New T420s - First Impressions

I finally received my T420s this evening and would like to share my experiences here. There are too many images and text to fit/format in a post and so I am including a link here.

Dabble

Good
Speakers are very good
Keyboard feels more solid compared to T410s

Not so good

Griddy display
Dont like the wide aspect ratio
Display is almost the same as my old T410s
Hinges are too smooth (too easy to move the lid)
The fan turns on too soon (compared to T410s) and is noisier.

I ran the benchmarks but need to upload the images etc. Will update the above page tomorrow and would be happy to answer any questions (as many other members have helped me here).

 

new member here. I have few questions and requests if you don't mind

Qs
1. How is the fan and heat? I'm thinking of getting Vaio SB but fan and heat seem to be a problem for me, so I'm looking at t420s for now.
2. Battery life?

Requests
1. Pictures
2. Can you do side by side comparison for the height. The slim profile is really what I'm looking for.
3. Can you do a video review if possible.

Thank you!

 

Hi...

Thanks for the review. Could you please describe in a bit more detail the 'grainyness" that you reported on?

Cheers!

 

@milo_basi :
1. Fan/Heat - It is interesting that you ask about this. When I was doing the initial installs, on AC, the fan was running continuously and it was noisier than the T410s that I have. Also during normal use (cold start), the fan seems to come on earlier than T410s. I just kept the two machines side-by-side and opened all programs.

2. Battery life - any suggestions on how to benchmark it? OR should I just let it run ?
3. Pictures on the way.

@ lineS of Sight:
The graininess issue is similar to the one described here:
Lenovo Thinkpad T420s review

It is almost as if you can see the grid lines in which the pixels are laid out. I am going to look at it again while the projector is connected to see if it looks OK or not.

@VectorX:
I am installing Visual Studio 2010 and will upload screenshots later today.


I also did benchmarks using Performance Test, Hyper PI and Crystal Disk for HDD and SSD and also have pictures of the internal mSATA and Windows Server 2008 R2 install information. Will post them tonight.

 

Are the HD+ screens on t420 and t420s different?

 

Its interesting you mention the fan noise, my T420 is almost always silent, I had to sick my head next to the vent to make sure the fan was working. Every now and then it kicks on for a couple seconds when watching movies.

 

Thank you for the input. Well, as long as the fan doesn't sounds too loud, I'm okay with it. It's better than the fan not moving at all haha

I'm not sure how to benchmark the battery life, but most reviews I read they let the laptop plays movie on loop.

And I'm also interested in seeing how many lines of code can you see in VS2010.

 

Or adjust the screen brightness to, say, 75% and do some web browsing and word processing.

 

You can hear the fan in the 's' model?
The non-s model I have is silent unless I turbo mode it when playing a game.

 

I received my T420s last night also. I could not hear the fan at all. It was quiet. I even put my ears to the where the heat sink is. No sound.

 

how do you like the screen?

 

What's your panel's make and model?

 

I think the screen is good.

How do you find out what the panel's make and model is?

 

Dump the EDID data. If you're on Linux that can be done quite simply with the read-edid tools.

Your machine's parts listing (available via the warranty lookup tool) will identify the manufacturer, but not the panel model (although it's possible to use the FRU to figure that out, once we've mapped out what model each FRU corresponds to.)

 

Fru 93p5689

 

I have updated the blog post at: Dabble

New Information:
Pictures
Visual Studio 2010 lines
Benchmarks (HDD and Passmark)
Battery Life
Start-up time
Windows Server 2008 R2 driver installation order and errors

 

Nice post!
So Intel doesn't provide screws that fit 7mm?

 

the 16:9 screen looks so small...

 

That's my only worry. I'm really hoping I don't end up wishing I'd ordered a T520 instead of a T420.

 

The VS screenshot was nice. The battery life is not impressive though, I was expecting around 3-4 hours at least. It would be nice if t420s can use the slice battery.

 

> d2tbydt2
Thank you for the review !
About the fan, is it noisy even in idle ?
You owned a T61p, is the T420s noisier ?

To reduce the noise, you can install this excellent freeware : TPFanControl

Thanks

 

Just a note. People seem to be exaggerating the battery life of the T420 or the lack of in the T420s. People are quoting ~9-10hrs on the T420 and <2-3 on the T420s. Even comparing the smaller 6 cell of the T420s to the T420 that's not possible.

Objectively the 6 cell of the T420s is I believe exactly 50% of the T420 w/ 9 cell capacity. As in the T420 is actually only 4-6 hours or the T420s is ~5 hours.

 

@milo_basi - I would have gotten 3 hours (as I did today), if I wasn't running the battery test. Running program installation while watching full screen video is not a daily task.

@poiuytr - I don't have the T61p anymore, but as I recall, I never had the fan issue with T61p. It was also the machine that made me switch from Dell to Lenovo. (I miss my T61p).
My 'noisier' opinion was based on comparison with T410s that I have. There is no noise during idle.

