My T420 review

That was a review worth reading, unlike the uninformative reviews you get from computer magazines/websites which to a large extent just regurgitate the manufacturers tech info.

Regarding the Lenovo vs IBM build quality, I suspect that Lenovo was making the IBM's from day one and IBM just put their logo on them. I have owned two IBM's and one Lenovo and one Sony (great machine just heavy as hell) and I am waiting for my T420 to arrive in a few days. I have helped friends with Dell's and HP's which both seem to be pretty crappy.

Regarding the TrackPoint, if Lenovo stops selling ThinkPads with the TrackPoint I will cry. In my opinion only nitwits use touch pads, I disabled the touch pad on all my machines and would rather pull out a cordless mouse than use a touch pad.

I have to agree with you on benchmarks, they are relatively worthless unless that is what you use your computer for (running benchmarks).

 

Not quite.

IBM manufactured ThinkPads in their own facilities through at least 2000 (possibly through 2002 for some models.) Even before then they were outsourcing some production though, as Acer made a number of models (the i series being the most notable of these.)

Starting in 2002-2003, Solectron started doing the fab. and refurb of some of the ThinkPads. Wistron handled board fab. and assembly for the X series from 2003 or so, first under IBM's direction, later under Lenovo's. Lenovo was also involved in development by this point, but I'm not really where in the hierarchy they fit. I don't believe they did the fab themselves (as they too already were outsourcing production of their own lines to Wistron in 2003), but they were certainly involved in some of the engineering even when the ThinkPad brand was still owned by IBM.

Basically, ThinkPads before 2002: (mostly) produced *by* IBM. After 2002: Murky. Produced by various manufacturers, but designed by IBM and/or Lenovo.

I'm not 100% sure of all of the above, as it's been pieced together from various bits of news, gossip, etc. But that's probably *pretty* close to what happened.

 

Hi all,

I am planning to buy a new laptop but I am a bit confused right now because of the supposed low quality of the T420 display. I am currently using a Dell d510 laptop which is 5 years old and has a 1024*768 XGA (15") display. Do you think that comparing to this one the T420 wouldn't mean any improvement in display quality? I will be happy if it wouldn't be worse, so I don't have high expectations, but I also would like to use it to watch movies. My other question would be that according to you is it worth to wait until the next year when ivy bridge will came out expecting that the refreshed versions will have not just usb 3.0 but also a better display. I think that I can wait, if you say that it is worth to do so. Thank you in advance for the answers.

 

This is why I wouldn't recommend reading forums such as this before trying out a machine. If you go into the experience trying to find faults, you'll likely succeed.

There's nothing wrong with the display on the T420. Of course it will be an upgrade to an XGA screen: it's got a much higher resolution and has LED backlighting -- those two things alone will improve your experience dramatically.

 

Thank you for your opinion and also for your detailed test. Your answer helped me to make a decision, so I think I will also buy a t420 in august.