or management people whom appears CES). Obviously, you have not interact with enough experts to know that even experts make mistakes. This is a fact of life.

2. If it is never about you, then why you write in such a condescending manners? If they made a mistake, all you have to do is to point them out, there is no need to be rude about it or talk with such an attitude.

3. Also, i don't think anyone here have posted that they are the experts in these products, since 99.999% of these people have obtained information about these systems from secondary sources and do not have these systems in possession. So they write their responses according to what they know or heard about.

4. This is an online forum community, people share information with each other so that we could learn more from others, even if it is wrong sometimes (hopefully someone picks up these mistakes and give a gentle reminder of why it is wrong).

 

If the t420 had a better gpu, Id buy it in a flash.

If the e420s had a better resolution screen, Id buy it in a flash.

I suppose Lenovo wants to segment the market, but their decision making is really quite strange. Surely theres quite a large market out there for an all rounded decent quality laptop for a slightly-higher than bargain basement price. The type of laptop which gets to travel occasionally, and is used for a mix of work and play. Especially with many companies now offering a buy-your-own computer deal to their employees.

Lenovo make the best keyboards, but anyone who cares about keyboards usually cares about having a higher resolution non-768 screen. Lenovo basically throws their keyboard advantage out of the window with the only-768 option. People who buy medium-good gpus would not want a 768 screen. The only use for a e420s is to semi-perma connect an external monitor.

It surely cannot cost that much more to offer either a higher res option or a different gpu.

I wonder if they take a vote of people who bought t420+gpu, who would prefer the nvs4200 and who would prefer a normal gpu. The normal gpus can do cuda and all that anyway... Most people really serious about cad tend to do them on big workstation machines, surely there is no pressing need for a wannabe cad gpu on a laptop. And for those niche things you have the much better W520. Even for things like photoediting a normal gpu works perfectly fine. And probably for cad too!

 

The problem with nvidia is that the switch is made on the software level, not on the hardware level. So if your drivers arent optimal you are going run both cards at the same time, and this would lead to some weird glitches.

Interestingly enough the AMD switch is made using a mux, so it connects and disconnects each card, and not surprisingly AMD offers better support on linux than its closest rival.

I say not surprisingly due to the co. having invested more and more on mobility drivers, I remember it was somewhat 2 years ago that all this change started, and I have been a happy camper with the AMD driver support on linux. Granted that the stock ubuntu ones are terrible and they dont control the c-states of the cards, leading to higher power plan than it was supposed to run

PS: sometimes adam is a bit adamant when he says stuff, just leave him be.

 

That is incorrect. There are at least two members here who had to decline Lenovo's invitation to CES due to personal commitments and one who was able to accept as well as any number of long-time ThinkPad owners who know many Lenovo products inside and out. Any one of us can be mistaken on details of a system we do not own (and sometimes on those that we do own), however our overall credibility is long established. Sneering comments like the one quoted above do not help build your own.

My personal opinion is that people should do their research, buy what suits them and not whine about it later and blame others (including Lenovo) if they have buyer's remorse. I personally would never buy an Edge because it doesn't have the features that I look for in a ThinkPad: a standard ThinkPad 7-row, non-chiclet keyboard; matte screen; peach-skin finish; no chrome.

Obviously the Edge suits you, so why the fuss if others disagree? Enjoy your new system when you get it!

 

I still am scratching my head why adamj023 even made this thread.

Step one:

1) ask for opinions
2) immediately state I have made up my mind, the rest of you are wrong.

Excellent thread.

 

Thats strange, my Thinkpad EDGE doesn't have Thinklight, I love how people quote information without actually reading it to support their own arguments.

 

The new E420s and E220s have thinklight, but their lower-end brother doesn't.

I agree if the E420s have a good higher resolution screen I will buy it in a flash, same with the T420 on the graphic card department.

 

Thinkpad edge has the Thinklight. I love how people quote information without actually reading it to support their own arguments.

And I quote from Lenovo themselves on the Edge 420S:

I never said "All Thinkpad Edge." I said Thinkpad edge has the Thinklight and this statement was 100% true. The Edge models offer it on some and in fact I said specifically Edge 420S.

I am fully aware that Thinklight is not available on all models. However it is also true that other models actually use true backlit keyboards which are superior to the Thinklight technology and I am not certain but I believe at least some of the models actual use fiber optic cable to accomplish this but it does have a side effect of adding additional weight to the unit, moreso than the Thinklight.

All the Sandy Bridge 13-14" models due to the japanese earthquake and the like are taking a long time to get here.

Stock shows that Thinkpad Edge E420s has arrived in very small quantitites in the warehouses but have since sold out. Not exactly the specs I wanted but a start.

Please feel free to say why you like one over the other. Don't let the trolling bother anyone if they want to post their own comments as to why one or the other is what they use and the reasons why.

 

Its interesting you mention trolling, after reading your posts on the various subforums adam, I am starting to wonder myself whether you are just an elaborate troll.

 

OK, this thread is apparently not going anywhere, so I'm going to end it.