As for the battery life - may be the battery needs to settle in for a few cycles.

 

Have you personally run tests? If so, please detail you testing methodology.

 

Is there anything else you dislike about t420s (besides the screen and noise)?

 

I though there was a quality issue - The backslash key fell off on the first day, but Lenovo overnighted me a replacement keyboard - so no complaint there.

The battery life could be better. May be I need to wait for a few charge cycles. I generally carry a charger with me so its not a big deal.

I have made additional notes (link in the first post of this thread). I run simulations on my notebook so I am used to and can live with the noise, except when sitting in a quite conference room (meeting, powerpoint stuff) and mine is the only laptop with a running fan
So far, it's a solid machine.

 

Is the fan often on even under light load? Or it's just noisy when it is on?

 

Under light load the fan is not on. I was performing some installations when the fan came on.
During a comparison test (online video + file copy in background from external HDD) with T410s, the T420s fan comes on earlier. This was with a cold start.

For the battery life test - In Lenovo Power Manager, the slider was set to High Performance.

 

Thanks. Is the fan noisier than that on your 410s?

 

d2tbydt2: Thanks for the posts and the pics. Great job! Could you share where you find the smaller screws for the Intel 320 if you find some. Enjoy your new system!

 

@bayernjuven : Yes, it is definitely noisier than my T410s.

@StormShadow: I had posted this question in the Aftermarket/SSD forum. But didnt get any response but I did some experimentation and found it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...intel-320-ssd-7mm-screw-size.html#post7377768

Will order it and try it out.

 

Have you tried TPFanControl ?
What idle and load temperatures do you have ? If they are good, you will be able to reduce fan speed with TPFC...

 

Thanks for the side-by-side shots! I think those are the most useful. I wish more people would post those.

 

Can the T420s handle 2 SSD plus the DVD drive at the same time? If it can, where is the second SSD located?

 

May I ask where is the second mSATA port located? How to add another SSD or HD in it? Can we still keep the DVD drive at the same time?

 

@edwardlican : Please refer to the pictures here -

Dabble: New T420s - Ordering and Stock vs. Upgrades

The memory and the mSata are located in a single compartment (2 screws) on the back.

Theoretically, it is possible to have 3 HDD ( main, ultrabay and msata) OR 2 HDD (main, msata) and the DVDRW.
I havent seen a confirmation post from anybody using the Intel 310 mSata.

 

Thanks for the quick answer. From your link to dabble, it say the T420s has a 7mm bay for an additional SSD, what brand and what type of SSD will be able to fit in it?

 

Intel X25-M & 320 Series.

 

My understanding is that the main storage device bay will take the 7mm devices but the media bay (UltraBay) will take 9.5mm storage devices.

John

 

Your answer confuse me. From my understanding, the harddrive bay can put a SSD. The ultraBay can have the DVD recordable. Then you can add another SSD inside with 7mm thickness at the mSata port. I am not sure whether my understanding is correct or not, please advice.

 

the msata port is for msata drives. they are extremely tiny (intel 310). the ultrabay can handle the dvd drive, an extra battery, or a hdd/ssd if used with an adapter. and the original hard drive bay.. well it can hold a hdd/ssd

 

Provided it is no more than 7mm thick (which is why the HDD options only go up to 320GB - the current limit for 7mm thick (single platter) HDDs).

John

 

I believe that is correct.

 

A short answer, please.

 

@poiuytr - Sorry. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am not too bothered by the fan and hence not interested in controlling the fan speed. I was just comparing it to my 410s when I made the fan observation.

 

The T410s had the M-Touch Screen, and now Lenovo offers nothing with this technology. I checked with Lenovo, Dell, HP, and Toshiba. All these manufactures used to carry the Multi Touch Screens a year ago, and now nobody has them over a 12 inch tablet. Any one care to shed some light, Im so dissappointed!

 

Any of you T420s owners driving an external LCD panel with a native resolution above 1920x1200? How about 3 panels?

 

Anyone care to share your boot time with factory configured EE 2.0 plus rapidboot? Is it <30s?
I am planning to install mSata 80gb but after all web browsing, it seems that if you install from R&R disc, you won't get UEFI firmware and EE 2.0 is not complete anyway.
Therefore, i am reluctant if I should stick with it or go for SSD? Would it make much differences?

 

I am using T420s with Intel 320, 8GB RAM and Windows Server 2008R2. The boot time is 23s to logon and another 3 seconds (after finger swipe) to usable desktop.
I installed rapidBoot, but it didnt make much difference in the boot time.
My understanding was that Win 7 and 2008R2 share the same core, so the Lenovo EE2 drivers should work for both, but they dont.

 

I think 23s is very impressive. Is your unit i7 or i5? Did you measure your boot time before you update your drive/ OS? Did it improve significantly?